Frequently Asked Questions
1. WHAT IS "STAFF MINISTRY"?
Staff ministry is a form of public, representative ministry. An individual is given a call by a group of believers to carry out church work on their behalf.
2. WHAT DO STAFF MINISTERS DO?
The call itself defines the particular duties and responsibilities of a specific staff minister. Current position titles include the following: Minister of Music and Education, Minister of Family and Youth, Minister of Discipleship, Director of Christian Education, Family Minister, Director of Discipleship, Program Director, Minister of Music, Minister of Evangelism, Church Administrator, Minister of Administration, Deaconess, and Parish Nurse; Parish Assistant and Parish Associate are other potential position titles. In each case, the call would define and limit the specific responsibilities based on the needs of the calling body.
3. ARE STAFF MINISTERS PASTORS OR TEACHERS?
No. Some staff ministers, however, may initially have been trained for another form of ministry, such as teaching, and then subsequently been called into staff ministry.
In one sense, of course, any time a congregation or other calling body has more than one worker on the staff, it is a staff ministry. But we are using the phrase "staff minister" to refer to an individual who is not serving as a pastor or parochial school teacher, but instead has been called to work in association with the pastor(s), other called workers, and members in focused areas of parish ministry. While pastors are trained for the broadest scope of ministry and for theological leadership, and teachers are trained in Christian classroom education, staff ministers receive basic theological training and practical skills to equip them to serve in other specific areas of parish ministry.
4. WHAT KIND OF TRAINING IS AVAILABLE?
There are three elements in the program: general education in the liberal arts, a religion component parallel to what teaching candidates take, and professional courses designed to equip candidates with the competencies necessary to serve as staff ministers. The professional component includes both a core of required courses and a number of electives in specialized areas such as evangelism, youth work, family ministry, administration, stewardship, parish education, and the like. In addition, an internship or a series of practica is required.
The goal is to provide academic integrity, professional competence, and program flexibility in order to best serve the needs of our congregations and of our current and prospective staff ministers.
5. WHERE IS THE PROGRAM AVAILABLE?
The staff ministry program is located at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, a town of 13,750 people in south central Minnesota. In addition to classes offered during the regular semesters, courses are available through correspondence and video, in summer sessions, at extension locations, and through independent and directed study.
6. ARE OLDER STUDENTS ADMITTED?
Yes. While traditional undergraduate students are enrolled in a four or five-year degree program, with the option of also being certified in elementary education or in parish music, the length of the program for older students will vary depending on the previous study and experience of each candidate. Courses in the program are also open to current church workers -- pastors, teachers, and staff ministers -- who want to broaden their ministry skills or who wish to equip themselves for a possible change in ministry.
7. WHAT KIND OF CERTIFICATION IS GIVEN?
Graduates of the program receive certification in staff ministry, which indicates that the candidate has attained the entry-level competencies to serve as a staff minister. As in the case of pastors and teachers, certification is not for specific skill areas. Students may also choose to pursue an additional certification in elementary education or parish music.
8. IS THE PROGRAM OPEN TO BOTH MEN AND WOMEN?
Yes. There is no difference in training, just as there is no difference in the training of male and female students for the teaching ministry. Distinctions based on gender are determined by the congregations or calling bodies as they establish the responsibilities of their specific calls.
9. IS RESIDENCE HALL SPACE AVAILABLE?
Yes, for both single male and female students. There is no married student housing, but New Ulm has apartments and homes available for rent at reasonable costs.
10. WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SERVICE?
There currently are about seventy-five staff ministry positions in the congregations of the Wisconsin Synod, as well as several dozen positions in non-parish settings. While we cannot guarantee that there will be positions for everyone who prepares for service, there does seem to be a growing desire on the part of congregations to add staff ministers.
The Staff Ministry Office at Martin Luther College provides information to the District Presidents of the WELS, who are responsible for preparing lists of candidates for calling bodies, to ensure that they are aware of who is available for service as staff ministers. In addition, we maintain an ongoing effort to communicate with congregations to help them to understand the potential for increased effectiveness in ministry that staff ministers could provide for them.
For further information, please call or write!
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Staff Ministry Program
Martin Luther College
1995 Luther Court
New Ulm, MN 56073
Telephone: 507.354.8221
E-Mail: OlsonLO@mlc-wels.edu
Fax: 507.233.9106
Dr. Lawrence Olson, Director [GJ - This alleged doctorate is a drive-by DMin from Fuller Seminary, four courses and a paper.]
Mrs. Valerie Fischer, Secretary
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THE BEST OF LARRY OH!
"Please stop exaggerating the amount of study that I have done at Fuller. After four years of study at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, which involved sixty-two different courses and a year of vicarage, I graduated in 1983. From 1987 to 1989 I took four courses where I was in a classroom with a Fuller instructor. That is the extent of my Fuller coursework...In addition, I have taken two courses at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and one at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. Because of Fuller's liberal (would you expect anything else?) policy on transfer of credit, and because of two independent studies I undertook, I could complete the degree by simply writing a dissertation."
