LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 321

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FLOOR COMMITTEES: REPORT AND OVERTURE ASSIGNMENTS

6. Pastoral Ministry and Seminaries
REPORTS
R1, R1.2, R1.2.2–R1.2.3, R2.1, R5.2,
R13–R13.2, R60
OVERTURES
Ov. 6-01

To Affirm and Strengthen
Set Apart to Serve in Word and Action
WHEREAS, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers
are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37–38); and
WHEREAS, Laborers are few and needed in every generation to
the present for the millions of people, both domestic and
international, who do not yet believe in Jesus Christ and confess
Him as Lord and Savior, for new church starts in domestic
communities, for the identified need for over 100 new international
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) missionaries within
the next several years, and for the need for capable theological
educators both here in the U.S. and abroad; and
WHEREAS, The 67th Regular Convention of the Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod in July 2019 adopted Resolution 6-01 to:
… commend, financially support, and directly participate in this
comprehensive, multi-year church worker recruitment initiative
with (but not limited to) the following objectives:
• identifying, catechizing, encouraging, and supporting
young boys and girls for church worker vocations;
• instilling church worker vocations as sacred and joyful,
a “calling from God,” vocations of integrity and
fulfillment, grounded in Christ and baptismal salvation;
• developing the “whole person” throughout this
formation
process:
spiritually,
in
character,
confessionally, physically, emotionally, synodically,
and intellectually;
• supporting, encouraging, and caring for existing church
workers for the welfare of the workers, for the
proclamation and witness of the Gospel, and for workers
to be healthy advocates of next generation church
workers (Proceedings, 158);
and
WHEREAS, This initiative is known as Set Apart to Serve and
encompasses the initial youth phase (infant baptism–12th grade)
and a second phase focusing on second career individuals who may
be considering professional church work vocations; and
WHEREAS, Set Apart to Serve is being developed through the
collaboration of key stakeholders, including the two LCMS
seminaries (including their Vocatio and Christ Academy programs),
Concordia university institutions, LCMS Youth Ministry, LCMS
School Ministry, LCMS Mission Advancement, LCMS
Communications, Concordia Publishing House (CPH), Concordia
Plan Services (CPS), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Foundation, all 35 LCMS districts and district presidents, 36 pilot
program participants, Higher Things, Wittenberg Academy,

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Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF), National Lutheran
Outdoors Ministry Association (NLOMA), Lutheran Education
Association, Association of Lutheran Secondary Schools, and the
St. Louis, Mo.-based marketing and communications firm, Standing
Partnership, as well as others; and
WHEREAS, Set Apart to Serve has received the active attention of
beloved LCMS contributors who are firmly committed to and
engaged in supporting the Set Apart to Serve pilot project, CPH
curriculum, the second-career phase, and sustaining a long-term
culture of church work formation and recruitment in the Synod; and
WHEREAS, Set Apart to Serve is currently in the midst of its pilot
program involving a congregation and/or school from all 35
districts and 1 NLOMA camp, testing Set Apart to Serve church
work recruitment strategies and resources, which will be made
freely available synodwide by the end of calendar year 2023; and
WHEREAS, CPH, in partnership with Set Apart to Serve, is
developing a 4-part church work recruitment curriculum for all ages
and which all LCMS schools, missionaries, districts, universities,
seminaries, and others will receive this curriculum at no charge
through the generosity of LCEF and our Concordia universities; and
WHEREAS, Set Apart to Serve is collaborating with the LCMS
Office of National Mission, CPS, Concordia universities and
seminaries, districts and congregations, Standing Partnership, and
other key partners to address church worker wellness, which
includes including student debt, compensation and benefits, care
and encouragement of church workers, worker appreciation, and
spiritual, physical and emotional well-being; therefore be it
Resolved, That LCMS congregation members and families,
church workers, congregations, schools and recipients of the
ministry of LCMS church workers and institutions be encouraged
intentionally to pray for more ordained and commissioned workers
in the church, for the continued and increased proclamation of the
Gospel of Christ; and be it further
Resolved, That everyone in the LCMS, including key influencers
(pastors, parents, teachers, deaconesses, directors of Christian
education, youth workers, congregation members, and other church
workers) be urged to intentionally encourage youth and adults to
consider full-time church work; and be it further
Resolved, That congregations, schools, missionaries, and all
recipients of the forthcoming CPH curriculum be strongly
encouraged to use Set Apart to Serve strategies, resources, and
curriculum; and be it finally
Resolved, That all primary agencies of Synod (i.e., boards,
commissions, councils and committees, seminaries and universities,
districts, CPS, and each synodwide corporate entity) are requested
to endorse, advocate, and engage with Set Apart to Serve by publicly
obvious means and actions as we strive together to accomplish one
of the Synod’s crucial official objectives, to “Recruit and train
pastors, teachers, and other professional church workers and
provide opportunity for their continuing growth” (Constitution
Article III 3) in our life together.
Pastoral Formation Committee
Ov. 6-02

To Pray Harvest Prayer (Luke 10:2)
WHEREAS, The Lord has compassion for all who are “harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36) and he
came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10); and
2023 Convention Workbook