LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 100

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100

SYNOD REPORTS

1. Clergy Certification
Certification/Declaring Candidates Qualified for Their First Call

The wording of the second Resolved section of Res. 5-05A calls
for the study of “how best to certify clergy.” Rather than speaking of
certification, however, the existing LCMS bylaws use the specific
wording that an individual must be “declared qualified for a first
call.”2 The process by which this occurs has changed over Synod’s
history.
From its outset in 1847, the Synod required a formal examination
process before declaring candidates qualified for their first call into
the pastoral ministry. Initially, an Examining Commission was formed
by two “theologians” and the Synod President. In 1853, with the formation of Synod’s first four districts, the Examining Committee was
made up of the president of the seminary and the president of the district in which the seminary was located. The examinations included
both written and oral components. In 1947, the Synod’s new constitution and bylaws placed the responsibility of examining and endorsing
candidates upon the faculty of each seminary.3 Currently, each seminary issues a “Certification of Eligibility for Ordination-Installation,”
noting that the student “has fulfilled all requirements for graduation”
from the respective seminary and “has been endorsed by the faculty
for the office of the holy ministry, has been officially assigned a Call
…, and formally accepted that Call.” With this endorsement, the student becomes eligible for ordination and installation.
In the course of the work of this 5-05A Task Force, two concerns
arose concerning the process of declaring candidates qualified for
their first call. The first of these is that the current agency for declaring
candidates qualified is the same agency which is responsible for the
training the candidates receive, namely the faculty of the seminary.4
Unlike other professional organizations which require a certification
or licensure process by a board or agency independent of the educational institution from which the individual graduated,5 there is
no independent “certifying agency” provided by the current Bylaws
of the Synod. While there is the understanding that the faculty with
which the candidate has been associated would know if he is “qualified for a first call,” there is also a possible conflict of interest. Each
seminary appropriately desires that a first call should be assigned
to each of its graduates who desire to be placed in a congregation
or agency of Synod. Because LCMS Bylaw 2.9.1 states that “the
Council of Presidents, acting as the Board of Assignments, shall regularly assign to qualified graduates of educational institutions of the
Synod” their first calls, the Board of Assignments struggles when it is
tasked with assigning a call to an individual who may, in its opinion,
not seem qualified. While there is certainly validity to the knowledge
that a faculty has of its students, consideration should be given to a
process of declaring candidates qualified for their first call which does
not give the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The second concern is that once a candidate is declared qualified for a first call and is ordained and installed, the Bylaws of the
Synod make no provision for that person being qualified for subsequent calls other than being a member of Synod who is on neither
restricted nor suspended status.6 Later in this report, under the heading of “Accountability for Continuing Education,” this matter will be
further addressed. However, recognizing this concern, it seems logical
that following Bylaw sections 2.8 “Qualification for First Call,” 2.9
“Assignment of First Calls,” and 2.10 “Ordination, Commissioning,
and Initial Installation,” a new Bylaw section 2.11 “Qualification for
Subsequent Calls” should be added (with the corresponding renumbering of the remainder of Bylaws chapter 2, “Membership”).
Pre-Seminary Pastoral Formation

Basic to pastoral formation but beyond the scope of Res. 5-05A
is the candidate’s home of origin and his home congregation. A high
2013 Convention Workbook

percentage of seminarians indicate that a pastor was influential in
their decision to enter the ministry.7 It is likely that the example of
the candidate’s home pastor has bearing on the candidate’s view of
the pastoral office and also serves as an example for that candidate’s
future pastoral ministry. Every pastor would do well to set an example for pastoral ministry which those from the congregation who train
for this vocation would desire to emulate.
A significant shift in pre-seminary pastoral formation has occurred
over the years. Historically, there have been routes which have accommodated accelerated entry into the pastoral ministry or entry after
experience in a different vocation. However, a majority of candidates
for the pastoral ministry were “system men,” whose pastoral formation had begun at pre-seminary levels and in residential programs on
campuses where the majority of students were preparing for professional church-work vocations. These residential programs, involving
four to six years of pre-seminary education, provided not only academic training but also a great deal of collegiality which contributed
toward pastoral formation, especially when the nonmarried pre-seminary students lived on campus. That collegiality continued for the
majority of students as they attended the seminary as single, residential on-campus students. Moreover, the collegial attitude extended
beyond the seminary for many.
With the change from Synod’s colleges, junior colleges, and the
Senior College to the current Concordia University System, in which
a minority of students are preparing for professional church-work
vocations and an even smaller minority are preparing for the pastoral ministry, intentional efforts at pre-seminary pastoral formation
are critical. The twelve “Themes for Pastoral Education” should provide a strong and intentional focus in the formal academic training
for the pre-seminary programs. It is commendable that in addition to
the pre-seminary academic programs, the Synod’s universities offer
pre-seminary fellowship and service groups that provide less formal
but very important opportunities for collegiality and pastoral formation. Such opportunities should continue.
Nonetheless, the majority of students entering Synod’s seminaries now come from academic backgrounds that were not specifically
designed for seminary preparation and from vocational backgrounds
in occupations other than the pastoral ministry.8 In a matter of two or
three generations, a significant shift has occurred from a majority of
men who have experienced eight to ten years of intentional pre-ordination pastoral formation to a majority whose pre-ordination pastoral
formation occurs over four years, as in the case of residential students,
or less, as in the case of alternate routes such as the Specific Ministry
Pastor (SMP) program. As a result, a large emphasis on pastoral formation must necessarily occur at the seminary level and continue
beyond seminary.
Seminary Pastoral Formation

Both seminaries provide a core curriculum that reflects the traditional academic disciplines of biblical interpretation (exegesis), the
Lutheran Confessions and Christian/Lutheran doctrine (systematics),
church history, and pastoral/practical theology. In addition, both seminaries continually are involved in ongoing self-studies not only to
review their academic programs but also with the goal that their entire
program of pastoral formation will result in candidates for the holy
ministry who are both theologically sound and emotionally mature,
and who are ready to engage their congregations and communities in
a responsible, caring, and evangelical manner.
Both seminaries provide pastoral formation experiences beyond
the classrooms, vicarages, and varied field-work opportunities, which
may include contexts involving institutional service, cross-cultural
ministry, and engaging the community and culture in witness and service. Moreover, from the admissions process through the time that the