Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 193

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 193

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

I. OPINIONS OF COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
in Const. Art. VII to find a resolution to be inexpedient and therefore not of binding force?]
Opinion: No. Leaving aside the question of how the “right of
expediency” applies to various types of Synod resolutions, the
Constitution of the Synod and its Bylaws clearly do not fall
under such a right. The consistent opinion of conventions and
the Commission on Constitutional Matters has been summarized in the commission’s Opinion 99-2157 (September 14,
1999):
••

It should be noted that the second sentence of Article
VII states, “… no resolution of the Synod …” (emphasis original to Op. 99-2157). It does not speak of
the Constitution or Bylaws of the Synod. “The right
of a congregation to exercise the right of expediency
(Bylaw 1.09b [2016 Bylaw 1.7.2]) applies only to resolutions of the Synod and not to the Constitution and
Bylaws” (1969 Res. 5-23 [Proceedings, pp. 119–20]).

The here-quoted preface of the 1969 Res. 5-23 applied this
principle specifically to Article XIII of the Constitution, as well
as to bylaws of the Synod.18 These, the preface states, “are binding on every member of the Synod, and refusal to comply with
the rules and regulations of the Synod constitutes divisive and
unbrotherly conduct which destroys the very concept of the
Synod as a ‘walking together.’ The right of a congregation to exercise the right of expediency (Bylaw 1.09b [2016 Bylaw 1.7.2])
applies only to resolutions of the Synod and not to the Constitution and Bylaws” (emphasis added).19 Self-evidently, to allow
each individual congregation to determine to which of the standards of Synod membership it would conform as “expedient to
its condition” would render those standards meaningless, frustrating the collective will of the congregations to assemble and
maintain the Synod under such standards. This understanding
is consistently reinforced in the Bylaws of the Constitution of
the Synod:
••

Bylaw 1.7.1: “The Constitution, Bylaws, and all other
rules and regulations of the Synod apply to all congregational and individual members of the Synod.”

••

Bylaw 1.3.4: “Congregations together establish the
requirements of membership in the Synod (Constitution Art. VI). In joining the Synod, congregations
and other members obligate themselves to fulfill such
requirements and to diligently and earnestly promote
the purposes of the Synod by word and deed.”

••

Bylaw 1.3.4.1: “Members agree to uphold the confessional position of the Synod (Constitution Art. II)
and to assist in carrying out the objectives of the
Synod (Constitution Art. III), which are objectives
of the members themselves. While congregations of
the Synod are self-governing (Constitution Art. VII),
they, and also individual members, commit themselves as members of the Synod to act in accordance
with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod under
which they have agreed to live and work together and
which the congregations alone have the authority to
adopt or amend through conventions.”

A report on the meaning of Article VII, adopted by the
1944 convention, put it succinctly:

193

It is self-evident that any person or group of
persons who apply for, and are received into,
membership of any organization thereby have
declared their willingness to abide by the constitution and by-laws of that organization. That is
in the very nature of the case. Otherwise an organization and affiliation therewith would serve
no real purpose. (1944 Proceedings, pp. 205–6)20
Question 2: What was the intent and meaning of “inexpedient,” as is expressed in Const. Art. VII 1?
Opinion: “Appears to be inexpedient as far as the condition of
the congregation is concerned” translates “für ihre Verhältnisse
ungeeignet erscheint.” The commission, responding to a request
for reconsideration of Op. 99-2157, already cited, dealt with
this question in Op. 09-2573 (Feb. 26–28, 2010):
To understand properly the meaning and use of
“inexpedient” constitutionally and historically
in the Synod, it is important to realize that the
German word ungeeignet in the 1854 Constitution was properly translated “unsuited” into the
English (cf. Moving Frontiers, p. 151). An editorial committee in 1923, not the convention of the
Synod, changed the word to “inexpedient.” The
original word ungeeignet meant “unsuited, not
suited for, does not fit.” Therefore it should be
noted that the use of the word “inexpedient” in
our contemporary culture appears to have a different connotation such as “not advantageous,
not profitable, inconvenient.” […]
Likewise, the 1920 English text of Article VII
states that no congregation shall be bound by
any resolution of the Synod “that to such congregation appears unsuited to its condition”
(The Lutheran Witness, XXXVI 20). Therefore,
the congregation and not the Synod may assess
the congregation’s condition and judge the applicability of any resolution of the Synod. The
congregation, not the Synod, determines whether or not a resolution is unsuited. “The Synod,
being an advisory body, recognizes the right of a
congregation to be the judge of the applicability
of the resolution to its local condition” (Bylaw
1.7.2, emphasis added).
A congregation’s “right of expediency”—to determine that
“the shoe does not fit,” that something a resolution “imposes
on the individual congregation” is “uneigentlich, inapplicable,
inexpedient, unsuited,” and, so, to decline to take it on—has, of
course, the limits already noted. True doctrine and right practice, drawn clearly from the Word of God and the Lutheran
Confessions (the confessional basis of the Synod in Const. Art.
II), are never unsuitable to, or an imposition on, any congregation desiring membership in The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod. “Doctrine may not be accepted or rejected upon the
basis of consideration of expediency” (1971 Res. 2-21, Proceedings, p. 118). Likewise, the “right of expediency” does not apply
to Synod’s Constitution or its Bylaws—only to resolutions of
the Synod, and as to those, only with some significant caveats.
Op. 09-2573 concludes:
2019 Convention Workbook