The Augsburg Confession 14 rightly and biblically says “no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper public call.”

Many Christian churches agree with this statement in principle, but the biggest differences arise among Christians about what a proper public call is.

Some claim that proper public call is created by “ordination” or “oversight.” Or they treat the call by a local congregation as somehow inadequate or pastorally unfinished or unsafe unless there is a structure from outside the local congregation. The idea that a higher ecclesiastical authority is appropriate, or even essential, sits naturally for a Roman Catholic, an Anglican, or even various forms of Pentecostals. However, I’ve also heard various “Lutherans” seek to honour and emphasise AC 14—but in ways that actually undermine it. For example:

• By claiming that individual Christians do not possess the Keys, but rather “the church” as an entity represented by the publicly called pastors.
• By questioning the validity of the call of a congregational pastor unless there is a hierarchy above him from outside the congregation.
• By setting oneself up as the public judge of the pastor of another congregation without being invited to do so—and even contacting members of another congregation without that pastor’s knowledge or consent.

But these things are not Lutheran—because they are not biblical. The biblical term “pastor” comes from the picture of someone who protects and serves a flock of sheep. What AC 14 describes as the need to have a “proper public call”, Jesus describes in this way in John’s Gospel:

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (John 10:1-2)

Here is one place where Luther applies this image practically:

What I say about public preaching I say even more emphatically about private preaching and secret ceremonies. These are not to be tolerated at all. For the rest, anyone may read what he likes and believe what he likes. If he will not hear God, let him hear the devil. But the things that are sure articles of Scripture are to be publicly preached, and read and taught to the common people at home. All this compels no one to believe; but it gives the community peace from the hotheads and puts a stop to the knavery of the fellows who preach in corners, who sneak, uncalled and unsent, into people’s houses and emit their poison there before pastors or rulers find them out. These are the thieves and murderers, of whom Christ speaks (John 10:8). They enter another’s parish and seize another’s office, which is not committed to them but forbidden them. (Luther’s Works 13:63-64)

So, one must not use the Keys publicly without a proper public call. In other words, one should enter “through the gate” and not “by another way.” This is not an abstract ecclesiastical or institutional principle. It is a practical command from Christ himself.

This public call is not undermined by the fact that every individual Christian possesses the Keys. In fact, it depends on that fact and is necessary because of it. Those who see the possession of the Keys by every Christian as a threat to the public ministry have misunderstood both the doctrine of the Keys and the doctrine of the call.

A “proper public call” means the consent of the church: the consent of Christians who possess the Keys and gather around Christ’s Word and Sacraments. A pastor’s call arises from the church he is appointed to serve—not from an authority standing over that church as though the congregation itself did not possess the Keys.

Martin Luther himself explains this is many places. Here is one such example:

It is of the common rights of Christians that we have been speaking. For since we have proved all of these things to be the common property of all Christians, no one individual can arise by his own authority and arrogate to himself alone what belongs to all. Lay hold then of this right and exercise it, where there is no one else who has the same rights. But the community rights demand that one, or as many as the community chooses, shall be chosen or approved who, in the name of all with these rights, shall perform these functions publicly. Otherwise, there might be shameful confusion among the people of God, and a kind of Babylon in the church, where everything should be done in order, as the Apostle teaches [1 Cor. 14:40]. For it is one thing to exercise a right publicly; another to use it in time of emergency. Publicly one may not exercise a right without consent of the whole body or of the church. In time of emergency each may use it as he deems best. (Luther’s Works 40:34)

It is precisely because every Christian has a right to exercise the Keys that someone must be called and appointed to do so on behalf of everyone publicly. And therefore this call arises from those who are served by that one who is publicly appointed—because it is for them, gathered, that he speaks.

Church is not a place where a spiritual elite exercises power over passive Christians. It is where Christians gather around Christ’s gifts and call a pastor to exercise the Keys publicly on their behalf: preaching Christ’s Word, pronouncing his forgiveness, and administering his Sacraments.

That is why gathering with the church matters. Christ does not leave us to manufacture faith for ourselves. He gathers us to receive his Word, his forgiveness, and his Sacrament through the public ministry he has established for our good.

Manchester Lutheran Church gathers in Christ’s name each Sunday. Come and hear Christ’s Word publicly preached, receive his forgiveness, and be strengthened by his Sacrament. Join us at 10:45am for coffee and 11:00am for the service: https://mcrlt.ch/sundays/

If you live outside Greater Manchester, you can gather online with the Confessional Lutheran Church every Wednesday at 6:00pm to hear Christ’s Word and receive his forgiveness alongside Christians from across the country and beyond: https://lutheran.ch/online-service/