Offices in the Lutheran Church

The answer will depend on which Lutheran jurisdiction. Some Lutheran jurisdictions only have pastors while others have bishops, pastors, and diaconal ministers. It is important to remember that Lutherans place very little emphasis on church structure whereas many of our Protestant friends define themselves by their understanding of structure (Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists).

The church polity that you will see in the LCMS is that it is congregational and organized into districts (think diocese) and organized into the national synod. Each congregation "calls" a pastor who handles the spiritual side of the congregation (as opposed to the church building) assisted by a group of male elders. Elders are typically elected for two years. They serve as a sounding board for the pastor and provide additional support for the pastor to the congregation. So an elder might be responsible for 10-15 families that he might visit a couple times a year to see how things are going. They can then provide guidance for the pastor on any problems that might be going on. Liturgically, they can also serve as a cross between deacons and eucharistic ministers. The district and synodical levels serve mainly as advisory boards to the pastor and congregation. (Im a former LCMS elder).

To Lutherans as a whole, church polity is a man-made institution, neither commanded nor forbidden in scripture (adiaphora), and therefore a matter of Christian freedom.

It's mostly semantics. The difference may be in actual authority granted to the office or how that authority is used. The LCMS has congregational polity and the district presidents and the synod president advise, draw attention to issues, and apply the Word to given circumstances. They cannot, however, remove a pastor from office, for example. That has to be done by the individual congregation that issued the call if necessary. More authority is granted the leadership as pertaining to non-pastoral offices. For example, through a process lasting almost a year a professor in one of our universities was recently removed for teaching contrary to LCMS positions on the ordination of women and other topics.

Interestingly, the former synod president pushed and pushed for more authority in his office. When the synod conference was called, his proposal was approved - but he lost his bid for reelection. The new president was not in favor of expanded authority but got it anyway.

For a thorough discussion of the Divine Call as practiced in the LCMS, see http://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=410

Athanasias said:

For example in the Catholic Church we believe there are 3 ordinations given by Christ we believe in Ordination to the Deaconate (Deacon) ordination to the ministerial priesthood(priest) and ordination to the high priesthood or Bishopric(Bishop).

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland retained this episcopal order of three ordained offices: diaconal workers (deacons), priests (vicars, chaplains, parish pastors), and bishops + archbishop (as well as the bishop's episcopal "Roman Catholic" vestments and regalia).

We consider our particular church hierarchy to be necessary and good for good order, nothing more, nothing less. We have nine dioceses each led by a bishop, who is the spiritual overseer of a diocese. In addition, we also have the Chaplain General to the Defence Forces known as the ”Field Bishop” whose informal "diocese" is the armed forces and military chaplains. Dioceses are divided into deaneries, lead by a dean, and deaneries are further divided into parishes, led by a vicar.

The ministry of the Word and Sacraments (the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments) is the only Church office Lutherans hold for sure.

The most notable difference between a bishop and a "synod president" is that we ordain bishops in the Apostolic Succession. The office of bishop embodies the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland's adherence to the universality, unity and continuity of the church, to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The bishop is the spiritual leader of the diocese, who ordains its priests and deacons and consecrates its churches; oversees and counsels all in ordained ministry, especially priests; and is charged to ensure that the church's mission conforms to its confession.

The deacons are responsible for the parish's carative ministry, offering support to those in the greatest need: i.e. a "social/welfare worker" but without forgetting the spiritual need as well: body AND soul.

I always thought LCMS polity was really presbyterian, despite the claims that many made for congregational polity. The districts effectively function as presbyteries.

The LCMS has a Pastor and elders. My Father is one of the elders at our Church. The elders meet regularly with the Pastor to make decisions for the congregation.

So in the RC who decides if and how a local congregation is going to buy a new furnace or asphalt the parking lot?

Athanasias said:

The local Catholic Churches are pretty self sustaining and mostly decide that and if they need help money wise and cannot raise it they can go to the archdiocese and ask the Bishop for help.

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So the Priest makes all the decisions on his own then?

GracetotheHumble said:

So the Priest makes all the decisions on his own then?

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The various churches I have been in (Lutheran and Orthodox) there is a board of trustees that make decisions about funding and the physical building. Some pastors might sit in on those so that the board is aware of any needs that he would need especially since he is the main occupant. I believe Orthodox priests take a class in their final year of seminary about church finances and building information. They might not be the main authority but they can at least be mindful of the things that need to get done around the day-to-day life of a parish.

GreekOrthodox said:

The various churches I have been in (Lutheran and Orthodox) there is a board of trustees that make decisions about funding and the physical building. Some pastors might sit in on those so that the board is aware of any needs that he would need especially since he is the main occupant. I believe Orthodox priests take a class in their final year of seminary about church finances and building information. They might not be the main authority but they can at least be mindful of the things that need to get done around the day-to-day life of a parish.

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He is Catholic. I was asking him who makes all the decisions at his RCC.

Athanasias said:

This will be an easy reply because I honestly have no idea! I know the Pastor(the head priest) of each parish has the ultimate say on liturgical and theological teachings and studies for the parish and evangelizational things(if he decides to teach his own garbage instead of what the Church officially teaches then he should be told about this politely and then if he refuses to straighten up the Bishop can be notified and he can take action or not depending on what this is.) . This I love and often times pastors are bullied by parishioners because the parishioner do not like what they hear on the pulpit or do not like the way the mass is done. Some of the best Pastors I know didn't let the people and their desires for altering doctrine or liturgy influence their decisions and they stuck with the official teaching of the Church. That happens sometimes. I do know they also have various boards of trustees who work with the pastor on various things to help him as priest are always busy with daily Mass, sick calls, teaching, etc and at some point the Archdiocese has some connection too depending on what it is.

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This seems like a flawed system to me. The Priest having all the authority I think would be faulty. A board of elders is necessary for decision making.

I spent some time in an LCMS congregation and am currently in the Episcopal Church. I think that many of the posters have already touched on it, but when you see "districts" think diocese, as the set-up is very much the same. Also, district presidents are a lot like bishops and function much like a bishop. In fact, some district presidents can be seen wearing the items of a bishop (mitre, staff). The President of the LCMS is essentially like a "presiding bishop" or "chief pastor." As far as differences, like others mentioned, the congregation has a lot more say and control over their congregation than an Episcopal parish would. At least, this how an LCMS priest explained it to me.