wfn.org | LCMS - Task force to examine noncertified-teacher issues

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services

LCMSNews -- No. 49
August 12, 2002

Task force to examine noncertified-teacher issues

A new 20-member task force appointed by Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod
President Gerald Kieschnick will address reasons for the growing numbers of
teachers at Lutheran schools who are not certified by the Synod, and what
can be done about it.

Known as the "Next Generation Task Force" and chaired by Dr. D. Ray Halm,
director of the Concordia University Education Network, the group is set to
hold its first meeting Nov. 2-3 in St. Louis.

The task force is expected to present its findings and recommendations in a
report to the 2004 Synod convention.

In his May 9 letter appointing the task force, Kieschnick summarized a
number of "circumstances" for the group to address, as it looks at issues
applying to teachers in early-childhood centers and elementary and secondary
schools in the Synod.

"Recently it has come to my attention that upwards of 50 percent of the
teachers in our Lutheran schools have not received formal education in the
Bible or Lutheran doctrine and confessions beyond their own confirmation
instruction at the age of thirteen," Kieschnick said in the letter. "Whereas
at one time nearly all of our teachers in the Synod were graduates of our
Concordia colleges, the rapid expansion of Lutheran schools has been such in
recent years that the colleges have been unable to meet the growing demand
for graduates to fill our parochial school classrooms.  Congregations have
been forced to recruit teachers from the public sector.  My concern is that
these non-synodically trained teachers have failed in large number to enroll
in a colloquy program of study leading to certification by the Synod."

Halm said that the task force would divide into seven subcommittees to
address "strategic objectives" related to the issues Kieschnick raised.

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