To Broaden and Reopen Specific Ministry Pastor Program for Wider Pastoral Formation and Service

Official Workbook overture source text

6-59 
To Broaden and Reopen Specific Ministry Pastor 
Program for Wider Pastoral Formation  
and Service 
WHEREAS, God desires all people to be saved and He established 
the Office of the Ministry so that, through the ministry of teaching 
the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, people receive 
forgiveness and salvation, and no one should publicly teach or 
administer the Sacraments without a rightly ordered call, as 
confessed in the Lutheran Confessions (AC V; XIV); and 
WHEREAS, The Synod has long entrusted pastoral formation to 
our seminaries for the church’s mission, and has also created the 
Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) route to supply pastors in contexts 
where a residentially prepared pastor could not be called; and 
W
HEREAS, The SMP program has served the church by providing 
basic formation for men who serve under appropriate restrictions 
and supervision, thereby maintaining ministry in small, rural, 
ethnic, urban, and bi-vocational settings; and 
WHEREAS, Recent policy changes to the SMP program have 
added admissions and supervision requirements, including, among 
others, a five -year Synod membership minimum, a three-year 
membership in the congregation of placement, a minimum age of 
40, and supervision framed as ongoing for roster retention with only 
limited exceptions, which has narrowed the pool of otherwise 
faithful candidates and hindered mission in many contexts; and 
WHEREAS, The Synod already provides mechanisms for good 
order and oversight through supervised calls and assisting capacity 
calls, therefore the church can prudently broaden access while 
preserving accountability; and 
WHEREAS, C.F.W. Walther urged that a truly Evangelical 
Lutheran synod deals evangelically with congregations and assists 
them in acquiring orthodox pastors (“Duties of an Evangelical 
2026 Convention Workbook
399PASTORAL MINISTRY AND SEMINARIES