LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 103

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SYNOD REPORTS
organization (Bylaw section 6.2), or a person serving an educational
institution solely governed by congregations of the Synod and recognized by a district of the Synod.
(c)	Be involved in an ongoing program of professional continuing education.
3. A new Bylaw section 2.11 “Qualification for Subsequent Calls”
should be added to the Synod’s Handbook. The new bylaw should,
at the minimum, make provisions for (1) an initial plan for continuing education for all graduates of education institutions of Synod,
for candidates who have satisfactorily completed an approved colloquy program, and for candidates who have satisfactorily completed
a distance learning and/or a mentoring system; (2) an active personnel portfolio for every active worker indicating involvement in
a well-balanced program of continuing education modules and/or
courses; (3) providing to the district office by January 31 a record of
the prior year’s continuing-education involvement; and (4) a minimum annual number of continuing education units (CEUs)—no less
than 1.5 per year (see Endnote 12). Additional consideration should
be given to provisions for continuing education standards. Such
provisions might state that the Board of Directors of the Concordia
University System shall establish and maintain continuing education
standards for commissioned members (this is consistent with Bylaw
3.6.6.5 [j]), and that the Council of Presidents, in consultation with
the Office of Pastoral Education and the faculties of the seminaries,
establish and maintain continuing education standards for ordained
members.
4. Further consideration should be given to Bylaw sections 2.7 and 2.8,
which currently authorize the educational institutions of Synod to
declare candidates qualified for their first call. While this may indeed be the desire of Synod, it would seem beneficial to explore and
offer to the Synod in convention other alternatives which may not
give the appearance of a conflict of interest.
5. Bylaw section 4.8 should be amended to encourage that official district conferences provide formal continuing education opportunities,
including the granting of CEUs.

Notes
1. The twelve themes with their definitions:
• Academic Readiness: The church needs pastors who are grounded
in the Holy Scriptures, rooted in the Lutheran Confessions, formed by the
history of the church, and able to apply the Word of God to the lives of people for their salvation and for his own, to the glory of God.
• Pastoral Practice: The church needs pastors who are competent leaders in pastoral ministry.
• Spiritual Formation: The church seeks men whose faith in Jesus
Christ is nourished regularly by the Word and sacraments in public worship and by a disciplined devotional life.
• Mission Outreach: The church needs pastors who are prepared to
proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
• Understanding Church within Culture and Context: The church
looks to its pastors to know the Holy Scriptures well, to be confidently
Lutheran, and to apply the Word of God to contemporary contexts and
culture.
• Community of Faith: The church wants pastoral education undertaken in an environment of prayer and care, with worship at the center,
and with the proper integration of biblical theology and pastoral practice.
• Service of the Baptized: The church wants pastors who are prepared
to motivate and stimulate, prepare and engage the baptized in their lives
of service and vocation.
• Church Administration: The church needs pastors to lead and manage the congregation to accomplish its mission and purpose.
• Faithful Faculty with Pastoral Experience: The church needs faculty who are committed to the mission of the church, maintain academic
excellence, testify to their faith, relate theology to pastoral practice, make

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alive the Lutheran heritage, and show appreciation for the practice of pastoral ministry.
• Scholarship for the Church and to the World: The church needs
pastors, congregations, universities/colleges, and seminaries to transmit
Lutheran theology to the next generations.
• Flexibility in Approach and Delivery of Pastoral Education: The
church needs pastoral education brought to candidates as diverse as its
membership and mission—young and old, single and married, no debt
and heavy debt, no college and advanced degrees, novice Christians and
Lutherans their entire life, confined to one place and highly mobile, dominant culture and ethnic community, rich and poor.
• International/Global Component: The church needs to recognize
that pastoral education is an international endeavor.
2. Handbook, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2010. Bylaws
2.7.1 regarding residential seminary training; 2.7.2 regarding colloquy;
2.7.3 regarding distance learning; and 2.8.1 regarding all first calls.
3. Gerhard Bode Jr., “A Brief History of Endorsing Ministerial
Candidates in the LCMS” (paper presented to the Joint Meeting of the
Council of Presidents and the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis,
February 19, 2012).
4. See 2010 Handbook, Bylaws 2.7.1 and 2.7.3.
5. “Certification provides an impartial, third-party endorsement of
an individual’s professional knowledge and experience.” Philip Barnart,
“The Guide to National Professional Certification Programs” (HRD Press,
1997), ISBN 0-8493-9960-2; retrieved electronically 9 November 2012.
6. See 2010 Handbook, Bylaws 2.13.2.2 (b) and 2.13.4.2 (c).
7. Class Profile: Class I, 2012–2013, Master of Divinity Degree
Program, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Eighty-one percent of entering
students list a pastor’s influence.
8. While Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (formerly
Springfield), historically has had a higher percentage of second career
students, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has seen a significant increase
in second career men, accounting for 48 percent of the first-year MDiv
residential students in academic year 2012–13 (Class Profile: Class I,
2012–2013, Master of Divinity Degree Program, Concordia Seminary,
St. Louis).
9. Beyond general student orientation for all students, both seminaries assign faculty advisors for each seminarian and review the reports from
the field-education supervisors as well as conduct pre- and post-vicarage
reviews. Students at the St. Louis seminary undergo psychological testing
with follow-up interviews to develop a personal formation plan that can
involve some counseling. A Ministerial Formation Student Consultation
Committee (MFSCC) at St. Louis meets weekly to review the progress
of students, identifying areas of concerns that may need to be addressed.
This is in addition to two full faculty reviews of all students during each
resident year with any concerns forwarded to the MFSCC for follow-up
attention. At the Fort Wayne seminary, a Pastoral Formation Statement is
introduced to all students during the first year and then reviewed as part
of the new-call orientation for all fourth-year students.
10. Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, hosts an annual
Symposia Series addressing contemporary topics from both exegetical
and confessional perspectives. In 2013, the exegetical topic was “Love
and Marriage: Does the Bible Still Mean What It Says?” and the confessional topic was “Morality and Ethics in the Church and in the Public
Square: The Lutheran Challenge.” Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, hosts
a variety of on-campus workshops and lectures (see http://www.csl/edu/
category/events/ or http://www.csl/edu/resources/continuinged/) as well
as downloadable archived classroom video presentations available on
iTunes.csl.edu.
11. During the summer and fall of 2012, Concordia Seminary, St.
Louis, and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, each provided
18 regional continuing education workshops.

2013 Convention Workbook