LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 129

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
face-to-face relational culture, immediate access to professors and peers, and personal investment in the continued
fostering of a Synod culture that extends far beyond limited
years in direct seminary studies.
2. The PFC and seminaries affirm the proposition that “the
most complete means of preparing a man for the general responsibilities of the pastoral office and a lifetime of service
is the residential master of divinity route at the Synod’s seminaries” (2013 Res. 5-14A Task Force and 2016 Res. 6-03).
And furthermore, “that residential seminary education is the
preferred option for the preparation of men for pastoral ministry” (2019 Res. 6-02).
3. The PFC intends to pursue further study, evaluation, and
where appropriate, action with respect to the formation of
the Synod’s pastors. In the establishment of the Specific
Ministry Pastor program, 2007 Res. 5-01B states, “[The]
theological education [of an SMP] is formed within the
context of their specific ministry and does not represent the
breadth and depth of theology and ecclesiology that forms a
basis for pastoral oversight beyond the local level.” Also, the
SMP “is eligible to serve only in that specific ministry context for which he has been trained and may not be offered or
accept a call for ministry for which he has not been certified
as determined by his district president” (Bylaw 2.13.1). In
view of these statements and in consideration of the wider
scope of the universal church, the PFC intends to explore the
following concepts:
a. Means to assist congregations in overcoming the financial
barriers that prohibit them from supporting pastoral candidates from within their congregation to complete a residential MDiv degree.
b. Means to call associate MDiv pastors who are equipped
with a “breadth and depth of theology and ecclesiology”
(2007 Res. 5-01B).
c. Benefits of preparing men not only for one limited place
or context but also for a lifetime of ministry in which God
may call them to new places and contexts.
d. Ways to foster an appreciation for the formative benefits of
a pastoral ministry student stepping away from a current
local life context, studying at a residential seminary, heeding the call to go and serve, relocating when God extends a
divine call, and serving within the wider context of church
and Synod.
e. Pros and cons of determining a minimum age requirement
for the SMP program, while encouraging young men to
pursue an MDiv, considering the many years that they
might serve in the pastoral ministry without any restrictions.

C.2.g. Recommendations
1. The PFC recommends that the Synod explore, develop, and
implement means to encourage and assist men of every ethnicity toward residential formation through the MDiv program.
2. The PFC recommends that the Synod direct it to prepare
a report to the 2026 Synod convention that evaluates and
makes recommendations pertaining to non-LCMS seminary,
district, and local congregational programs of ministerial formation that have surfaced within the LCMS in recent years.

129

This evaluation should also include a thorough assessment
of the benefits of residential (in-person) pastoral formation
over against nonresidential (distance learning) methods of
training those who carry out the distinctive functions of the
Office of the Holy Ministry.
3. The PFC recommends continuation of the guaranteed tuition
support for the residential MDiv program offered by the
seminaries that began in the 2018–2019 academic year.
4. The PFC recommends that the SMP route be understood and
positioned as the “exception” and not become the “principal rule” with respect to the Synod’s available routes for the
preparation and ordination of her pastors. The residential
MDiv route should continue to be positioned and understood
as the Synod’s strongly preferred route to ordination, supplying LCMS congregations with men who are rostered as
general ministry pastors, men who are formally and thoroughly equipped under the MDiv route of in-depth foundational seminary formation in exegetical acumen with biblical
languages, systematic theology and apologetics, historical
knowledge, and extensive pastoral and practical training and
experience from a consortium of approved expert faculty and
theologians. The SMP route, with its less-rigorous program
of pastoral formation, was conceived and accordingly designed and authorized by the Synod in convention to address
exceptional, tightly defined individual contexts in which a
called and ordained pastor is urgently needed in order to establish, maintain, and/or strengthen the church’s mission and
ministry, while also allowing that in many instances it is not
practically feasible for a congregation to call, install (with
ordination in the case of candidates recently graduated from
seminary), and adequately provide support (compensation,
benefits, housing, etc.) for a general ministry pastor to carry
out the duties of the Office of the Holy Ministry in certain
circumstances. A closely related (even overlapping) causal
factor driving the creation of the SMP route was the Synod’s
desire to be responsive to dynamically emerging congregational mission opportunities in the U.S. Acknowledging
all of the foregoing, the Synod, in view of its commitment
to and appreciation of a thoroughgoing program of pastoral formation, intentionally specified that every SMP pastor, even while serving in such exceptional, tightly defined
individual contexts, is to work under the permanent, direct
supervision of a general ministry pastor and thus is never to
carry out his duties in the pastoral office in an independent
manner. Men who are formed, called, and ordained under the
SMP route are to serve in exceptional, tightly defined contexts, but after a 16-year history of experience with the SMP
program, the PFC is of the opinion that the Synod would
now benefit greatly from far better clarity with respect to exactly what constitutes such contexts today. Generally speaking, such contexts should be thoughtfully identified and assessed by the congregation in careful consultation with the
district (especially the district president). The determination
to use the SMP route should not be a “choice made among
route-to-ordination alternatives” by a man only desiring to
serve somewhere, even in his local context, in the pastoral
office. In creating the SMP route and acknowledging the role
that distance learning would play in its implementation, the
Synod’s objective was not simply to offer a nonresidential
distance learning alternative to the residential MDiv route.
Some argue that the SMP route offers significant “pluses”
2023 Convention Workbook