LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 223

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synod structure and governance
8-06

To Allow Time to Study Task Force
Recommendations
Whereas, In 2005, LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick appointed
the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance; and
Whereas, The task force’s preliminary proposals of August 2008
were far-reaching in scope and significant in import; and
Whereas, Attention and adequate time must be given to detail and
wording in making adjustments or changes that impinge on structure; and
Whereas, The Synod would do well to proceed with prayerful and
appropriate care in considering any changes; therefore be it
Resolved, That the South Wisconsin District in convention memorialize the 2010 convention of the Synod to direct the task force to
give detailed reasons for its recommendations; and be it further
Resolved, That the South Wisconsin District in convention memorialize the 2010 convention of the Synod not to consider adopting
any of the task force’s final recommendations to change the Synod’s
structure until the congregations of Synod have had a complete threeyear convention cycle to study and discuss such recommendations
and implications.
South Wisconsin District
8-07

To Submit BRTFSSG Report to All Congregations
for Study and Defer Action until Following
Convention
Whereas, The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure
and Governance (BRTFSSG) was appointed by Synod President
Kieschnick in 2005 to “do a thorough zero-based assessment of
governance and organizational structure...[with] recommended
improvements [that] suggest a form of structure and governance for
the decades ahead that is appropriately representative, incorporating
sufficient checks and balances of authority without being cumbersome, clumsy or excessively complex”; and
Whereas, On August 20, 2008, under a covering document,
the BRTFSSG released “Walking Together—The LCMS Future:
Proposals and Possibilities for Consideration and Discussion”; and
Whereas, On October 15, 2009, the BRTFSSG released “The
Final Report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and
Governance” containing twenty-one recommendations in six sections; and
Whereas, These range from revisions to the Preamble to the
Synod’s Constitution and Articles II, III, V, VI, and VII to the
congregational principle; future district configuration; allowing
commissioned ministers to serve as voting delegates; congregational
representation at conventions based on congregational membership;
creation of five (5) Synod regions, each with a part-time Synod vicepresident; four-year convention cycles; election of Synod delegates at
district conventions rather than at circuit meetings; fixing the number
of delegates to Synod conventions at 650; four-year terms of office;
election of the Synod President and First Vice-President by direct
vote of congregations; changing the makeup of the Synod’s Board of
Directors; giving priority to circuit and district overtures over those
of congregations and boards; requiring a two-thirds vote approval of
whatever are termed resolutions of “special significance and doctrinal
statements”; realigning boards and commissions of the Synod with

223

reporting to the Synod president; adopting a procedure to rename the
Synod; and mandating the Council of Presidents, the administration,
and the seminaries to study how to best certify clergy and hold them
accountable for a lifetime of professional education; and
Whereas, The October 15, 2009 final report fails to establish that
the present organization, structure, and governance has failed or is
cumbersome, clumsy, or excessively complex; and
Whereas, It is essential to keep in mind that it is the very congregations who created the Synod, using the example of the apostolic
Church and the will of our Lord that diversities of gifts should be for
the common profit, and not the Synod creating the congregations; and
Whereas, The final report, if adopted, would fundamentally
change not only the structure and governance of the Synod and
the procedures related thereto, resulting in a vast concentration of
power in the office of the Synod President, but also, by changes to
its Constitution, affect the Synod’s confession, objectives, membership, conditions of membership, and the relation of the Synod to its
members; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod submit to the congregations of the
Synod, for study during the first Synod convention cycle after the
2010 LCMS convention, the BRTFSSG proposals presented by a
2010 convention floor committee—this before any adoptive action
is taken by a Synod convention—for to do otherwise would effectively mean that the congregations, which created the Synod to serve
them, would be deprived of meaningful opportunity to consider major
changes to the Synod’s Constitution and Bylaws, which the members of the Synod are not only expected to conform to but to support
by word and deed.
Faith
Chesapeake, VA
8-08

To Proceed with Task Force Proposals Only
If Full and Timely Disclosure of Proposed
Revisions Is Provided
Whereas, The President of the Synod in 2005 appointed a Blue
Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance (BRTFSSG)
to “do a thorough, zero-based assessment of the entirety of the system
of governance and organizational structure” and provide “recommended improvements [that] … suggest a form of structure and
governance for the decades ahead”; and
Whereas, The BRTFSSG has consequently published several
documents for consideration and discussion: “Congregation—
Synod—Church: Basic Theological Principles Underlying LCMS
Structure and Governance” (May 2007), “Who Is The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod? Congregations Walking Together”
(August 2008), and “Walking Together—The LCMS Future:
Proposals and Possibilities for Consideration and Discussion”
(August 2008); and
Whereas, The aforementioned documents provide conceptual
ideas (and, in some cases, rationale) for possible changes to current
LCMS structure and governance; and
Whereas, The aforementioned documents do not propose any specific wording for revisions to the Synod’s Constitution or Bylaws to
implement such changes to structure and governance, and experience
teaches that prayerful and appropriate care ought to be exercised and
that thorough attention and discussion ought to be given to details and
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2010 Convention.indb 223

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