The Pastoral Call, the Call Committee, and the Lutheran Confessions

This piece was written to provide guidance to the call committee in the congregation where my family and I are members.

Introduction

Service on a call committee is one of the most crucial arenas of congregational service – and one of the most difficult. What can compound the difficulty is the lack of clarity about what a pastor’s calling really is. The culture around us demands allowance for a wide variety of views about religious matters, and it is no surprise that this would be reflected even on a committee that represents those the congregation regards as both faithful and savvy. The committee will hear many voices and diverse visions for pastoral ministry. The Lutheran theological tradition, grounded in the work of Martin Luther and other evangelical reformers, is a trustworthy compass for them on their call process path.

Because each Lutheran congregation includes a statement of fealty to the Lutheran Confessions in its constitution and because all Lutheran pastors vow to uphold the Confessions at their ordinations, it is important that we understand what the Confessions say about that calling. Such knowledge can serve both the call committee and the pastoral candidate by defining the parameters of the call, even as it educates the wider congregation in understanding what its own call to ministry is.

Ministry and the Language of the Confessions

The Lutheran Confessions are a set of 16th century documents drawn up by the evangelical reformers – particularly Martin Luther. The 1530 Augsburg Confession is the primary guiding document for Lutherans, and its core articles for understanding the pastoral calling are the first eight. They use theological language to tell the same story of salvation we find in the Bible: why we need to be saved and how God accomplishes it.

The Augsburg Confession (AC) begins by speaking about who God is (Article I) and what’s gone wrong with our relationship with God (Article II): Sin has such a hold on human beings that we are captive to ourselves and “by nature” can neither fear nor trust God. In order to free us from this captivity, God takes on flesh in the person of Jesus. The AC recounts what our Creeds say about what Jesus does for us: He died, rose, ascended to God and sends the Spirit to yank us into a life of freedom (Article III).

From that point on, everything in the AC centers on Jesus. He is the beginning and end of every conversation, the focus of every topic, and the one who drives all our activity in the church. To trust Christ to accomplish all the work of salvation without even the simplest contribution of our own is what brings salvation (Article IV) and identifies both the church and individual Christians (Articles VII and VIII). The AC calls that “justification by faith” and argues that, while our own sin-tainted works can’t do the trick (even our best “powers, merits, or works”), such trust in Christ’s work is the thing that saves and releases us.

Then comes a crucial article in understanding what is and is not the pastor’s calling. If Article IV is about justification by faith, Article V asks, “Where in the world can we ever get that saving faith?” It comes in the Office of Preaching, that is, in the proclamation of God’s promise in Word and Sacrament wherever it happens and whoever does it. The Holy Spirit makes faith happen when both our own ina-bility to trust God and Christ’s gracious gift to us are proclaimed.

The implication for a call committee is that this Office of Preaching belongs to God and not to a congregation or pastor. It is God doing the work of salvation through God’s ministry. Congregations and pastors are simply the means by which God can deliver the goods. In other words, because God wants to be sure we hear the saving Word of Christ, churches and pastors are given as divine “set-asides” (that’s what being “holy” means). Their purpose is to be a guaranteed location where people who are captive to sin can be sure to hear a freeing Word that will create and sustain faith.

When God’s Word brings faith, people who trust God’s promise in Christ begin to see the world and their neighbors in a different light. The AC calls this the “New Obedience” (Article VI). Faithful people want to seek after others’ welfare and see to the good care of the creation. The Augsburg Confession doesn’t make a distinction about serving in the church or in the world, which means the gospel doesn’t necessarily call us to greater religious activity in the church but instead to service where our neighbors are in need (although that service may very well be in delivery of the gospel in the church's ministries).

Implications for a Call Committee

If a call committee were to survey a random sample of a congregation to find out what people think is crucial in their pastor’s calling, they would hear a list of places in the congregation’s life where members have connected to the gospel: in community, music, ordered and creative worship, small groups, youth and family ministry, or adult education. Because the pastor is likely to have a hand in many or even all of those things, people who value them will see the pastor’s calling through that lens.

At my congregation, for instance, the top five ministry tasks the call committee has compiled are the reflection of a congregation with some truly healthy and faithful priorities, and a sign of the congregation’s history of vital ministry. And the list of tasks reveals both a community of people committed to what the gospel does and congregational leaders who are diligent facilitators. Even so, what lies behind all these tasks and churchly activities is the gospel itself – the thing that our Lutheran Confessions say happens when our sin is understood and Christ’s benefits are proclaimed.

All the ministry tasks we list are the means by which God’s ministry in the gospel takes place: Music makes the gospel heard. Young people in confirmation learn about the promise given to them in baptism. People in a crisis have Stephen Ministers who visit. The Altar Guild sets up the Lord’s Supper, and the Bell Choirs rehearse in order to deliver good news to sinners. The Church Council makes sure our staff members are insured so they can concentrate on gospel work. It all happens in order to reach the same outcome: saving faith, first, and then freedom for faithful service in the world.

It is easy to confuse the means by which the gospel is delivered with the actual salvation God through them. The culture around us is mighty good at putting lots of good things other than Christ in front of us as essentials. This is why the first and most faithful agenda item for both a call committee and the pastor being called is to know what the gospel is and is not. Even the best things we strive after (like being better parents, gaining a stronger knowledge of the Bible’s content, or becoming better financial stewards) are not the gospel. The proclamation of Jesus Christ alone as the one who saves sinners like us is the gospel.

Any congregation's call committee has before it an initial task of discerning the congregational context for that gospel work – the essence of the pastoral call. The committee assesses the congregation’s various activities, sorts through priorities and opportunities, and drafts an orderly description of the congregation’s identity, history and hoped-for future. None of those things are the gospel, though. The call committee must be clear about the central proclamation of the gospel and understand the need for its proclamation in our midst. The call committee works to find a pastor whose clarity about Christ’s work shines brightly and who has other secondary gifts for helping us all make these faithful avenues for the gospel’s delivery happen in my congregation.

After that point, a call committee moves into the ultimate task of discernment: interviewing potential pastors. Before any other discussions of a pastor’s gifts and talents, the primary task of a call committee in an interview is to explore whether any candidate for a pastoral call to its congregation is able to do three things: First, can this pastor speak with clarity, passion and confidence about Christ’s work in his or her own life? Second, can this pastor articulate how God’s demands and promises function to bring us faith in any passage of scripture? Finally, can this pastor discern the places in our community and in our lives that are ripe for hearing the gospel, so that faith might grow in us and move us to serve? (Once they recommend a pastor for the call, these are also questions whose answers we ought to expect the call committee to articulate to us in their recommendation.)

Conclusion

During the Reformation, Martin Luther gave a name to asking these kinds of questions. He called it “judging doctrine” (and regarded it as the primary task of lay people in the church). When it is done, a congregation’s leaders become faithful stewards of the rich gospel treasure entrusted to them and they ensure that God’s work continues among them beyond the tenure of any single pastor. What’s more, in taking on this responsibility they too become part of the ultimate life-out-of-death story of God creating us and making us new, of Christ captivating us with his nail-scarred embrace, of the Spirit spurring us to faith and service.