# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S195
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUTION 193

bylaw paragraph for the Board for Social Ministry Services
under Bylaw 2.423, Functions, which would read:

e. provide guidance and materials to the Board
for Parish Services to enable the members of the
parishes to carry out their responsibilities over
against human need. .

The letter designations of the following paragraphs would
be changed accordingly.

K. Board for Mission Services as Sending Agency
(Bylaw 2.213)

Some confusion has also existed in the past when Districts
and other entities have sent missionaries (clergymen, teachers,
or others) to foreign mission fields at their expense. It has
always been assumed that this is to be done through the
synodical Board for Mission Services. The commission holds
that this should be specifically stated in the Bylaws and
therefore suggests that the following paragraph be inserted
among the paragraphs denoting the functions of the Board for
Mission Services:

2.213 Functions

c. serve as the only sending agency through
which Districts and other entities send at their
expense workers to the mission areas of the Synod.

L. Seminary Education-Colloquy Committees

The Commission has given rather close attention to the
proposal that perhaps the time is right for the Synod to havea
separate board for seminary education in addition to the Board
for Professional Education Services, whose responsibilities
would then be limited to the colleges. In view of the fact thata
major study is underway at the present time, the commission is
not ready to offer any firm recommendation except that it is of
the opinion that the Board for Professional Education Services
should engage an additional member for its professional staff
whose primary responsibility would be pastoral education.

In this connection, as a related subject, the Commission on
Structure recommends that the Bylaws regarding the member-
ship of all standing committees on colloquy be changed to
replace the Vice-President with a member of the executive staff
of the Board for Professional Education Services, as the
chairman, appointed by the Board for Professional Education
Services. This would not necessarily be the same staff person
in each instance.

M. Commission on Black Ministry
(Bylaws 2.521, 2.215)

The Commission on Structure is of the opinion that the
terminal date adopted by the 1981 convention, namely 1986,
should be retained. There will be overtures to the convention
asking that no termination date be attached to this commis-
sion, but the Commission on Structure is of the opinion that
there are other minority groups which then would be equally
entitled to special consideration. It should be noted that a
regular Standing Committee on Black Ministry is already
provided for in the Board for Mission Services as in the past
biennium.

PRESENT WORDING

5.101 Colloquy Committee for the Teaching
Ministry

a. Membership. The Colloquy Committee for the
Teaching Ministry shal] consist of a VicePresident
of the Synod and the presidents of the synodical
colleges offering a bachelor degree in teacher
education.

b. Functions. The Colloquy Committee for the
Teaching Ministry shall—

1. direct the synodical activity in matters of col-
loquies for the teaching ministry according to regu-
lations adopted by the Synod;

N. Standing Committees—Size and Time of Appointment

Experience during the first biennium with standing com-
mittees indicates that it would be helpful if the Bylaws would
spell out in greater detail the method and the timing of
appointments, as well as any subsequent decisions regarding
their size.

The Commission on Structure therefore recommends the
adoption of the following new bylaw:

2.68 Standing Committees

a. The size of each standing committee called into
existence by a convention shall be determined ini-
tially by the Board of Directors after consultation
with the respective board, and any change in size
subsequently shall require the approval of the Board
of Directors.

b. Appointments to standing committees shall be
made by the appropriate board every three years
within six months of the board’s election or appoint-
ment. Appointments shall be made from a list jointly
developed by the unit executive and the President in
advance of the expiration of the six month period.

c. No limitation on tenure shall apply to members
of standing committees.

If the proposed bylaw is adopted, the commission recom-
mends deletion of the last sentence of present Bylaw 1.37 c:
“The size of each standing committee shall be determined by
the Board of Directors after consultation with the respective

oard.”

O. Standing Committee—BPES—Continuing Education

Continuing education is receiving major emphasis in our
day. This should hold true also of our professional church-
workers. The commission therefore recommends that a stand-
ing committee on “Continuing Education” be added to the list
of standing committees of the Board for Professional Educa-
tion Services in Bylaw 2.235 and that the following paragraph
be inserted in Bylaw 2.233 of the same board:

n. encourage and monitor continuing education
programs for professional church workers and stimu-
late congregations to have their workers participate
in such programs.

P. Standing Committee—BPES—Colloquy Committee
for the Teaching Ministry (Bylaw 5.101)

A suggestion has been offered that perhaps the provisions
regarding this committee need to be streamlined since we now
have more than two colleges offering a bachelor degree in
teacher education. It hardly seems feasible to involve the
presidents of all of these institutions in a full-scale manner for
this particular work. If a representative group is called into
being, as proposed, then it would seem that this group should
also have the responsibility of monitoring the colloquy pro-
cedures. The Commission on Structure therefore proposes that
Bylaw 5.101 be revised as indicated:

PROPOSED WORDING

5.101 Colloquy Committee for the Teaching
Ministry

a. Membership. The synodical President shall
appoint a Colloquy Committee for the Teaching
Ministry, consisting of a member of the executive
staff ofthe Board for Professiona] Education Services
appointed by the board and two presidents of synod-
ical colleges offering a bachelor degree in teacher
education. The staff executive shall serve as
chairman.

b. Functions: The Colloquy Committee for the
Teaching Ministry shall—