To Remove Age Requirement from Specific Ministry Pastor Admission, Administration, and Supervision Policy

Official Workbook overture source text

6-56 
To Remove Age Requirement  
from Specific Ministry Pastor Admission, 
Administration, and Supervision Policy 
WHEREAS, The Synod’s Pastoral Formation Committee (PFC) 
issued Policy Requirements for the Specific Ministry Pastor 
Program: Admission, Administration and Supervision  
(files.lcms.org/dl/f/smp-policy-requirements) in November 2025; 
and 
WHEREAS, The policy, as written, contains a prescriptive 
minimum age requirement of 40 years old that is only supported by 
a premise statement (Premise 9) that states “Evidence shows greater 
completion rates … for men over 40,” and the premise statement 
does not provide sufficient details to justify this claim, nor defines 
the completion rates broken down by age of admissions; and 
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Confessions consistently teach that the 
pastoral office depends on the call, the ability to teach the Gospel, 
and having the right doctrine in accordance with the Scriptures; the 
Lutheran Confessions never mention age; and within the Augsburg 
Confession (AC XIV) there are no age requirements; and 
W
HEREAS, Holy Scripture itself mentions no age requirements 
for pastoral ministry. For example, Jesus chose young men to be His 
disciples and the Apostle Paul entrusted ministry responsibilities to 
Timothy, who was perhaps in his late teens or early 20s, saying “let 
no one despise you for your youth” (1 Tim. 4:12); and 
W
HEREAS, The wider history of the Christian Church—including 
the Early Church, the Reformation, and the history of the Synod—
shows no pattern of an age requirement to serve in the pastoral 
office. For example, St. Augustine was ordained around 36 –37 
years old (New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, “St. Augustine of 
Hippo,” newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm, accessed March 18, 
2026), Martin Luther was ordained around 23– 24 years old (Hans 
J. Hillerbrand, “Martin Luther,” Britannica , Feb. 14, 2026, 
britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther), and C.F.W. Walther 
was around 25 years old (Molly Lackey,  “Our Great Heritage: 
C.F.W. Walther,” The Lutheran Witness , Aug. 14, 2024, 
witness.lcms.org/2024/CFW-Walther); and 
WHEREAS, As the Synod faces a pastoral shortage, with Synod 
documentation (LCMS Pastoral Vacancy Report, Nov. 1998– Feb. 
2026, lcms.org/how-we-serve/education/pastoral/pre-seminary), 
reporting more than 800 pastoral vacancies, including both calling 
and non- calling congregations and a shrinking membership (Joe 
Isenhower, Jr., “Reversing the LCMS Membership Decline: Not 
Just by Having More Children,” Reporter Online, Feb. 28, 2017, 
reporter.lcms.org/2017/reversing-lcms-membership-decline), we 
should be encouraging men to seek the pastoral office if so led; 
while there should be well- defined requirements for those seeking 
the pastoral office, a prescriptive age should not be one of those 
requirements; therefore be it 
Resolved, That the Synod Board of Directors direct the PFC to 
remove the age requirement from the Policy Requirements for the 
Specific Ministry Pastor Program: Admission, Administration and 
Supervision and amend any related bylaws or other policies of the 
Synod to reflect the above. 
Christ Greenfield, Gilbert, AZ; Faith, Rochester, NY 
Ov.