Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 156
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 156.
This page reproduces text from the 2023 LCMS Handbook for study and navigation. Readers should verify procedural, legal, parliamentary, or governance questions against the official LCMS Handbook and appropriate LCMS authorities.
B. Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral Ministry
3.10.2 The Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral Ministry shall be responsible for
the reception and processing of applications for individual membership in the Synod through colloquy.
3.10.2.1 The Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral Ministry shall consist of the First
Vice-President of the Synod as chairman, a district president appointed by the Council of Presidents, and the presidents of the seminaries or their representatives.
3.10.2.2 The Colloquy Committee for the Pastoral Ministry shall establish and
monitor academic, theological, and personal standards for admission to the office of the pastoral ministry by colloquy after consultation with the faculties of the seminaries.
(a) In consultation with the President of the Synod, it shall develop all necessary policies to govern eligibility and the process to be followed to determine qualifications and suitability for pastoral service in the Synod.
(b) Decisions to declare applicants qualified for the pastoral ministry and to certify for placement shall be at the sole discretion of the committee.
(c) Every applicant whom the committee declares qualified shall be assigned his first call by the Council of Presidents acting as the Board of Assignments.
3.10.2.3 Applicants for the ordained ministry recommended by the respective
district president who are eligible for colloquy under the Colloquy Committee’s published policies may make application to the committee.
Other applicants for the ordained ministry, such as Ministers of Religion— Commissioned, laymen of a special ethnic or linguistic group, and laymen who have fulfilled at least ten years of significant service in a congregation, may make application to a seminary for the Residential Alternate Route or any other appropriate program.
3.10.2.4 The LCMS laymen and commissioned ministers who complete a program
of study leading to ordination or its equivalent at a non-LCMS seminary are not eligible for colloquy on that basis.
3.10.2.5 All men desiring the ordained ministry who do not meet the eligibility
requirements of the foregoing bylaws shall be directed to the seminaries for consideration in other programs.
C. Colloquy Committee for Commissioned Ministry
3.10.3 Commissioned ministry colloquy programs prepare men and women who
are currently serving in ministry roles for membership in the Synod.
(a) Colloquy programs ensure that those who seek to join the Synod have been educated in theology, have become oriented to service to the Synod, and have demonstrated the spiritual and professional attributes that the Synod expects of its members.
(b) Qualified applicants are those who are competent workers in the field for which they seek colloquy.
(c) Every applicant declared qualified shall be assigned his/her first call by the Council of Presidents acting as the Board of Assignments.
