LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 403

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Appendix IV
Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Task Force
Report to the President

This report will be structured in seven parts, according to the following general outline:

Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Task Force
September 1, 2012

Introduction
I.	First Things First: The SMP Program in Its Context
(p. 399)
II.
Process Used to Carry Out Assignment (p. 400)
III. Information Gathered (p. 401)

Introduction
With this document the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Task
Force delivers its final report to the President of the Synod. In his
January 26, 2012 appointment letter to the members of the task force,
President Matthew Harrison requested that the task force “commence
a thorough evaluation of the SMP program,” with staff assistance
to be provided by Rev. Dr. Glen Thomas, Executive Director of the
Synod’s Office of Pastoral Education. In the letter he also stated his
“deepest concern”:

A. 2007 Res. 5-01B
B. Results of Task Force Evaluation of White Paper
C. Other Data

IV.

A. About the Importance of Well-Trained Clergy
B. About Contextual v. Residential Seminary Education
C. About the Role of the Lay Person in Answer to Modern-Day
Ministry Needs

If the Synod fails to be very deliberate about the nature, size, and
growth of this program, we may very well jeopardize residential seminary education altogether and severely compromise the integrity of the
ministerium of the LCMS in the long term.

V.

What is the bylaw and Synod resolution history of the SMP program?

3.

Is the intent of the Synod in convention being carried out by the current
program? The program was advocated as a way to provide pastoral
care for small and struggling rural and urban parishes, but it appears
that a great many SMP participants are associated with large church
staffs and mission planting.

4.

5.

6.

VI. Recommendations (p. 412)
VII.	The Best Way Forward: A More Acceptable Outcome
(p. 413)

What are the current alternate routes into the pastoral office, and what
has been the long-term trend of all those routes with respect to numbers, curriculum, requirements, location of programs, cost? Where
does the SMP program fit into this mix, and what impact, if any, has
the SMP program had on other programs?

2.

Conclusion

I. First Things First: The SMP Program in Its Context
As the task force carried out its assignment to “commence a
thorough evaluation of the SMP program,” it reflected upon the significance of its assignment in light of its context—called by A.H.
Schwermann in an essay to the 1954 South Dakota District convention “the Glorious Office of the Holy Ministry.” In his words,

Do we have statistics for the number of licensed laymen serving in
each district, or eligible for such service? Is there any uniform process for this activity? Was not the SMP program created to greatly
reduce or eliminate the practice of “licensing” (which has been specifically and virtually rejected throughout the history of the Missouri
Synod as being contrary to both Scripture and the Confessions)?

The Office of the Holy Ministry did not come into existence because
in the flux of human events man gradually planned and evolved it. No; it
was God who planned it and gave it to the Church... Counselors tell us
that there are today in North America about 30,000 different professions
and occupations. Some of these were planned by seamen, some by aviators, some by surgeons, some by engineers, some by farmers, and one
of these 30,000 was planned by God—the Office of the Holy Ministry.

What are the dynamics of the SMP program with respect to the seminaries? What are the financial ramifications? Is the SMP program
profitable? What is the comparative staff time required for such students? Why do we have some 125 SMP students registered at the St.
Louis seminary, and only a dozen or so at Ft. Wayne? Why did not or
could not the seminaries cooperate on one program?

The task force in no way wishes to diminish the importance of
other professions and occupations, of Christian vocation and the
priesthood of all believers—also important and God-given. He does
His work in all these different ways. But it is the uniquely God-given
office of the public ministry, earth’s most important and glorious
work, that is discussed in this report. This high regard for the office
is repeatedly supported throughout Holy Scripture, some of which
passages are read whenever men are ordained and installed into this
highest of offices. Many of these passages are also referenced in the
1973 document of the Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church
Relations, “The Ministry in Its Relation to the Christian Church.”
The CTCR document also describes the pastoral office in relation
to the total Gospel ministry:

I am hearing of a number of troubling situations involving SMP vicars.
Please survey the seminaries, district presidents, and others involved
so that problems may be addressed.

7. How are SMP vicars and clergy performing? Are they following
the confessional commitments of the Synod? Are they effective in
ministry?
8.

What Participants Have Said (p. 409)
A. Strengths of the Specific Ministry Pastor Program
B. Concerns Regarding the Specific Ministry Pastor Program
C. Suggestions for Improvement

The President asked that the task force answer the following questions regarding the SMP program and related issues, its report to be
completed by September 1, 2012:
1.

What Others Have Written (p. 406)

How may the program be improved? What should be its scope so that
we retain flexibility for special circumstances, yet clearly do not jeopardize residential seminary education?

President Harrison closed his letter by stating his hope that the
work of the task force would help the Synod move forward in facing
“some very hard questions,” specifically mentioning seminary funding and the licensing of non-ordained persons to carry out the duties
of the pastoral office.

The office of pastor is therefore a most important office in the service of the Gospel. People who have, through Word and Sacrament,
been incorporated into the body of Christ need to be gathered into congregations where they continue to be instructed in the Word, nourished
with the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, and in every way

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2013 Convention Workbook