LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 270

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270

IX. REPORT OF THE RES. 5-14A TASK FORCE

Please note, how a church examines, calls, and ordains has been
done in various ways through the ages. Our church has made determinations for how best to do these different things for the sake of good order.
Examination takes place via seminary faculties or colloquy process.
Calls are issued, in most cases, by action of the congregation alone,
acting to fill its pastoral vacancy. Ordination is conducted on behalf of
the whole church by the district president or his representative after due
examination and call. During the ordination, the calling congregation
speaks on behalf of the whole church to receive the candidate as a duly
called and ordained pastor.16 Rite vocatus includes this whole process.
None of these three aspects is negotiable or unnecessary, even though
they do not occur simultaneously and they may be implemented in various ways.17 Moreover, these three aspects are not wooden nor are they
understood legalistically. For example, as candidates for the ministry are
being prepared (in the examination process) for call and ordination, they
are required, as vicars (or “interns”), to preach, albeit under the supervision and authority of their supervising pastor.
Specifically, Why Ordination?
We have noted earlier Walther’s emphasis that the Office of the Ministry is not a position of superiority. It is not to be exalted over the office
every Christian holds by virtue of Baptism. Luther was just as emphatic.
Referring to the public ministry by the term “priest” as was still current
at his time, Luther writes: “Whoever does not preach the Word, though
he was called by the church to do this very thing, is no priest at all,
and that the sacrament of ordination can be nothing else than a certain
rite by which the church chooses its preachers.”18 Walther is therefore
following this practical understanding of ordination when he says of
ordination: “The ordination of those who are called with the laying on
of hands is not a divine institution but an apostolic, churchly order and
only a solemn public confirmation of the call.”19
Because of such statements in our tradition, some have questioned
the importance of ordination. The practice of unordained men preaching
and teaching publicly is often connected with this perspective and such
quotes from Luther and Walther are sometimes used to promote the service of lay preaching and sacramental administration. Why is ordination
important, even if it not a mandate from our Lord, but “an apostolic,
churchly order and only a solemn public confirmation of the call”?
To answer this question, we need to look at the qualifications for
pastors. The Pastoral Epistles summarize the qualities the church must
look for in her pastoral servants.20 Above all, they must be “above reproach” so as not to put obstacles in the way of the Gospel and must be
“able to teach” so that they proclaim Law and Gospel clearly. Self chosen good works quickly become idolatry.21 Therefore, no one is able to
certify himself or declare himself qualified for ministry, but the Church
as the Bride of Christ is to put in place the structures necessary to assure
herself that her ministers are qualified. No one should set himself up as
pastor, so the church develops procedures by which pastors are called.
We believe God calls, but through the congregation(s). And because our
congregations are members of a confessional fellowship, we seek to recognize in a public way through the participation of the wider church that
a pastor is properly called.22
Ordination is the public rite of the Church, living in Christ, that proclaims openly all these elements.23 Candidates for ordination must be
examined or certified by the church (in our Synod, by one of the seminary faculties or by the Colloquy Committee) as “able to teach” and fit
for pastoral ministry according 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:6–9. Candidates for ordination must also be properly called—no one is ordained
without a valid call. So our district presidents may ordain (or authorize
the ordination of) only such men as have been properly certified (or
examined) and rightly called.
The Rite of Ordination does not confer a special character or power
on the person. It is also, as Walther emphasized, an apostolic custom and
not a divine mandate. But such important qualifications of the practice
should not lead us to assume it is unimportant or a mere formality. The
confessors never dispute the practice of ordination to the Holy Ministry,

2016 Convention Workbook

even while insisting that they have adopted a different manner of ordination because of the unwillingness of Roman bishops to ordain pastors
for their churches (SC III 10 [K-W 323–324]; see also Ap XIV 1–3). In
the Augsburg Confession, ordination is public recognition of the call by
the wider Church (beyond the individual congregation) testifying that
the man is qualified and has been properly called to be a pastor. It is the
call, we believe, that makes a man a pastor of a particular congregation.
Ordination, as a rite, is not mandated by the Lord. However, the Church
is mandated to put a man “under orders” to Jesus in the Office of the
Holy Ministry through the church’s right calling. Our Lord Jesus thereby puts a man into the Office for His use. Therefore, because our congregations are part of a wider fellowship, we call only such men as are
properly certified, and we seek the recognition of the wider church by
ordaining (and publicly installing) them to office. We believe omitting
any of these elements would be schismatic and contrary to the “catholicity”24 of the Church and the unity of our Synod’s fellowship. Why?
1. The Rite of Ordination publicly witnesses that a man is found by the
church to be “able to teach” and fit for ministry and has been properly
called to the office.
2. The Rite of Ordination extracts from the candidate for ordination a
very serious vow, making clear for the man and to the congregation
what the Lord through His church is charging him to be and to do. He
is not to lord it over the flock, but to serve. He is not to make up his
own message, but is to proclaim what he has been given, according to
Scripture and the Confessions.
3. In the Rite of Ordination, the church, by the Word of God and prayer,
puts the man in office and makes clear that he is to be pastor, and that
his task is the public (on behalf of all) administration of the Word and
Sacraments.25
4. In the Rite of Ordination, the congregation, on behalf of the whole
church, receives the man as a minister of Word and Sacrament, and
also, on behalf of the church, pledges itself to support the pastoral
office with love, honor, and obedience in the Lord (when the pastor
brings God’s Word), as well as with gifts and fervent prayers.
The purpose of ordination is to make clear to the people in both the
congregation and the wider church that a man is set apart to be pastor,
as well as to make clear to both the man and the people what he is to be
and to do in their midst.26

Resulting Considerations for the 5-14A Task Force
These realities regarding call and ordination are reflected in the
Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod. First, one of the objectives
of the Synod is to “recruit and train pastors, teachers, and other professional church workers” (Constitution, Art. III 3). A condition of
membership in the Synod for congregations is that they call and are
served by pastors on the roster of ministers of religion—ordained of
the Synod (Constitution, Art. VI 3). Despite the various routes by
which men are prepared for the pastoral office, the only groups authorized to examine and certify candidates for initial placement in the
office are the two seminary faculties and the Colloquy Committee
for the Pastoral Ministry (Bylaws 2.7.1; 3.10.2; 3.10.4.7.10).
Congregations call pastors, and the Council of Presidents, acting
as the Board of Assignments, places them in their first call (Bylaw
3.10.1.3). These Bylaw requirements27 apply to all whom the Church
raises up, recruits, and prepares for the pastoral office.
Section Two—The Several Means by Which Men Are
Prepared for the Pastoral Office
Though 2013 Res. 5-14A speaks of “routes to the pastoral office,”
as though men take the pastoral office upon themselves, the task force
believes it more appropriate biblically to speak of means by which
the Church raises up (i.e., recruits, examines, trains) men who are
then prepared for the pastoral office. No one may take up the office