Whither the future of the pastorate in the LCMS?

Rev. Harrison, president of the Missouri Synod, here lays out the best possible case for packing up and going to the seminary. In this article, Rev. Harrison responds to many of the points I have raised before. One of the best aspects of Rev. Harrison's character is his optimism and love for the Church of Christ and our little Synod within the Church. If you are considering the seminary, you should read his article and think it over.

It will come as no surprise to readers of this blog that I disagree with Rev. Harrison when it comes to the outlook for the future need of clergy in the Missouri Synod. I do not think we will need to replace "300 retiring pastors each year" - and Rev. Harrison admits in his article that that number is indeed probably too high. And while Rev. Harrison is more sanguine on the prospects for the US economy, I think this is rather a red herring. An economic recovery will not, I think, translate directly into a need for more pastors (although it may translate into many of the part-time calls going full-time, which is not nothing). In his article Rev. Harrison also did not directly address the issues of "lay ministry," rural population collapse, and the birth rate among LCMS membership - all of which must be factored into the equation for our future need (and, of course, the latter two are closely related). I know that President Harrison would like to be doing more to deal with the "lay ministry" problem, and I look forward to seeing what actions end up being taken over the course of his tenure.

Our differing viewpoints no doubt come from our differing experiences (mine by necessity much more limited than his), personalities, and the vantages from which we are viewing the problem. But there are two things that I think we both, the optimist and the pessimist, agree on:

1. If you wish to put yourself forward as a candidate for the ministry of Christ's Church, there is no better way to do it than by attending one of our seminaries in the residential MDiv program.

2. The future is unknown. So while some (pace James) say, "Next year I will go to this or that city and study and be ordained," a wise man will know that he does not know the future, and so before he heads off to CSL or CTS he will have a back up plan to feed and clothe his family just in case the Lord has other plans for him than the ones he has made for himself.

+HRC

Plus ça change ("The more things change...)

By Larry Beane


"All this skepticism, uncertainty, and experimenting has unfortunately unsettled only too many pastors in the church around us.  These pastors themselves have lost faith, more or less, in the divinely ordained means of grace.  They are casting about for new means and methods by which to reach and hold men.  They are experimenting with all sorts of novelties and attractions.  Their churches and services are becoming more and more places of entertainment.  They try to outbid and outdo one another in sensations calculated to draw.  And so the church, like Samson of old, is shorn of her locks, and is degraded to make sport for the Philistines of the world.  No true Lutheran pastor can stoop to such prostitution of his office and of his church."

~ G.H. Gerberding, 1903
The Lutheran Pastor,  p.124

Pope wrong, Stuckwisch right (again)

For some time now our own Dr. Stuckwisch has been telling us all to read the Harry Potter books, while Cardinal Ratzinger warned in 2003 that the books "distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly." In the Pope's defense, he wrote that in the middle of the series, before he could read it to the end. He was wrong. Rick was right. JK Rowling's series is a shining example of the often repeated truth that There Is Only One Story.

I don't read many novels anymore, which is much to my detriment, I'm sure, but there it is. To tempt me, a book of fiction must be really and truly excellent. I just don't have the patience otherwise. When my wife started reading them to the kids I reluctantly listened in - then was hooked, and by the end truly addicted and excited to see the finish.

This was a great way to read the books, by the way: together as a family. Our oldest is 8 and the books have some more grown up sections dealing with the relations between the sexes that could use some parental editing for that age (probably PG or PG-13). Reading it this way also allowed us to have great discussions about the morality portrayed in the book. It is very realistic, and therefore very ambiguous - again, reading together as a family is a very good idea with these books. [And speaking of the relations between the sexes and being realistic - my goodness does Rowling get it all pitch perfectly, hilariously right! One of the many laugh out loud scenes in the books deals with several of the boy characters agonizing over asking girls to a dance. But then the happy go lucky, ever confident, self-effacing jokester Fred Weasley shouts across the room at the beautiful and talented Angelina Johnson, "Oi! Angelina! Want to come to the ball with me?" Of course she does - that's always how it works out for the Fred Weasleys of the world.]

Since I want you to read them, I don't want to include any spoilers. But again I will say: there is only one story in the whole world worth telling - what C.S. Lewis called the "good dreams" left by God for every tribe and nation and what Eusebius called the Praeparatio Evangelii. Mrs. Rowling, by her own admission, lurks about the outskirts of orthodox Christianity - but she has penned a brilliant, engaging, and entertaining "good dream."

+HRC

This is not your goofy-cousin-in-the-happy-clappy-church's Synod!

A change for the good at the LCMS' new website.

HT: Fr. Weedon

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A blessed Easter to you and yours.

Gottesdienst