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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 231

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS 231

and directors of Christian education in each District.
These delegates would make up a part of the District’s
delegation chosen from the professional ministry.

4. Professors of the Synod’s institutions of higher
education should also be represented by voting dele-
gates chosen from their ranks. This could be done by
electing one delegate for a certain number of professors,
or it might be done by asking the faculty of each insti-
tution to select one or two delegates. Representatives
from foreign mission areas should also be represented
by voting delegates chosen from their ranks.

5. The number of delegates in each District’s repre-
sentation should be determined by the percentage of
the total church membership residing in that District.
One half of each District’s delegates should be laymen
and the other half representatives of the professional
ministry of the church. There should be at least one
representative of each segment of the professional min-
istry from each District.

In selecting delegates to represent the District, the
principle of delegates representing church members
rather than congregations should be applied. It would
be best if a delegate would represent a set number of
specific members from a geographical area.

6. By virtue of their office, certain people are quali-
fied to serve in an advisory capacity. Since these repre-
sentatives could be the same people for several conven-
tions in a row, they should not be given the power of
vote. This would also make them more effective in their
role as advisers. We see the following in this category:
One representative of each board, commission, and

standing committee of the Synod
Selected members of the staffs of the Synod’s boards
District Presidents

SUMMARY

The memorial asks that the Synod’s Commission on
Constitutional Matters study the feasibility of assigning
a set number of delegates to each District, half of whom
are to be laymen, and half of whom are to be repre-
sentatives of the various segments of the professional
ministry of the church. The regulations would provide
for an equitable method of selecting delegates from the
teaching ministries and the group of ordained clergymen
now designated as “advisory pastors” as well as pro-
fessors and representatives from foreign mission fields.
“Advisory delegates” should by virtue of office or ex-
perience be in a unique position to advise. This group
should be small in number, not by any means make up
a third of the delegates.

(5-08)
To Give Advisory Delegates
Voting Representation
Wuereas, Our church polity is predicated on a repre-
sentative form of government; and

Wuereas, The advisory delegates, that is, the synod-
ical and District officials, faculty and representatives of
the Synod’s educational institutions, various mission-

aries, and called teachers are all ministers of the Word;
and

Wuereas, They are considered the most competent in
the respective areas that they represent; and

Wuereas, These areas of education, missions, campus
ministry, youth work, and synodical and District or-
ganization comprise a large segment of the Synod’s total
ministry; and

Wuereas, Under present policy these ministers have
no vote in matters which determine the destiny and di-
rection of their own ministries; therefore be it

Resolved, That these advisory delegates be given a
fair and equitable voting representation in District and
synodical conventions.

St, MaTTHEW’s LUTHERAN CHURCH
New York, N.Y.
¥, Kari Bouur, Secretary

(5-09)

To Permit Laymen to Serve
as Advisory Delegates

Wuereas, Membership in the Synod is limited to
congregations, pastors, and teachers; and

Wuereas, At present advisory delegates are limited
to pastors and teachers at the synodical conventions;
and

Wuereas, It is advisable for laymen, especially such
as are full-time District executives, to serve as advisory
delegates to the Synod’s conventions; therefore be it

Resolved, That the English District, in convention
assembled at Ann Arbor, Mich., in June 1968, respect-
fully petition the honorable Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod to devise and implement means of per-
mitting laymen to serve as advisory delegates to the

Synod's conventions.
y ENGLISH DISTRICT

Rosert L. LANDECK, Secretary
(5-10)

To Revise Procedures for Electing Delegates

Wuereas, According to the regulations adopted at
the New York convention for electing delegates to
synodical conventions (Synodical Handbook, 1.53),
a man could be elected delegate or alternate, or a con-
gregation could be elected to select a lay delegate or
lay alternate, with a very small minority of the votes
cast in the electoral circuit meeting; therefore be it

Resolved, That paragraph 1.53 of the Bylaws be
amended by deleting the words: “The pastor receiving
the highest number of votes shall serve as the pastoral
delegate, the pastor with the next highest as the alter-
nate,” and by substituting the following:

“The two pastors receiving the highest number of
votes shall then be voted on, also by ballot, and the one
of them receiving the highest number of votes shall
be the pastoral delegate. The same procedure shall
then be followed in determining who shall be the pas-
toral alternate and, in turn, which congregation shall