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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 384

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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384

X. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS: 13-03 TASK FORCE
+ The need for training in basic leadership skills among
clergy and laity, specifically those skills connected with
biblical and adaptive leadership.
+ To affirm “the ministry of the baptized” and to equip His
disciples to live out their identity and ministry as His
“scribe … trained for the kingdom” (Matt. 13:52) so
that they may serve faithfully and fruitfully as His
evangelizing, edifying, and missionary priesthood to the
nations (Matt. 7:24–27; 13:1–23; Rom. 10:9–17; 2 Cor.
5:16–21).
+ That the Synod establish “helping offices” for the edification of God’s people (teaching office) and the evangelization of the nations (evangelist office).
+ That LCMS congregations, as they seek to proclaim the
Gospel and extend His Kingdom in new places, would
be wise to consider Paul’s missionary methods as expressed in Acts 14:21–23.
+ Since LCMS congregations are located in the third-largest
mission field in the world, it is essential that those who
lead His people, along with “the ministry of the baptized,” receive training to live as missionaries in their
daily lives and vocations.

3 Armin Siedlecki, “Protestant Theological Education at German Universities in the Sixteenth Century,” ATLA 2008 Proceedings, 251. Foelsch
(“Ministerial Education,” 1565) notes that while raising the standard of
philosophical acumen, this curricular shift had the unfortunate result in
leading many students to unbelief. On the other hand, many clergy, who
lacked a university education, knew little substantively of the church’s
faith. “Many of the university-trained students became skeptics. Most
priests, however, had no higher education at all. The outlook for a worthily
trained ministry was dismal.”
4 John Kleinig, “Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio: What Makes a Theologian?” Concordia Theological Quarterly 66 (July 2002): 260: “The study
of theology, then, is based on prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit turns would-be masters of theology, spiritual self-promoters,
into humble, life-long students of the Scriptures. Apart from the Spirit and
His empowerment, people know nothing about eternal life. Without His illumination, the teaching of the Scriptures remains mere theory without any
reality. Prayer for God’s ongoing bestowal of the Holy Spirit through Jesus
and the ongoing reception of the Holy Spirit makes a theologian. In short,
the Holy Spirit makes a theologian, and this is a life-long undertaking.”
Available online at ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/kleinigoratio.pdf.
5 Siedlecki, “Protestant Theological Education,” 253.
6 Philipp Melanchthon, Examen eorum, qui audiuntur ante ritum
publicae ordinationis, qua commendatur eis ministerium Evangelii. Traditum (Wittenbergae: Excudebat Iohnnes Crato, 1554), cited in Siedlecki,
“Protestant Theological Education,” 255–57.

+ That the members of the Synod engage in an intensive and
comprehensive study of the Book of Acts so that we
might fully understand what “the ministry of the Word”
entails post-Ascension and post-Pentecost; churches
were established through the ministry of the apostolic
church, and the Early Church experienced significant
ecclesiastical and missiological ministry shifts as “the
Word of the Lord grew.”

9 Craig J. Westendorf, “The Piety of the Orthodox in 17th-Century
Postille Literature,” Essay and Reports 14:1–19, Lutheran Historical
Conference, 1992.

+ That credentialed missiologists and directors of Christian
outreach, along with “ordained and commissioned
ministers” who have demonstrated fruitful ministry
expertise and experience in evangelism and outreach,
should be encouraged and commissioned to develop
evangelism and outreach resources for district training
and congregational usage.

11 Edward Farley, Theologia: Fragmentation and Unity in Theological
Education (Fortress Press). This section summarizes Farley’s argument
in a portion of this book, specifically the chapter “Schleiermacher and the
Beginning of the Encyclopedia Movement.”

+ That the ministry functions connected with the five “Word
gifts” of Eph. 4:11–16 inform and norm our ecclesiastical and missiological labors.
Respectfully submitted,
Rev. Dr. Robert Newton, West Region district president
representative
Rev. Dr. Anthony Steinbronn, East Region district president
representative
To read the full minority report, visit lcms.org/doc/res1303-taskforce-minority-report.

Notes
1 Foelsch, “Ministerial Education,” 1564.
2 Foelsch, “Ministerial Education,” 1564–65.

2019 Convention Workbook

7 Siedlecki, “Protestant Theological Education,” 257.
8 Foelsch, “Ministerial Education,” 1565.

10 Philip Spener, Pia Desideria (Fortress Press); Lawrence R. Rast
Jr., “Pietism and Mission: Lutheran Millennialism in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 64 (October
2000): 295–318. Available online at ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/rastpietismandmission.pdf.

12 Friedrich Schleiermacher, Brief Outline on the Study of Theology,
Terrence N. Tice, ed., 3rd ed. (Louisville, Ky.: John Knox Press, 2011).
Revised in 1830.
13 For many years, the Missouri Synod published the curricula for its
colleges and seminaries in a single volume. This listing is for the 1873–74
school year for the combined seminary at St. Louis. The following year,
the Synod moved the practical department to Springfield.
14 See David P. Scaer, “Critique of the Fourfold Pattern,” Concordia
Theological Quarterly (October 1999). Available at ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/
scaercritique.pdf.
15 H. Jackson Carroll, et al., Being There: Culture and Formation in
Two Theological Schools (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).
16 See Commission on Theology and Church Relations, The Royal
Priesthood: Identity and Mission (St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, September 2018), especially pages 38–39. Available at lcms.
org/about/leadership/commission-on-theology-and-church-relations/documents/lutheran-doctrine-and-practice.