# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_December 11 12 1981_S2 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 1. Is it proper for a clergyman (active or emeritus) on the roster of another church body (in this case, the AELC) to be a communicant member of a congregation of The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod? 2. Does the above (# I) violate the confession and/or the confessional principle of the congregation? 3. Is the above (# I) a violation of synodical Resolution 5-20 of the 1981 synodical convention? The Commission, after considerable discussion, decided to reply along the following lines: 1. Although there are indeed constitutional considerations involved, the CCM concludes on the basis of facts available to it that this seems to be primarily an administrative matter within the province of both the congregation and the District president, who may wish to consult the CTCR for guidance. 2. It is to be noted that some members of the CCM expressed surprise that individuals who had joined the AELC, which had been organized on the basis of the claim that the Synod had departed from Lutheran doctrine, should want to continue their membership in an LCMS congregation. 276. Term of Office, Board of Regents, Portland (Ag. 1554): In answer to a communication from President Weber of Concordia College, Portland regarding the mix-up with respect to the membership of the Board of Regents, the Commission took the following action: 1. That the term of Mr. Ed Schwartz be extended for one year (already approved previously). 2. That Pastor Lundi had indeed been properly elected not for two years but for a five year term, as had been plainly stipulated in the balloting at the convention proper. (This corrects an error which appeared in the CCM's report in The Lutheran Witness.) 277. Board of Regents, Austin (Ag. 1558, A,B) : Similarly, the Commission acknowledged and noted the correction that Mr. Malzahn had declined renomination to this board because he had moved to Joplin, Missouri and that Mr. Robert Bauer had been elected instead, for a five year term. 278. Staggering of Terms, Members of Boards of Regents Elected at District Conventions (Ag. 1557): The Secretary had suggested that the Commission, on the basis of its Handbook responsibilities and special directives of the 1981 convention, take up the question of whether those members of Boards of Regents elected at District conventions should not also have staggered six year terms in order to involve the Districts at each succeeding convention in an election. The Commission resolved that at the 1982 conventions of the Districts the pastor and teacher members of the various Boards of Regents should be elected to three year terms to introduce a staggering of terms, and that the lay members should be elected to six year terms. 279. Permission for Six Year Terms for Districts (Ag. 1555, A): President O'Shoney of the Texas District had asked, if the CCM should rule that terms of office for members of District boards should now be three years according to the new bylaws, that special permission be granted to the Texas District to introduce in 1982 six year terms as an experimentation. The Commission declined this request since it was not within the Commission's province to grant it. 280. District Staff Members on Boards of Regents (Ag. 1560): Concordia College, Milwaukee, had asked President Bohlmann to approve the appointment of Rev. Willard Krueger, an executive of the North