wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Task force: certify more teachers

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	February 27, 2004 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 22

	Task Force wants to see
	more teachers certified

	The 20-member Next Generation Task Force has found that only one
in three of the 18,000 teachers in schools operated by Missouri Synod
congregations are Synod-certified. The task force is recommending steps
to increase that ratio.

	The task force, appointed by Synod President Gerald Kieschnick
in 2002, met five times before finishing its work earlier this year.

	In his cover letter with the task force's report to the Synod,
Kieschnick said that one of the "chief ... challenges is the lack of
religious education for many who teach in the schools of our Synod.

	"We must regain the enormous potential our schools represent to
the critical task of mission outreach in our beloved church," Kieschnick
said.

	Dr. D. Ray Halm, the task force's chairman and senior director
of the Concordia University Education Network (CUENet), said that the
statistical findings were the result of "the first comprehensive effort
in our church to identify precisely the number of teachers in Lutheran
classrooms who have not had formal theological training."

	Halm said that the task force worked with the school-ministry
office of LCMS District and Congregational Services, districts and the
Synod's Office of Rosters and Statistics to arrive at its statistics.

	The Next Generation Task Force is making five recommendations
for congregations and others to offer as overtures to floor committees
for this year's Synod convention.

	In summary, the recommendations call for:

	* increasing the total number of synodically certified teachers
by five percent per year over the next decade;

	* changing Synod bylaws "to ease restrictions for enrollment in
the Synod's teacher-colloquy program," which is offered by LCMS colleges
and universities and CUENet;

	* professional workshops "to be drawn from the regular colloquy
program to introduce the non-Missouri Synod teacher in an LCMS classroom
to the history, ethos, doctrine and practice of our Synod";

	* adjustments by congregations "to the salary of those teachers
who have taken the extra education that synodical certification
represents," and for congregations "to support colloquy students
financially in their studies and to issue calls to teacher-colloquy
graduates ..."; and

	* urging "the congregations of the Synod to recruit future
teachers for our Lutheran classrooms in greater numbers and to encourage
their enrollment at one of our Concordia colleges or universities."

	Halm said the 20 members of the task force "are great people
with superb credentials and hearts for the schools of our
congregations."

	****************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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