# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1981_S49 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 1. That the congregations of each Circuit be encour- aged to meet in two types of gatherings: (a) Circuit Forums at least twice each year and (b) a Circuit convocation every three years; 2. That the Circuit Forum, consisting of at least the pastor and president of each congregation, be convened at least twice each year to pursue ongoing interests deemed important, such as lay leadership development, teacher training, and participation under existing Dis- trict policy in future local mission development; that the Circuit Forum carry out the responsibility of electing delegates to the general convention of the Synod; and that the Circuit Forum be encouraged to make recom- mendations to District and synodical conventions; 3. That Circuits be encouraged to hold the first meeting of Circuit Forums in the fall of 1982 with the pastors and congregational presidents participating and making plans for the future; 4. That Circuits be encouraged to hold a Circuit convocation in the year following the synodical conven- tion; that its purpose be to provide a setting in which congregational members may know of and celebrate the ministry pursued by each congregation, may review and discuss the work of the Circuit Forum, and may receive information on various phases of the work pursued through Districts and the Synod; that its emphasis be on inspiration and education, although, when appropriate, it may, under District policies, become a decision- making assembly for major Circuit directions and for forwarding overtures for synodical and District con- ventions. N I. Franchise From the very beginning voting membership in the Synod did not belong to the pastors, the teachers, or to any other individuals, but collectively to the member congregations. Each congregation was to be accorded two votes, one to be cast by its called pastor and one by a lay member. Eventually a slight modification was introduced. The two votes are now accorded to a congregation or to a parish. If two or more congregations are served by the same pastor, they are regarded as one parish and are entitled to only one set of delegates. To be sure, there were other problems that confronted the Synod from time to time. Occasionally some expressed the view that small congregations should not be accorded the same voting strength as large congregations. But the Synod invari- ably decided to stay with the principle that every congregation (or parish) has equal voting rights. Some adjustment was made in 1967 for synodical conventions. At that time minimums and maximums were established both for the number of congrega- tions in a Circuit and for the number of communicant members ina Circuit. As aresult, a larger number of small congregations are now needed to form an electoral Circuit, while fewer congregations of a large size may form an electoral Circuit. This arrangement has achieved a degree of balance. But there have been other problems. When the pastoral office in a congregation is vacant, the congregation is entitled to only one vote; assistant pastors are excluded from consider- ation as voting delegates; advisory pastors and emeriti are not eligible to be chosen as voting delegates by the congregation; the teachers on the membership roster of the Synod are not eligible at present to be elected as voting delegates in any category; lay ministers continue to be laymen with the result that congregations served by them are entitled to only one vote; dual and multiple parishes feel discriminated against because, in addition to the pastor, there is only one vote to be divided between two or more congregations. In the closing hours of the 1979 convention Task Force II was asked as part of its assignment to take into consideration the problem of congregations served by lay ministers. The Task Force has addressed itself to this question, but as can be seen from the previous review, this problem impinged immedi- ately on the other problems listed above. As in the case of its predecessors, Task Force II has given much consideration to these troublesome questions. It has which Task Force II considers to be more thoroughly consistent with the original intent of the founding fathers of the Synod and more in harmony with the principles of equity than the present arrangements. We need to remind ourselves that it is the congregation which determines who shall cast its two votes. In calling its pastor the congregation makes the casting of its pastoral vote one of the responsibilities of the person called. The congrega- tion chooses its second voting delegate as each opportunity presents itself. It should be carefully noted that laypersons far outnumber clergy and teacher members in any congregation, so this elective process is properly to be regarded as primarily a lay function. Basically the Task Force is recommending that the fran- chise be broadened so that a congregation would indeed have full franchise privileges and would be free also to choose whomever it wishes, in addition to its called pastor, to cast its second vote. This would make also the teachers, lay ministers, and advisory clergymen eligible, although the congregation (largely lay) would still do the electing. Task Force II therefore recommends: 1. That as a general rule every congregation shall be entitled to two votes at a District convention; 2. That, since it is the congregation which basically decides who is to cast its two votes, a congregation should be free to choose anyone it wishes from its communicant membership to cast its nonpastoral vote, so that the congregation may choose a layperson, a parochial school teacher, or any communicant member of that congregation who is on the clergy or teacher roster of the Synod in some other capacity; 3. That when the pastoral office is vacant in the congregation at the moment, the congregation shall still be entitled to two votes, to be cast by members chosen by the congregation; 4. Thatin a dual parish or multiple parish the pastor shall be entitled to one vote; the parish shall be entitled to at least one additional vote, and shall have a third vote if at least two congregations in that parish have at least one hundred communicant members each (in this way, if two rather large congregations form a dual parish, both would be entitled to a votein addition tothe pastoral vote; however, if the parish consists of several small congregations, the parish would have only one vote in addition to the pastoral vote). Any necessary determination of procedure or alternation shall be made by the District Board of Directors; 5. That the same principles be applied basically also to synodical conventions; that every congregation be free to nominate any person from the total communicant membership of the congregations within that Circuit as a candidate for the second delegate position and its alternate, so that hereafter any communicant member, lay, teacher, or clergy, could be nominated by the members of a congregation and conceivably be elected as a delegate or alternate; 6. That the convention approve the constitutional and Bylaw amendments necessary to implement the above recommendations. J. Additional Incidental Bylaw Changes As Task Force II worked through the entire Handbook for the purpose of rearranging it and proposing revisions in line with its recommendations, it encountered a number of Bylaws which were either directly related or not to the substantive issues under study by the Task Force but which in any event seemed to need some modification or adjustment. These are included in the proposed Bylaw changes at the conclusion of this report. Task Force II also recommends that in addition to any Bylaws which might be adopted, the convention authorize, as it has done in previous conventions, the Commission on Constitutional Matters to make any adjustments in language or otherwise that might be needed, without changing the basic substance of the decisions reached by the convention.