Resolution 6-07A

To Encourage and Support Specific Ministry Pastors to Pursue General Pastor Certification

Current verified published text from Today's Business, Issue 3. Proposed business, not final Synod action unless adopted.

Current published version

Resolution 6-07A

Today's Business, Issue 3
Monday, July 20, 2026
Printed pp. 331-332
Proposed business unless official action indicates otherwise

Supersedes the immediately prior published version of Resolution 6-07.

Official Action Source

Convention Minutes, Sessions 3 and 4

Monday, July 20, 2026

Use these published minutes for the controlling record of actions, votes, elections, and parliamentary dispositions. Today's Business remains the source for exact published proposal wording.

Open Official Minutes

Version History

Current published version

Today's Business, Issue 3. pp. 331-332. Revised published proposal.

Official Resolution Source Text

Resolution: 6-07A

Canonical number: 6-07

Committee: Pastoral Ministry and Seminaries

Source: Today's Business, Issue 3

Printed pages: pp. 331-332

PDF pages: 23-24

Version: revised, current-published-proposal

Source reference: Issue 3, pp. 331-332

Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 3, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.

Page 331

  1. To Encourage and Support Specific Ministry Pastors to Pursue General Pastor Certification
  2. RESOLUTION 6-07A
  3. Overtures 6-46–48 (CW, 392–94)
  4. WHEREAS, The Synod is blessed with faithful specific ministry pastors who serve under call for the sake of Christ’s
  5. Church; and
  6. WHEREAS, Specific ministry pastors, the congregations they serve, and the Synod as a whole are blessed when
  7. specific ministry pastors pursue the hybrid General Pastor Certification (GPC, ordinarily achievable in an additional
  8. three years), the Residential Alternate Route (RAR) Program, or the Master of Divinity (M.Div.), enabling them to
  9. deepen their theological understanding, learn biblical Greek, and serve the Synod in additional roles of responsibility
  10. (circuit visitor, district or Synod officer or board member, pastoral delegate at Synod convention, etc.); and
  11. WHEREAS, Many specific ministry pastors desire to pursue GPC but are limited due to financial constraints and
  12. limits on access to needed classes; therefore be it

Page 332

  1. Resolved, That the Synod encourage specific ministry pastors to pursue hybrid GPC, the RAR Program, or the
  2. M.Div.; and be it further
  3. Resolved, That the Synod encourage the pastors’ congregation(s), district, and seminary to work collaboratively to
  4. fund all tuition and fees for specific ministry pastors pursuing GPC; and be it further
  5. Resolved, That the seminaries work in partnership with each other and prospective GPC candidates to accommodate
  6. the schedules of students (evening courses, intensive classes, etc.); and be it finally
  7. Resolved, That we give thanks for the specific ministry pastors who have completed or are in the process of
  8. completing the GPC.
  9. The Chief Financial Officer and LCMS Accounting and Financial Services staff, in consultation with the Finance
  10. Committee, note no incremental costs to corporate Synod but that districts and seminaries will bear costs related to
  11. collaborative funding of "all tuition and fees" (estimate required by Bylaw 3.1.7 [g]).

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