# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2013_S236
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

236

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

be consulted in developing the candidate list.
(d) The appointing board may not amend the list of candidatesmake
nominations from the floor before appointing.

Carrollton Circuit Forum
Missouri District
6-16

To Revise Definitions in the Handbook
(Bylaw Section 1.2.1 et al.)
Introduction
Subsequent to the 2010 Synod convention, the Commission on
Constitutional Matters and the Commission on Handbook were tasked
with identifying and updating all bylaws related to the adopted resolutions. In the course of that assignment, some bylaw clarifications
were overlooked and some were incorrectly updated.
Additionally, during the course of the triennium, a number of questions arose which suggested that clarification of certain definitions
would be appropriate and helpful.
Resolved, That the 2013 LCMS convention adopts the following
bylaw changes to Bylaw 1.2.1:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING

1.2 Definition of Terms
1.2.1 The following definitions apply to are for use in
understanding the terms as used in the entire Bylaws of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod:
(a) Agency: An instrumentality other than a congregation or corporate
Synod, whether or not separately incorporated, which the Synod in
convention or its Board of Directors has caused or authorized to be
formed to further the Synod’s objectives Objectives (Art. III of the
Constitution).

(1) Agencies include each board, commission, council,
seminary, university, college, district, Concordia
Plan Services, and each synodwide corporate entity.
(2) The term “agency of the Synod” does not describe
or imply the existence of principal and agency
arrangements as defined under civil law.
(b) Chief Executive: The top staff administrator of an a separately incorporated agency of the Synod, who may be referred to as president, other than a mission board or commission.
(c) Commission: A group of persons, elected or appointed as prescribed
in the Bylaws, rendering a precisely defined service function of the
Synod and responsible, as the case may be, to the Synod in convention, to the President of the Synod, or to the Board of Directors of
the Synod. The commissions of the Synod are:

(1) Commission on Constitutional Matters
(2) Commission on Doctrinal Review
(3) Commission on Handbook
(4) Commission on Theology and Church Relations
(d) Concordia Plans: Concordia Plan Services is a controlled entity of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod created to manage the Concordia Plans. The Concordia Plans, while operating under the supervision of the Synod Board of Directors, are trust agencies whose
assets are not the property of corporate Synod.
(ed) Corporate Synod: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the
Missouri nonprofit corporation, including its offices, boards, commissions and the departments operating under the supervision of the
Board of Directors of the Synod and its mission boards and commissions.

(1) “Corporate Synod” is not an agency of the Synod.
2013 Convention Workbook

(2) Concordia Plan Services is a controlled entity of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod created to
manage the Concordia Plans.
(3) The Concordia Plans, while operating under the
supervision of the Synod Board of Directors, are
trust agencies whose assets are not the property of
corporate Synod.
(24) The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, in
referencing the laws of the State of Missouri
in these Bylaws and in the Synod’s Articles of
Incorporation, intends to acknowledge its
responsibility to be subject to civil authority. In
all such references, however, the Synod intends to
retain all authority and autonomy allowed a church
under the laws and Constitution of the United
States and the State of Missouri.

(fe) Council: An officially established group elected or appointed as
an advisory body. The council of the Synod is the Council of Presidents.
(gf) District: A division of the Synod as determined by a national convention of the Synod.
(hg) Ecclesiastical supervision: The responsibility, primarily of the
President of the Synod and district presidents, to supervise on behalf
of the Synod the doctrine, life, and administration of its members,
officers, and agencies. Such supervision, subject to the provisions
of the Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions, includes
visitation, evangelical encouragement and support, care, protection, counsel, advice, admonition, and, when necessary, appropriate disciplinary measures to assure that the Constitution, Bylaws,
and resolutions of the Synod are followed and implemented. Thus,
ecclesiastical supervision is also the presenting, interpreting, and
applying of the collective will of the Synod’s congregations. Ecclesiastical supervision does not include the responsibility to observe,
monitor, control, or direct the day-to-day activities of individual
members of the Synod, whether in the conduct of their work or in
their private lives (cf. Bylaw 2.14.1 [a]). Further, those constitutional articles and bylaws pertaining to ecclesiastical supervision shall
determine the full definition of ecclesiastical supervision.
(h) Executive Director: The top staff administrator of a mission board
or commission of corporate Synod.
(i) Governing Board: A board that directs a separately incorporated
agency of the Synod. Governing boards are such as a board of directors, a board of trustees, a board of regents, a board of managers, or
a board of governors.
(j) May: Permissive, expressing ability, liberty, or the possibility to act.
(k) Member of the Synod: See Art. V of the Constitution. Members
of the Synod are of two classes: corporate members (congregations
that have joined the Synod) and individual members (ministers of
religion—ordained and ministers of religion—commissioned on the
roster of the Synod).
(l) Mission Board: An officially established group of persons elected
as prescribed in the Bylaws, charged with developing and determining policies for an operating a ministry function of the Synod as
prescribed in the Bylaws. These policies shall establish boundaries,
parameters, and principles that guide the respective mission office in
determining present and future activities and programs. The mission
board shall have oversight of the implementation of these policies.
The President of the Synod shall be responsible for supervising the
implementation of mission board policies in accordance with his
responsibilities under Constitution Art. XI and Bylaws 3.3.1.1.1–
3.3.1.3. The mission boards of the Synod are:

(1) Board for National Mission
(2) Board for International Mission

(m) Officer: Those positions identified in Constitution Art. X A or Art.
XII 3 or Bylaw sections 3.3 and 3.4 unless qualified by a modifier.
(n) Operating Board: The Board of Directors and mission boards of the
Synod, the Board of Directors of Concordia Plan Services, and the
governing boards of the synodwide corporate entities.
(no) Oversight: For the purpose of these Bylaws, to monitor; to make
inquiry and receive a response thereto; to make suggestions; to bring