Vicarage and Ordination
- The Word of God matters.
- The Sacraments matter.
- The Confessions matter.
Because we believe these things to be true, one of the priorities in the SMP Program is ensuring that God’s people have access to the full range of His gifts as quickly as possible. This is, however, in tension with our Confessions, which teach that “nobody should preach in the church or administer the sacraments unless he is regularly called.” (AC XIV) In order to provide God’s people in your context with a “called and ordained servant of the Word” the SMP Program allows for ordination after you first serve a two year vicarage.
During the first two years of the SMP Program you’ll serve in your context as a vicar. After that you’re eligible to complete your theological interview and be certified for ordination by our faculty. That isn’t, though, the end of the program. You’ll still receive two more full years of coursework designed to continue your pastoral formation.
“That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ’s sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake.”
Sample Curriculum
| Year | Fall Intensive | Winter Quarter | Spring Quarter | Summer Quarter |
| Year 1 | The Lutheran Confessions: Introduction and Overview | Pastoral and Missional Theology in Luke and Acts | Confessing Christ in Today’s World | Preaching the Faith |
| Year 2 | Heaven on Earth: The Worship of Lutherans Today | The Books of Moses: The Beginning and the New Beginning | Baptism: Life in Christ | Teaching the Faith |
| Year 3 | The Holy Trinity: The Mission of God in Today’s World | The Lutheran Confessions in Today’s World | The Person of Jesus in John’s Gospel | The Epistles of Paul: Planting the Gentile Mission |
| Year 4 | The Lord’s Supper: Life in Christ Nourished and Strengthened | The Prophets: Christ and His Mission Foretold | Mission and Ministry in Today’s Pluralistic Context | The Church in Missiological Perspective |
Program Requirements
| Exegetical Theology | 4 courses |
| Historical Theology | 1 course |
| Pastoral Ministry and Missions | 5 courses |
| Systematic Theology | 5 courses |
| Total | 16 courses |
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”