To Study How to Amend Practice of Issuing “Divine Calls” to Positions Not in Direct Service of Proclamation of Gospel and Administration of Sacraments

Ov. 5-14

To Study How to Amend Practice of Issuing “Divine Calls” to Positions Not in Direct Service of Proclamation of Gospel and Administration of Sacraments

WHEREAS, Article V of The Augsburg Confession (AC) states, “So that we may obtain this faith [namely, that (our) sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake (AC IV 2)], the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted”; and

WHEREAS, AC XIV states, “Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, without a rightly ordered call”; and

WHEREAS, The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (Tr) 60 states, “The Gospel assigns those who preside over churches the command to teach the Gospel (Matt. 28:19), to forgive sins (John 20:23), to administer the Sacraments, and also to exercise jurisdiction”; and

WHEREAS, The Smalcald Articles (SA) III X 2 teaches that “[the bishops] do not even want to be true bishops, but worldly lords and princes, who will neither preach, nor teach, nor baptize, nor administer the Lord’s Supper, nor perform any work or office of the Church”; and

WHEREAS, The Constitution of the Synod accepts these confessions as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God (Const. Art. II 2); and

WHEREAS, The Office of the Ministry is rightly called a divine office because it was divinely instituted by Christ (Eph. 4:11; Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23), and other offices not instituted by Christ but instituted by men, which the Church has freedom to create by human arrangement (Tr 60–82), should not be called divine offices;

and

WHEREAS, A number of “called” positions within the Synod and its auxiliaries do not require teaching the Word or administering the Sacraments; and

WHEREAS, The practice of issuing divine calls to positions that are not in the direct service of the proclamation of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments conflicts with the referenced portions of the Confessions, and creates confusion regarding the nature of the divine call; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Montana District convention memorialize the 2026 Synod convention to direct the President of the Synod to appoint a committee consisting of at least one theological professor from each seminary and one district president to study how the practice of issuing divine calls (Bylaw 3.11.1) to positions without direct involvement in the proclamation of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments may be amended to comply with the Confessions; and be it further

Resolved, That by July 30, 2028, this committee make its recommendations to the Board of Directors (BOD) regarding Synod practice on the calls it issues; and be it finally

Resolved, That these recommendations, together with the BOD response to the recommendations, be reported to the 2029 Synod convention.

Montana District