LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 385

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—-COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 385

in writing. This report was to include an evaluation of the candi-
date’s teaching and life, his nature and conduct. The superinten-
dent would then obtain princely confirmation of the call, after
which he could proceed with ordination, if necessary, and installa-
tion. Such a candidate was also to submit to a theological exami-
nation before the court preachers of the dukes and his chaplains,
with a trial sermon (often called a Probepredigt as one part of their
review).° ,

In Albertine Saxony, to which the electoral title and the lands
around Wittenberg passed in 1547, procedures were similar, al-
though with variations. Town councils and congregations were to
choose their pastors and then send them to the superintendent. The
superintendent would conduct the examination of the candidate’s
teaching and life before sending him on to Wittenberg with his and
the town council’s recommendation. There the new candidate
would be confirmed by the elector, further examined by the theo-
logical faculty, and then ordained.*! After the publication of the
Formula of Concord in 1580 Jacob Andreae and his colleagues
composed a new ecclesiastical constitution for Elector August. It
provided rather extensive details regarding candidates for the pas-
toral office. Andreae and his colleagues were concerned that no
congregation have a pastor imposed on them against their will.
Local governmental officers were to make certain that no nomina-
tion come from the local congregation through its superintendent
unless the congregation had first heard “several public sermons”
from the candidate. The superintendent also had to ask the people
of the congregation whether they had any objections to this man
becoming their pastor.*”

It must be remembered, of course, that our situation in the
twenty-first century is not identical with that of the sixteenth cen-
tury (e.g., government officials are not involved in the process).
Moreover, the examples taken from the written constitutions ex-
press the ideals of the church leaders, not necessarily everyday
practice. Also remarkable is the fact that many ecclesiastical con-
stitutions do not provide any specific directions for the procedure.

C. F. W. Walther and The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod

Because of the circumstances surrounding the founding of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, C. F. W. Walther wrote exten-
sively on the topic of the call. The origins of the Synod’s position
on church and ministry can be traced to a debate at Altenburg, Mis-
souri. Church and ministry continued to be topics of debate in con-
tacts with J. A. A. Grabau and J. K. W. Loehe. Since Walther was
responsible for the Missouri Synod’s foundation and organization,
he found it necessary to address the topic frequently over the
years.**

Obtaining a Pastor

A key work for this discussion of the theology and practice of
the divine call is Walther’s The Proper Form of an Evangelical
Lutheran Local Congregation Independent of the State (referred to
briefly as Rechte Gestalt) in which he applied the theology of his
work on Church and Ministry (Kirche und Amt) to the congrega-
tion.** Walther wrote the former work to address the question of
how a congregation should order itself in a country that perceives
the relationship between the government and church in signifi-
cantly different terms than did Germany. Call procedures had to be
thought through in a fresh manner from the ground up.

Lutherans have elected ministers in various ways. However,
Walther does not identify any particular way as more divine or cor-
rect than another. Instead, he seeks the way that is best for the
church here in America, one that we may call “the proper form”
(Die Rechte Gestalt)—a form in which there is no tyranny of the
pastor over the people or of the people over the pastor. In this way
“he helps his readers recognize that they are part of a larger his-

tory, with all its resources, rather than imagining that they are
alone, all there is to the church, or the first to face such prob-
lems.”"*5

Walther deals with the issue of the divine call in Chapter III,
Part Two, under the heading “Concerning the Exercise of the Duty
of a Congregation to See to It that the Word of God Dwells Richly
and Prevails in Its Midst.’** He begins by stressing that it is not op-
tional for the congregation to decide whether or not it should es-
tablish and maintain the public ministry in its midst. Appropriate
care of a congregation requires that it elect and call a pastor. With
this as his premise Walther then proceeds to discuss the manner of
calling someone to fill the office. As he describes the process he
identifies, defines, and lays out a number of the terms used during
the Reformation, particularly with reference to election, call, ex-
amination, and ordination.

The election entails several steps. First, a congregation, “if pos-
sible, should seek the advice of one or more pastors who already
have gained experience in the ministry, take advantage of their
counseling, and entrust them with the management of the public
election, provided they can be present” (63). Second, “every voting
member,” those who represent the congregation. “may suggest a
candidate”(63). Third, the eligibility of the candidates is to be dis-
cussed on the basis of 1 Tim 3:2-7, Titus 1:6-9, and 2 Tim 2:15,
24—26. Fourth, the one who receives most or all of the votes “‘is re-
garded and accepted as the one called by God through the congre-
gation” (64).*’

On the basis of the election a document of vocation (Vocation-
surkunde) is drawn up, read to the congregation, approved, and
signed by the elders in the name of the congregation. The docu-
ment obliges the pastor to preach in accord with the Scriptures and
the Lutheran Confessions. In the document of vocation the congre-
gation shall also state at the same time “that it will recognize the
person called as its shepherd, teacher, and watchman, that it will
accept the Word of divine proclamation from him as God’s Word,
that it will obey him, love him, be at peace with him, honor him,
support him; all this on the basis of the following passages [quota-
tion of texts omitted here]: Luke 10:16, 38; 1 Thess. 5:12; 2:13;
Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess 5:13; 1 Tim. 5:17; Luke 10:7; 1 Cor. 9:13, 14;
and Gal. 6:6"(64-65). The congregation thereby has committed it-
self to heed the pastor as one called to speak the Word of God.

Third, there follows examination and ordination.

If the person called [der Erwahlte: elected] accepts the vocation
[den Beruf. call], the congregation shall present him, if possible, to
orthodox pastors who already are in the ministry [office] (Acts
6:6....), in order that they might prove or examine him if this has
not yet been done (1 Tim. 3:10....). Then shall they declare, oblig-
ate, and confirm him by public ordination according to apostolic
order (1 Tim. 4:14....) or else publicly and solemnly induct him into
his office [installation] (Acts 13:2,3....) (65).

According to Walther, this public ordination declares that the
one being ordained has been properly called.”

Length of a Call

Walther’s thinking on the length of a call was shaped by two
pastoral concerns that had arisen in the face of developments in his
day that undermined the pastoral office and its work. First, in his
Pastoral Theology (Pastoraltheologie) Walther cites approvingly
a statement from Joachim Morlin. M6rlin rejects the argument of
those who insist that since they pay the pastor’s salary, they can
hire and fire him at will, thus treating “the call of the preacher as
nothing other than a contract of the kind made with a cow- or sow-
herder.’’*' Second, Walther rejects the practice of licensing candi-
dates for a’set period of time as had been customary among Luther-
ans in eastern America. In 1846 he wrote, “Unfortunately it has
become customary in our country to hire ministers for one year,
even as we hire our servants and cattle herders. . . . Even in emer-
gencies these calls with a time limit cannot be justified.”

2004 Convention Workbook