LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 280

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

Recommendation 4—Coordination with the 4-06A Task Force
Proposals
The task force recommends that the floor committee responsible for the reports of both the 4-06A Task Force and the 5-14A Task
Force bring to the Synod a coordinated set of proposals combining
the recommendations of both task forces. Both task forces also believe
the members of the Synod would do well to discuss and to study carefully the theology of call and ordination to the pastoral office outlined
in this report and in that of the 4-06A Task Force.
Excursus One: The 5-14A Task Force believes that the preceding
recommendations (1, 2 & 3) fit very well into the following two recommendations of the 4-06A Task Force:
Recommendation 2 (Further Utilization of SMP Program with Financial Support) The [4-06A Task Force] recommends that the Synod’s
SMP program be fully utilized since it has been developed as an approach to theological education especially for those settings where finances and/or geography are obstacles to preparation. The Synod must
ensure that financial constraints do not prevent any eligible candidate
from participating in the SMP.
Recommendation 3 (Further Utilization of Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology [EIIT], Center for Hispanic Studies [CHS], and
Cross-Cultural Ministry Center) The [4-06A Task Force] recommends
that Synod’s EIIT, CHS, and Cross-Cultural Ministry Center be fully
utilized to supply training for pastors in cross-cultural settings since
they have been developed to provide a means for theological education
especially for those from various cultures and backgrounds. The Synod
must ensure that financial constraints do not prevent any eligible candidate from participating in these programs.
Excursus Two: The task force responding to 2013 Res. 4-06A regarding licensed lay deacons is proposing a supplement to the colloquy program that will provide that licensed lay deacons in Word and
Sacrament pastoral ministry will be required to undergo colloquy and
ultimately be called and ordained to the roster of specific ministry pastors. Note, however, that the proposal may be temporary and may come
to an end after all those eligible have come through the program. The
regular SMP program at the seminaries will continue and will need to
be expanded to respond to the needs heretofore covered by licensed lay
deacons. Financial resources will need to be provided as well (see the
Report of the Res. 4-06A Task Force).

Recommendation 5—Task Force Recommendations re
Improvements to the SMP Program
Several recommendations are included below, but first an explanation:

The Seminary Specific Ministry Pastor Programs
The SMP program was created by the Synod at its 2007 convention by the passage of Res. 5-01B. It has since been reaffirmed by both
the 2010 and 2013 conventions. Extensive recounting of the rationale,
history, and design of the program has been reported in two significant
documents: “The Specific Ministry Pastor Program: A White Paper
Presented to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod by The Specific
Ministry Pastor Committee of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod” (Mar. 15, 2012) and “Report to the President: Specific
Minis­try Pastor (SMP) Task Force” (Sept. 1, 2012). Therefore, that
information will not be repeated here. Instead, this task force will
report only its own observations and recommendations for moving
forward with this important program in light of certain questions
which have arisen and are within the parameters of this task force’s
own mandate.

The Concept and Purpose of the Program
SMP was adopted by the Synod to provide quality theological
and practical training for men to serve as pastors primarily in settings “where full-time ministry cannot be maintained,” and also in
such specific ministries “as church planter, staff pastor, and others
as needs arise” (2007 Res. 5-01B). As the preamble and Whereases
of 5-01B made clear, the SMP program was also intended to provide
these pastoral services in ways that were faithful to Art. XIV of the
Augsburg Confession (“It is taught among us that nobody should
publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church
without a regular call”), in preference to such services being provided
by lay deacons, as was being done in some places. More recently, the
2013 Res. 5-04B resolved that specific ministry pastors not be used
at “sites which could reason­­ably be expected to support a general
pastor or sites where a minister of religion—commissioned could
fulfill the duties.”45
Thus it is the goal of the SMP programs of the two seminaries to
provide excellent training within the much more limited curricular
opportunities than a full residential program would allow. However,
it is also evident from 5-04B that, unlike the seminaries’ residential
master of divinity or alternate route programs, the SMP program is not
intended to be a route followed by a man who “aspires to the office”
of pastor (1 Timothy 3:1) as his full-time, lifelong vocation. (In this
sense, the SMP pro­gram is also unlike the programs of our Synod’s
institutions which prepare men and women for the various auxiliary offices of commissioned ministers, all of which are intended to
be full-time, lifelong callings. This consideration also sets the SMP
program apart from the programs of the Center for Hispanic Studies,
the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology, the Deaf Institute of
Theology, and the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center at Irvine.) Rather,
specific ministry pastors are ordinarily men recruited and trained for
the pastoral office within and for a specific ministry context. Often,
though not always, they are serving part-time and/or bi-vocationally,
earning much of their income from other employment. Some come
to SMP in or near retirement from another vocation.46
SMP training takes place within a specific ministry context, as
defined by the congregation in consultation with the district president.
Throughout this training, SMP students serve under the close supervision of a mentor pastor and his district president. This mentor pastor
is also the formal vicarage supervisor, with the same expectations
for oversight and responsibilities as an MDiv vicarage supervisor.
In fact, at both seminaries, the vicarage programs for SMP, master
of divinity, and every route to ordination are overseen by the same
office. The training and expectations are the same for vicarage supervisors in all programs.
Throughout his training, an SMP student serves in a place of ministry under the close supervision of a mentor pastor and his district
president. Simultane­ously, he takes seminary classes, some of which
are on the seminary campus as one-week intensives, with the rest
taken by distance.47 Other reports may also be required. The program will ordinarily be completed in four years. The first two of these
years also constitute a vicarage. After these first two years, the student may be eligible for ordination as a specific min­is­try pastor, still
under the supervision of his mentor and district president, and while
continuing to take the required seminary classes. Thus the four-year
program always involves simultaneous classes and practical work in
the ministry context.
Regarding the preceding, the task force notes the following:
The resolution establishing the SMP program in 2007 made clear
the desire to conform to Augsburg XIV, “that nobody should publicly

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