I think when people think about mission work, they typically imagine a group of pagans living in some undeveloped remote corner of the world. I think when people think of missionaries, they typically imagine a pasty version of Indiana Jones who carries a machete in one hand and a bible in the other. But the reality of mission work is that place where all the pagans live is America and those missionaries don’t look like Indiana Jones, they look like you.
There is a growing need for mission work here in America and there is a growing need for missionaries like you. I don’t know if you all know this or not, but there is a weekly report that our church body produces that lists all the churches and schools that are looking for pastors and teachers to serve them. This report is simply known as the call report. I don’t typically look at the call report. I try to focus my attention on the church I serve and the churches I am tasked to care for as a circuit pastor. However, since I was recently on the call report, I took a look. Now, I am not completely oblivious to the needs of our church body, I have read the reports and heard the pleas from various synod officials and school representatives, but still it was a little overwhelming to see how long the list of vacant churches and schools really is. I had to scroll down the page quite a way before I finally found my name listed among the pastors who had recently returned a call. I think I counted about 70 active calls either being held or recently returned, and that was just for churches looking for a pastor. The list of schools looking for a teacher is longer.
This last year at Martin Luther College (that is the school that trains our future teachers) 125 teacher candidates were assigned, but after every teacher who could be assigned was assigned there still remained 140 vacancies for teacher-trained men and women. The news from our Seminary (where all our pastors come from) is equally concerning. There were 90 requests for candidates this last year but only 27 candidates to be assigned. After every pastoral candidate was assigned, there were 136 vacancies for pastor-trained men synod wide. That’s an 11% vacancy rate. One out of ten churches in our church body are without a pastor. And Finally, because we are the Wisconsin EVANGELICAL Lutheran Synod, the Board for Home Missions desires to open 100 new congregations in the next 10 years because all across America there is a need for sound preaching and teaching. Turns out what Jesus said 2,000 years ago is just as true today as it was then. “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” [1]
The question is, where are we going to find enough workers to gather such a plentiful harvest? I could try to give you a well-researched and thought-out description of our worker training system in the WELS, but honestly that is why I have asked Mr. Mark Maurice to be here today. After our worship service, he will do a far better job than me telling you about the work he does on our behalf to train future pastors and teachers. So, I am going to stay in my lane and simply share with you what Saint Paul wrote about the training of pastors and teachers. In 2 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul tells us what is involved in the training of pastors and teachers, he tells us, it takes a village.
The training of a pastor or teacher starts in the home. In verse one an old pastor by the name of Paul instructed a young pastor by the name of Timothy to be “1… strong in the grace that is Christ Jesus”. Paul thought of Timothy as his “true son in the faith”[2]. We see Paul acting as a mentor of sorts for this young pastor. But even though these two men shared a special bond, Timothy had a family that cared for him deeply. Most notably his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. Long before Timothy met Paul the great missionary, these two women made sure that little Timothy knew the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Timothy’s mother and grandmother made sure that he knew even though he was a sinner who deserved damnation, God loved him, and God sent His Son Jesus to live as Timothy’s perfect substitute and die as the atoning sacrifice for Timothy’s sins. Paul did not have to fill Timothy’s heart with the grace that is in Christ Jesus, Timothy’s mother and grandmother had already done that.
If we want there to be more pastors and teachers, than we must do the same; we must do for our children and grandchildren what Eunice and Lois did for theirs. We must take our responsibility to train up our children in the way they should go seriously. We must show them the love the heavenly Father has for them so that their little hearts can also be full of the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The home is the ideal setting to fill the heart of a child with God’s grace; His undeserved love. There a husband can give an example of selfless sacrifice as he loves his wife like Christ loved the church. There a wife can give an example of humble service as she serves her family like Christ served the church. There, brothers and sisters who sin against each other can be taught that forgiveness is not something that is earned or deserved, rather forgiveness is something that is freely given. The home is the ideal setting to fill the heart of a child with the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
The training of pastors and teachers begins in the home, but the responsibility of training the next generation of called workers does not rest on the parents alone. We the members of Messiah have a part to play. After Paul encouraged Timothy to keep his heart full of God’s grace, Paul made a reference to “2… things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses.” We don’t really have to guess what sort of things Paul said in the presence of many witnesses. The things that Paul said have been written down for us to read. As the author of approximately 25% of the New Testament we know more about the things that Paul said than anyone else except maybe Moses. Paul said things like “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”[3] and “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[4] And “8 it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”[5] Paul said and wrote many of the foundational things upon which the teachings of the church stand. He said them so that young Timothy would learn them and the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write them so that we could teach them to the young people in our congregation as well.
