To Add Specific Ministry Pastor Church Planter Designation including Applicants Under 40

Official Workbook overture source text

6-58 
To Add Specific Ministry Pastor Church Planter 
Designation including Applicants Under 40 
WHEREAS, Congregations, circuits, and districts of the Synod are 
working diligently to establish new church starts that would benefit 
from seminary -trained church planters to provide future pastoral 
leadership; and 
WHEREAS, The gift of church planting knows no artificial age 
restrictions, and knowing that our seminaries, where younger 
pastors are formed, are not producing an abundance of residential 
seminary M.Div. graduates who desire to serve in this role; and 
W
HEREAS, New church starts often benefit from a pastor who is 
willing to work bi -vocationally, who is already established with 
employment, a home, and relational networks in the area; and the 
low-residence requirement and contextual formation features of the 
Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program make it better-suited than 
the residential model of education to prepare men to be this type of 
church planting pastor; and 
WHEREAS, The new 2025 SMP Policy Requirement 6 states: 
“Seminary admissions will give priority to SMP applicants who will 
serve congregations that could otherwise not receive Word and 
Sacrament ministry” (Pastoral Formation Committee, Policy 
Requirements for the Specific Ministry Pastor Program: Admission, 
Administration and Supervision, Nov. 2025); and 
WHEREAS, The new 2025 SMP Policy Requirement 3 states, 
“SMP applicants must be at least 40 years old,” with a footnote that 
indicates, “Exceptions to Policy Requirements 1 –
3 may be 
recommended to the admissions committees of the seminaries by 
the Council of Presidents after approval by a majority of the COP” 
(Ibid.); therefore be it 
Resolved, That the specific ministry designations of the original 
2007 SMP Resolution (2007 Res. 5-
01B) be restored to the new 
2025 SMP Policy Requirements (Pastoral Formation Committee, 
LCMS, Nov. 2025, LCMS Policy Requirements For The Specific 
Ministry Pastor Program), and that all be given equal priority in the 
admission process to support the necessary work of church planting 
in the Synod; and be it finally 
Resolved
, That applicants under the age of 40, whose ministry 
context fulfills the Council of Presidents (COP) definition of a New 
Church Start, be recognized by the COP as a standing exception to 
Requirement 3 in the SMP policy document and be permitted to 
enroll in the SMP program with a Church Planter designation. 
Board of Directors 
Michigan District 
Ov.