LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 197

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9. STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION
Resolved, that where the CFO presently serves on other
boards and commissions of agencies of the Synod, the CFO
have the option of sending a designee.
Action: Adopted as read (4)
Res. 9-09 was read and introduced by the committee, with the
modification that lines 14–20 be struck (lines dealing with
Bylaw 3.6.6.3), being dealt with in Res. 7-01A. After discussion
by the assembly, the resolution was adopted as so presented [Yes:
937; No: 31].

and be it finally
Resolved, That this take effect immediately.
Action: Adopted (5)
After discussion by the assembly, the resolution was adopted [Yes:
928; No: 9].

To Address Residency Requirements
for District Regional Positions

To Clarify the Meaning of Parish as it
Relates to Congregational Representation
at District Conventions and Election of the
Synod President, and to Distinguish
Assisting Capacity Pastoral Calls

RESOLUTION 9-11

RESOLUTION 9-12

Overture 9-28 (CW, 503–4)

WHEREAS, Bylaw 3.12.1 (b) notes “For purposes of
regional elections, individuals will be considered a part of
the geographical region in which they reside”; and
WHEREAS, This requirement has also been applied to
regional elections on the district level (Bylaw 4.3.1 and
4.3.3); and
WHEREAS, On the district level, there are members and
pastors who might live across the state line or regional line
from where their congregation is located; and
WHEREAS, This eliminates otherwise qualified
candidates; and
WHEREAS, The requirement of membership in a
congregation of the region is more feasible on the district
level; therefore be it
Resolved, That district regional positions be exempt from
this residency requirement; and be it further
Resolved, That congregational membership in a region be
applied at the district level; and be it further
Resolved, That Bylaw section 4.3 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
4.3 District Officers
4.3.1
A president shall be elected from the clergy roster
of the Synod by each district. Two or more vice-presidents,
a secretary, and a circuit visitor for each circuit established
by the district shall be elected from the clergy roster of the
district. In the case of regional selections, nominees shall be
from the clergy roster of the district with residence
membership in a congregation in the designated region.
(This shall also be the case for all other regional selections.)
4.3.2
Each district shall have a treasurer who shall be a
layperson and shall be elected or appointed as the bylaws of
the district may provide.
4.3.3
All officers and members of boards shall be
members of member congregations of the district and,
when appropriate, residents be members of congregations
of designated regions during the course of their tenure.
Resolutions

Overture 9-12 (CW, 493–95)

Rationale
At the time of its inception, one of the major founding
principles for the polity of the Synod was an equity between
the laity and clergy in the decision-making process of the
Synod. This was written into the Constitution by
designating that the right to vote belongs to the member
congregations of the Synod, with each congregation (the
German term was Pfarrgemeinde, or “pastor-congregation”)
receiving two votes: one was the vote of its pastor, and the
other was the vote of its lay delegate (in the German, these
were Deputierten der Pfarrgemeinden). A footnote of the 1847
Constitution of the Synod describes what was understood
by the term Pfarrgemeinde:
A Pfarrgemeinde is either one single congregation or the
sum of the individual congregations which the pastor
serves, as in Germany the territory in which he serves is
called Kirchspiel or Kirchensprengel. The pastor may serve
3 or 4 or more congregations, locally separated; they are
in relation to him essentially only one congregation and
must, therefore, jointly send to the convention one
delegate.
When the Constitution of the Synod was translated into
English in 1924, the term congregation was used to refer to a
Pfarrgemeinde comprising a single Gemeinde cared for by a
pastor, and the term parish was used to refer to a
Pfarrgemeinde comprising two or more Gemeinden cared for
by a pastor. Thus, one German term Pfarrgemeinde was
divided, in English, into two constituent cases. Thus, while
the term parish was not used until 1924, the concept that a
parish is “two or more congregations being cared for by the
same pastor (or pastors)” goes back to the 1847 Synod
Constitution. This arrangement, that representation was
on the basis of Pfarrgemeinden, ensures a congregationpastor parity, a “balance of power,” at the conventions of
the Synod between the laity and the clergy. Even more
fundamentally, it sees to representation of the
congregations—which are the voting members of the
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 197