The office of Pastoral Education (PED), supervised by the Chief Mission Officer (CMO), assists the President in executing responsibilities related to pastoral formation and care that are assigned to him: “The [CMO] shall, on behalf of the President, provide leadership, coordination, and oversight for pre-seminary education programs, seminary education, and post-seminary continuing education, and by providing advocacy for pastoral education and health within the Synod” (Bylaw 3.4.3.8). The PED executive director is responsible for facilitating the prior-approval process for initial appointments to seminary faculties (Bylaw 3.10.5.7.3 [a]) and is a nonvoting advisory member of the Pastoral Formation Committee (Bylaw 3.10.4.6).
A. Set Apart to Serve Set Apart to Serve (SAS) is a culture of forming, encouraging, and recruiting our youth and adults—from infancy through adulthood—to consider a full-time church work vocation in every LCMS congregation, home, school, district, and entity. To sustain this culture until the Lord returns, it is vital that every pastor, commissioned church worker, parent, and layperson intentionally forms and encourages our youth and adults to consider full-time church work and walks with them through that journey. The purpose of the church forming and recruiting boys and
men to preach and teach the Word of Christ as pastors and to form and recruit youth and adults to teach and share the Word of Christ as LCMS commissioned church worker vocations is because it is through the Word of Christ they teach that the Holy Spirit creates, nourishes, and sustains saving faith for their life and salvation.
A.1. Research and Measurables Having something become part of the culture of the LCMS, with its magnitude and wonderful complexity, takes the commitment and ownership of everyone across the Synod. The same is true for SAS. Ongoing research helps us measure our short-term impact and long-term trajectory. In our fourth annual youth survey, SAS learned conversations with church workers remains the most important trigger for youth who self-reported they are considering church work. Youth are also stating that the top obstacle for considering church work—real or perceived—is the cost of tuition and expected salary upon graduation. From this research, SAS is strengthening its communication with influential adults as they play a most significant role in the increase in church workers. SAS is also strengthening its communication about the many ways the church has made church work programs more affordable. The 2025 annual influencer survey revealed SAS awareness has gone from zero to 91 percent in the last six years among ordained and commissioned workers and continues to rise among lay leaders to 58 percent. The survey also revealed a 10 percent increase in respondents reporting they are more prepared to talk about church work than the previous year. Also, ordained and commissioned workers reported that 74 percent of them are having one or more conversations with youth about considering church work, an increase of over 25 percent since SAS began. Through pilots, focus groups, presentations, stake holder engagements, and more, SAS is striving to move these increases even higher. The 2025 annual congregation survey, focusing primarily on laypersons, revealed that the proportion of laypersons having at least one conversation with youth about church work has increased from 19 percent in 2023 to 30 percent in 2025. Yet, 15 percent of laypeople stated they are uncomfortable initiating church-work conversations but would be more comfortable with good resources and instruction. Therefore, SAS is working on improving current resources and developing new ones to meet this need.
A.2. Collaboration Individuals and entities across the Synod are involved in making church work formation and recruitment become a part of our Synod’s culture. Leaders from eight districts are helping develop ways and sharing best practices for all the districts to focus on church work recruitment. Circuit visitors from thirteen districts are helping develop turnkey tools for circuit visitors to promote church work formation and recruitment in winkels, circuit gatherings, and interactions with the congregations and schools they serve. Education executives from six districts are partnering with SAS for a Facebook advertisement campaign targeted at public school educators, encouraging them to consider teaching at an LCMS school. The first phase, working with the Minnesota South and South Wisconsin Districts, elicited nearly 400 responses from people who requested more information. Also, a theology professor from each of the Concordia universities and seminaries met with the SAS team to discuss how professors are forming the next generation of influential adults who will form and recruit church ordained and commissioned church workers. These conversations will help develop a turnkey resource for all our theology faculty.
A.3. Second Career In the fall of 2024, SAS facilitated journey mapping workshops at both Synod seminaries with second-career seminarians, and then also with their wives. Information was gathered to collect information in the stages of awareness, consideration, decision, enrollment, relocation, and seminary years. For each phase, we explored steps taken, key questions and decisions, with whom they interacted, and barriers. Two resources resulted: (1) Next Chapter, New Calling—A Guide for the Wife of a Potential Second-Career Pastor, and (2) Talking Points for Encouraging Second-Career Church Work. In October 2025, SAS partnered with the Colloquy Committee for Commissioned Ministry and Concordia University Education Network (CUEnet) to develop a teacher colloquy web in ar and “Colloquy 101” resource. Topics included what teacher colloquy is and what it requires; the personal, spiritual, and classroom benefits of colloquy; the colloquy process, including requirements, coursework, formats, timing, and financial aid; and next steps and resources for those who are ready to begin the process. From Oct. to Dec. 2025, there were 29 new teacher colloquy starts. See resources. lcms.org/multimedia/teacher-colloquy-web in ar.
