The 68th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod was held from July 29 to Aug. 3, 2023, at the Baird Center in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. More than 1,000 delegates converged to discuss issues and do business together as a church body.
On Aug. 2, Resolution 6-03A To Affirm and Strengthen the Synod’s Commitment to Well-Formed Clergy for the Sake of the Gospel came to the floor. This resolution specifically explores the topic of the SMP program and the different routes to ordination. It calls for the Master of Divinity program to be the “strongly preferred route” to ordination and the Specific Ministry Pastor program (among others) only be used in “exceptional cases.” It ultimately was adopted.
Several West Coast delegates spoke in support of allowing a variety of options for pastoral formation. Watch the video to hear their perspectives on the importance of multiple pathways to raise up pastors in the LCMS — which includes the SMP program.
Go here to see all of our 2023 LCMS Convention coverage — including NOW District Secretary Steve Heinsen’s recap of each day.
