LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 410

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410

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION

propose new provisions to address specific handbook-related issues
that surface between conventions. The role of the commission is to
assist such agencies when developing bylaw proposals to determine
their language (terminology) and suitability for incorporation into the
Handbook, thereby to maintain its integrity and good order.
A number of agencies have requested that the Commission on
Handbook create and propose new bylaws addressing topics referenced by the requesting agency without indication as to what the
bylaw solution should be. Such requests place the commission in an
advocacy rather than assisting role. Recognizing that existing Bylaw
3.9.4.2 (e) governing that role of the commission may not be sufficiently clear, the commission proposes the following additional
wording.
Proposed Action
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.9.4.2 (e) be amended as follows:
PROPOSED WORDING
3.9.4.2 The Commission on Handbook shall maintain the Handbook of the Synod.
…
(e) It shall respond to requests from agencies of the Synod to propose
new provisions to address specific Handbook-related issues that surface between conventions. In responding to such requests, the role of
the commission will be to assist requesting agencies in formulating
bylaw changes, not to develop and/or advocate specific substantive
solutions or modifications to existing Handbook provisions.

——————
E. To Clarify the Process for Calling, Ordaining
or Commissioning, and Installing Missionaries
Rationale

The general rule that governs calls, ordinations, commissionings,
and installations is that the president of the district from which a call
originates provides counsel, signs documents, and authorizes ordinations or commissionings and installations of called ordained or
commissioned ministers. This general rule holds true for first calls
of candidates as well as second and subsequent calls and installations
of rostered church workers.
The Bylaws of the Synod in general support this rule, also in the
case of candidates and rostered workers called to serve as missionaries in foreign mission fields. Because such calls by the Board for
International Mission (and non-foreign specialized ministry calls by
the Board for National Mission) originate in the Missouri District, the
president of the Missouri District provides counsel and signs documents. Several current bylaws, however, take exception to the general
rule when addressing authorization of ordinations or commissionings
and installations of missionaries.
The introduction of this exception, while certainly well intended
for such special occasions as the ordination, commissioning, and/or
installation of missionaries, departs from the ecclesiastical supervisory norm that is otherwise consistent throughout the pertinent bylaws
of the Synod. What appear to be conflicting requirements in these
bylaws have caused some disagreement and confusion.
Proposed Action
Therefore be it
Resolved, That the proposed changes to the following bylaws
be adopted by the 2016 LCMS convention to provide uniformity
2016 Convention Workbook

throughout the ordination or commissioning and installation procedures of the Synod.
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
2.9 Assignment of First Calls
2.9.1 The Council of Presidents, acting as the Board of Assignments, shall regularly assign to qualified graduates of educational institutions of the Synod and workers available from colloquy programs
as “first calls” those calls that have been duly extended to fill active
member positions as identified in Bylaw 2.11.1 for ordained and commissioned ministers if positions for which candidates are qualified are
available.
(a) The placement officers of the respective institutions shall be consulted before assignments are made.
(b) The president of the district in which a candidate is to be placed shall
be consulted, and his concurrencesuggestions and recommendations
shall be an essential part of the final recommendation to the Board
of Assignments.

2.10 Ordination, Commissioning, and Initial Installations
…
2.10.3 The president of the district of which the calling congregation is a member or in which the eligible calling body agency or other
calling body is located or with which it is otherwise identified shall be
responsible for the rites of ordination and commissioning of candidates
for the ministry called to that congregation, or agency, or other calling
body.
(a) The rite of ordination or commissioning should normally take place
in the presence of the congregation, agency, or other calling body to
by which the candidate has been called.
(b) In the case of missionaries called by the Synod, members of a faculty of an institution of the Synod, or institutional chaplains nonforeign specialized ministers called by the Synod, the rite shall take
place in a setting approved by the district president of the calling
entity.
(c) If an unusual circumstance warrants it, as in the case of missionaries
and non-foreign specialized ministers, the appropriate district president may authorize that the rite take place in the home congregation
of the candidate, or another appropriate congregation, with the permission of the calling congregation or other agency or calling body.
(d) A service of celebration on the part of the candidate’s home congregation is encouraged.
(e) The district president shall issue a diploma of ordination or commissioning.

4.4 District President
…
4.4.3 The district president of the calling congregation, agency, or
other calling body (e.g., in the case of corporate-Synod-issued calls, the
president of the Missouri District) shall represent the Synod in connection with all ordinations, commissionings, and installations.
(a) First calls: Ordinations, commissionings, and initial installations
shall be conducted by or at the direction of the district president
when the requirements of Bylaw 2.10.2 (a) have been satisfied.
(b) Missionaries and non-foreign specialized ministers: The authorization for the ordination or commissioning and the installation of a
missionary called into the foreign fields, whether as a first or subsequent call, shall be providedissued upon the request of the Board
for International Mission by the president of the district in which
the missionary resides Missouri District. The authorization with respect to for the ordination or commissioning and the installation for
service of Synod-called non-foreign specialized ministers within a
district of the Synod, whether as a first or subsequent call, shall be