LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 133

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I. OPINIONS OF COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
Appointment of CUS College and University Regents
(14-2722)
In a June 7, 2014, emailed letter, a member of a Concordia University System (CUS) board of regents submitted four questions regarding the appointment of members of college and university regents by
the boards of regents, also noting differences in the Synod Bylaws
between such appointments of seminary regents and appointments
of college/university regents.
Question 1: May appointed members of boards of regents of CUS
schools vote on additional board appointments?
Opinion: While Bylaw 3.10.4.2 [4] prohibits appointed members
of seminary boards of regents from voting on the appointment of
other members of the board, there is no corresponding prohibition
in Bylaw 3.10.5.2 [3], which governs the appointment of additional members by college and university boards of regents. Bylaw
3.10.5.3 is to be read as its stands. Appointed members of boards
of regents of CUS schools are not prohibited from voting on additional board appointments.
Question 2: May members of boards of regents of CUS schools vote
on their own appointment to the board of regents?
Opinion: Nothing in the Bylaws prohibits the casting of such a
vote.
Question 3: When does a term of an appointed member begin and
end? Does it begin at the moment of the appointment
or election and end exactly three years later? Does it
begin with the first meeting the member participates in
and then end three years later? Or is there some other
definition to their term?
Opinion: College and university regents serve for a term of, nominally, three years, from the time of their assumption of office and
“until their successors assume office” (Bylaw 3.2.4). With regard
to district-elected or board-appointed regents, Bylaw 3.2.4 (c) has
not been understood to require such terms to begin and end in the
year of the Synod convention, or on any particular fixed date. The
requirement that board-appointed regents be appointed in the “nonconvention year” was removed by 2007 Res. 5-04 (2007 Proceedings, p. 140), leaving the boards of regents to determine when to
appoint members for three-year terms, provided there are no fewer
than four and no more than eight in service at any time.
A schedule for assumption and relinquishment of office by boardappointed regents, as it is not regulated in the Synod Bylaws, should
be set out in the bylaws of the college or university or determined
by board policy, so long as it is consistent with the Synod Bylaws’
plain sense of “a three-year term.” Bylaw 3.2.4 (g) does prohibit any
appointment to a board of regents in the interim between election of
new members by a Synod convention and their assuming office on
the following September 1 (cf. CCM Ag. 2125, August 24, 1998).
Question 4: Does a member who is an elected member and then
becomes an appointed member have both counted
as part of the three term limit or are they counted
separately?
Opinion: Bylaw 3.10.5.2 [5] states, “College and university boards
of regents members may be elected or appointed to serve a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms and must hold membership in a member congregation of the Synod.” The bylaw does
not distinguish between election and appointment for purposes of
distinguishing separate term limits. A member, whether elected or
appointed to whatever of the terms, may serve no more than nine
consecutive years, and a member first appointed to fill a vacancy
may serve no more than the length of the vacancy plus six years
(if the vacancy was more than a year and a half) or no more than

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the length of the vacancy plus nine years (if the vacancy was a
year and a half or less). Bylaw 3.2.4 (a) indicates that a board or
commission member termed out may become eligible again only
after an interval of three or more years (unless returned to the board
or commission of necessity in an ex officio capacity under Bylaw
3.10.5.2 [4]). An elected seat and an appointed seat on the same
board of regents are not different positions, so the allowance of
Bylaw 3.2.4.2 (c) does not here apply.
Adopted September 26–27, 2014
Synod as the “Only Sending Agency”—Bylaw 3.8.3 (14-2724)
In a June 19, 2014, letter, the Director of Church Relations/Regional Operations of the Synod submitted a series of five questions to
the CCM regarding the interpretation of the final paragraph of Synod
Bylaw 3.8.3 and its reference to the Board for International Mission as
“the only sending agency through which workers and funds are sent
to the foreign areas of the Synod, including the calling, appointing,
assigning, withdrawing, and releasing of missionaries (ministers of religion—ordained and ministers of religion—commissioned) and other
workers for the ministries in foreign areas” (2013 Handbook, p. 144).
Recognizing that the questions submitted involve matters of interest to districts and to Synod leadership, the commission shared the
questions with all district presidents and appropriate Synod officers
(Bylaw 3.9.2.2 [b]) and invited their submission of information regarding the matters at issue. After the questions were discussed at
the September 20–22 Council of Presidents meeting, the Director
of Church Relations in a September 24 letter withdrew one of the
questions as requested during the council’s discussion, leaving four
questions for response from the commission.
In a September 25, 2014, emailed letter, the chairman of the Board
for International Mission submitted an additional Question for the
commission’s consideration: “If a congregation or other synodical
entity besides the BIM has issued [a] call, what guidance can the
CCM provide in approaching the situation?” This Question will be
added as a fifth Question below.
Because the questions beg a historical understanding of the bylaw
in Question and request its application to districts, congregations,
auxiliaries, and recognized service organizations, the commission
offers the following considerations before addressing the questions.
A. History of Bylaw 3.8.3
Bylaw 3.8.3 is a reiteration of much of the content of 2007 Bylaw
3.8.8.2.2, which was a compilation of a number of actions taken by the
Synod over the years to provide and maintain good order in the area
of foreign mission work. As early as 1911, a concern for efficiency
and proper channeling prompted the Synod to ask the Saxon churches
not to solicit funds individually or on their own authority, but to go
through the channels established by the Foreign Mission Board (1911
Proceedings, p. 120, as reported in “Synodical Survey Commission
Reports Dating from 1959–1962,” Book 1 of 3, p. 49). The Synod also
experienced difficulties within its own mission departments, prompting the 1932 convention to create the office of Secretary of Missions,
“[t]hat our missions may be conducted in a more uniform and efficient
manner” (1932 Proceedings, pp. 110–111, Ibid., Book 2 of 3, p. 111).
After the 1979 Synod convention adopted a series of resolutions
“to move forward in taking the Gospel overseas,” the 1981 convention adopted Res. 1-05A, “To Go Forward in Overseas Missions,”
calling the spread of the Gospel to all the world the “primary mission
of the church.” The convention directed the Board for Missions to
“continue its efforts to take the Gospel to every open door overseas,”
encouraged districts to “increase the percentage of their budget for
the Synod,” encouraged congregations to “increase their support of
the district and the Synod prayerfully and financially,” and instructed
2016 Convention Workbook