A.4. Addressing Barriers To address the need for ordained and commissioned church workers, the LCMS must address the barriers to church work formation and recruitment. One primary barrier is awareness. Since its inception, SAS is working on helping all constituents of the Synod become more aware of the purpose, need, and action steps of forming and recruiting full-time church workers. Included in this barrier is helping everyone and every entity on every level in Synod know they play a significant role in forming and recruiting youth and adults for full-time church work. These barriers are being addressed through building a synodwide network of collaborative partnerships, conducting surveys, facilitating pilot and focus groups, and making full use of the LCMS communications channels and periodicals. A second barrier is the cost of church worker education. This barrier has been aggressively addressed throughout the church. Our Concordia universities and seminaries have made significant progress in making church work programs more affordable. Through the hard work of our institutions and generosity of their donors, this barrier has become much more manageable. In addition, Concordia University System has offered significant church work grants, districts and congregations are granting church work scholarships, and families and students are making choices to make church work education manageable. Concordia university and seminary costs can be viewed at lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve. A third barrier is around worker wellness. Current ordained and commissioned church workers and parents have consistently shared their reluctance to encourage our youth to consider full-time church work around the worker wellness issue. A significant component to this issue is how we treat one another as the baptized in Christ and how we regard servants of Christ and His Word. SAS is collaborating with LCMS Worker Wellness as it engages a year-long pilot project. This pilot is focused on how we help congregations care for their workers in compensation, health care, time off, boundaries, and more. Next steps include messaging to congregations, collaborating with district presidents, and more. However, in recruitment conversations, many people do not realize how congregations care for their church workers in addition to salary. Congregations also provide excellent health care through Concordia Plans. Also, there
is housing allowance (or parsonage), an excellent pension, and time flexibility for the worker and his family.
A.5. Impact SAS measures impact in several ways. One measurement of impact is the overall awareness of the intentional culture the Synod is developing through SAS. The awareness of SAS has risen from 54 percent in 2021 to 91 percent in 2025. Among commissioned workers, awareness has risen from 39 to 91 percent. Among lay leaders, awareness has risen from 26 to 53 percent. Through SAS, there is also an increase in the percentage of intentional conversations influential adults are having with youth about considering a full-time church work vocation. The proportion of laypeople having intentional church-work conversations with youth increased from 19 to 30 percent from 2023 to 2025. The proportion of commissioned workers having such conversations increased from 59 to 74 percent in the same period. Among ordained ministers, these conversations increased from 74 to 83 percent. In the 2025 district conventions, 16 out of the 35 districts adopted specific SAS (church work recruitment) resolutions. In these resolutions, six districts adopted having a specific SAS district focus group (committee), encouraging congregations to do the same. Eleven districts adopted their schools using the CPH SAS curriculum. Seven districts adopted specific measures to increase worker wellness and compensation across the district. In addition, all 35 districts are partnering with SAS in various ways including district education executive focus groups, circuit visitor focus groups, focus groups with districts developing an SAS committee/focus, and a second-career teacher advertisement pilot. In addition, district personnel provide names and contact information for pilots with school principals, parents, youth, and lay leaders. The Concordia universities and seminaries are doing excellent recruitment work and making church work programs more affordable. Through their efforts, within a synodwide SAS culture, we are realizing an increase in students enrolled in our church work programs. Enrollment in pre-seminary programs in our Concordia universities increased from 136 in 2022 to 174 in 2025. Lutheran teacher enrollment increased from 354 to 402 in the same period. With the addition of the new classical education program in three of our Concordia universities, Lutheran education enrollment is 415. DCE enrollment increased from 85 to 93. Director of parish music decreased from 32 to 28, which we are striving to increase. Deaconess enrollment at CUC and the two seminaries increased from 81 in 2022 to 101 in 2025. Seminary enrollment (in all pastoral routes) increased from 571 to 586 in the same period. With pre-seminary enrollment increasing, and men entering the seminary from other undergraduate institutions, we are expecting seminary enrollments to increase accordingly.
