LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 135

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SEMINARY AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
student’s application will be presented to the admissions
committee of the seminary for action. As part of the application process, each student, sponsoring congregation, and
district will sign a covenant of commitment to complete the
entire specific ministry pastor curriculum, including all
coursework and seminars following examination and ordination.
Step 2: Preordination Curriculum
Upon entrance into the Specific Ministry Pastor Program, the student will be assigned as a vicar in a specific locality but normally will not be authorized to administer the
Sacraments. He will preach sermons prepared in collaboration with and approved by his supervisor. At this point,
he will participate in courses and seminars comparable to
those offered to residential seminary students designed to
prepare him in the following areas:
• Catechism, hermeneutical principles, God and Christ,
work of Christ, the Sacraments, worship, the Book of Concord, and preaching
• Possible residential seminars: intro to pastoral formation;
issues in pastoral ministry
• Possible field seminars: basic mission planter training,
etc.
Step 3: Certification/Call/Ordination
After demonstrating competence in the preordination
areas, the student must apply for an examination hearing
by the seminary in order to be certified for call and ordination. Each student will be evaluated on a case-by-case
basis. The examination hearing shall include a review of
the student’s portfolio, vicarage reports, an interview by the
faculty, and recommendations by the district president and
circuit counselor.
After certification, call, and ordination according to the
usual order, the student is placed on the pastoral roster of
the Synod as a “specific ministry pastor.” He now may
preach and administer the Sacraments under supervision
in a specific locality.
Step 4: Post-Call and Ordination Curriculum
Upon call and ordination, the student shall complete the
remainder of the Specific Ministry Pastor Program. The following areas are intended to continue development of the
foundational competencies necessary for serving as a specific ministry pastor:
• OT content and theology, NT content and theology, gifts
of Christ, body of Christ, Church history and the history of
Lutheranism, Christian education, pastoral theology, and
theology of missions
• Residential seminars, possibly including pastoral formation, issues in pastoral ministry, team ministry, urban
ministry, and spiritual formation
• Field seminars, possibly including basic mission planter
training, edge gathering, and advanced mission planter
training
Refusal to complete the Specific Ministry Pastor Program would result in the pastor’s removal from the Synod
roster, at which point he is not eligible for a call.

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Step 5: Completion of the Specific Ministry Pastor
Program
Upon completion of the program, the candidate is examined by a committee of faculty, laity, and district representatives in order to be recognized as eligible for calls elsewhere within his rostered status. Apart from the usual
need for continuing education, he is not required to take
any further prescribed course of studies (but see below).
Specific ministry pastors are recognized as just that:
pastors certified for calls into specific ministry contexts,
who serve under the supervision not only of the district
president but also of a designated general ministry pastor.
As such, they are eligible for calls into a similar specific
ministry context, where they continue under the supervision of a general ministry pastor.
Because their theological education is formed within the
context of their specific ministry and does not represent the
breadth and depth of theology and ecclesiology that forms a
basis for pastoral oversight beyond the local level, they may
not be placed into ecclesiastical roles of exercising pastoral
oversight outside the location of their specific call (i.e., in
the church-at-large), such as
a. holding elected or appointed office at the district or
Synod level that is assigned by the Bylaws to “a pastor”
or “an ordained minister” (though they will serve in all
other capacities, especially representing the ministerial contexts in which they serve);
b. serving as circuit counselors;
c. serving as a voting delegate to a national Synod convention (but they may serve as an advisory delegate at
national conventions and as a pastoral delegate at
district conventions); and
d. supervising vicars.
Step 6: Continued Service and Status
Students who have completed the Specific Ministry Pastor Program may decide to remain in their rostered status
as “specific ministry pastor” for the remainder of their ministry, or they may choose to pursue a growth path that
leads to a change in roster status to “general ministry pastor.” It is envisioned that most students will pursue the second path, either through an M.Div. route or nondegree certification. Thus, they have three options:
1. They may remain rostered as a specific ministry
pastor.
2. They may enroll in an M.Div. program. It is anticipated that coursework done for the Specific Ministry
Pastor Program may become applicable to an M.Div.,
determined by equivalencies.
3. They may continue their theological education and
pastoral formation, reaching a level appropriate to
general ministry pastor without a full M.Div. (cf. current
“alternate route”) and then complete an interview with
an examining board in order to have their rostered
status changed to “general ministry pastor.”
Resolution
WHEREAS, The DELTO Oversight Committee was
formed by the 2001 convention and given the task “to revise DELTO”; and
2007 Convention Proceedings