Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1973 · 50th Convention › Sheet 495
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Sheet 495

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

MINISTRY IN RELATION TO CHURCH 463

o the Constitution, the purposes of the Synod include
he training of future pastors and teachers for the ser-
vice of the church; conscientious examination of the
sandidates for the. office of pastor and teacher; and
supervision over the conduct of pastors and teachers
n office. The work of the teacher has been viewed as
a function of the Ministry. When no teacher was available
or the congregation was too small to support a teacher,
che pastor as a matter of course taught the parish school.
This practice persisted well into the 20th century.

In dealing with governmental agencies the officials
of the Synod have consistently maintained that our called
male teachers belong to the clergy of our church, and
that they are to be considered ministers, although not
pastors. As early as 1869, Prof. C. A. T. Selle wrote:

Our Synod bears testimony to the fact that teachers are to
be classified with the so-called clergy, when our Synodical
Constitution lays down regulations for their examination,
and afterward declares them to be, like the pastor, standing
members of the Synod.!

Consequently, the called male teacher has been
viewed as performing a function of the Ministry, but not
the whole Ministry. He has not been a parish pastor, nor
has he been referred to as a pastor. However, he has
been called, just as pastors have been. Normally, his
call, like that of the pastor, has been a call with unlimited
tenure. However, teachers have never been ordained
in The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod. The pastor
has been acknowledged as the shepherd of the whole
congregation, including the teacher or teachers. Be-
cause the pastor is responsible for the doctrine taught
in the congregation, the teacher has been responsible
to the pastor in his teaching of religion, as well as in his
Christian life and conduct.

The Ordination of Called Male Teachers

With respect to the question referred to the CTCR in
1965 Resolution 5-14, the CTCR declares:

Since called male teachers in The Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod are called to perform certain functions of the
Ministry, and are considered clergy, and since, moreover,
ordination is an adiaphoron, that is, a custom of the church
not divinely commanded, there are no biblical or theological
reasons why teachers could not be ordained to perform that
function of the Ministry to which they are called.

In view of the above declaration, and in view of the
widely expressed desire for the ordination of the Synod’s
called male teachers, and to express to these teachers
the importance of their high office as a part of the public
Ministry of the church, the CTCR recommends:

1. That the Synod approve the ordination of synod-
ically certified and called male teachers and direc-
tors of Christian education; and

1 Quoted from a Brief. prepared for the Rev. F. A. Hertwig
and Supt. S. J. Roth, Sept. 21, 1949, together with a Supple-
mental Brief, in the Eggen case, May 15, 1950, and the Brief
filed by Alfred R. Manske and The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod on the Status of the Lutheran Teacher as a Minister of
the Gospel under Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1954. Copies of these briefs are on file with the Board of Parish
Education, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod.

2. That the President of the Synod be asked to ap-
point a committee representative of all groups
particularly concerned in this matter to consider
the implementation of this recommendation in all
aspects, and to report to the President. Some of
the aspects to be considered are: criteria for eligi-
bility for ordination, necessary changes in the
synodical Handbook. and appropriate liturgical
forms for the ordination of called male teachers.

(NoTE: The CTCR understands ‘‘synodically certified”
teachers to be those who have been recommended to
the Council of Presidents by the faculty of a synodical
terminal college or the committee on colloquies.)

Woman Teachers in Schools Within the Synod

As the Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church
Relations pondered and discussed the question of the
ordination of called male teachers, its members were
forcibly impressed by the realization that what is said
above about called male teachers applies equally to the
thousands of consecrated woman teachers in synodical
schools. They have not, to the best of the Commission’s
knowledge, asked for ordination. They do, however, in
many instances perform a part of the Ministry of the
church in teaching the Gospel of Christ. In view of the
fact that ordination is not a formula by which a person
becomes a pastor, but the church’s declaration that the
person ordained has been called to perform certain
functions of the Ministry, there appears to be no biblical
or theological reason why woman teachers could not be
ordained to the office of teaching the Word.

It must be understood that this is a vastly different
question from the question of the ordination of women
to the pastoral office. On this question the 1969 conven-
tion of the Synod accepted an earlier statement of the
CTCR which declared:

Those statements of Scripture which direct women to keep

silent in the church and which prohibit them to teach and to

exercise authority over men, we understand to mean that
women ought not to hold the pastoral office or to serve in

any other capacity involving the distinctive functions of this
office. [1969 Res. 2-17]

This position was reaffirmed in the 1971 convention
(ef. Res. 2-04). Both of these resolutions speak of ‘dis-
tinctive functions of the pastoral office.” We understand
such functions to be those set forth by our Lutheran
Confessions, which state:
Therefore the bishop has the power of order, namely the
ministry of Word and Sacrament. He also has the power of
jurisdiction, namely the authority to excommunicate those
who are guilty of public offenses or to absolve them if they

are converted and ask for absolution. [Apology of the Augs-
burg Confession, XXVIII, 13-14, p. 283]

With regard to the possible ordination of called woman
teachers, and in view of the above findings, the CTCR
recommends:
That the President of the Synod appoint a committee
of competent persons to examine all ramifications
of the question of the ordination of synodically certi-