# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_December 5 1992_S3
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Commission does not believe that the two resolutions are in conflict with each other. Unless the 1995
convention were to grant continued existence to the Commission on Worship as a standing committee, it
would appear that Res. 4-02A would be determinative.
11. Women Membership on Boards and Commissions (Ag. 1937) : The following questions had been
addressed to the Commission on Constitutional Matters for an opinion: "May women within the Synod's
constitutional guidelines be elected or appointed to service on the Commission on Theology and Church
Relations? On the seminary board of regents? On the Commission for Doctrinal Review?"
The Secretary had provided a personal reply which stated the following:
First, it must be understood that the Commission on Constitutional Matters deals only with interpretation
of the Constitution, Bylaws and resolutions of the Synod. It will not be its responsibility to agree or
disagree with the statement contained in your letter, namely, that "boards and commissions which are
charged with doctrinal review ... should be limited by the Constitution to pastors, male teachers, and
laymen."
Second, referring to the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, Bylaws 3.591 1 and 2
specifically use the term "lay persons" not "laymen." In view of this, women would not be excluded on
the basis of the language usage. The same is true of seminary boards of regents, each of which is to
include 3 "lay persons" (Bylaw 6.01 a 1). With respect to the Commission on Doctrinal Review, Bylaw
3.54 states that the President of the Synod shall appoint five members to a Commission on Doctrinal
Review from the total number of doctrinal reviewers. Throughout Chapter 11 which refers to doctrinal
review, there is no reference to the fact that doctrinal reviewers must be male. The obvious conclusion on
the basis of the language is that if there are women serving as doctrinal reviewers they would be eligible
for appointment to the Commission on Doctrinal Review.
The above position would be consistent with previous opinions of the Commission on Constitutional
Matters. It, for example, ruled that women could not serve on the Commission on Appeals or Commission
on Adjudication since the Bylaws specifically used the term "laymen" rather than "lay persons." The
Commission stated that it was not in a position to determine whether this was merely an oversight and
that when the term "layman" was changed to "layperson" on other boards and commissions, these two
commissions were not involved in the change because their membership was listed in Chapter VIII rather
than Chapter III as were all the others. The Commission stated that if these commissions were to be
changed to include membership by women, the convention would have to make that change.
In view of the above, it is my personal opinion that the groups cited are not limited by the Constitution
and Bylaws to male membership.
The Commission on Constitutional Matters resolved to ratify the response which had been provided by the
Secretary.
12. Eligibility for Adjudication (Ag. 1938) : A pastor in California had stated that a congregation in the
California-Nevada-Hawaii District held dual membership status with the LCMS and the ELCA and asked
whether such membership was permissible according to the Constitution, Bylaws and convention
resolutions of the Synod. In response to this question, in a letter of April 2, 1992, a response had been
provided stating that previous rulings of the Commission as well as resolutions of the Synod have made it
clear that dual membership as had been described, was not permitted. It was pointed out that congregations
holding dual membership were to be dealt with evangelically by the district president involved. If a
complaint was to be brought with respect to this contention, Bylaw 2.27 relating to membership in the
Synod was cited as outlining the procedure to be followed. It was noted that this procedure includes a