Delegates adopted two resolutions at this year's convention that dealt with the elimination of called positions due to financial reasons or changing ministry needs.

One resolution accepted a report on this topic that the Conference of Presidents (COP) presented to convention delegates. The report states that it is not unscriptural to eliminate positions due to financial reasons, yet "the calling body is expected to demonstrate love and concern for the ministry of the Word in general and the called worker and his family in particular." The report went on to provide general principles for congregations and other calling bodies to follow if they find themselves in that position, including presenting what support it can to the called worker and letting the called worker decide whether or not to continue in the call.

"We're not about New Testament canon law where we lay down 'Thou shalt' or 'Thou shalt not,' " says Earle Treptow, Nebraska district president and a member of the COP committee who authored the report. "But [the report gives] the overarching guiding principles that ought to be in mind . . . as congregations face these situations."

The other resolution asked the Conference of Presidents to develop a more specific process for the elimination of called workers' positions, including considering a way for called workers to appeal these decisions.

Treptow says that now the Conference of Presidents will flesh out those general principles and distribute them widely so that congregations have a process to follow. The Conference of Presidents also will look at putting together some sort of review process so that "the person whose position is eliminated feels like there is someone he or she can talk to," says Treptow. "It will be a very strong encouragement to congregations not to make these decisions quickly or haphazardly."

According to Treptow, district presidents want to get involved much earlier when congregations are dealing with this issue. "The district presidents and the Conference of Presidents want to work closely with congregations to help them honor those who are serving them in the public ministry."

More than four hundred called positions have been eliminated since 2000. In 2009, the synod convention resolved that the Conference of Presidents conduct a study on the divine call because calling bodies in WELS "are finding it necessary to terminate divine calls for budgetary reasons" and "there is the potential that the elimination of calls for budgetary reasons may cause confusion and concern" (2009 Proceedings, p. 16). An ad hoc committee studied the issue and presented its findings in 2010 to the Conference of Presidents, which put together the final report for the convention.

Read the report presented by the Conference of Presidents and other convention resolutions at www.wels.net/convention.