# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S522
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

522

ECCLESIASTICAL SUPERVISION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
to submit them to a written vote of the member congregations of
the Synod only after full and complete information regarding the
matter has been sent to member congregations by presidential
letter and has been published in an official periodical of the
Synod. If such matters are related to the business affairs of the
Synod, such a vote shall be conducted only after the President has
consulted with the synodical Board of Directors. In all cases at
least one-fourth of the member congregations must register their
vote.

and be it further
Resolved, That when the amendment process is complete, the
Bylaws of the Synod regarding ecclesiastical supervision (Bylaw
sections 2.14–2.17) be returned to the wording of the 2013
Handbook of the Synod to bring the Bylaws into harmony with this
Constitutional amendment (Bylaw 3.9.4.2 [b]); and be it finally
Resolved, That the Texas District in convention memorialize the
Synod in convention with this resolution.
Christ, Juniata, NE; Christ, Scituate, MA;
Concordia, Lakewood, CO; Our Savior, Rehoboth Beach, DE;
Trinity, Houston, TX; Trinity, Roselle, IL; Zion, Mayer, MN;
Texas District; Board of Directors, Pacific Southwest District
Ov. 10-03

To Address Ecclesiastical Supervision
WHEREAS, The Constitution of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod indicates that “The officers of the Synod must assume only
such rights as have been expressly conferred upon them by the
Synod” (Article XI A1); and
WHEREAS, The Constitution of the Synod defines the scope of
the ecclesiastical supervision of the President of Synod as the
officers of the Synod, all such as are employed by the Synod, the
individual districts of the Synod, and all district presidents (Art. XI
B1); and
WHEREAS, The Constitution of the Synod defines the scope of
the ecclesiastical supervision of district presidents as the ordained
and commissioned ministers of their respective districts (Art. XII 7)
and entrusts them with the authority to suspend ordained and
commissioned members from membership in the Synod (Art. XII
8); and
WHEREAS, The Synod has viewed itself as primarily
congregational in nature (Art. VII 1; Bylaw 1.3.3); and
WHEREAS, The Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM)
has affirmed the sole responsibility of the district presidents for
ecclesiastical supervision of members in their respective districts
(CCM Opinions Ag. 1970; Op. 13-2669); and
WHEREAS, The 2004 Synod convention amended the bylaws to
eliminate the possibility of an accuser appealing a complaint that
has been terminated by a district president to the Praesidium of the
Synod; and
WHEREAS, The amendment recognized the nonhierarchical
nature of the Synod and affirmed that complaints and accusations
are best handled locally by those most familiar with the
circumstances and individuals involved, in keeping with the
constitutional authority given only to the district presidents; and
WHEREAS, The Synod’s Board of Directors (BOD), following
the 66th Regular Convention held in Milwaukee, amended the
bylaws to provide opportunity for an accuser to appeal to the

2019 Convention Workbook

President of the Synod if the district president does not suspend a
member of Synod; and
WHEREAS, The original resolution proposing the bylaw
amendment was never adopted by the 66th Regular Convention and
was replaced by Resolution 12-14; and
WHEREAS, The adopted Res. 12-14 stated the expectation that the
Council of Presidents (COP) would be included in subsequent
discussions; and
WHEREAS, There was no consensus among the COP, and in fact,
there was significant disagreement among the COP’s members; and
WHEREAS, The Synod’s BOD approved Bylaw 2.14.5 without
consultation or conversation with the COP irrespective of Res. 1214; and
WHEREAS, Bylaw 2.14.5 is in direct conflict with the
Constitution of the Synod, Art. XI B1; and
WHEREAS, Permitting an appeal of an accusation or complaint
against a member of the Synod after a district president has
terminated the matter undermines the ecclesiastical supervision of
the district president, tends to centralize authority for ecclesiastical
supervision in the President of the Synod, and requires the accused
to defend him/herself twice (first, before their district president, and
second, before the President of Synod), thus placing the accused in
double jeopardy; and
WHEREAS, The necessity of the accused potentially having to
defend more than once costs an immense amount of time, energy,
emotion, and money—resources that are best expended upon
mission and ministry opportunities; and
WHEREAS, Misuse of an appeal by an accuser to the President of
the Synod, at best, might be described as mischief and, at worst,
described as harassment, defaming the good name of a member of
the Synod and bearing false witness; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Circuit 15 Pastors Conference of the
Southeastern District petition the 2019 convention of the Synod to
remove Bylaw 2.14.5; and be it further
Resolved, That the 2019 convention of the Synod reaffirm the
prior method of ecclesiastical supervision that was adopted in the
Bylaw changes enacted by the 2004 convention of the Synod
Grace, Concord, NC; Circuit 15, Southeastern District
Ov. 10-04

To Strengthen the Pastoral Relationship between
District Presidents and Those under Their
Ecclesiastical Supervision
WHEREAS, The Synod Bylaw 4.4.5 says, “Each district president,
in accordance with the Constitution of the Synod, shall supervise
the doctrine, the life, and the official administration on the part of
the ordained or commissioned ministers who are members through
his district or are subject to his ecclesiastical supervision, and shall
inquire into the prevailing spiritual conditions of the congregations
of his district”; and
WHEREAS, A district president faces obstacles (such as
geography, time constraints, and other administrative duties) to
supervising the doctrine and life of rostered workers, particularly
when there is a large number of congregations in his district; and
WHEREAS, The district presidents would be better able to
perform their supervisory duties and more effectively provide