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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 514

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

514

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION
attendance and participation in accordance with policies
established by their supervisory boards.

Commission on Handbook
Ov. 9-41

To Amend Various Bylaws
for Purposes of Clarification
Preamble
The Commission on Handbook, responding to a variety of
observations from officers, agencies, and members of the Synod,
has proposed corrections to bylaws that have given opportunity to
confusion or required repeated or non-obvious interpretation by the
Commission on Constitutional Matters:
A. DEFINITION OF STAFF IN BYLAW 1.5.1.1
(COH 16-006A)
Rationale
The usage of the term staff in Bylaw 1.5.1.1 raises practical
questions about the extent of the bylaw’s prohibition of board
membership for staff of “other” agencies of the Synod. The term is
used variously throughout the bylaws. In order to provide clarity
here while avoiding unintended implications elsewhere, a specific,
limiting definition is proposed.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw1.5.1.1 be amended as follows, to clarify
the definition of staff:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
1.5.1.1

Unless otherwise specified or permitted by the Bylaws,
chief executives and executive directors, faculty, and all
staff, and all other employees on either the national or
district level shall not be members of the board of the
agency under which they serve, nor shall any such
executives or staff be members of the board of any other
agency of the Synod. For purposes of this bylaw only, staff
shall mean:
(a) Employees, other than faculty, rostered as ministers of
religion—ordained or ministers of religion—commissioned,
whether or not serving in such capacity; or
(b) Employees of Corporate Synod or an agency of Synod, other
than faculty, who are responsible for the development and/or
implementation of policies, goals, and programs; or
(c) Employees of Corporate Synod or an agency of the Synod
who assist chief executives, executive directors and faculty in
their work and are supervised by these individuals directly or
through a line of supervision.

B. CLARIFICATION OF FACULTY IN BYLAWS 3.1.4.2
AND 3.10.6.7 (COH 16-037)
Rationale
Questions regarding the extent of the term “faculty,” whether used
in the individual (“faculty member”) or collective (“faculty as a
decision-making body”) sense, have occurred with regard to
Bylaws 1.5.1.1 and 3.1.4.2, whether part-time faculty are included
(the historical sense has been, for 1.5.1.1, yes, and for 3.1.4.2, no)
and with regard to Bylaw 3.10.6.6.2 (b)(4) (and therefore 3.10.5.6.2
[a]) whether it is used in the individual (any faculty member can
nominate) or collective (the faculty a whole presents nominations)
sense.

2019 Convention Workbook

The bylaws include two definitions of the collective faculty (one for
a seminary and one for a college or university), with one
clarification/restriction related strictly to the faculty’s role in
qualification of candidates for first call:
3.10.5.7
The faculty of each theological seminary of the Synod shall
consist of the president, the full-time faculty, and the part-time
faculty.
(a) Part-time or temporary faculty members are distinguished by
an appropriate prefix or suffix (“visiting, guest, adjunct,
emeritus”) or the term “graduate assistant.”
(b) Part-time or temporary faculty members shall hold nonvoting
membership on the faculty.
—
3.10.6.7
The faculty of each college or university of the Synod shall
consist of the president, the full-time faculty and the part-time
faculty.

provisions like those of 3.10.5.7 [a-b] were removed in 2013
along with many other details of the college /university section
—
2.8.2
It shall be the responsibility of colloquy committees or the
faculties of educational institutions of the Synod to declare colloquy
candidates qualified for first calls. For purposes of declaring
candidates qualified for placement and recommending them for
membership in the Synod, the Synod considers the “faculty” of an
educational institution to be defined as follows: (a) Seminaries: all
full-time faculty members who are in good standing on the Synod’s
roster of ordained ministers. (b) Colleges and universities: all fulltime faculty members who are in good standing as individual
members of the Synod or are members in good standing of a member
congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

To alleviate significant confusion, the commission proposes
clarifications to the following two bylaws.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.4.2 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.1.4.2
Each educational institution of the Synod shall be
represented at conventions of the Synod.
(a) Educational institutions of the Synod shall be represented by
one board member in addition to the district president, by their
presidents, and by one faculty member for every 30 full-time
faculty members who are members of the Synod.
(b) Fractional groupings shall be disregarded except that each
institution having any full-time faculty members on the roster of
the Synod shall be entitled to at least one faculty representative.

and be it further
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.10.6.7 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.10.6.7
The faculty of each college or university of the Synod shall
consist of the president, the full-time faculty and the part-time
faculty.
(a) Part-time or temporary faculty members are distinguished by
an appropriate title.
(b) Part-time or temporary faculty members shall hold nonvoting
membership on the faculty.

C. SCOPE OF DOCTRINAL REVIEW STATUS APPEAL
(COH 16-035)
Rationale
Synod’s Commission on Doctrinal Review (CDR) received an
appeal to the doctrinal review certification of an item published