# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1898_S50
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

50 Proceedings of the seventeenth convention

III. Review of the Synodical Reports.

Of the committees appointed by the Honorable President (*Präſes*) to review the various synodical reports, only four submitted their reports; two of these reports were referred to new committees because each bore only one signature. Since the committees had shown themselves so very negligent in their task, and one committee member complained that he had not received the report he was to review, the Synodical Conference [*Synodalconferenz*] resolved that in future the reports shall be sent to the individual committee members by the secretary of the Synodical Conference.

IV. Explanations Concerning the Constitution.

The following report of a committee, which had been appointed to answer two questions put to the Synodical Conference, was adopted.

1. As to the question how § 7 of the agreement with the Wisconsin Synod is to be understood, we call attention to the fact that this paragraph is not part of the laws of the Synodical Conference but belongs to a special agreement made between the synods of Wisconsin and Missouri, and that therefore, if the paragraph in question requires an authentic explanation, the competent authority is not the Synodical Conference but the two synods, Wisconsin and Missouri.

2. As to the question whether, within the Synodical Conference, a pastor who accepts a call to a congregation that belongs to a different synod from the one with which he has been connected hitherto is bound to join the synod of which his congregation is a part, we take the liberty of recalling that on this question the convention of the Synodical Conference of the year 1888 declared as follows: "When a congregation that has hitherto been served by a synod, without being a member of it, directly calls a pastor from another synod, the pastor in question shall be bound to act just as in the case of a synodical congregation. Before accepting the call he shall notify the president of the synod which has hitherto served the congregation, and, in case he accepts the call, join the synod in question.

V. Michigan Synod.

To determine the position of the Synodical Conference toward this body, the following committee report was adopted:

Since the congregations and pastors who belonged to the Synodical Conference as members of the old Michigan Synod and now, as district-