# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S507
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION
WHEREAS, There are districts of Synod that already term limit
their district president and/or Praesidium; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod in convention adopt term limits to the
offices of Synod President, First Vice-President, regional vicepresidents, and the Secretary of Synod, amending Bylaw 3.2.4.1,
regarding terms of office, as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.2.4.1
The offices of President, the first Vice-President, regional
vice-presidents, and Secretary shall be without limitation as to
reelection. limited to serve not more than a total of four consecutive threeyear terms. Those elected to these offices shall be ineligible for reelection or re-appointment to the same office after serving a total of
twelve years unless otherwise provided in the Bylaws.
(a) If the President, First Vice-President, or Secretary are not
reelected or do not stand for re-election, they shall continue to
receive full salary for a period of six (6) months while rendering
transitional service.
(b) Such service and salary will cease at the time such person
accepts another full-time position.
(c) Before his successor assumes office, the outgoing President
shall use the intervening time to settle the affairs of his
administration and assist the newly elected President as requested
to become acquainted with the responsibilities of the office.

Circuit 11
Michigan District
Ov. 9-37

To Set Term Limits
for All Synod and District Offices
WHEREAS, God has granted our Synod with many gifted people;
and
WHEREAS, It is beneficial for the people of God to serve;
therefore be it
Resolved, That the bylaws of Synod be amended to limit the
terms of office of all three-year offices to three full terms and the
terms of office of all six-year offices to two full terms; and be it
further
Resolved, That the bylaws of Synod be amended to limit an
individual from serving more than twelve consecutive years across
elected offices.
Grace
Lexington, MO
Ov. 9-38

To Amend Bylaws
to Clarify Call and Roster Matters
Preamble
The Council of Presidents (COP), and in particular its Clergy, Call,
and Roster committee, have noted a variety of unclarities in the
bylaws dealing with district membership and ecclesiastical
supervision of individual members of the Synod. Bylaws have not
taken into account the increasing number of members whose calls
simultaneously involve multiple calling bodies, or even multiple
types of calling bodies, those whose call(s) may involve multiple
districts, etc. Accumulation of changes to related bylaws over the
years have created redundancies and left gaps, and have dispersed
across multiple bylaw sections the answers to simple questions like
“to what district will this member belong?”

507

Certain other items, such as the criteria for obtaining and retaining
candidate status, and the administrative procedures associated with
such status, were also noted as requiring attention.
The Clergy, Call, and Roster Committee working with the Secretary
of Synod and Commission on Handbook (COH 16-003), and in
consultation with the plenary COP, has therefore produced a bylaw
proposal intended to rearrange and restate the contents of several
bylaw sections, which changes treat three broad topics:
A. DISTRICT MEMBERSHIP AND ECCLESIASTICAL
SUPERVISION
Rationale
Bylaw 2.11.1 and Bylaw section 2.12, together in certain
circumstances with Bylaws 2.10.3 and 4.4.3, have all come to deal
with district membership and ecclesiastical supervision of members
of the Synod, in some instances in a confusing or conflicting
manner. Workers having calls involving multiple calling entities,
multiple types of calling entity, or multiple districts are not handled
with clarity. Bylaw changes are necessary to restore order, so that
Bylaw 2.11.1 will deal in a more orderly way and exclusively with
categories of active roster service, and Bylaw section 2.12 will deal
exclusively and conclusively with the question of to which district
a member will belong.
For some time there have been confusing instances in which a
member’s membership and ecclesiastical supervision have rested
with different districts. It is proposed that, except for those few
members under the ecclesiastical supervision of the President of the
Synod, a member should be supervised by the president of the
district to which he or she belongs. Changes of district membership
imposed by these changes are designed to be applied in an orderly
and gradual way, at the time of a call to new service (proposed
Bylaw 2.12.1.9).
With Bylaw sections 2.11 and 2.12 delivering conclusive answers
about district membership and ecclesiastical supervision, Bylaws
2.10.3 and 4.4.3 can be simplified and generalized.
In one substantive change (Bylaw 2.12.1.4), missionaries called to
foreign service will retain membership in, and ecclesiastical
supervision by, the district in which they were located before such
calls, meaning that the Missouri District will no longer be required
to oversee all installations into foreign fields. (Procedures have been
improved since 2016, to ensure that the Office of International
Mission will be able to work with every district office to see that the
appropriate installations are carried out.)
In another substantive change (Bylaw 2.12.1.6, proposed
numbering), an emeritus or candidate member exercising his or her
ministry within a given district may be transferred to that district
upon request of that district president, with approval of the
member’s present district president.
In each instance where the proposed bylaws will change the district
membership and/or ecclesiastical supervision of the members, the
design is intended to improve the practical ability of the district
presidents to carry out their evangelical supervision, counsel and
care of the individual members of the Synod.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 2.11.1 and Bylaw section 2.12 be
amended as follows, to clarify matters of district membership and
ecclesiastical supervision:

2019 Convention Workbook