# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S200
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

or more congregations, no individual shall cast more than one
vote. At the meetings of the Synod, a number of congregations
shall form a group which shall be represented by two voting
delegates, one a pastor and one a lay delegate.
Action: Declined (8)

Art. III), which are objectives of the members themselves. Thus, wWhile congregations of the Synod are
self-governing (Constitution Art. VII), they, and also
individual members, commit themselves as members
of the Synod to act in accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod under which they
have agreed to live and work together and which the
congregations alone have the authority to adopt or
amend through conventions.

(After discussion, debate was ended and Res. 11-07A, having
failed to receive the required two-thirds vote for a constitutional
amendment [Yes: 635; No: 321], was not adopted.)

Resolution regarding District Administration
and Electoral Circuit Requirements

1.3.4.2

Members of the Synod, compelled by love for one
another, accept the responsibility to support financially the work of the Synod.

1.3.4.3

Congregations of the Synod, to enable the Synod to
plan current and future ministry efforts and to lend
accuracy and integrity to the Synod’s delegate representation and voting processes, agree to provide
annual membership and statistical information to the
Synod.

3.3.3.2

The Secretary shall perform such other work as pertains to his office or such other work as the Synod in
convention, the President, or the Board of Directors
of the Synod may assign to him.

RESOLUTION 11-08A
Overture 11-51 (CW, pp. 405–407)
A. To Strengthen Bylaw Requirements
for Submission of Statistical Information
Rationale
With the active cooperation of the Council of Presidents, progress
has been made by the Office of the Secretary and the Department
of Rosters, Statistics, and Research toward obtaining 100 percent
response in congregations’ submission of annual statistical information. While this information has always been valuable, increased
abilities to use such information for the general good of the Synod
and its agencies has increased interest in a unanimous response.
The Commission on Handbook has approved the following bylaw
changes proposed by the Secretary of the Synod for submission
to the 2016 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) convention.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaws 1.3.4–1.3.4.1; 3.3.3.2; 4.4.7–4.4.8; and 5.2.3
be amended to strengthen requirements for congregations’ submission of annual statistical information as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
1.3.4

1.3.4.1

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Congregations together establish the requirements of
membership in the Synod (Constitution Art. VI). In
joining the Synod, congregations and other members
obligate themselves to fulfill such requirements and
to diligently and earnestly promote the purposes of
the Synod by word and deed. Members of the Synod,
compelled by love for each other, accept the responsibility to support financially the work of the Synod
and provide annual statistical information to enable
the Synod to plan current and future ministry efforts
based upon an accurate picture of the results of current ministries within its churches, communities, and
world.
Members agree to uphold the confessional position of
the Synod (Constitution Art. II) and to assist in carrying out the objectives of the Synod (Constitution
U P O N T H I S R O C K • Resolutions

4.4.7

(a) He shall serve as a voting member and secretary of the Commission on Constitutional
Matters.
(b) He shall administer the Synod’s dispute resolution process.
(c) He shall serve as a voting member of the Board
of Governors of Concordia Historical Institute.
(d) He shall supervise the maintenance of the official roster of member congregations and ordained
and commissioned ministers on the basis of information supplied by the district presidents.
(e) He shall supervise the process for obtaining
annual statistical information from all member
congregations of the Synod.
(ef) He shall serve as editor of The Lutheran
Annual.
(fg) He shall keep a file of all governing instruments of all agencies of the Synod.
The district president shall be responsible for maintaining the official rosters of his district.
(a) He shall add the names of those ordained or
commissioned ministers initially placed in the district and those accepting a call to or otherwise
transferring to the district.
(b) He shall remove the names of those who have
died or have resigned their membership or have
had their membership in the Synod duly terminated.
(c) An ordained or commissioned minister accepting a call to a congregation in a sister district or to
an institution which relates to such district shall
immediately report such decision to his district
“11. Structure and Administration”