# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1989_S104
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

104 RESOLUTIONS

6. assist in the maintenance of talent pools through-
out the Synod of individuals who might be available for
service on boards, committees, or staff;

7. initiate proposals for programs, materials, and
structure for the Department of Human Resources; and

8. assist in facilitating programs for the professional
growth of church workers throughout the Synod.

c. Membership. The Council on Human Resources
shall consist of the following: the director of Human
Resources of the Synod, the director of Human Re-
sources of Concordia Publishing House (CPH), three
District business managers (or persons responsible for
the personnel function) selected by the District trea-
surers and business managers, and two college/semi-
nary business managers (or persons responsible for the
personnel function) selected by the college/seminary
business managers.

d. Staff, The Department of Human Resources shall
provide staff services to the Council on Human
Resources;

and be it further

Resolved, That the present Committee on Continuing
Education be renamed the Commission on Ministerial
Growth and Support and that it be provided for in the
Bylaws as follows:

3.552 Membership

The Commission on Ministerial Growth and Support
shall consist of nine members who shall be appointed
by the President of the Synod: three ordained ministers,
two commissioned ministers, one layperson, one college
representative, and one representative from each of the
two seminaries. At least two of the above shall be parish
pastors, one of the above a District President or exec-
utive, and one of the above shall have professional ex-
pertise in clinical psychology and/or pastoral counseling.
The executive director of the Board for Higher Educa-
tion Services (or his designee), the executive director of
the Board for Parish Services (or his designee), the Pres-
ident of the Synod (or his designee), the director of Hu-
man Resources of the Synod, and the staff person for

- the Standing Committee on Health and Healing shall
be advisory members.

3.553 Functions

The Commission shall assist the mission and min-
istry of the Synod and its congregations by

a. providing opportunities and settings for all profes-
sional church workers to continue growing in Christ and
in the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and personal well-
being they need to serve Him in His church;

b. helping professional workers develop personal and
professional growth plans on a continuing basis for more
satisfying and effective ministry,

c. building a local and regional support system
through the Districts for the care and growth of profes-
sional workers;

d. assisting congregations and professional workers
to assess needs in the area of professional care and
growth and enlist the aid of appropriate synodical in-
stitutions, boards, and agencies in meeting those needs;

e. “communicating to the Synod ministerial-growth
expectations to achieve more effective ministry, based
on a synodical definition in measurable terms of effec-
tive ministry for pastors and other professional
workers”;

£. communicating to the church-at-large the need for
ministerial growth for church workers; encouraging
congregational, District, and synodical support in terms
of time, money, and resources; and attempting to mo-
tivate professional workers to improve their knowledge,
skills, attitudes, and personal well-being through
professional development programs;

g. developing and supervising a system of granting
Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) and encouraging

the Synod through its Districts to monitor the credits
of individuals and record such credits as reported by the
individual worker for inclusion in the personnel file;

h. developing a system for reporting and evaluation
of ministerial-growth programs in the Synod;

i. assisting Districts in building an ongoing structure
for ministerial growth, providing them with resources
and support services, and helping them establish liai-
sons with centers of education as well as with the
commission;

j. developing programs of ministerial growth through
the Districts;

k. encouraging the development of continuing edu-
cation models in Districts and other appropriate entities
that have potential for synodwide use;

1. seeking out, identifying, coordinating, and publi-
cizing the current programs of ministerial growth of-
fered by the schools, Districts, boards, and agencies
supported or sponsored by the Synod;

m. assisting colleges and seminaries, boards, and
agencies by supporting effective existing programs and
in their planning of new ministerial-growth programs,

n. developing and sponsoring ministerial-growth
programs of general value to the Synod, using the re-
sources of the Synod, including Concordia Publishing
House (CPH);

o. seeking grants and approving grant requests for
funding from sources outside the Synod budget, includ-
ing the Continuing Education Endowment Fund and
authorizing budget development from synodical re-
sources;

p. encouraging Districts in their responsibility to
provide Christian therapeutic and remedial care for
professional church workers and their families;

and be it finally

Resolved, That the Commission on Ministerial Health
whose duties appear in Bylaws 3.561 and 3.563 be dis-
banded and that these Bylaws be deleted.

Action: Adopted as amended (11).

(Each of the three resolves was considered separately. A mo-
tion to substitute “Growth, Support and Health” for “Growth and
Support” was declined. The proposed Bylaw on membership was
amended by substituting the words, At least two of the above shall
be parish pastors, for At least one of the above shall be a parish
pastor. The word Christian was added by common consent before
therapeutic in 3.553 p.)

To Transfer Records
of Disbanding Congregations

RESOLUTION 2-06
Overture 2-58 (CW, p. 169)

Wuereas, It is important for the church to preserve the
records of congregations that go out of existence; and

Wuereas, The language of the Handbook is only ad-
visory and leaves room for a variety of practices in regard
to the records of defunct congregations; and

Wuereas, District boundaries may change from time to
time as the Synod may determine, and

Wuereas, The Concordia Historical Institute, as the
Department of Archives and History of the Synod, is a
permanent organization, well-known as a repository for
annals and records of the church; therefore be it

Resolved, That Bylaw 3.607 h be amended to read as
follows: “Congregations permanently disbanding (not
merging) are-arged-to shall transfer all of their records,