LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 207

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

SEMINARY AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION 207

WHEREAS, Those who would regularly provide pastoral ministry
should do so from within the Office of the Public Ministry and be
placed into that office by the public action of the church through
certification, call, and the laying on of hands (AC XIV); and

Wuereas, A variety of programs and routes leading to pastoral
service have arisen at both district and seminary levels; and

WHEREAS, The DELTO Oversight Committee, after concluding
its original assignment, was given the further assignment by the
President of Synod to “‘study the various routes leading to ordina-
tion currently available, to study which routes leading to ordina-
tion would be most helpful to the Synod in. producing a sufficient
number of able and effective pastors to provide leadership to
Synod’s congregations in fulfilling the Great Commission”; and

WHEREAS, In carrying out this further task, it was apparent that

a. the existing focus of DELTO, even as it was redesigned and re-
deployed, would not be sufficient to meet these needs;

b. the Synod would benefit from a more coherent and comprehen-
sive approach to pastoral preparation and certification for min-
istry in specialized and specific contexts;

c. the past years have provided the church, in general, and the sem-
inaries, in particular, with substantial experimentation and expe-
rience with distance-education models, including the evaluation
of both the advantages and disadvantages; and

. the Synod is presented with an opportunity to build on such ex-
perience and to coordinate and consolidate programs and cur-
riculum into a more cohesive and comprehensive curriculum de-
sign that engages the best practices of educational design and
pedagogy, including much of the current course materials already
proven and in use;

a

and

WHEREAS, The process of conversation and collaboration over the
past six years has brought together representatives of the needs of
the field with the entities of the Synod to whom leadership for pas-
toral education and certification is entrusted, and in so doing pro-
vided a helpful model for continuing such collaborative work; and

WHEREAS, Both seminaries have provided leadership in this
process and worked together on written documents affirming the
need for a new category within the one office of the pastoral min-
istry and in affirming an educational process that will lead to certi-
fication and ordination for such pastoral ministry, utilizing both tra-
ditional residential components along with new distance education
models; and

WuereaS, The DELTO Oversight Committee in seeking to ful-
fill its further task has

a. worked closely with both seminaries in honing a proposal for a
category of specific ministry pastor, and an education and forma-
tion program that will lead to certification and ordination for such
pastoral ministry; and has

b. worked closely also with many other constituencies throughout
the church in developing this proposal, including the Board for
Pastoral Education, the Council of Presidents, district and Synod
mission leaders, and pastors in the field;

and

WHEREAS, The great strengths of this proposal bring together
several issues that have concerned our Synod for many years as it
seeks to

a. find a way to meet the existing and expanding needs for pastoral
ministry, especially in the missional contexts of today’s church;

b. respect our commitment to the doctrine of church and ministry,
especially in light of AC XIV;

c. honor our commitment to responsible theological education that

provides the church with well-educated pastors, who as missional
leaders are faithful to Lutheran theology and practice;

d. retain our commitment to the importance, need, and great
strengths of residential pastoral education at both the certificate
and M.Div. level, along with a commitment to the continuing ed-
ucation of all clergy;

e. restore our past creativity in recognizing the importance, need,
and great strengths of alternative models of pastoral education
leading to ordination, including a commitment to continuing edu-
cation;

f. utilize the advances in educational technology that allow for re-
sponsible pastoral education and formation through distance-edu-
cation models; and

g. develop a more coherent and comprehensive model for pastoral
education by which various routes leading to certification, call,
and ordination are coordinated and potentially interrelated, so
that, for example, a student in a nonresidential certificate route
might be able to engage also in a residential degree program;

therefore be it

Resolved, That the Specific Ministry Pastor Program as de-
scribed in this resolution be adopted and the seminaries be autho-
rized to implement the program, and be it further

Resolved, That Bylaw sections 2.13 and 2.14 of the Handbook
of the Synod be amended accordingly, as follows:

PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING

(A) Change the title of Bylaw section 2.13 to read as follows:
2.13 Restrieting, Suspending, and-Expeliing

d Limitatio

(B) Incorporate current Bylaws 2.13.1 and 2.13.2 into Bylaw 2.14.1 as
follows:

* Current Bylaw 2.13.1 becomes Bylaw 2.14.1
¢ Current Bylaw 2.13.2 becomes Bylaw 2.14.1 (a)
¢ Current Bylaw 2.14.1 becomes Bylaw 2.14.1 (b)

The early paragraphs of Bylaw section 2.14 therefore read as fol-
lows:

2.14 Expulsion of Congregations or Individuals
from Membership in the Synod

Preamble
284+

2.14.1 Termination of membership in the Synod is a serious matter
involving both the doctrine and life of those to whom it has
been granted. Such action should only be taken as a final step
when it is clear that those who are being terminated after pre-
vious futile admonition have acted contrary to the confession
laid down in Article II or the conditions of membership laid
down in Article VI or have persisted in offensive conduct
(Constitution, Art. XIII 1). For this reason the Synod estab-
lishes procedures for such action including the identification
of those who are responsible for ecclesiastical supervision of
its members. Such supervision includes not only suspension
or termination of membership but also advice, counsel, en-
couragement, and, when necessary, admonition regarding
teaching and/or practice. Furthermore, the procedures that
may lead to termination of membership also provide for the
protection of members by including provisions for challeng-
ing the decisions of ecclesiastical supervisors in these mat-
ters as well as provisions for restoration of membership that
has been suspended or terminated.

General

2-43-32 (a) Although the Constitution (see Art. VI 3 and Art. XII
7-8) deals with the “life” of ordained and commissioned
ministers of the Synod and provides for dealing with “un-
godly life” or ordained and commissioned ministers, this
does not suggest that the Synod, including any district of the
Synod, has the duty or even an opportunity to observe the ac-
tivities in the life of an individual member of the Synod or
has the means or authority to regulate, restrict, or control
those activities. The only remedy available to the Synod in
response to improper activities in the life of such a member
of the Synod is, as is true with respect to violations of other
conditions of membership or is otherwise appropriate under
the Constitution or these Bylaws, and following the proce-
dures set forth in these Bylaws, to take such action as may
lead to termination of that membership and the attendant
rights and privileges.

244-4 (b) The action to commence expulsion of a congregation or
individual from membership in the Synod is the sole respon-