LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 159

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6. PASTORAL MINISTRY AND SEMINARIES
To Affirm and Strengthen
Set Apart to Serve in Word and Action
RESOLUTION 6-01
Overtures 6-01–02 (CW, 321–22)
WHEREAS, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37–38);
and
WHEREAS, Laborers are few and needed in every
generation to the present for the millions of people, both
domestic and international, who do not yet believe in Jesus
Christ and confess Him as Lord and Savior, for new church
starts in domestic communities, for the identified need for
over 100 new international Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod (LCMS) missionaries within the next several years, and
for the need for capable theological educators both here in the
U.S. and abroad; and
WHEREAS, The 2019 Synod convention adopted
Resolution 6-01, “To Support and Participate in the
Comprehensive Church Worker Recruitment Initiative,” to:
… commend, financially support, and directly
participate in this comprehensive, multi-year
church worker recruitment initiative with (but
not limited to) the following objectives:
• identifying, catechizing, encouraging, and
supporting young boys and girls for church
worker vocations;

WHEREAS, SAS is being developed through the
collaboration of key stakeholders, including the two LCMS
seminaries (including their Vocatio and Christ Academy
programs), Concordia university institutions, LCMS Youth
Ministry, LCMS School Ministry, LCMS Mission
Advancement, LCMS Communications, Concordia Publishing
House (CPH), Concordia Plan Services (CPS), The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod Foundation, all 35 LCMS districts
and district presidents, 36 pilot program participants, Higher
Things, Wittenberg Academy, Lutheran Church Extension
Fund (LCEF), National Lutheran Outdoors Ministry
Association (NLOMA), Lutheran Education Association,
Association of Lutheran Secondary Schools, and the St. Louisbased marketing and communications firm, Standing
Partnership, as well as others; and
WHEREAS, SAS has received the active attention of beloved
Synod contributors who are firmly committed to and engaged
in supporting the SAS pilot project, CPH curriculum, the
second-career phase, and sustaining a long-term culture of
church work formation and recruitment in the Synod; and
WHEREAS, SAS is currently in the midst of its pilot program
involving a congregation and/or school from all 35 districts
and one NLOMA camp, testing SAS church work recruitment
strategies and resources, which will be made freely available
synodwide by the end of calendar year 2023; and
WHEREAS, CPH, in partnership with SAS, is developing a
four-part church work recruitment curriculum for all ages,
which all Synod schools, missionaries, districts, universities,
seminaries, and others will receive at no charge through the
generosity of LCEF and our Concordia universities; and

• instilling church worker vocations as sacred and
joyful, a “calling from God,” vocations of integrity
and fulfillment, grounded in Christ and baptismal
salvation;
• developing the “whole person” throughout this
formation process: spiritually, in character,
confessionally,
physically,
emotionally,
synodically, and intellectually;
• supporting, encouraging, and caring for existing
church workers for the welfare of the workers, for
the proclamation and witness of the Gospel, and
for workers to be healthy advocates of next
generation church workers (Proceedings, 158);
and
WHEREAS, This initiative is known as Set Apart to Serve
(SAS) and encompasses the initial youth phase (infant
baptism–12th grade) and a second phase focusing on
individuals who may be considering professional church work
vocations as a second career; and
Resolutions

Committee 6 Chairman John E. Hill
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 159