# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2023_S384
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

384

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION

and be it further
Resolved, That Constitution Article IX 1 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING

Article IX Representation
The synodical meetings are composed of regularly elected and
delegated representatives and of certain individual persons, as specified
in the Bylaws, to wit:
1. Representatives of congregations, entitled to vote. A number
of congregations shall form a group which shall be
represented by two voting delegates, one a pastor or minister
of religion—commissioned and one a lay delegate.
2. …

and be it further
Resolved, That Const. Art. XII 10 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING

Article XII Districts of the Synod and Their Regulation
…
10.The meetings of the districts of the Synod are composed of the
following:
a. Voting Delegates
Every member congregation or multi-congregation parish is
entitled to two votes, one of which is to be cast by its pastor
or a minister of religion—commissioned and the other by the
lay delegate elected and deputed by the congregation or
parish.
b. …

and be it further
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.2 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
Voting Delegates
3.1.2
Electoral circuits shall meet as required by the Bylaws of
the Synod to elect circuit voting delegates to the Synod’s national
conventions.
…
(c) Voting delegates shall consist of one pastor or minister of
religion—commissioned and one layperson from each electoral
circuit. These pastoralministerial and lay delegates and their
alternates shall be elected according to the regulations of the
Synod (Bylaw 3.1.2.1).
…

and be it further
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.2.1 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.1.2.1
Elections of voting delegates shall take place in accordance
with established policy and procedure.
…
(c) The privilege of voting shall be exercised by one
pastorminister of religion (either ordained or commissioned) and
one layperson from each member congregation or multicongregation parish of the circuit, both of whom shall have been
elected in the manner prescribed by the congregation or parish.
Congregations of a multi-congregation parish not contributing a
lay voter may send an advisory lay representative, with voice but
no vote. A pastor serving a congregation in an assisting capacity
(Bylaw 2.5.6) is not eligible to cast that congregation’s pastoral
vote.

2023 Convention Workbook

(d) Each pastorminister of religion (ordained or commissioned)
who is called and installed to a congregation of the circuit in a
non-assisting capacity and not a specific ministry pastor shall be
eligible for election.
(1) Each voter may write in the names of two such
pastorsministers of religion (ordained or commissioned) on
the initial ballot. The three pastorsministers of religion (or
more, in case of a tie vote) who receive the highest number of
votes in this preliminary ballot shall be placed on the next
ballot.
(2) Each voter shall now vote for only one candidate.
Balloting shall continue with the lowest candidate being
removed from each succeeding ballot until one pastorminister
of religion shall have received a simple majority of all votes
cast, whereupon he shall be declared the pastoral delegate.
(3) The congregation or congregations served (in other than
an assisting capacity) by the elected pastoralministerial
(ordained or commissioned) delegate shall be removed from
consideration for supplying any other voting delegate or
alternate for that particular convention.
…
(f) All other pastorsministers of religion (ordained or
commissioned) who received votes in the initial write-in ballot,
except those who were eliminated through the election of the lay
delegate, shall be eligible for election as the alternate.
(1) Each voter shall now vote for only one candidate.
(2) Balloting shall continue with the lowest candidate being
removed from each succeeding ballot until one pastorminister
of religion shall have received a simple majority of all votes
cast, whereupon he shall be declared the alternate
pastoralministerial delegate.
(3) The congregation or congregations served by him or her
shall be removed from consideration for supplying the
remaining lay alternate.
…

and be it finally
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.3 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
Nonvoting Advisory Delegates
3.1.3
The advisory delegates of a district convention shall
consist, unless they present a valid excuse, of all individual members
of the Synod within the district, except those pastorsministers of
religion (ordained or commissioned) representing member
congregations as voting delegates. In a convention of the Synod, all
commissioned ministers and those ordained ministers not eligible for
election as a voting delegate under Bylaw 3.1.2.1 (d) shall be
represented as follows:
…

Christ
Mustang, OK
Ov. 9-27

To Restrict Synod Convention on Sundays
WHEREAS, Our congregations hold services every Sunday
morning; and
WHEREAS, God our Father encourages us to sanctify the holy day
by hearing God’s Word; and
WHEREAS, Synod conventions are a wonderful time for delegates
to learn about the congregations in the vicinity of the convention