The young people in our congregation are constantly surrounded by scoffers and they are continually having to defend their faith. It is our job here at Messiah to equip those young people with a foundation of truth they can stand on and the knowledge necessary to prove that their faith is not based on some fairytale fantasy but is in fact a timeless truth of the all-knowing God. To do that we have to be willing to do what Paul did, we must be willing to speak the truth in the presence of many witnesses. We must speak the truth from the pulpit, and we must speak it in the Sunday School classroom, and we must speak it narthex, hallways, kitchen, and bathroom if necessary. And the truth we speak behind the safety of these walls must be the same truth we speak when talking to lady at the grocery store, guy on the golf course, and neighbor down the street. The young people in our congregation need to hear us speaking the truth to them and in the presence of many witnesses.
If there is to be a future pastor or teacher among our youth, they must hear eternal truth spoken from the members of Messiah, but the training of the next generation of called workers does not end with the local congregation. Our church body also has a part to play. After the heart is full of grace and the head is full of knowledge Paul suggests that the hands of the future pastors and teachers need to be equipped. Paul told Timothy to entrust the gospel “to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” Paul speaks of a worker training system where reliable young men and women can be taught how to teach. It is a blessing to have a heart full of God’s grace, and a head full of the truth offers a great deal of confidence, but it takes time to learn how to share that grace and knowledge with others. After three years of very intense training, with a perfect professor whose lectures were legendary and in-the-field training was often life changing, even the twelve disciples struggled to understand what Jesus was teaching them.
It takes time. The men and women who teach at our College and Seminary are not perfect professors, Jesus was the only perfect professor. But what the professors at our schools have in common with Jesus is they collectively are patient. It takes on average 8 years to train a teacher and 12 years to train a pastor in our church body. That is years of learning how to write lesson plans and sermons, years of learning how to coach and counsel, years of learning how to listen and lead. A great deal of training and instruction is invested in these young people so that their hands are equipped to share the grace that fills their hearts and the knowledge that fills their heads with others. In our church body we are obnoxious about the training of our pastors and teachers because we want them to be what Paul told Timothy they should be. We want them to be reliable and qualified to teach because some day these are the young men and women who will fill those vacancies in our churches and schools. They are the ones who will celebrate the births of our grandchildren with our children. They are the ones who will cry with our children and grandchildren when this sinful world gets the better of us. They are the ones who will comfort and support our children and grandchildren with the words of everlasting life on the day you and I go to heaven. It is in our own best interest to pray for and pay for a College and Seminary that equips the hands of our future pastors and teachers.
There is a growing need for pastors and teachers both in America and in our own church body. Our future pastors and teachers need homes that fill their hearts with God’s grace, they need church members to fill their heads with the truth and they need schools to equip their hands for the work God has given us to do. They need you. Parents and grandparents, fill the hearts of your children and grandchildren with God’s grace. Members of Messiah, fill the heads our youth with the truth. Mr. Maurice, go back to our College and Seminary and let them know we are praying for the work they do to equip the hands of the men and women who will not only fill the vacancies in our churches and schools but will one day stand where I now stand and teach what I now teach.
It takes a village to raise up the next generation of pastors and teachers. I am part of that village, you are part of that village, and the men and women who serve at our synodical schools are part of that village. Together and under God’s grace let us do what we can to ensure that as long as the harvest is plentiful there are pastors and teachers in the field. Amen.
[1] Matthew 9:37
[2] 1 Timothy 1:2
[3] Romans 5:8
[4] Romans 6:23
[5] Ephesians 2:8-9