A.6. Resources Resources have impact only if they are used. Through our pilot projects, surveys, and partnerships across the Synod, SAS has developed several excellent, user-friendly resources for pastors, commissioned workers, parents and families, laity, youth, and districts to form and recruit youth and adults for full-time church work. Resources developed over the last year include Forming a Congregation SAS Focus Team (committee), Forming a District SAS Focus Team (committee), Helping Parents Prepare Youth for Church Work Vocations, Next Chapter: New Calling—A Guide for the Wife of a Potential Second-Career Pastor, Second Career
FAQs, Talking Points for Encouraging Second-Career Church Work, Routes to the Office of the Ministry booklet, Pastor’s Guide to Mentoring Future Second-Career Pastors, Encouraging Men to Consider a Second Career as a Pastor, Teacher Colloquy 101, testimonial booklet for Second-Career Pastors, and testimonial booklet for Second-Career Teachers. View all SAS resources at lcms.org/ set-apart-to-serve. View the 2025 annual report at files.lcms.org/file/preview/ sas-annual-report-2025.
B. Post Seminary Applied Learning and Support Post Seminary Applied Learning and Support (PALS) was created by the Council of Presidents and the LCMS Commission on Ministerial Growth and Support in 1998, thus going for 28 years. The purpose of PALS is to support and encourage pastors, and their wives and families, as they transition from seminary to parish life for the first three years of the pastor’s ministry. PALS utilizes geographic cohorts. Each cohort is facilitated by an experienced pastor and his wife. The pastor facilitates the men and the pastor’s wife facilitate the women. PALS cohorts meet six days per year. Pastors can self-report up to six PALS continuing education units each year on their district Self Evaluation Tool. PALS also serves the purpose of the pastor’s first years of continuing education. Each time a PALS cohort meets, they participate in worship, a study topic, support and casuistry, and fellowship. Cohorts can use either curriculum developed by the PALS office or a study topic of the group’s choice. PALS is a rich partnership between the LCMS, districts, congregations, and pastors. The FY26 PALS budget is $259,987. This includes PALS administration, fac il it at or contacts and expenses, seminary presentation dinners to concluding-year seminarians entering PALS, conference expenses, and books and materials. Participating districts contribute $500 per participating pastor per year. LCMS PALS more than matches that amount. It could be said that the Synod invests more than $1,000 per year per pastor to facilitate a successful transition into the pastoral ministry. In the last three years, there has been an average of 22 active PALS groups across the Synod. Approximately 136 pastors and 102 wives have been active in PALS over this past triennium. We encourage congregations calling candidates from the seminary to support and expect their pastors to participate in PALS. Such participation is of great benefit to both the pastor and the congregation for many years to come. Currently, 23 of the 35 LCMS districts participate in the PALS program. The director of PALS, Rev. Jonathan Manor, strongly encourages all 35 districts to participate in PALS for the benefit of the pastor, his wife and family, the congregation he serves, and the district and Synod at large. In this past triennium, an online PALS (Post-Certification Applied Learning and Support) for deaconesses was developed. PALS for deaconesses was developed to support and encourage deaconesses as they transition from graduation and certification to full time deaconess service in the church. There are three online cohorts facilitated by an experienced deaconess. Each cohort meets six times per year for one to two hours each time. Seventy-five percent of eligible deaconesses participate in PALS. To learn more about PALS, including PALS courses, annual report, and Facebook page, go to lcms.org/pals.
