# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1998_S158
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

158

RESOLUTIONS

Administrators and the Council on Mission and Ministry.
The committee recommends the elimination of the Council of
Administrators as such. It also recommends removing the
Council on Mission and Ministry from the Bylaws.
_______________________
Omit: definition of department, 3.51. e
COMMENT: The definition of “department” is deleted as
unnecessary.
_______________________
e. Governing Board: A board that directs an agency
of the Synod and to which the staff of that agency is responsible, such as a board of directors, a board of
trustees, a board of managers, or a board of governors.
f. Member of the Synod: See Art. V of the Constitution.
g. Oversight: For the purpose of these Bylaws, to
monitor; to make inquiry and receive a response
thereto; to make suggestions; to bring concerns to the
attention of a higher authority.
h. Program Board: An officially established group
of persons elected or appointed as prescribed in the Bylaws, charged with developing policies and programs for
an operating function of the Synod and supervising
their implementation. The program boards of the Synod
are the
1. Board for Black Ministry Services;
2. Board for Communication Services;
3. Board for Congregational Services;
4. Board for Higher Education;
5. Board for Human Care Ministries;
6. Board for Mission Services.

COMMENT: The term “program board” is substituted for
the present “operating board.” The proposed definition identifies the program boards.
_______________________
i. Property of the Synod: “Property of the Synod” includes all assets, real or personal, tangible or intangible, whether situated in the United States or elsewhere,
titled or held in the name of the Synod, its nominee, or
an agency of the Synod. Provided, however, “property
of the Synod” does not include any assets held by the
Lutheran Church Extension Fund—Missouri Synod or
by an agency of the Synod in a fiduciary capacity (including, for purposes of example, the funds administered by Worker Benefit Plans and certain funds held
by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foundation).

COMMENT: Wording is changed slightly from that in current Bylaw 3.193 c for simplicity.
_______________________
j. Subcommittee: Persons who are voting or advisory
members of a board or commission who perform a specific function and are in a reporting relationship to the
parent group. Subcommittees may be standing or ad
hoc.

COMMENT: The definition remains essentially unchanged
from present 3.51 f.
_______________________
k. Supervision: For the purpose of these Bylaws,
other than those pertaining to ecclesiastical supervision, to have authority over, to direct actions, to control
activities. The definition of ecclesiastical supervision
shall be determined exclusively by those Bylaws pertaining to ecclesiastical supervision.

l. Synod: The term Synod refers collectively to the
association of self-governing Lutheran congregations
initially incorporated on July 3, 1894, and presently
named The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and all
agencies of the Synod as defined in Bylaw 3.51 a.
Synod, as defined herein, is not a civil law entity.

COMMENT: Other than a brief one-sentence definition in
present Bylaw 3.193 a, there is no other elaboration in the
Bylaws as to what constitutes Synod. This lack of clarity
has caused much confusion, particularly when dealing with
financial and other organizations outside of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod. It is the hope of the committee
that this proposed definition, together with the one for “Corporate Synod” will eliminate the present uncertainty to the
greatest extent possible.
_______________________
m. Synodwide Corporate Entity: A separate corporation established by the Synod for business and legal
reasons. For purposes of these Bylaws, the “synodwide
corporate entities’’ of the Synod are the following corporations:
1. Concordia Historical Institute;
2. Concordia Publishing House;
3. Concordia University System;
4. The Lutheran Church Extension Fund—Missouri
Synod;
5. Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foundation.
(The term synodwide corporate entity is not used in
these Bylaws to include foreign corporations created by
the Synod in order to undertake foreign missions.)

COMMENT: This definition is new and lists the corporate
bodies to which the term refers.
_______________________
n. Task Force: An appointed group which has an ad
hoc assignment to accomplish a specific task and whose
duties have a definite expiration date.

COMMENT: The definition is unchanged from present 3.51
g, except that the last clause is deleted as unnecessary.
_______________________
o. Voting Member: See Art. V A of the Constitution.
3.59 Term of Office
b. The President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, VicePresident–Finance—Treasurer, and members of all
elected boards shall assume office on Sept. 1 following
their election. The newly appointed members of all appointed boards and commissions shall begin their service on Sept. 1 following each regular meeting of the
Synod in convention. Incumbents shall serve until their
successors assume office.
3.61 Successive Terms
e. If the President, the First Vice-President, the
Secretary or the Vice-President–Finance—Treasurer, of
the Synod is not reelected to his office or does not stand
for reelection, he shall continue to receive his full salary
for a period of six (6) months while rendering transitional service with the understanding that such service
and salary will cease at the time such person accepts
another full-time position.

COMMENT: Reference to “official retirement age” is deleted.
Reference to securing Worker Benefit Plans retirement income also deleted.
_______________________