Official Workbook PDF page source text

LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 304

2026 Convention Workbook
269
THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS  —COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
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President of Synod Request for Opinion on Lay Reading of Sermons and Conduct of 
Worship in the Absence of a Pastor 
The Request of the Synod President
During the extended triennium, the President of Synod repeatedly noted the looming shortage of 
clergy and the need to provide direction for (male) laymen assisting vacant congregations or 
congregations without ordained clergy available to preach or conduct worship. In November 
2022, following extended conversations with CTCR executive staff and the chairman of the 
CTCR, the President posed the following questions: 
1) Given the biblical and confessional doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry, under what
conditions might a layman read sermons or lead worship at a congregation when there is no 
pastor available to serve? What precedents are there within orthodox Lutheranism (and the 
LCMS, in particular) for such a practice? What qualifications should an individual have to assist 
in this way and what supervision should be provided? 
2) What practical guidelines could the CTCR offer to ensure this is done “decently and in good 
order” (1 Cor. 14:40) and in keeping with Scripture and the Confessions of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church?  
It is the President’s hope that, if possible, the CTCR provide answers to these questions in 
advance of the 2023 Synod Convention. 
The President’s questions require a careful and informed response. In light of this request, the 
Commission recommended a two-part opinion. It would include a brief statement on the 
qualifications and supervision appropriate for a layman to read a sermon and conduct worship in 
the public services of a congregation without a pastor present, especially taking into account the 
stipulations already addressed in 1989 Res. 3-05B and the recommendations of the 2013
Resolution 4-06A Task Force. It would also (or furthermore) provide guidelines that offer 
direction for laymen serving in this capacity and congregations being assisted by such laymen. 
Since the Commission is customarily not the entity tasked with providing liturgical guidance, it 
sought to restrict itself to a theological consideration of the President’s request and practical 
guidelines in accordance with those theological considerations.  
The Response of the CTCR
The 2013 Synod convention requested that the President of Synod establish a task force to 
address questions regarding the service of licensed lay deacons under the terms established in 
1989 Resolution 3-05B, whereby qualified laymen were authorized to preach the Gospel and 
administer the sacraments in certain extraordinary cases with proper supervision. In advance of 
the 2016 convention, 2013 Task Force 4-06A published its report, which laid out important 
exegetical, theological, and historical foundations for the office of the ministry and argued that 
these were inconsistent with the widespread licensure of lay deacons to carry out Word and 
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Sacrament Ministry. It particularly recommended the elimination of two practices—the use of 
Licensed Lay Deacons in congregations that were already being served or reasonably could be 
served by ordained pastors, and the use of Licensed Lay Deacons to serve vacancies in 
neighboring congregations. The task force further suggested that Synod should “provide a clear 
path forward to certify, call, and ordain men presently serving as lay deacons.” It recommended 
that “no new lay deacons be licensed to preach or administer the sacraments after January 1, 
2018” and that all previously licensed lay deacons apply to a Synodical path leading to 
ordination (seminary or colloquy).
1
At the 2016 convention, the Synod adopted resolution 6-02, by a vote of 875-177, upholding the 
biblical and confessional qualifications for the office of the public ministry, including the 
ordinary prerequisite that all those carrying out the functions of that office be examined, called, 
and ordained. Synod also adopted resolution 13-02A, by a vote of 809-277, affirming the 
“theological framework” of the task force and accepting its proposals for regularizing the 
ministry of lay deacons through ordination. Again, following the task force, it stipulated the 
cessation of licensure of deacons for Word and Sacrament ministry by January 1, 2018. It also 
included a provision that would allow qualified deacons to colloquize directly into Specific 
Ministry Pastor (SMP) status. It further resolved that the training of lay deacons should continue 
for service that does not include public preaching or administration of the sacraments and finally
directed the First Vice-President of Synod and a committee appointed by the Council of 
Presidents to direct the implementation of the resolution’s requirements, subject to approval by 
the Colloquy Committee for Pastoral Ministry.
As the Word and Sacrament ministry of Licensed Lay Deacons has been phased out in 
accordance with these 2016 resolutions, concerns have been raised by the President of Synod and 
Council of Presidents about procuring service for congregations which are temporarily or 
permanently unable to obtain a pastor, potentially growing more acute in light of present and 
future clergy shortages. It is for this reason that the President of Synod posed the current 
questions regarding the propriety of laymen publicly reading sermons and conducting worship 
services in the absence of ordained clergy. The Commission addresses them as follows.
2
Q. 1) Given the biblical and confessional doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry, may a 
layman read sermons or lead worship at a congregation when there is no pastor available to 
serve?
 
