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| The LCMS decided to preserve the Stephan-Walther dictatorship. |
bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Glad You Raised the Issue, Bruce Church":
CRM: Our Huge Problem
http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=26123
Our Huge Problem
When I was fired by LCMS, Inc. in 2008 I had a huge problem.
My problem was, I had a Call.
My Call document was issued by the LCMS Communications department and was signed by its executive director.
I remember, it was me, Jeff Schwarz, our boss, his boss and a nice lady from Human Resources. We sat in a meeting room immediately off the reception desk at the International Center.
My boss’ boss said, “Termination is a harsh word, but I have decided to cancel the show, and as a result, both of your positions are being terminated.”
After that sunk in, my first question was, “Does it matter that I have a Call document?”
He and the nice lady from Human Resources answered almost in unison, “No.”
The answer didn’t surprise me. After all, my Call document had been issued by the LCMS Communications department and was signed by the its executive director. It meant nothing.
But my meaningless Call document was still a huge problem for me.
You see, my meaningless Call document had kept me on the synodical clergy roster for the last 9 years. Now, although it meant nothing, it still meant that my status on the roster was going to change. Now, although it was meaningless, my Call document meant that I was going to be reclassified, and become a “CRM.”
CRM is the synodical acronym for “candidatus reverendi ministerii” which is pious-sounding Latin for “candidate for the reverend ministry.”
“Candidate for the reverend ministry” sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? It usually isn’t.
CRM is very often the bureaucratic no-man’s-land, the ecclesiastical limbo, the official purgatory for pastors. I had been a circuit counsellor, I knew what CRM meant. I knew what often happened to CRM pastors. Believe me, the last thing I wanted was to be reclassified CRM. I even considered resigning from the LCMS clergy roster altogether to avoid it.
That’s why my Call document, as meaningless as it was, was still a huge problem.
The congregation I attended came to my rescue. They called me to be their assistant pastor. That alone kept me off the CRM list.
Thus ends the story of my close brush with CRM status. Many, are not so fortunate.
Almost every week there is a pastor in the LCMS who has a real Call document and yet is told by his congregation and his District President that it means nothing. It happens all the time. Pastors are terminated, their Calls rescinded and their status changed to CRM.
I’m not talking about Pastors who sleep with the choir director, or steal from the offering plate, or teach false doctrine, or won’t carry out their duties. Those guys belong don’t belong on the CRM list; those guys belong off the clergy roster entirely and out of the ministry permanently.
No, I’m talking about Pastors who are doing what their Call document says they should be doing, but are still removed and told that their Call document means nothing. And, if that weren’t bad enough, they are told that their Call document, as meaningless as it is, will nonetheless drag them into the purgatory of CRM.
And, if they don’t know what that means, they soon find out.
The LCMS has a rich doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry that should prevent all this. Why doesn’t it?
The problem isn’t meaningless Call documents. The problem isn’t the CRM classification. Whether it is the congregation that fires its pastor, or the District President who lets them do it, the problem is the same. For them, the Lutheran doctrine of the Ministry means nothing.
That is a huge problem for all of us.
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GJ - Todd is UOJ, like Rolf Preus. But when someone is fired for political reasons, it is bad for everyone.
The day of the synod is over. The LCMS, WELS, and ELS are run by evil, amoral, apostate men (and women!).
