LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 384

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384

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION

Whereas, Bylaw 1.2.1 (a) (1) states: “Agencies include each
board, commission, council, seminary, university, college, district,
Concordia Plan Services, and each synodwide corporate entity”; and
Whereas, Districts amend their articles of incorporation and
bylaws in conventions, at which the Synod CCM is not present, and
therefore the CCM cannot give “approval … in advance” for any
changes in wording of articles of incorporation or bylaws that might
be made through amendments from the floor at such conventions; and
Whereas, The parliamentarian at the 2007 convention of the
Synod ruled that, according to the Synod’s Bylaws, amendments from
the floor could not be debated unless they had first been examined by
the CCM, in effect allowing the CCM to kill any amendments simply
by failing to examine them; and
Whereas, By such a reading, Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 would rule out all
amendments from the floor of any district convention, thus robbing
the districts of the insights of the delegates who are not on floor committees, even prohibiting districts from voting on their own bylaws if
their floor committees failed to provide the CCM with advance copies of their proposed changes or if the CCM for any reason fails to
approve them before the convention; therefore be it
Resolved, That Synod Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 be amended to read as
follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.9.2.2.3 The Commission on Constitutional Matters shall examine the articles of incorporation, bylaws, and policy manuals of every
agency of the Synod to ascertain whether they are in harmony with the
Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod.
(a) Agencies intending to make amendments to articles of incorporation
or bylaws shall make such intentions known and receive approval
from submit their proposed amendments to the commission in advance for review.
(b) The commission shall examine the proposed wording of all amendments received from these agencies and report their findings to the
submitting agency, including suggestions for any corrections that
the commission deems to be necessary.
(c) After agencies amend their articles of incorporation or bylaws, they
shall submit them to the commission for similar review.
(bd) The commission shall maintain a file of the articles of incorporation, bylaws, and policy manuals of all agencies of the Synod.

Central Illinois District
11-04

To Change Bylaws re Certification and Verification
of District Convention Delegates
Whereas, The process of registering and accrediting delegates for
a district convention is cumbersome and confusing; and
Whereas, A major source of the confusion is that the current
process requires a double registration and accreditation for every delegate. A registration several weeks prior to the convention, all properly
certified and submitted to the district office, is required so that the district president can select delegates to assign to floor committees, print
their names in the convention workbook, prepare registration material, and various other matters. Then, current Bylaw 4.2.2 (a) requires
another set of identical credentials to be submitted to the district secretary at the opening of the convention; and
Whereas, Technically, according to the way the bylaw now reads,
an individual who does not present the proper form at the time of registration at the convention cannot be accredited, even though forms
were previously submitted to the district office; therefore be it
2016 Convention Workbook

Resolved, That the following amendment to Bylaw 4.2.2 (a) be
adopted.
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
4.2.2 The delegates of a voting congregation to a district convention
shall be accredited.
(a) They shall be entitled to vote upon presenting to the secretary at the
opening of the convention the proper credentials provided by the
district secretary and signed by two of the congregation’s officers.
To be entitled to vote, delegates shall return the proper credentials
signed by two of the congregation’s officers, either by mailing them
to the district office at a date determined by the district or by presenting them to the district secretary at the opening of the convention.
These credentials shall be signed by two of the congregation’s officers. These credential forms will be provided by the district secretary and must also include all of the information necessary for
voting for the President of the Synod. The district secretary shall
verify the attendance of voting delegates at the district convention.

Board of Directors
Southern Illinois District
11-05

To Change Bylaws re District Convention
Attendance as Prerequisite for Voting
for Synod President
Whereas, The Synod’s Constitution establishes the principle that
each congregation or multi-congregation parish has two votes at district conventions; and
Whereas, The Synod Bylaws require attendance at a district convention to be eligible to vote in the election of the Synod President;
and
Whereas, In a situation in which a congregation’s pastoral position is vacant at the time of its district convention, that congregation,
under the current Bylaws, automatically loses one of its votes in the
election of the Synod President, even if that congregation has a new
pastor by the time of the election of the president; and
Whereas, A pastor may have an emergency in the congregation
or be hospitalized himself, preventing his presence at the district convention, which also results in that congregation automatically losing
one of its votes for the election of the President of the Synod; and
Whereas, At the 2015 convention of the Southern Illinois District,
15 percent of its congregations were vacant, most of which will have
a pastor by the time of the election of the Synod President, but those
congregations automatically will have lost one of their votes in that
election; and
Whereas, Following the district convention, a pastor of a district
congregation who attended the district convention accepted a call to
one of the vacant congregations of the district, so that unless the congregation he left successfully calls another pastor by the time of the
election of the President of the Synod, both of those congregations
automatically will have lost one of their votes in that election; and
Whereas, The purpose of the current process of electing the
Synod President is to give all the congregations a voice in the election of the President; therefore be it
Resolved, That the following changes to the following bylaws
be adopted:
3.12.2.3 The Secretary of the Synod, using lists of delegates in attendance at the prior year’s district conventions as submitted by the secretaries of the districts, shall compile and maintain the voters list for the