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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 93

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
Council of Presidents, in accordance with 2013 Res. 6-16A. The
commission also had three conference-call meetings and one
web-conference meeting.
The responsibilities of the commission are delineated in
Bylaws 3.9.2.2–3.9.2.2.3. These responsibilities fall into two
main areas. The first area is that the commission is to interpret
the Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions. A member
of the Synod (congregation, ordained or commissioned minister) or an official board, commission, or agency of the Synod
may submit a written request for such an opinion.
The second area is that the commission is charged to make
sure that the articles of incorporation, bylaws, and policy manuals of all the agencies of the Synod are in harmony with the
Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod. To this end,
Synod Bylaws require that any agency desiring to change its articles of incorporation or bylaws must receive prior approval
from the commission. (Note: Because of their triennial conventions, Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 [b] provides a process by which district
conventions may amend a district bylaw proposal previously
submitted and approved by the commission, and have the result
take effect upon the commission’s subsequent approval of the
amended, adopted proposal.) During the course of the triennium, twenty-nine (29) of the districts made changes to their
bylaws after approval by the commission.
Experience has demonstrated that some agencies do not
submit proposed changes to their bylaws and articles to the
commission, as required by Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 (a). Any changes
that are made to the bylaws of any agency of the Synod cannot
go into effect unless and until they are approved by the commission. The definition of an agency of the Synod is found in Bylaw
1.2.1 (a): “Agencies include each board, commission, council,
seminary, university, college, district, Concordia Plan Serves,
and each synodwide corporate entity.”
The adoption of Res. 9-02A by the 2016 convention of the
Synod added Bylaw 1.5.3.6. This bylaw requires certain relationship and disposition language to be in the basic governing
documents (which are normally the articles of incorporation)
of all agencies of the Synod. The final resolving clause of that
resolution stated: “[t]hat the agencies of the Synod shall comply
with the requirements of this bylaw change in time for the CCM
to report the status of compliance to the 2019 convention of
the Synod.” To assist the districts in conforming to the requirements of Bylaw 1.5.3.6 and in satisfying 2016 Res. 9-02A, the
commission revised a previously adopted template for district
articles of incorporation, which was published in the minutes
of the commission. However, not all agencies of the Synod have
responded by submitting their articles of incorporation. A listing of those agencies which the commission determined have
satisfied the requirements of Bylaw 1.5.3.6 and 2016 Res. 9-02A
comes at the conclusion of this report.
Up to this point in the triennium, the commission has
received 23 requests for opinions. All opinions issued by the
commission are included in the published minutes of the commission. These minutes of the commission are available on the
commission’s page of the Synod website. In addition, those
opinions judged to be of relatively broader interest or significant impact are also printed in this Workbook as an appendix
to this report.
Following each convention, with concurrence with the
Council of Presidents, the commission reviews and approves

the Standard Operating Procedures Manuals (SOPM) for the
Synod dispute resolution processes and the hearing procedures
governing expulsion from the Synod under Article XIII. These
reviews and revisions of the SOPM are necessary because virtually every convention makes a change of some sort in these
processes. While the bylaws include a dispute resolution process
for the seminaries, the 2013 convention of the Synod eliminated
the corresponding sections of the Handbook for the schools of
the Concordia University System. The 2016 convention of the
Synod charged the board of regents of each of the universities to develop and adopt such a process. To assist these various boards of regents, the commission has developed a Model
Operating Procedures Manual which is available for the various
boards of regents to use as they develop such procedures for
each of the universities.

Report regarding agency compliance with Bylaw
1.5.3.6 (2016 Res. 9-02A):
Districts: Based on material that was submitted this triennium and / or on material already in the files of the Secretary of
the Synod, all but eleven of the districts have adopted articles of
incorporation which satisfied the requirements of Bylaw 1.5.3.6
by having included the required relationship and dissolution
language in their articles. It is assumed by the commission that
these changes to the articles of incorporation were filed with
the appropriate state. In the event that these were not properly
filed with the state, then those districts that have not properly
filed their articles would also not be in compliance with Bylaw
1.5.3.6. (Though it attempts to obtain such, the commission
does not have a complete record of what has been filed with
the states.) Six districts are not in compliance because they have
neither the required relationship or dissolution language in their
Articles of Incorporation, namely, the Atlantic, English, Rocky
Mountain, SELC, South Eastern, and Texas Districts (the last
of which has filed a request with the Board of Directors for
an exemption under Bylaw 1.5.3.6). Five districts are in partial
compliance, having the necessary dissolution language but not
the necessary relationship language, namely, the California/Nevada/Hawaii, New England, Nebraska, Northwest, and Southern districts.
Universities: Concordia Irvine has proposed changes to
include both the required asset-disposition language and the relationship language in its articles. As this report is written, their
board of regents has not yet acted on these proposals. None of
the other universities of the Concordia University System are
in compliance. Concordia St. Paul lacks the relationship language and the asset-disposition language is partial. Concordia
Nebraska lacks the relationship language and the asset-disposition language is unclear. Concordia Wisconsin has the assetdisposition language, but the relationship language is unclear.
Concordia Chicago lacks both the relationship language and
the asset-disposition language. Concordia Portland has the required asset-disposition language, but the relationship language
is lacking. Concordia Bronxville lacks both the relationship
language and the asset-disposition language. Concordia Texas
lacks both the relationship language and the asset-disposition
language.
Seminaries: Both the St. Louis and Fort Wayne seminaries
have language which indicates control by the Synod, but neither
has the required asset-disposition language.
2019 Convention Workbook