LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 139

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
Synod. The committee then received further input from the Synod
Board of Directors, CUS board of directors, the CUS institutions
presidents, CUS institutions board of regents chairs, the Synod
President, synodwide corporate entities, and others regarding the
draft overture and comments received. Under the direction of the
Board of Directors, the committee then proceeded to make changes
to the draft overture to take into consideration the comments and
input that had been received.
By Feb. 2022, the committee was prepared to submit to the
Synod Board of Directors a revised proposed overture that took
into consideration the comments received during the previous year.
The decision to delay the 2022 Synod convention to July 2023
provided additional time to consider the draft preliminary overture
and the best approach to take for a new governance structure for
CUS and the CUS institutions. The Board of Directors requested
the committee continue to consider the proposed draft overture
and further input. During the summer of 2022, the committee
incorporated additional changes into the draft proposed overture to
take into consideration further input that had been received during
the previous several months.
The committee prepared a final proposed draft overture that
was submitted to the Board of Directors for its consideration and
possible approval at its Nov. 2022 meeting. Before the Board of
Directors meeting, the CUS institution presidents requested the
Board of Directors to consider further modifications to the draft
overture. Based on this request, the Board of Directors postponed
action on the final proposed draft overture. In Feb. 2023, the Board
of Directors received the CUS institutions presidents’ proposed
modifications and requested the of the 2019 Res. 7-03 drafting subcommittee and Board of Directors 2019 Res. 7-03 sub-committee
to continue to discuss further possible changes to the proposed
overture, in particular those being proposed by the CUS institution
presidents.
The most recent draft from the 2019 Res. 7-03 Committee is
attached, with the understanding that there are ongoing discussions
regarding further proposed changes before a final proposed overture is submitted for consideration by the 2023 Synod convention.
This draft overture includes an extensive preamble as well as a
separate rationale for each of the eight sections. The preamble and
rationale explain the intent and purpose of the proposed overture
and answer many questions raised.
The ongoing discussion includes further consideration of the
current proposal to change each CUS institution from an agency
of the Synod to an affiliated entity. The current proposal makes
the suggested change to recognize the reality of the financial circumstances facing the institutions, CUS, and the Synod. There has
been a decades-long trend of reduced funding from congregations
to the districts and, in turn, from the districts to the Synod. This impacts the funding of the Synod and accordingly the funding of CUS
and the CUS institutions. There also have been frequent tensions
between CUS and some CUS institution presidents and boards of
regents since the inception of CUS. The current proposal reflects
efforts to minimize such tensions.
Ongoing discussions will address questions and concerns raised
regarding the current proposed change from “agency” to “affiliated.” This discussion also will continue to take into consideration
the financial and governance realities facing CUS, CUS institutions, and other Synod entities impacted. In addition, other questions and issues raised concerning the current draft proposal and
the need to fulfill the objectives of 2019 Res. 7-03 will be consid-

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ered. An updated draft then will be submitted to the Synod Board
of Directors for its consideration. The Synod Board of Directors
will then make the decision regarding a proposed new governance
structure for consideration by the 2023 convention.
Christian A. Preus, Chairman

Appendix: Current Committee Draft
To Revise Bylaws to Revisit and Renew
the Relationship of Colleges and Universities
with the Synod
Preamble
The following proposed convention action, having to do with
the Concordia University System, would fundamentally renovate
the relationship of the Synod with the Concordia colleges and
universities. It aims to respond effectively—with realism, faithfulness, and hopefulness—to decades of higher education change.
Long gone are the days:
• when the Synod’s higher education institutions were supported largely by the local faithful, often in donations of kind
(volunteer help, farm and garden produce); or
• when Synod-related colleges existed largely or even solely
for Lutheran teacher and preseminary education, with a large
proportion of Synod’s seminary students blessed by six or
more years of formal, comprehensive preseminary pastoral
formation.
Gone also are the more recent days:
• when the Synod’s congregations regularly supplied students
(whether in church work or general liberal arts), faculty, or,
through the Synod, financial subsidy sufficient to dominate
the operating scale of Concordia colleges and universities.
Today—far along in a gradual but profound transformation
that began in the 1970s—church work (4 percent) and member-congregation students (11 percent) are a small minority and tuition and fees (especially from profitable, largely
graduate, almost exclusively nonchurch-work programs),
grants, and gifts from the faithful, from alumni, and from
surrounding communities have replaced a Synod subsidy as
principal financial means. Only approximately 5–6 percent
of graduates of Synod parochial and high schools attend a
Concordia University;
• when the Synod’s Concordias served only traditional, residential undergraduate students studying in a limited number
of academic programs on campuses oriented principally or
exclusively toward church work or final pastoral formation
at seminary. Today, the colleges and universities offer, to a
confessionally diverse student population, dozens of online
and on-ground undergraduate and master’s, doctoral, and
professional degrees and programs in a wide variety of disciplines, including health care, education, criminal justice,
etc.;
• when individual Concordias could get by with simply a sufficient “captive audience” of Synod students. Today they
operate at present scale by offering attractive campuses and
programs that compete successfully for the investment of
considerable time and money of a sufficient number of prospective students from outside sources;
2023 Convention Workbook