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23. [Trinity in Deerfield lists WELS twice on its website. I wonder why. Was it that special when Larry Oh! went there, or have they trained dozens of WELS staff for hundreds of thousands of dollars?]
"To the best of my knowledge, only three WELS pastors have ever taken classes at Fuller Seminary: Reuel Schulz in the 1970s, and Robert Koester and I in the 1980s."
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.
"You may reply that by 'Fuller-trained' you mean anyone who has attended a workshop presented by the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth, an agency which is independent of the Seminary. If that is the case, your attribution of 'Fuller-trained' is still simply not true. It would surprise me if even half of the two dozen people on your 'WELS/ELS Who's Who' list have attended a Fuller workshop; I personally know of only five who have."
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23. [GJ - Right. I am trying to think of five who did not go to Fuller.]
"Paul says that people can, in some way, 'adorn the doctrine' (KJV). Does that mean adding anything to the Gospel, thereby making the Means of Grace more 'effective'? Of course not. But it does mean that a Christian, a Christian slave in the original context, can discredit the Gospel--and thus erect a human barrier--through actions and words that contradict the profession of faith." [GJ - Reformed doctrine, learned from his mentors at Fuller Seminary.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23. Titus 2:9-10.
"To believe, teach, and confess that truth is not inconsistent with being able to recognize that one approach to ministry may be more effective than another. It is more effective to hold worship services at 10:30 am on Sunday than at midnight on Tuesday; this is true, even though it is the same Gospel that is preached at either time." [WELS CG people repeated this nonsense endlessly, but see the real story below.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.
"Faithfulness is the standard by which God judges those he calls into the public ministry. That faithfulness may or may not be 'effective' in terms of visible results; results are up to God, not us. But part of faithfulness ought to include striving to be as 'effective' as we can be in the methods that we use to take the Means of Grace to people." [GJ - Note the other ways Larry mocks the efficacy of the Word, below.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.
"Make no mistake; I am under no illusions here. I fully expect to be publicly pilloried in print again. You will no doubt do so with some wit, with a good selection of quotations instantly imported into your world processor from your ready-to-go database, and with my own words twisted and used against me. So be it; I can live with that."
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.
"While I would not encourage it, it would not surprise me to see my name in some future writing of yours. If it does appear there, please use my given [underlined] name, Lawrence."
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, D. Min. (Fuller), "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.
"When Frederick Horn faced that situation, the Holy Spirit moved him to accept the call, and for the last few years he has served as the [lay] Minister of Discipleship for Grace Lutheran in downtown Milwaukee." (Pastor James Huebner Fuller alumnus)
Professor Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "Another Kind of Minister, There's a lot to do in a church, and a staff minister can do a lot of it," The Northwestern Lutheran, March, 1994, p. 9. Olson is director of staff ministry at MLC.
"The church growth movement has made inroads into nearly every denomination in America. Once considered only the turf of conservative evangelicals, you will now find church growth practioners in the United Methodist Church, in the Presbyterian Church in the USA, and among the Episcopalians. The LCMS has more pastors enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary, the seedbed of the movement, than are enrolled in the graduate programs at their Fort Wayne and St. Louis seminaries combined, and most of them include church growth as part of their studies." [GJ - Stated with approval. Not mentioned - all the world mission, American mission, and Sausage Factory profs from Fuller.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 1.
"Donald C. McGavran died at home home in Altadena, California, on July 10, 1990. He was 92 years old. Dr. McGavran is widely recognized as the founder of the church growth movement, a movement which has sought to put the social sciences at the service of theology in order to foster the growth of the church. In August of 1989 I borrowed a bicycle and pedaled several miles uphill up from Pasadena to Altadena. I found Dr. McGavran in his front yard with a hose in hand, watering flowers."
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Professor, Martin Luther College (WELS), p. 1.
"McGavran leaned toward me and said, 'The fields are white unto harvest. But you can't harvest a field of what with a penknife--you need a sickle, you need a scythe. Harvest intelligently." Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 2.
"While only the Word is efficacious, the methods we use to minister to people with that Word may vary in their effectiveness." [GJ - Typical WELS CG heresy, attacking the efficacy of the Word.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 2.
"It is appropriate to make use of educational research to improve the functioning of our small group Bible studies." [GJ - God's Word needs help, doncha know.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 3.
"Contemporary social and behavioral sciences are a working out of the reason which God has given to humanity. Granted, the assumptions of some sociologists or anthropologists may be inconsistent with the Christian faith. That calls for discernment, but it does not invalidate the proper use of the social sciences by the church; it is, however, essential that they be used in a 'ministerial' manner." [GJ - Any Reformed heretic would agree.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Professor, Martin Luther College, (WELS), p. 3.
"We cannot add anything to the Word, but we may be able to remove the human barriers which might be in the way of the Word." [GJ - But, as Luther said, while attacking the Word, they never stop blabbering about their own words, which they imagine are effective.]
Prof. Lawrence O. Olson, (D. Min., Fuller), "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 3.
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GJ - Someone wondered, "How can you call him a heretic?" That is simple - all I have to do is quote him from my ready-to-go database.
