LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 336

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PASTORAL MINISTRY AND SEMINARIES
active service as pastors in another Christian church
body/denomination may apply for colloquy.
Men who have prepared for pastoral ministry but, at the time
of application, are not in active service as pastors: Such
applicants must be graduates of a program of study that leads
to ordination, from an accredited institution, with no fewer
than 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of required
academic credit. Applicants with prior pastoral service must
provide the date (month and year) and the reason (e.g.,
retirement, resignation, dismissal) their active service ended.
Such an applicant also must have been a communicant
member in good standing in a congregation of the LCMS for
at least two years immediately prior to the time of
application. This category does not apply to LCMS members
who while members of LCMS congregations have obtained
Master of Divinity degrees outside the LCMS.

and
WHEREAS, The colloquy committee has shown discernment over
the years, recognizing that qualified men may not fit into the current
policy manual categories; and
WHEREAS, Men who have been long-time members in good
standing in congregations of the LCMS, but are graduates of
programs of study leading to ordination from an accredited
institution outside the LCMS (meeting all necessary academic
credit requirements), are not afforded he same opportunity to apply
for colloquy, but must enroll in the Residential Alternate Route
(RAR) program (requiring a two year residential academic program
at one of our two seminaries and a one year vicarage) before
becoming a general ordination pastor in the LCMS; therefore be it
Resolved, That the California-Nevada-Hawaii District
memorialize the 2023 Synod convention to examine additional
routes for colloquy including online, hybrid, and routes for
members in good standing in LCMS congregations who have
graduated from programs of study leading to ordination from
outside the seminaries of the LCMS (satisfying all the necessary
academic credit requirements) to become general ordination pastors
by way of the colloquy process, without enrolling in the RAR
program.
California-Nevada-Hawaii District
Ov. 6-27

To Reaffirm Traditional Discretionary Authority
of Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral Ministry
WHEREAS, The 2013 convention of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod (LCMS) adopted Resolution 5-14A, “To Conduct
Study of Alternate Routes to Pastoral Ministry” (Proceedings, 155),
which resolved:
That the Synod President appoint a task force … to conduct a
study of the non-Master of Divinity routes to the Pastoral Office,
and that it report its findings and the recommendations regarding
the appropriateness of each route, the optimal number of such
routes, etc., to the Synod President by the end of 2015 for action
at the 2016 Synod convention;
and
WHEREAS, The 2016 convention of the Synod adopted Res. 1304B, “To Clarify Colloquy Requirements” (Proceedings, 239–40),
which reads, in part:

2023 Convention Workbook

The task force has concluded that all the several means by which
the church recruits, trains, and certifies men to be placed into the
pastoral office are both appropriate and needed for the life and
mission of our Synod and ought be recognized as such by the
Synod. The task force recommends that the Synod by resolution
recognize that each of the means we have for the church to recruit
and train men for pastoral office is appropriate and needed;
and
WHEREAS, The same 2016 Res. 13-04B went on to add a new
provision to the Synod’s Bylaws, Bylaw 3.10.2.4, which reads:
The LCMS laymen and commissioned ministers who receive a
Master of Divinity or equivalent degree from a non-LCMS
seminary may seek certification for call and placement in the
Synod by participating in the Residential Alternate Route
program of one of the seminaries of the Synod, if otherwise
eligible for admission to the seminary.
and
WHEREAS, The current Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral
Ministry is interpreting the language “may seek certification for call
and placement in the Synod by” of Bylaw 3.10.2.4 to mean “may
seek certification for call and placement in the Synod only by,” such
that Bylaw 3.10.2.4 does not merely provide a permissible route for
such men to be certified but establishes the only route; and
WHEREAS, By this interpretation, the addition of Bylaw 3.10.2.4
would not recognize “that all the several means by which the church
recruits, trains, and certifies men to be placed into the pastoral office
are both appropriate and needed for the life and mission of our
Synod” but rather would remove one of those means—namely, the
means by which some LCMS laymen and commissioned ministers
who receive a Master of Divinity or equivalent from a non-LCMS
seminary might be certified by colloquy without necessarily
required participation in a Residential Alternate Route (RAR)
program; and
WHEREAS, Because the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod
did not previously require that all LCMS laymen and commissioned
ministers who receive a Master of Divinity or equivalent from a
non-LCMS seminary participate in the RAR program (a program
that includes approximately two years of coursework), Bylaw
3.10.2.4, under this interpretation, has introduced a profoundly
consequential change in practice—which change did not receive
proportionate attention, study, or debate within the Synod before its
adoption; and
WHEREAS, Historically the Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral
Ministry has had authority to make case-by-case determinations
regarding requirements appropriate for a given colloquy applicant,
including authority to grant exemptions to the standard
requirements in its own published policies, in order to account for
unique situations; and
WHEREAS, Because, under this interpretation, this new
requirement has been placed into the Synod’s Bylaws, the
Committee no longer has authority to grant an exemption from this
requirement, even in cases where an applicant’s situation clearly
warrants an exemption and would have been granted one
previously; and
WHEREAS, While residential study at one of the Synod’s
seminaries is the preferred option for preparation for pastoral
ministry, it is not an absolute necessity, as attested to by the number
of ministers of religion—ordained of the Synod, past and present,