An extraordinary confession of faith

People hearing it for the first time are usually flabbergasted. Graduates of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (WLS), Mequon, Wis., present themselves to the Church to be assigned as pastors anywhere. They say that they are willing to go wherever they are sent. Yes, wherever. What an extraordinary confession of faith! But faith in what?

Many of the graduates know at least one of the human beings that make up the Assignment Committee. The men are the presidents of the geographic districts of the synod and the officers elected by the synod in convention. They are advised by representatives of the ministerial education schools, particularly WLS. The WLS graduates know that those human beings are capable of misjudgments and mistakes.

So why do the graduates place their lives of service into the hands of fallible men?

Because the graduates believe, teach, and confess that it is actually the Lord of the Church who places them into the correct place for them to begin their ministries. “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).

As St. Paul traveled from place to place and taught people about Jesus, he would appoint elders to continue the work after he left (Acts 14:23). We don’t know what human mechanics went into Paul’s decisions. Later, he would say to the people he appointed, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (Acts 20:28).

And so we learn, it is really God, working through his Church, who is placing the candidates. That is why we call their placement a “divine Call.”

The men on the Assignment Committee pray for the Lord’s blessing on their work. They use a variety of human mechanics and human judgments. They work hard to place pastors into congregations, schools, missions, or other settings that are the best match for their gifts.

On the day that the placements are announced, people around the synod turn to their computer screens to watch the service and the reading of the list. Some congregations and schools project the proceedings on big screens for people to watch.

And both the WLS graduates and the people in the congregations and schools where they will serve call it a “divine Call,” because we all believe that the Lord calls his ministers of the gospel through the Church. What an extraordinary confession of faith! 

By Rev. Paul Prange, administrator for Ministerial Education