Due to financial challenges and a renewed discussion of priorities, the Conference of Presidents (COP) decided at its meeting last week to suspend calling for a director for the Commission on Youth Discipleship (Youth and Family Ministry). Instead it will be re-examining the four open positions in the Congregation and Ministry Support Group (CMSG) to determine which position to fill first.

According to Rev. John Seifert, member of the COP Mission and Ministry Committee, when the COP decided in January to begin calling for the Youth Discipleship position, it had anticipated that more money might be available for an additional position. But, says Seifert, due to the current budget situation, funding is available for only one of four vacant CMSG positions—director of Adult Discipleship; director of Youth Discipleship; coordinator of Early Childhood Education, a new position under Lutheran Schools; and director of Congregational Counseling, a new entity to provide assistance to congregations seeking help in various areas of ministry.

The CMSG directors and commission chairmen will be providing input to the COP about the positions, including what services still can be provided to congregations and called workers during an extended vacancy. This information will then be shared with the districts in convention this June. "Maintaining that desire to provide to congregations the services that they need, we just need some input from them because unfortunately we’re at the point where we have to choose what it is that we can do," says Seifert.

With district input, the COP will prioritize the positions. Seifert says the COP hopes to extend a call for one of the positions by early August.

"There's an ongoing commitment through the CMSG to provide the best support that we can for our congregations as they carry out the ministry of the gospel," he says. "What we're concerned about is providing the widest support that we can across the synod."