# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_October 16 18 2005_S18
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Accordingly, and in response to the question submitted to the Commission, it is not in harmony with the
Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod for a member of the Synod or an unofficial group within the Synod
to assume such responsibilities as the Synod has reserved for itself in its stated objectives, “which are the
objectives of the members themselves” (Bylaw 1.3.4).
Question 2:

Is it in harmony with the Constitution and above Bylaws of the Synod for any member of
the Synod or any groups within the Synod to advocate the withholding of funds from the
Synod?

Opinion: In an October, 1966 opinion, the Commission on Constitutional Matters, in response to an
inquiry from the President of the Synod, stated:
It is the opinion of the Commission that a congregation which withholds funds from the
Synod is subject to serious admonition for divisive and unbrotherly conduct which
destroys the synodical concept itself of “a walking together.” If all efforts at admonition
fail, such a congregation shall in due course be subject to suspension and to eventual
expulsion.
In a second October, 1966 opinion in response to a second question from the President of the Synod, the
Commission stated the following regarding the activities of a group that was receiving and disbursing
funds for mission work:
Quite aside and apart from any legal rights which The State of the Church, Inc. may or
may not have, such synodically-unauthorized receiving of funds raises suspicion in the
minds of the members of the congregations of the Synod and is divisive. Furthermore,
since the disbursement of such funds is on a selective basis, this likewise is divisive. The
Commission therefore holds that such activities can only militate against the essential
unity implied and involved in a synodical structure (“a walking together”).
Accordingly, in response to the current question, a member of the Synod or any groups within the Synod
that advocate the withholding of funds from the Synod are subject to admonition for activities that
militate against the essential unity intended by the structure of the Synod as provided in its Constitution
and Bylaws.
Question 3:

Is it in harmony with the Constitution and above bylaws of the Synod for any member of
the Synod or any groups within the Synod to teach publicly, publicly advocate, or promote
any position contrary to the position of the Synod?

Opinion: Again, the above-referenced 1969 opinion (see response to question 1 above) speaks to this
issue:
In this opinion the Commission is not attempting to limit the right of individuals to speak
their own minds. Before and after the passage or rejection of synodical resolutions
individuals must be free to express their concerns, especially to their peers. Frank and
open discussion, carried on in a spirit of Christian love and forbearance, must be part of
our life together in the Synod. It can be proper and salutary. However, in this opinion the
Commission is addressing itself to the organizing of groups, to the calling of meetings,
secret or open, to attempted manipulation of existing groups, to circularizing activities,
and to a wide scale of joint actions, all of which by their very nature tend to polarize or
fragment the constituency of the Synod, and thus have the effect of disrupting the
synodical unity.

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