 
1 2016 LCMS Convention Workbook, 245.
2 This opinion presupposes the basic Scriptural and confessional foundations and role of the pastoral office in the 
church which the LCMS has repeatedly affirmed. For examples, see especially the Commission on Theology and 
Church Relations, The Ministry: Offices, Procedures, and Nomenclature (St. Louis: Lutheran Church-Missouri 
Synod, 1981); C.F.W. Walther, Theses on the Church and the Office of the Ministry (St. Louis: Concordia 
Publishing House, 2012), 3-6; “To Uphold the Scriptural and Confessional Principles for the Office of the Holy 
Ministry,” 2016 Res. 6-02, 2016 LCMS Convention Proceedings, 166-168; and “To Affirm Synod’s Official 
Position on Church and Ministry,” 2001 Res. 7-17A, 2001 LCMS Convention Proceedings, 172-173.
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To this question, the Commission answers a qualified “Yes.” The Commission does not believe 
either practice mentioned in the above question necessarily contradicts the biblical and 
confessional doctrine of the ministry, provided that certain safeguards remain in place to prevent 
confusion with the pastoral office. The Commission has repeatedly identified four distinctive 
functions of the public ministry that should be carried out by those who have been rightly called 
to the office of the public ministry: preaching in the services of the congregation, leading formal 
public services of worship, public administration of the sacraments, and the public administration 
of the keys.
3 Apart from certain exceptional circumstances, the laity ought not exercise these 
distinctive functions of the public ministry, lest they risk such confusion with the pastoral office. 
In the case of the lay reading of sermons, one would be exercising a distinctive function of the 
public ministry only in a qualified sense, because the sermon would simply be read and not 
composed by the layman himself. Rather, an ordained pastor, who is regarded as “apt to teach”
(2 Tim 2:24), would prepare the sermon. In the case of conducting worship services, there is 
certainly potential for confusion, but the Commission believes that this can be avoided through 
the use of services especially designed for lay officiation, or through the use of the daily prayer 
offices and existing devotional orders (see Lutheran Service Book 282-89, 294-98). Likewise, it 
may be wise for lay officiants to distinguish themselves from ordained clergy in vesture, for 
instance, by not wearing a stole, or possibly even an alb, to prevent confusion.  
Moreover, there is adequate precedent for these measures. Confessional Lutheran churches 
throughout their history have sought to address pastoral shortages and other emergency situations 
in ways that are faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. That has at times included 
laymen reading sermons written for them by ordained clergy and conducting public services with 
certain limitations. This was particularly the practice for Lutheran congregations in America. For 
instance, the Berkenmeyer Constitution of 1735 (for congregations of New York and New 
Jersey) established the office of Vorleser, or “reader,” who would serve in the absence of a 
pastor by leading the congregation in song, or liturgy, and the reading of a sermon provided him 
by a pastor or from other authorized books.
4 Likewise, during its early expansion, many Synod 
congregations found themselves without called pastors for extended periods of time. In these 
instances, laymen were allowed to publicly read sermons and conduct services in what was
called a “read service” (Lesegottesdienst), though this was only seen as a temporary or 
emergency provision and never proposed as a permanent solution.
5
In its report to the 2016 convention, the 2013 Resolution 4-06A Task Force specifically made 
this same proposal in the fifth of its concluding recommendations to Synod: 
Emergencies and other unforeseen circumstances will occur that will make it impossible 
for a pastor to serve his congregation on a given Sunday. The time-honored approach to 
such occasions has been to designate a man (typically an elder or perhaps another called 
auxiliary minister) to conduct Matins or another service from the hymnal so that the 
 
3 CTCR, The Ministry, 35.  
4 Karl Kretzmann, ed., “The Constitution of the First Lutheran Synod in America,” Concordia Historical Institute 
Quarterly 9 (1936): 88-89. 
5 Karl H. Wyneken, “The Development of the Itinerant Ministries in the Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod, 1847-
1865,” Unpublished Thesis (Concordia Seminary, 1963), 27-36. 
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congregation has opportunity to hear the Word of God, to pray together, and to sing 
praise (1 Tim. 4:4-5). A proactive approach to such occasional needs is important. On 
most occasions a sermon can be prepared by the pastor to be read in the service.
6
The task force recommendation, however, cautioned that such measures should not be taken 
haphazardly, without guidelines, or in any way that may cause offense. It added: 
In all such cases where it is simply impossible for a pastor to preach or conduct worship, 
care should be taken so that an exceptional circumstance does not create confusion or 
become a precedent for errant practices. Though “emergency knows no law,” it should 
not be an excuse for disorder. Thus, even in such difficult circumstances, every attempt 
should be made to address the problem in an orderly way that is consonant with Scripture 
and does not cause offense or misunderstanding. For example, while an emergency 
pastoral absence may necessitate having a layman lead a service of the Word and read a 
sermon prepared by the pastor, our congregations should heed the Synod’s counsel for 
women not to exercise liturgical leadership. Moreover, it would be good to distinguish 
between an emergency and ongoing challenges. A pastor’s illness and unavoidable 
absence on a given Sunday presents an emergency need. But, when there will be no 
pastor for the foreseeable future, a thoughtfully considered, theologically orthodox 
answer, rather than “emergency” remedies, is needed.
7
It is in the spirit of this rationale and these kinds of concerns that the Commission offers a 
qualified “Yes.” We can explicitly affirm that, in temporary or emergency situations, a layman 
may read public sermons or conduct public worship in the absence of an ordained minister of 
Word and Sacrament. However, certain guidelines, as noted above and expanded upon below, 
should be practiced to prevent confusion with the pastoral office and its distinctive functions. 
Furthermore, care should be taken so that such temporary or emergency exceptions are in fact 
truly temporary or truly emergencies, and thus not seen or encouraged as normative. They are by 
definition exceptions and every effort should be made to obtain ordained clergy to preach and 
conduct public services of the church in accordance with the distinctive functions of the public 
ministry implicit in that office. 
Q. 2) What practical guidelines could the CTCR offer to ensure this is done “decently and in 
good order” (1 Cor. 14:40) and in keeping with Scripture and the Confessions of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church? 
As noted above, the Commission ordinarily does not address itself to strictly liturgical concerns, 
such as guidelines for the conduct of lay-led services. However, it can speak to what we believe 
are optimal theological and practical standards to guide congregations of Synod in this practice. 
To that end, we suggest that, in these situations, congregations select lay readers and officiants 
who fit the following criteria. First, the candidate must be a male. Second, the candidate should 
hold a position within the congregation that maintains some accountability for the pastoral office 
or support of it, such as an elder, officer of the congregation, or, alternately, an auxiliary minister 
 
6 2016 LCMS Convention Workbook, 246–47. 
7 2016 LCMS Convention Workbook, 247.
R62.11