Keeping Pastors accountable to their Ordination Vows – a way for Laity to show love to their pastor

“Do you promise that you will perform the duties of your office in accordance with these Confessions, and that all your preaching and teaching and your administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions?” – Lutheran Service Book Agenda, Ordination and Installation Rites

A great question – asked of every LCMS pastor at their ordination and every subsequent installation. Also a great question (or in some variation) that members (especially elders) should regularly ask their pastors.

Lutherans confess that the Book of Concord teaches what the Scriptures teach, without reservation (QUIA).  That belief then fuels how Lutheran pastors conduct their ministry (preaching, teaching, and administering).  Lutheran laity owe it out of love for their pastors to hold them accountable to this truth – because the truth of Scripture (and thus the truth of the Confessions) is God’s good truth for the good of souls for whom Christ died.

If your pastor isn’t doing what he vowed in his answer of this question, you as a sheep are not being led into greener pastures but into a slaughterhouse.

This post is fresh in my mind as I heard Pastor Todd Wilken teach this past weekend on the topic of laity and the Lutheran Confessions.  The videos for that conference will be available soon.

 

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