LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 451

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ROUTES TO MINISTRY
Whereas, Supervising pastors who guide the work of licensed
lay deacons are well within their scope as “episkopos” or “presbuteros” as they supervise licensed lay deacons; and
Whereas, As Lutheran Christians who subscribe to the Lutheran
Confessions, we affirm our commitment to the Augsburg Confession
and Article XIV, but do not see the word ordain in this article. But,
as we read the Introduction to the Formula of Concord and see that
Scripture has final authority among us (sola Scriptura); and
Whereas, Congregations have been formed through the supervised work of licensed lay deacons, congregations that by the grace of
God have grown and are now being served by ordained pastors; and
Whereas, the chart included in Appendix A of the Resolution
4-06A Task Force Report indicated that, in the respective district presidents’ opinion, 115 congregations of the Synod presently “served by
a L[icensed] L[ay] D[eacon] would be unable to survive without the
services of the LLD” (Resolution 4-06A Task Force Report, p. 31).
Whereas, Most important, those who did not know or believe
in Jesus have, by God’s grace, at least in part through the supervised
work of licensed deacons, come to repentance and saving faith in
Jesus so that they might be saved, and some of these believers might
not know Jesus if licensed deacons had not been available; therefore be it
Resolved, That the 2016 LCMS convention again continue, affirm,
and encourage the proper training, licensing, and supervised ministry
of licensed lay deacons in districts that desire to provide such training and oversight; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod develop a plan to make ordination more
accessible to those licensed lay deacons who would like to seek ordination through residential seminary education, through colloquy
through the SMP, EIIT, CHS, or other appropriate route provided by
the Synod; and be it finally
Resolved, The Synod in convention continue the ministry of
licensed lay deacons as an auxiliary office to help share the saving
love of Jesus.
Board of Directors, Northwest District; Board of Directors,
Florida-Georgia District
13-21

To Establish Subordinate Office of Deacon
to Participate in Preaching
and Administration of Sacraments
Whereas, In the New Testament, those in the Office of the
Ministry are called pastors (shepherds), bishops (overseers), and
presbyters (elders), as in 1 Timothy 3:1−7; Titus 1:5−9; and 1 Peter
5:1−3; and
Whereas, The office of deacon in Scripture is differentiated from
the office of bishop (overseer) in 1 Timothy 3:1−7 and Philippians
1:1; and
Whereas, The apostles established subordinate offices in ministry in response to need to support the Office of the Ministry in Acts
6:1−6; and
Whereas, C. F. W. Walther in Church and Ministry (trans. J. T.
Mueller) acknowledged these subordinate offices saying, “Therefore,
in scripture the incumbents of the ministerial office are called elders,
bishops, rulers [Vorsteher], stewards, and the like, and the incumbents
of subordinate offices are called deacons, that is, servants, not only of
God but of the congregation and the bishop” (p. 289); and
Whereas, Walther in Church and Ministry says of such subordinate offices, “Every other public office in the church is part of the

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ministry of the Word or an auxiliary office that supports the ministry,
… for they take over a part of the ministry of the Word and support
the pastoral office” (pp. 289−90); and
Whereas, In support of this, Walther in Church and Ministry
quotes Martin Chemnitz, who said regarding Acts 6, “When the number of disciples increased, they entrusted the part of their ministry
dealing with alms to others, whom they called deacons or servants.
… This origin of ministerial grades and orders in the apostolic church
shows the cause, reason, purpose and use of these grades and orders.
According to the size of the congregation, the various ministerial
functions thereby were to be performed more readily, more rightly,
more diligently, and with greater order and becoming dignity to the
edification of the church” (pp. 296–97); and
Whereas, The Lutheran Church Father Johann Gerhard recognized that deacons in the Scriptures participated in the preaching and
administration of the Sacraments, saying, “In the end those deacons
were commissioned also with the ordinary duty of teaching (from
which also those whom Acts 6 mentions were not simply excluded,
though they were chiefly in charge of the tables), so that they, joined
to the presbyters, preached the Word together with them, administered the Sacraments, visited the sick, etc. In this way, they were made
teachers of a lower order in the church. Accordingly, in Phil. 1:1 deacons are joined with bishops or presbyters; and in 1 Tim. 3:8, after the
apostle had described the virtues of a bishop, he adds the things that
are required of deacons, that is, in ministers of a lower order” (“On
the Ministry: Part I,” Theological Commonplaces, ed. Benjamin T.
G. Mayes [CPH 2012], p. 40); and
Whereas, Gerhard notes that this continued to be the case in the
Early Church as well, citing both Early Church Fathers Justin and
Jerome (“On the Ministry: Part II,” Theological Commonplaces, p.
47); and
Whereas, Gerhard notes this provided support to the bishops and
presbyters (pastors) in the Office of the Ministry “in order to take
their place and alleviate their labors” (Theological Commonplaces,
p. 47); and
Whereas, In the Early Church, the office of deacon served under
the direct oversight of the bishop as is evidenced in this passage from
Early Church Father Ignatius: “See that ye all follow the bishop, even
as Christ Jesus does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the
apostles. Do ye also reverence the deacons, as those that carry out
[through their office] the appointment of God. Let no man do anything
connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a
proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by
one to whom he has entrusted it. … It is not lawful without the bishop
either to baptize, or to offer, or to present sacrifice, or to celebrate a
love-feast. But that which seems good to him, is also well-pleasing to
God, that everything ye do may be secure and valid.” (Ignatius, Epistle
to the Smyrneans, in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and
Irenaeus, vol. 1 of Ante-Nicene Fathers, p. 232); and
Whereas, 1989 Res. 3-05B approved the use of laymen for
preaching and administering the Sacraments on a provisional basis
through licensing by the districts and did not establish a regular subordinate office of deacon; and
Whereas, The Res. 4-06A Task Force has noted that congregations are faced with increasing financial, geographic, and
demographic challenges that make it difficult to provide for ministry
needs with ordained pastors; and
Whereas, Districts have already invested in and established training programs for the licensing of lay deacons, such that as of July
2014 the task force reported that 276 were serving in a supervised
2016 Convention Workbook