The report follows several requests, in recent years, for the CTCR to address the question of whether or to what extent LCMS clergy should continue to serve as agents of the state in officiating marriages and signing civil marriage licenses.
PALS, or Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support, is an ongoing effort of the LCMS Office of Pastoral Education to help new pastors and their wives transition from seminary through the first three years of ministry.
The module encourages experienced preachers to “dig further … to proclaim Law and Gospel effectively in specific ways that flow from the biblical text.”
A total of 201 students received their first calls to pastoral and diaconal ministry and their assignments as vicars and deaconess interns during four services held on the two seminary campuses April 29–30 and May 1.
Created and led by the directors of LCMS Rural & Small Town and Urban & Inner-City Mission, the course uses a combination of videos, prayers, Bible readings and study questions to guide new pastors in their transition from seminary to rural or urban ministry.
The LCMS Council of Presidents (COP) met April 21–26, traveling from St. Louis to Fort Wayne, Ind., to place pastoral and commissioned candidates, elect new leadership and work through matters of ecclesiastical supervision.
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