LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 420

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420

Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Task Force

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.

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.
2.

3.

They may remain rostered as a specific ministry pastor.
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.
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.”

Step 4: Post-Call and Ordination Curriculum

Resolution

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:

Whereas, The DELTO Oversight Committee was formed by the
2001 convention and given the task “to revise DELTO”; and
Whereas, This oversight committee concluded that original
assignment, and a revised DELTO Program was deployed by the
two seminaries in the fall of 2004; and
Whereas, The original and ongoing intent of DELTO was to
“provide ordained pastoral service to congregations that cannot support a full-time pastor, ordained pastoral service to contexts where
English is not spoken, ordained missionary personnel where finances
and/or conditions do not permit calling a full-time missionary” (BHE
document, “What Is DELTO?” Sept. 2000); and
Whereas, The needs for providing pastoral ministry in specific
and specialized situations where a traditionally prepared seminary
candidate or pastor is not available continue to multiply; and
Whereas, Our Synod needs to find a way to provide for an
increase in pastoral ministry to meet such needs of the church, especially in light of the mission challenges of today’s world; and
Whereas, Our Synod has resolved to plant 2,000 new congregations by 2017, for which a net gain of 2,000 pastors will be needed;
and
Whereas, Any way of providing for pastoral ministry must be
faithful to our Lutheran Confessions, faithful to our historic commitment to a well-educated and well-formed ministerium, faithful
to our historic commitment to provide pastors in both academic and
practical tracks, and faithful to our historic commitment to provide
pastoral ministry and leadership at the cutting edges of the mission
fields, wherever they might be; and
Whereas, All those who regularly and publicly perform the functions of the Office of the Holy Ministry should do so as those called
to and placed into that office because “[i]t is taught among us that
nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments
in the church without a regular call” (AC XIV); and
Whereas, 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 the Synod to “study the various routes leading to ordination currently available, to study which routes leading to ordination
would be most helpful to the Synod in producing a sufficient number

•

•

•

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.
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.

b.

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);
serving as circuit counselors;

2013 Convention Workbook