LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 238

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238

Synod Structure and Governance

doctrinal resolutions and statements, and the Synod adopted almost all
of the wording proposed by the committee (1977 Res. 3-07). Most of
this wording remains in the Synod’s current Bylaws 1.6.1 and 1.6.2.
However, in 1986 a change was made in the Bylaws’ paragraph
on doctrinal resolutions. In 1977, the Synod had adopted the following proposal made by the special committee:
Doctrinal resolutions may be adopted for the information, counsel,
and guidance of the membership. They shall reiterate the corporate position of the Synod and shall ordinarily cite the pertinent passages of
the Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, and any previously adopted
official doctrinal statements or resolutions of the Synod. [underlining
added]

1986 Res. 5-02A amended the wording of the bylaw as follows:

Doctrinal resolutions may be adopted for the information, counsel,
and guidance of the membership. They shall conform to the confessional position of the Synod as set forth in Article II of its Constitution and shall ordinarily cite the pertinent passages of the Scriptures,
the Lutheran Confessions, and any previously adopted official doctrinal
statements or resolutions of the Synod. [underlining added]

As a result of this 1986 amendment, it became possible for a doctrinal resolution to do something other than reiterate the Synod’s
position. The wording as modified in 1986 remains in current Bylaw
1.6.2 (a).
Why was this amendment proposed in 1986? Based on the official
record, it is difficult to say. This amendment was one of many bylaw
amendments proposed at the time by the Commission on Structure,
which offered no specific statement of rationale for this particular
change (Overture 5-163, 1986 Convention Workbook, pp. 249–50).
The 1986 bylaw amendment introduced the possibility that the
Synod could change its position through doctrinal resolutions, including doctrinal resolutions adopted by relatively close votes. Concerned
about this, the task force has now recommended requiring a more substantial majority for such votes. Yet it should not be overlooked that
between 1977 and 1986 the Synod had a solution to the problem that
the Task Force has recently identified.
The basic wisdom offered by the special committee in 1977 and
adopted by the Synod that year was in effect for the Synod to avoid
initiating, modifying, or repealing aspects of its doctrinal position
through doctrinal resolutions, however great or small the majority that
adopts them. If necessary, the Synod could do such initiating, modifying, or repealing, but by means of the more thorough procedure for
processing doctrinal statements. This procedure, originally adopted
in 1977, remains in the Bylaws. The task force suggests changing this
latter procedure somewhat so as to require a two-thirds vote (instead
of a simple majority) for a convention to adopt a doctrinal statement.
In any case, it should be noted that the current bylaw requires, and
the task force wishes to retain, a positive response from at least a twothirds majority of the Synod’s congregations within six months after
a convention in order to ratify a doctrinal statement.
The present overture simply proposes that in 2010 the Synod
return to the way it determined to handle these matters in 1977. This
“1977 solution” was very well considered when it was recommended
then. The official record offers no clear reason why it was abandoned in 1986.
The 1977 solution is less complicated than the task force’s proposal to invent a new category of doctrinal resolutions, namely,
“doctrinal resolutions of special significance.” Returning to it would
also obviate the difficulty inherent in the task force’s recommendations, namely its proposed requirement that the Synod in convention
muster a two-thirds majority to overrule a categorizing recommendation made by one of its own floor committees (proposed Bylaw 1.6.3

[b])—a recommendation, it might be added, upon which that floor
committee could have decided by a narrow majority!
Resolved, That the Synod be asked to decline the proposals of
the BRTFSSG to change Constitution Art. VIII C and all of the task
force’s proposed changes for the section of the Bylaws that bears
the overall heading “1.6 Confessional Position of the Synod”; and
be it finally
Resolved, That the Synod make the following amendment to
Bylaw 1.6.2 (a):
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
(a) Doctrinal resolutions may be adopted for the information, counsel,
and guidance of the membership. They shall conform to the confessional position of the Synod They shall reiterate the corporate position of the
Synod as set forth in Article II of its Constitution and shall ordinarily
cite the pertinent passages of the Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions,
and any previously adopted official doctrinal statements or resolutions
of the Synod. Such resolutions come into being in the same manner as
any other resolutions of a convention of the Synod and are to be honored
and upheld until such time as the Synod amends or repeals them.

Carrollton Circuit Forum, Missouri District;
Zion, Moberly, MO
8-50

To Strike “of Special Significance” from Doctrinal
Resolution Proposal
Whereas, In 2005, President Gerald Kieschnick appointed the
Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance; and
Whereas, Experience teaches that maximum attention must be
given to details and wording in making adjustments and/or changes
impinging on structure; and
Whereas, The Synod would do well to proceed with prayerful and
appropriate care in considering any changes; and
Whereas, Recommendation 17 in the task force’s final report of
October 15, 2009, has far-reaching and significant import; and
Whereas, Doctrinal resolutions that have no “special signifi­cance”
will without doubt be adopted by at least a two-thirds vote; therefore be it
Resolved, That Our Savior Lutheran Church, Muscatine, IA,
memorialize the Synod to strike “of special significance” from this
recommendation.
Our Savior, Muscatine, IA;
Zion, Wilton, IA
8-51

To Conduct Feasibility Study for Model Merger
of Districts
Whereas, The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure
and Governance (BRTFSSG) is recommending to the 2010 LCMS
convention that the “convention direct the Synod President to convene a special task force to work in consultation with the Council
of Presidents and the Synod’s Board of Directors to submit to the
next Synod convention a recommendation with respect to the function, number, and configuration of districts, including the impact
on funding the national Synod”; that the special task force “follow the direction given in Bylaw 4.1.1.3”; and that the task force

2010 Convention Workbook

2010 Convention.indb 238

4/15/10 2:39 PM