LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 188

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188 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

WHEREAS, The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
states, “From all these facts it is evident that the church retains the
right of electing and ordaining ministers” (72); and

WHEREAS, Our Synod has begun to feel the effects of the short-
age of pastors: and

Wuereas, God has gifted some laymen to function within the
office of the pastoral ministry; therefore be it

Resolved, That Districts work with local congregations to pro-
vide a process of training laymen to serve in the pastoral ministry
for the local congregation; and be it further

Resolved, That the laymen would serve under the direct super-
vision of a graduate of one of our synodically accredited seminar-
ies; and be it finally

Resolved, That these laymen be given opportunities withtn the
Concordia University System and the seminaries for continuing ed-
ucatton.

Faith
Bentonville, AR

3-98

To Expand Lay Assistant Training Programs

WHEREAS, There is already a critical shortage of pastors in the
Mid-South District and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod;
and

WHEREAS, That shortage will continue to increase for the fore-
seeable future as more pastors retire or leave the pastoral ministry
for other reasons; and

WHEREAS, There are already a large number of small congrega-
tions who cannot afford a full-time or part-time pastor because of
financial restraints; and

WuerEaS, The Mid-South District and The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod are opening new missions each year and want to
even expand that number; and

WHEREAS, The two seminaries of The Lutheran Church—Mis-
souri Synod have not graduated for the past few years the number
of pastors needed to meet present needs, much less future missions;
and

Wuersas. The Lay Assistant Training Program based at Trinity
Lutheran Church in Memphis and in other locations in the
Mid-South District is effectively training dedicated and gifted lay-
men for Word ministry; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention in 2001 voice its con-
sent for the critical need of qualified, trained Lay Assistants tn con-
gregations wherc their service is desperately needed; and be it fur-
ther

Resolved, That the Synod encourage the two seminaries, the
Board for High Education, and the Districts to look for ways to ex-
pand the numbers and locations of qualified Lay Assistant Training
Programs; and be it finally

Resolved, That the Synod President and appropriate staff work
with the District Presidents, pastors, and congregations of the
Synod to raise up more qualified Lay Assistants who can be trained
in District-qualified programs and placed tn mintstries where they
are critically needed.

Trinity
Memphis, TN

3-99

To Permit Lay Leadership of Worship Services

WHEREAS, The CTCR’s document Women in the Church states
on pages 42-43 that the laity should not preach in the services of
the congregation and should not lead formal public services of wor-
ship; and

WHEREAS, The synodical President in his Prestdent’s newsletter
of October 2000 states: “It is wholly inappropriate for a man who

2001 Convention Workbook

has not been called and ordained to the office of the public, pas-
toral ministry to consecrate the elements of Communion” and “Any
talk that this is a function that any layman should do in the congre-
gation finds no support in faithful Lutheran doctrinal literature”;
and

WuerEAS, While the Augsburg Confession, Art. XIV, states:
“Our churches teach that nobody should preach publicly in the
church or administer the Sacraments unless he is regularly called”:
and

WHEREAS, The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
states:
For wherever the church exists, the right to administer the
Gospel also exists. Wheretore it is necessary for the church to
retain the right of calling, electing, and ordaining ministers.
This right is a gift given exclusively to the church, and no
human authority can take it away from the church. It is as Paul
testifies to the Ephesians when he says, “When He ascended on
high He gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8. 11, 12). He enumcrates
pastors and teachers among the gifts belonging exclusively to
the church, and he adds that they are given for the work of min-
istry and for building up the body of Christ. Where the true
church is, therefore, the right of electing and ordaining minis-
ters must of necessity also be. So in an emergency even a lay-
man absolves and becomes the minister and pastor of another. It
is like the example which Augustine relates of two Christians in
a ship, one of whom baptized the other (a catechumen), and the
latter, after his Baptism, absolved the former. Here the words of
Christ apply which testify that the keys were given to the church
and not merely to certain individuals: “Where two or three are
gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them™ (Matt.
18:20) (67-68);
and
WHEREAS, Francis Pieper writes concerning “The Public Min-
istry” in Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3:

Luther observes: “Now, these are the men who should su-
pervise all offices, that the teachers tend to their office. are not
negligent, that the deacons distribute the gifts fairly and are not
remiss” (St. L., X11:338). Again: “To whomever the office of
preaching is committed, to him the highest office in Christen-
dom is committed: he may than also baptize, celebrate Mass {the
Lord’s Supper], and perform all the care of souls [Seelsorge]:
or, if he prefers not to, he may tend only to the preaching and
leave the baptizing and other auxiliary functions to others, as
Christ did, and Paul, and all Apostles, Acts 6” (St. L. X:1548).

And further:

Though the public ministry, which the congregation confers
mediately by a call, must be maintained as a divine ordinance,
still no absolute necessity dare be ascribed to it. The Holy Ghost
is active to generate and sustain faith in the hearts of men also
when lay Christians preach the Gospel from inner necessity as
well as according to God's command. ... Of this Luther says:
“It may happen that the world will become so utterly epicurean
that we shall have no public ministry in atl the world and the
preaching will be solely epicurean outrage and that the Gospel
will be preserved only in the homes by the fathers” (St.
L.VI:938). (p. 449)

Again, Pieper writes:

The incumbents of the public ministry are correctly called
the public servants among the Christians. ... The Word and
Sacrament, in which they minister, are and remain the immedi-
ate property of the congregation, and merely the administration
of them in the name of ail is delegated to these certain persons
by the congregation. ... Walther: “The public ministry is not a
special order, distinct from and holier than the common order
of Christians, as the priesthood of the Levites was, but is an ot-
tice of service” (Kirche und Amt, p. 221). In this sense, too, the
Smalcald Articles say that “the Church is above the ministers”
(Power and Primacy of the Pope, 11). The Church and its min-
isters have the relation to each other as employer and employee
or owner and steward. ... It is surprising that even some Luther-
ans criticize the statement that the public office is committed
(C‘uebertragen”) to qualified men by the congregations through
the issuance of a call. But the term must be declared adequate if
only the teaching of Scripture is maintained that Word and