LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 299

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

X. TASK FORCE ON DISPUTE RESOLUTION REPORT
of the same love to pursue their purposes for the advancement of the
church….”
Along with this determined interest in pure doctrine and unity of
practice came the recognition that an office of ecclesiastical supervision for this newly organized Synod would be required to lead it in
focusing its attention on this primary interest. The office of president
was established to provide such supervision, his visitation/supervision
duties intended to make certain that the doctrine and practice of pastors and congregations were in conformity with the Holy Scriptures
and the Lutheran Confessions. The next following convention (1849)
added a new paragraph to the Synod’s Constitution further articulating the President’s responsibilities:
If in between conventions public offense is given by individual pastors
of the Synod, whether voting or advisory members—in respect to doctrine or life, and [if] after admonition by the President and other officers this is not confessed with a repentant heart and no improvement
is pledged, then the President is empowered temporarily to suspend the
membership of such pastors until the next session of the Synod and is
also to make such suspension public. The President is empowered in
urgent emergencies to announce previously [prior to the temporary suspension] that a particular member is under investigation. (1849 Proceedings, p. 10)

When the Synod divided itself into districts in 1854, maintaining
the theological unity of the Synod continued to be a major concern.
The President continued to be responsible for such unity through his
visitation, but this was becoming an impossible task as the Synod
grew in size. Proper visitation was therefore a primary reason for the
Synod to be divided into districts, for the purpose of “(1) watching
over the purity and unity of doctrine within the Synod; (2) supervision over the performance of the official duties on the part of pastors
and teachers of the Synod; (3) common defense and extension of
the church; and (4) giving theological opinions and judgments; also
settling disputes between individuals or whole parties in congregations, but the latter only in cases in which all interested parties have
applied to Synod [for arbitration], etc.” (see C. S. Meyer, ed., Moving
Frontiers: Readings in the History of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1964], p. 151).
However, while the 1854 constitution continued to place the
supervision of the doctrine and practice of the officers, pastors and
teachers, individual districts, pastoral conferences, and congregations of the entire Synod in the hands of the President, it also made
district presidents the President’s agents in carrying out this supervision, including the authority to temporarily suspend a member. This
provision remained largely unchanged until a major revision of the
structure of the Constitution in 1920, when the duties of the President
of the Synod were articulated in the same form and manner as they
are today in Article XI B of the Constitution of the Synod:
B. Duties of the President
1. The President has the supervision regarding the doctrine and administration of
a. All officers of the Synod;
b. All such as are employed by the Synod;
c. The individual districts of the Synod;
d. All district presidents.
2. It is the President’s duty to see to it that all the aforementioned act in
accordance with the Synod’s Constitution, to admonish all who in any
way depart from it, and, if such admonition is not heeded, to report
such cases to the Synod.
3. The President has and always shall have the power to advise, admonish,
and reprove. He shall conscientiously use all means at his command
to promote and maintain unity of doctrine and practice in all the districts of the Synod….

299

Bylaws 3.3.1–3.3.1.3 speak further regarding those powers and
duties of the President of the Synod articulated in Constitution Art.
XI. Bylaw 3.3.1.1.1 speaks specifically of his ecclesiastical supervisory powers and duties in relation to the officers and agencies of the
Synod, in particular “the individual districts of the Synod, and all district presidents.” During the past two trienniums, dispute cases have
raised questions that beg further articulation of this relationship. The
task force proposes the following changes to Bylaw 3.3.1.1.1 to provide such additional articulation.
Proposed Action
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.3.1.1.1 be amended to provide further
clarification of the ecclesiastical supervisory responsibilities of the
President of the Synod as district presidents carry out the President’s
ecclesiastical supervisory duties:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.3.1.1.1 The President of the Synod has ecclesiastical supervision
of all officers of the Synod and its agencies, the individual districts of
the Synod, and all district presidents.
(a) He shall see to it that the resolutions of the Synod are
carried out. After the national convention has determined
triennial emphases for the Synod, he shall, in consultation
with the Council of Presidents, identify specific goals for the
national office that will support and encourage ministry at the
congregational level.
(b) In the districts of the Synod, he shall carry out his ecclesiastical
duties through the district’s president, who is responsible to the
President of the Synod for the manner in which he carries out
his ecclesiastical supervision.
(c) He shall at regular intervals officially visit or cause to be
visited all the educational institutions of the Synod to exercise
supervision over the doctrine taught and practiced in those
institutions.
(d) He shall meet regularly with the Council of Presidents and,
as deemed necessary, with individual district presidents or
small groups of district presidents to see to it that they are
in accordance with Article II of the Constitution, adopted
doctrinal statements of the Synod, and doctrinal resolutions
of the Synod as they carry out their ecclesiastical supervision.
He shall receive regular reports on this subject from the district
presidents. In cases of doctrinal dissent, Bylaw section 1.8 shall
be followed.

——————
C. To Further Articulate and Incorporate the Ecclesiastical
Supervisory Role of the President of Synod in the Dispute
Resolution and Suspension/Expulsion Processes
Rationale
While the 1854 constitution, which created districts, continued
to place the supervision of the doctrine and practice of the officers,
pastors and teachers, individual districts, pastoral conferences, and
congregations of the entire Synod into the hands of the President, it
also made district presidents his agents in carrying out this supervision
in the districts, including the authority to temporarily suspend a member. This provision remained largely unchanged until a major revision
of the structure of the Constitution in 1920, when the duties of the
President of the Synod were articulated in the same form and manner
as they are in Article XI B of the current Constitution of the Synod:

2016 Convention Workbook