# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 09 05_S6
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

§ 24. If preachers apply for admission to the synod who have not hitherto been members of recognized orthodox ecclesiastical bodies, they must, before their admission, submit to a colloquy*) to be held with them by the synod together with the examining committee.

Chapter VI. Rights and Duties of the Officers and Other Members of the Synod.

The officers of the synod are to claim only such rights as have been expressly conferred upon them by the synod, and they are responsible to the synod in every respect for these, as well as for the fulfillment of their duties. They may therefore be called to account by the synod at any time.

Rights and Duties:
A. Of the President.

§ 1. He is to direct the course of proceedings at the synodical assemblies, so that everything is conducted in Christian order.

§ 2. He has the deciding vote when, in voting on matters that are not matters of conscience, a tie occurs and the matter cannot well be postponed.

§ 3. He is authorized to appoint specific committees for the disposal of business at hand (cf. Chapter V, § 5).

§ 4. He is to submit to the synod, without exception, all petitions addressed to him.

§ 5. He, together with the examining committee, is to assign to every preacher, teacher, and candidate for the pastoral and teaching office connected with the synod, at the close of each synodical assembly, tasks on theological and pedagogical subjects, which are to be submitted to him and to the respective members of the examining committee at least three months before the next session of the synod, and are to be evaluated by them in the presence of the preachers.

§ 6. He is to sign the examination and ordination certificates, and in general all letters and documents issued in the name of the synod.

§ 7. He is to exert every effort to visit every parish of the synodical district at least once during his three-year term of office,1) and is to render his report on this at the annual synodical assembly.

§ 8. He presides over the synodical committee charged with examining candidates for the pastoral office.

*) This is a conversation intended to test, not the knowledge and teaching competence, but the orthodoxy of the disposition of mind.

1) The scriptural basis for such oversight and supervision we find, for example, in Acts 15:36, 1 Timothy 5:20. Likewise, apart from this latter passage, we must fairly conclude from 2 Timothy 2:2 and Titus 1:5 that, if it was given to these two apostolic helpers to confirm and install such teachers—who had, of course, first been called by the congregations—then they, together with the congregations, also had the right and the duty to oversee these elders and bishops. For the ecclesiastical basis for such salutary oversight, see Luther's Works, Walch edition, vol. X, page 1903.

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§ 9. He is to ordain the newly called ministers of the Church, where possible with the assistance of neighboring preachers.

§ 10. In urgent cases of necessity, he is authorized either to conduct the examination of candidates in theology alone, or to entrust it to another qualified fellow minister of the synodical association.

§ 11. Where necessary, he may entrust his functions at an ordination to any already ordained preacher.

§ 12. He is also to give counsel and answer, upon request, outside the synodical sessions.

§ 13. In his oversight duties he is to be governed strictly by the written instructions which he receives for this purpose from the synod.

§ 14. He has the power, in urgent cases of necessity, to convene special assemblies of the synod; however, he must first have obtained the consent of at least two-thirds of the voting synod members for the holding of a special assembly. But if the meeting admits of no delay, the president shall convene the synod without further ado, and its assembly is then legally valid if a full two-thirds of those entitled to vote have appeared for it. In any case, the president must in every instance have first made known to all members the purpose of such assemblies.

B. Of the Vice President.

§ 1. He is to take the president's place in all his functions upon the president's request.

§ 2. In the event of the president's death, he fully takes his place until the expiration of the former's term of office.

C. Of the Secretary.

§ 1. He is to keep the minutes during the synodical proceedings.

§ 2. He is to draw up and sign all letters and documents of the synod.

§ 3. He is to attend to everything that is to be published in the name of the synod.

§ 4. He is to keep an exact register of all members of the synod.

§ 5. He is to keep a book containing the ecclesiastical statistics*) of the synodical district.

§ 6. He is to administer the synodical archive.1)

D. Of the Treasurer.

§ 1. He is to handle all monetary matters in the name of the synod and according to its instructions.

§ 2. He is to render an account of income and expenditure annually at the synodical assemblies, and must at any time submit to an audit ordered by the synod or its officers.

*) By this is understood the statement of the number of congregations, and again, within each individual one, how many were baptized, and so forth, in each year.

1) An archive is a collection of records, written documents, and other official papers that are essential and important for any given community.

E. Of Each Individual Member of the Synod.

§ 1. Every member of the synod is to apply, according to his calling, strength, and means, all diligence and earnestness so that the purpose intended by the synodical association may be achieved as fully as possible—namely, the most necessary preservation of the purity and unity of doctrine, and the preservation and spread of the Church.

§ 2. Every standing member is to effect his entry into the synod by signing the synodical constitution.

§ 3. Only the preachers and deputies authorized by the congregations are entitled to vote, both of whom must present the written authorization given to them by the congregation—the former upon their joining the synod, the latter each time they appear. If a congregation sends two or more preachers, they have only one vote.

§ 4. The deputy of a congregation remains entitled to vote even if that congregation's preacher is prevented from appearing at the synodical assembly, just as the same holds in the opposite case.

§ 5. Every preacher and teacher who is a member of the synod pays at least one dollar annually into the synodical treasury. The former also collect, where possible, voluntary offerings from their congregations for this treasury. This money is to be used:

a.) to defray the general expenses of the synod (outlays of the officers, writing materials, printing costs for the synodical report, postage, and the like);

b.) to attain ecclesiastical purposes (the founding and maintenance of church institutions for the training of future preachers and teachers, and the like).

§ 6. Every standing member of the synod is required to attend the annual synodical assembly regularly to its close. Whoever stays away twice in succession without a well-founded written excuse thereby has his membership connection with the synod dissolved.

Chapter VII. On Changes to the Constitution.

Amendments to the constitution, and additions to it, may be made if they do not conflict with the provisions made in Chapter Two of the present constitution, and if all the synod members, acting on behalf of their congregations—to whom this has been presented a year in advance—vote in favor of it.

Hebrews 13:8.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

Paid: 2nd Year — the Reverend Pastors Grötz, Bücher, Heise, Straub. First half of the 3rd Year — Mr. Aulwerswerth. 3rd Year — Mr. Dr. Brockschmidt.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.