A circuit, in the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

(LCMS), is a local grouping of congregations within one of the synod's 35 districts. Circuits typically include 8 to 12 congregations. In order to send a pair of delegates to the triennial synodical convention, a circuit must have between seven and twenty congregations with a combined total of between 1,500 and 10,000

confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on of hands. Catholicis ...

members; however, synod by-laws allow the president of the Synod to make exceptions upon the request of a district's board of directors. In some situations where a circuit includes numerous small congregations spread over a large area, the circuit may be subdivided for visitation purposes but still count as a single circuit for voting purposes. A circuit visitor is a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

who helps to oversee the other pastors within a circuit. The position is best understood as a peer advisor, as the LCMS has traditionally been

congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

, as opposed to

hierarchical A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an importan ...

, in its extra-congregational structure. Nevertheless, there is a district president (sometimes called a bishop) over the circuit visitors who is ultimately responsible for the pastors and congregations (generally numbering 100–300) in his district. The visitors were previously called circuit counselors, but the 2013 LCMS convention adopted, and the congregations subsequently ratified, an amendment to its constitution changing their title back to what it had originally been.

References

Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod Types of Christian organization {{Lutheranism-stub

See also

References