To Increase Number of Students Preparing for General Ordination through Distance Learning Opportunities and by Expanding Work of Cross-Cultural Ministry Center

WHEREAS, God has greatly blessed the congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and our global partner church bodies since 1839 with pastors educated and shaped by our wonderful seminaries; and

WHEREAS, The seminaries of the LCMS are currently offering, beyond the residential Master of Divinity program, a variety of routes for pastoral formation which take into consideration the needs, desires, and context of the students, including the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology(EIIT), Center for Hispanic Studies (CHS), Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program, SMP to General Pastor Certification (typically an 8 year program), the Residential Alternative Route, and the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center at Concordia University, Irvine (CUI); and

WHEREAS, The congregations of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District acknowledge that there is a growing need for well trained, general ordination pastors who are able to receive Divine Callsfrom congregations without restriction, provide supervision for other roster ed church workers, supervise vicars, hold elected or appointed office on the district or national Synod level such as a circuit visitor, and vote as delegates at the Synod conventions of the church; and

WHEREAS, Two thousand pastors of the LCMS are expected to retire in the next ten years and the Synod currently has 476 pastoral vacancies, and the entire graduating class ofboth seminaries was 88 in 2022 to replace these faithful servants and expand further mission and ministry; and

WHEREAS, Students in today’s world of education expect opportunities to learn in a variety of educational methods (pedagogy); and

WHEREAS, Academic training has taken advantage of technology to offer distance education and it has become a standard of delivering training in many contexts in our culture; and

WHEREAS, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (CSL) and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW) provide only residential, in-person instruction for the general ordination route of the Master of Divinity; and

WHEREAS, It has become increasingly difficult and prohibitive for prospective LCMS seminary students to leave homes, family, employment, and ministry context to move cross-country to enroll in a four-year residential Master of Divinity program; and

WHEREAS, The Cross-Cultural Ministry Center at CUI has, for 27 years, offered the only master’s-level degree in the LCMS with a hybrid model of online and in-person education leading to general ordination with certification through CSL; and

WHEREAS, Enrollment in the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center is currently limited by: 1) a cap on the number of students that can enroll in the program; 2) where those students are geographically located (typically LCMS Region 5–Western US); and 3) whether the student’s ministry context is appropriately “culture crossing” enough to qualify for enrollment; and

WHEREAS, There is the opportunity for the Cross-Cultural Ministry Center and the districts of the Synod to work together to identify ministry settings and candidates and to provide for their training while they serve alongside ordained ministers; therefore be it

Resolved, That the California-Nevada-Hawaii District memorialize the 2023 Synod convention to enhance the Cross- Cultural Ministry Center’sabilityto meet the increasing demand for pastoral candidates by removing current restrictions on enrollment, geographic location, and ministry context; and be it further

Resolved, That the seminaries of the Synod be encouraged to study different education models of training general pastors; and be it finally

Resolved, That the seminaries and the Districts of the Synod consider how they can work together to increase the number of students preparing for general ministry through the existing distance study program opportunities (EIIT, SMP, CUI, CHS), hybrid models like Cross-Cultural Ministry Center, and residential programs including the residential Alternate Route to provide more general pastors for the mission of the Gospel.