LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 437

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 437

ences That Keep Us from Caring for Souls (Wheaton: Crossway
Books), 2000.
_51. CTCR Report, 32.

52. C. F. W. Walther, Pastoral Theology, 269.

53. See Appendix D, where Chemnitz describes the procedures
of the call, for additional insights.

54. CTCR Report, 33.

55. See Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly 16, no. |
(April 1943): 2-18 for the Synod’s 1847 Constitution (10,
VI.A.12).

56. Current Bylaw 2.45 a of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod states only that congregations are to “‘seek the advice” of the
District President. They are not required to follow his advice about
which pastor to call.

57. What exactly is the objection to someone in a vacant con-
gregation asking a relative or friend in another congregation to rec-
ommend a good pastor? The onset of networked telecommunica-
tions has certainly made hierarchical control mechanisms more
difficult to enforce.

58. Ecclesial officials and staff not serving in active Word and
Sacrament ministry are nothing more than administrators, even
though ordained. Their “call” has no more stature than that of
someone in any other vocation. Since they serve in auxiliary of-
fices, and not the one office of the Holy Ministry, limiting their
tenure does no violence to the Divine Call. No layperson or con-
gregation will find the means of grace restricted thereby. Profes-
sors of theology, however, do serve in the Predigtamt or Teaching
Ministry, which partakes of the one office of the Holy Ministry. To
limit their tenure is to hinder the free course of the Word of God in
our midst. (See Appendix B.)

59. CTCR Report, 37.

60. Marquart, “The Ministry, Confessionally Speaking,” 27.

61. J. P. Beyer, Vom Beruf zum Amt der Kirchendiener, LCMS
Eastern District Proceedings, 1889, 16-45, as translated by and
quoted in Marquart, “The Ministry, Confessionally Speaking,”
28-29.

62. CTCR Report, 37.

63. Cf. 1 Cor. 9:4-14.

64. CTCR Report, 36.

65. CTCR Report, 39.

66. This terminology needs to be challenged since it contains a
contradiction (exposed here). See also Appendix A, footnote 97.

67. Appendix E provides information on the Intentional Interim
District Program of one LCMS District, along with sources for fur-
ther reading on the I[M concept. The 2001 synodical convention
requested that this concept be addressed in further detail.

The 1981 CTCR Report on The Ministry approaches the con-
cept: “Even in such emergency situations a congregation properly
requests a man who does hold the office of the public ministry and
is serving as pastor in a neighboring congregation to assume that
office for them as ‘vacancy pastor’ or ‘interim overseer’ ” (16).
This statement presumes (1) he serves in a neighboring congrega-
tion, and therefore (2) he has a Divine Call. Yet if the congrega-
tion deliberately delays its “permanent” call, how can this be un-
derstood as “an emergency situation”?

68. It seems inconceivable that an Intentional Interim Minister
would actually deny the Sacrament to a manifest public sinner—
how would the ITM know? Yet if the ITM did so, and his decision
were challenged or appealed, would his own tenuous stature in the
congregation not quickly come to the fore?

69. CTCR Report, 42.

70. CTCR Report, 43.

71. CTCR Report, 44.

72. Perhaps this is why the CTCR Report attempts to mollify
the pastors it may threaten by proposing “When a man has been re-
moved from the office for reasons that come under the third cause

listed above, it is possible that following a period of repentance,
counsel, and rehabilitation, a man could once again become eligible
for a call” (43).

73. Marquart, “The Ministry, Confessionally Speaking,” 26-27.

74. CTCR Report, 44.

75. CTCR Report, 44-45.

76. Perhaps Acts 26:14 would do: “Saul, Saul, why are you per-
secuting Me? It is difficult for you to kick against the goads,” since
(to alliterate) the goal is to goad him to growth.

77. The CTCR Report states that “in most instances such a per-
son continues to be recognized as a pastor” without specifying the
instances in which he does not (46).

78. CTCR Report, 46.

79. CTCR Report, 46.

80. Too many statements in the CTCR Report have questioned
or nibbled at this principle.

81. Complete the following sentence: “As a_____ and ordained
servant of the Word, I forgive you all of your sins ...”” Exactly what
does such a “fill-in” pastor say when he pronounces the absolution
in the Divine Service? Where is his Call, and from whom?

82. This could aptly be described as “‘the office of Private Min-
istry.” Cf. Luther’s condemnation of private masses.

83. Compensation is negotiable provided 1:Tim. 5:1 is kept in
view: “ “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,’ and
‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.’ ” Unless the motive is com-
passion for the poor, there is no theological reason to pay a man
with a reduced set of responsibilities on scale with a “full-time”
pastor.

84. Author unknown,
(Lutheran Worship 263:2), ;

85. Gustav Wingren, Luther on Vocation (Evansville: Ballast
Press, 1986). ,

86. Wingren, 1, footnote 1.

87. Wingren, 1.

88. Wingren, 2.

89. Wingren, 4.

90. Wingren, 6.

91. Wingren, 9.

92. “The earlier cloistered monks of the papacy were actually
easier to understand. The newer monks are more difficult to keep
off the conscience. ‘They do not wear cowls, but put on other spe-
cia] demeanor, pretend great devotion and sanctity by solemn faces,
grey garb and hardness of life’ ’ (Wingren, quoting Luther’s Ser-
mon on the Mount commentary, 89).

93. “Conscience does not find peace through any work. Here it
is only the Gospel which is fully effective. In addition it is neces-
sary to know that one’s works are those God has commanded.”
Wingren, 76. In this connection it should be noted that Wingren
summarizes here from Luther’s Commentary on Galatians, and
States in a footnote: “The special vocation which Luther here dis-
cusses is that of the office of the ministry.”

94. “For his part, a churchman must abstain from all earthly
weapons, from all coercion and lust for worldly power; for the
Word is to use no outward force” (Wingren, 114).

95. Another excellent resource for broadening and deepening
one’s understanding of these terms and issues is the 1994 CTCR
Report on Spiritual Gifts. That Report also has application to the
“specialization” of ministries and its implications for calling pro-
cedures (discussed elsewhere in this Report).

96. The CTCR Report notes in an opening footnote that “Con-
clusions may then be drawn about calls of individuals into auxiliary
offices to the extent that these participate in and support the office
of the public ministry. As the Commission has noted in its 1981 re-
port, auxiliary offices are those established by the church: ‘Those
who are called to service in them are authorized to perform certain
function(s) of the office of the public ministry. These offices are

“Send, O Lord, Your Holy Spirit”

2004 Convention Workbook