C. Theology Professors Conference The Theology Professors Conference (TPC) is a biennial event. It is directed toward our Synod’s valued theology professors serving at the LCMS colleges, universities, and seminaries. The LCMS, the formation of pastors, and the teaching of theology in our Synod’s higher education institutions have all been strengthened because of these conferences. This conference brings together the Synod’s theology professors to think carefully about God’s Word, the Lutheran Confessions, the Church, and society. This is the only event that gathers all those teaching theology to future church workers and students preparing for various God-given vocations at the Synod’s universities and seminaries. This conference is a prized opportunity for our Synod’s theology professors to examine Scripture, the ecumenical creeds and Confessions of the LCMS, church history, and worldview to address life in both of God’s kingdoms, church and state. The 2024 TPC was held at Concordia University Ann Arbor, May 20–22. The conference theme each year is focused on a portion of the Lutheran Confessions. The 2024 conference focused on AC XIV and XV, “Order in the Church” and “Church Ceremonies.” Four plenary speakers presented on “Pastoral Formation in Lutheran Orthodoxy: New Ideas on How to Better Prepare Future Pastors,” “From Boethius to Bladerunner: A Trinitarian Response to Constituting Person hood,” “The rite vo catus of AC XIV in the Lutheran Church of the Nineteenth Century,” and “Don’t Freak Out: Disability and the Resurrection Body in Light of the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor.” Other features of the conference included 15 sectionals, professors meeting by theological disciplines (exegetical, historical, practical/pastoral, systematics), and fellowship and conversation. The 2026 conference will be on the campus of Concordia University, St. Paul, May 18–20, under the theme “God’s Gift of Order” (AC XV and XVI) and a secondary theme, “The Work of the Holy Spirit: Calls, Gathers, Enlightens, Sanctifies.”
D. Preach the Word Preach the Word (PTW) was developed to help pastors work together to hone the craft of preaching through video modules and accompanying resources. PTW also enables pastors to interact with seminary professors and fellow preachers, the authors of these modules. PTW was designed for pastors to gather with brother pastors to watch and discuss the modules and to learn with and from each other. PTW is an excellent resource for continuing education for pastors. Since 2017, 10 modules have been completed. After a three year pause, the PTW steering committee reconvened in fall 2025. The steering committee is working to give PTW a refresh with new modules and a new podcast format to encourage continued growth for pastors in their vocation of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Committee members are Dr. Carl Fic kens cher (chair), Dr. David Fleming, Rev. Timothy Mech, Dr. Richard Stuck wi sch, Dr. David Schmitt, and Rev. Jonathan Manor. PTW resources are available at resources.lcms.org/preach-the-word/.
E. Support of Our Seminaries through the Synod The people of the Synod cherish our two seminaries, which supply the LCMS with faithful pastors. Many of these people support the seminaries through their prayers and gifts. Often, this support is given directly to the seminaries.
(Mark 12:31).
Significant support is also given to the seminaries through corporate Synod in St. Louis.
MADV is here to walk alongside you in living out this calling— through giving a donation, volunteering for those in crisis at one of our recognized service organizations, or learning about God’s missionaries and ministries around the world. Rest assured, our relationship with you—and with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ— reigns supreme above all else.
One means of seminary support through the Synod is called “Synod Subsidies.” This is that portion of congregational worship offering passed on by districts to support national-level work, then granted by the budgeting process as unrestricted support for seminary operations. Computed by an agreed-upon formula, based on student graduations, Synod subsidies to the seminary have consistently been a total of $593,700 each year. Donations and bequests restricted by contributors to support the operation of both LCMS seminaries are given through the LCMS Joint Seminary Fund (JSF) and divided between the two seminaries. Donations and bequests restricted to a specific seminary are identified by the contributor. These gifts are not included in the JSF. The Global Seminary Initiative (GSI) provides donations voluntarily restricted for disbursement to both Synod seminaries. It is also used to augment assistance for qualifying international students and to send Synod seminary faculty to teach overseas. Certain donations were voluntarily given to the Synod that carried a donor-imposed restriction to be given as financial assistance to students enrolled at either of the Synod’s seminaries. Seminary faculty services are un designated or designated funds paid to seminaries in return for services provided by the seminary faculty members (e.g., presentations, seminars, and short-term intensive teaching assignments).
A. Commitment to Ethics and Transparency Since MADV’s inception in 2011, our fundraising and organizational standards continue to be scrutinized and validated through the Better Business Bureau and earning the Accredited Charity Status. Additionally, MADV prides itself in being fully transparent and upfront when working with our constituents. Please take the time to peruse through our Fundraising and Contributor Rights page: lcms. org/giving/transparency#fundraising-and-contributor-rights. Included online: • Advancement Staff Code of Professional Ethics
- Donor Bill of Rights
- Fundraising Policy and Procedural Manual
- Staff Directory
- Financial Reports
Further, all correspondence created and generated through MADV is brought through a strict review process touching all areas of corporate Synod: LCMS Communications, mission offices, Office of the President, and external doctrinal reviewers. We pride ourselves in delivering products which directly align with the Lutheran ethos. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we encourage you to contact us as indicated above.
B. God’s Abundant Blessings
Total national Synod support of our seminaries.