My short article entitled “On the firing of a Pastor” (posted below) has engendered over 100 responses. This renders the task of responding individually to each letter virtually impossible. At the same time it is quite apparent to me and to the editors of Consensus that the LCMS needs a continued discussion on this topic, for we in the LCMS are quite evidently seriously and often passionately divided on questions surrounding our understanding of the Office of the Ministry. A reading of the responses has suggested to me that at least four questions need to be addressed in our circles.
First: Are pastors who are called by districts or the synod actually called by God? While very few in our circles seriously question that a parish pastor has been called and placed by God into the ministry of his congregation, we are divided as to whether any workers not called by a specific congregation actually can be said to be in the Office of the Ministry. Some hold that the synod has the right to call missionaries, professors, campus ministers, chaplains and even talk shows hosts who teach the gospel, and that these hold the Office of the Ministry. Others believe that those men who have not been called by a specific congregation are not in the office of the ministry.
Second: Is the call to serve the synod a permanent call? Some believe that when the synod or a district calls a pastor to a position where the word is taught then that pastor has a permanent call just like a parish pastor and is entitled to know cause and expect due process to be followed if his call is terminated. Others believe that pastors called by the district or synod can be dismissed without cause or due process. (Clearly I hold to the former view although the latter seems to be the practice of our church judging by some of the responses I received.) Those who hold that pastors can be called by the districts or synod and who also hold that these men can be fired without any stated cause or without due process appear to be working with two contradictory criteria regarding the divine call and its permanency. Yet on what basis have we made these distinctions, that some calls are permanent and some are not? That some can be fired and some cannot? There are also those who hold that those men placed in such district and synodical positions are not called by God, and therefore no call is violated when they are fired.
Third: When may a pastor be fired even when cause is stated and due process followed? Many letters rightly pointed out that at the seminary a third reason for the termination of a pastor was often taught – that in addition to preaching false doctrine or leading a scandalous life, refusal or inability to perform the functions of the office is also a cause for termination. Yet how is such refusal or inability determined?
Many letters pointed out that certain calls have built in terminations to them such as calls to military chaplaincy during a war. Who determines what calls fall into this category? What criteria are employed when the decision is made that the call is terminated? Who makes the determination? Are there other types of calls like this? If so, how many?
And fourth: Are teachers called into the divinely established Office of the Ministry? Many in our circles believe that teachers and school administrators have divine calls into the ministry just as pastors enjoy and so should enjoy a permanent call just like a pastor. Others believe that the office of pastor is the only divinely established office in the church.
These are challenging questions which require continued discussion based on the Scriptures and the Confessions of the Church.
Klemet Preus
Glory of
1 comment:
My concern with an otherwise fine article by Pastor Preus was identifying the Rev. Wilken as a pastor in the office of host of Issues, Etc. While I agree that role would place him in the diaconate (I Timothy 3:8-13; the office of deacon is a subset of the office of pastor) because he is an officer of Synod, that office of deacon would not thereby make him a pastor. A pastor, i.e. a bishop according to the Gospel, comprises the power of order and the power of jurisdiction. The Apology states: "But we are speaking of a bishop according to the Gospel. And we are pleased with the ancient division of power into power of the order and power of jurisdiction [that is, the administration of the Sacraments and the exercise of spiritual jurisdiction]. Therefore the bishop has the power of the order, i.e., the ministry of the Word and Sacraments; he has also the power of jurisdiction, i.e., the authority to excommunicate those guilty of open crimes, and again to absolve them if they are converted and seek absolution." Article XXVIII. (XIV.).12, 13, 14.
Neither the Rev. Wilken nor any other officer of Synod possess the power of order and the power of jurisdiction. They, then, are in the office of deacon and are not pastors. All other offices besides pastor, including Synodical offices and therefore the Rev. Wilken's office, stem from this one office of pastor. According to the Apology,then, neither the Rev. Wilken nor any other officer of Synod would be pastors but rather deacons serving the pastors and congregations of Synod.
As to Pastor Preus's desire to have the program restored, I am in entire agreement. Issues, Etc. has provided much good to the Church for many years. I pray the officers of Synod will see fit to resume the broadcast of Issues, Etc.
The Rev. Willis C. Jenson,
Supply Pastor,
Concordia Lutheran Mission,
Terrebonne, OR
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