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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 331

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

PASTORAL MINISTRY AND SEMINARIES
(d) The ministers of religion—ordained records maintained by
district presidents as well as the official membership roster of the
Synod, shall include the ordained minister under whose
supervision a specific ministry pastor serves.
(e) At any time, a specific ministry pastor may continue his
education through the seminaries. Upon completion of the
requirements and certification by a seminary, he shall be
considered a minister of religion—ordained without the
limitations above.
(1) His district president shall be responsible for informing
the Secretary of Synod of the change in roster status.
(2) His district president shall publish this change in status in
an official periodical of the Synod.
(3) If the minister is on restricted status solely because his
previous call had terminated within the previous 12 months,
this restriction shall be removed without the need for
application.
(4) If the minister is currently an inactive member of the
Synod, unless he has restricted or suspended status, he shall be
eligible for placement through the Council of Presidents acting
as the Board of Assignments or become a candidate.
(f) When a specific ministry pastor serves within a parish which
is also served by an ordained minister who is not a specific
ministry pastor, then that specific ministry pastor shall be
supervised by a pastor of that parish.
(g) When a specific ministry pastor serves in a parish which is
not served by an ordained minister who is not a specific ministry
pastor, then the specific ministry pastor shall be supervised by an
ordained minister who resides within the visitation circuit
containing the parish or within similar physical proximity.
(h) Excepting the district president, no ordained minister may
supervise more than one specific ministry pastor, unless such is
required by Bylaw 2.13.1 (f) above.

St. John
Holbrook, NY
Ov. 6-17

To Call for Re-evaluation
of Specific Ministry Pastor Program
WHEREAS, The Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program finds its
ancestry in the Lay Minister program, the Licensed Lay Deacon
(LLD) program, and the Distance Education Leading To Ordination
(DELTO) program; and
WHEREAS, The 1989 Synod convention instituted the Lay
Minister program in 1989 Resolution 3-05B, “To Adopt
Recommendations of Lay Worker Study Committee Report as
Amended,” resolving that “… when no pastor is available, and in
the absence of any specific Scriptural directives to the contrary,
congregations may arrange for the performance of [the distinctive
functions of the pastoral office] by qualified individuals, lest God’s
people be deprived of the opportunity for corporate worship and the
celebration of the sacraments,” (1989 Proceedings, 112); and
WHEREAS, 2007 Res. 5-01B, “To Establish Specific Ministry
Pastor Program,” established the DELTO program to “provide
ordained pastoral service to congregations that cannot support a
full-time pastor, ordained pastoral service to contexts where English
is not spoken, ordained missionary personnel where finances and/or
conditions do not permit calling a full-time missionary,” (2007
Proceedings, 136); and
WHEREAS, In short, the specific problem these original programs
were intending to remedy was the need for Word and Sacrament

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ministry in congregations or contexts that could not afford a fulltime pastor such as small congregations; and
WHEREAS, The SMP program, as it is currently utilized, has far
exceeded this original purpose (e.g., a large congregation, which
has a pastor and can afford additional pastors, ordaining a SMP
pastor, whose ministry is neither extraordinary, nor all that
specific); therefore be it
Resolved, That in light of the variations of use of this program
within our Synod and the original intent behind its creation, the
Council of Presidents in consultation with Concordia Seminary and
Concordia Theological Seminary re-evaluate the SMP program
with the possibility of restricting those as men serving
congregations of less than 300 baptized members.
Circuit 26 (Racine)
South Wisconsin District
Ov. 6-18

To Support the Synod’s
Specific Ministry Pastor Program
WHEREAS, There is a severe shortage of pastors and church
workers anticipated in the near future; and
WHEREAS, The Synod, gathered in convention in 2007, created
another path to ordination with the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP)
program thus enabling more men to become ordained as SMPs; and
WHEREAS, There are not enough eligible students preparing for
church work in the current seminary program to meet the current,
much less future needs of the church; and
WHEREAS, Many congregations are currently without pastors or
other needed church workers; and
WHEREAS, The Southeastern District in its 2022 convention
voted to forward this overture to the 2023 Synod convention for
consideration; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod expand its current support of the SMP
program by increasing funding and expanding enrollment.
Southeastern District
Ov. 6-19

To Support the Synod’s
Specific Ministry Pastor Program
WHEREAS, There is a severe shortage of pastors and church
workers anticipated in the near future; and
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS),
gathered in convention in 2007, created another path to ordination
with the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program thus enabling
more men to become ordained as Specific Ministry Pastors; and
WHEREAS, The SMP program has already enabled several
circuits of the Southeastern District to benefit from the SMP
program including 27 SMP pastors currently serving congregations
and eight other students who are enrolled in the program; and
WHEREAS, There are not enough eligible students preparing for
church work in the current seminary program to meet the current,
much less future, needs of the church; and
WHEREAS, Many congregations are currently without pastors or
other needed church workers; therefore be it

2023 Convention Workbook