LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 168

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168

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

name of Stimmengleichheit (“equality of votes”) (Carl S. Mundinger, Government in the Missouri Synod [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1947], 178). At Fort Wayne, the rule was established that multiple congregations under one Pfarrgemeinde could send only one lay delegate, conserving the Stimmengleichheit in another respect (id., 181–83).
3. The men in this category primarily consisted of men who were pastors
of congregations that had not yet joined the Synod. However, it did include
others as well, such as professors. The 1847 convention of the Synod lists 10
advisory members in attendance. Nine of these were pastors of congregations that were not members of the Synod. The other individual is described
as assisting with the instruction at the Fort Wayne institution.
4. Advisory members: That is, individual members of the Synod who
are not the voting pastoral delegate of a parish/circuit. No individual member possesses a vote in his own right. One pastor of each parish/circuit
casts one of the parish/circuit’s two votes. At the district level, all individual
members of the Synod, all ordained and commissioned ministers—active,
candidate, and emeritus—are intended to attend the district convention
apart from a valid excuse (Bylaw 4.2.3). At the Synod level, such individual
members not eligible to be voting pastoral delegates and not eligible to be
selected as advisory representatives (Bylaws 3.1.4–3.1.4.6) are represented
at the Synod convention by advisory delegates, selected on a proportional
basis (1 per 60) from each district (Bylaws 3.1.3–3.1.3.1).

Appendix
To Study Voting Privilege in the LCMS
2019 RESOLUTION 9-17
Overture 9-22 (CW, 501)

Whereas, The Synod celebrates the ministry contributions of
teachers, directors of Christian education, directors of Christian
outreach, directors of family life ministry, directors of parish music,
deaconesses, parish assistants and certified lay ministers (directors of
church ministries) through their inclusion as ministers of religion—
commissioned; and
Whereas, The Synod highly values commissioned ministers for
their eagerness to serve the Lord and His Church; and
Whereas, The Synod recognizes the voices and wisdom of our
commissioned ministers as gifts from the Lord; and
Whereas, The Synod appreciates and gives thanks to God for the
unique vocations of ordained ministers, commissioned ministers and
lay people alike; and
Whereas, Historically, the structure of the Synod is based on the
franchise belonging to the Pfarrgemeinde, maintaining a balance of
clergy and lay voting; and
Whereas, The current structure of the Synod does not allow for
a third category of voting delegates at district and Synod conventions; and
Whereas, Commissioned ministers from across the Synod seek
to use their gifts and serve the Church in the fullest way possible;
therefore be it
Resolved, That the Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM)
in conjunction with the Council of Presidents (COP), including a
number of commissioned ministers chosen by the COP, prepare a
report regarding the historic and current voting privileges in Synod;
and be it further
Resolved, That this report be made available to the Synod at least
18 months prior to the 2022 Synod convention.
Action: Adopted as read (7)
Res. 9-17 was read and introduced by the committee, removing the first resolved (lines 20–21), which erroneously remained in the draft. During discussion by the assembly, the orders of the day were called; closure of debate carried [Yes: 727; No: 188]. Res. 9-17 was adopted as read [Yes: 669; No: 251].

John W. Sias, Secretary
2023 Convention Workbook

R63

Ecclesiastical Visitation
of Concordia University Wisconsin
and Ann Arbor
By the Office of the President,
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
This report was publicly promised to the Synod. Since my
visitation and delivery of a report to the Board of Regents,
the Board of Regents has called Dr. Erik Ankerberg as the
new president, and he is already addressing issues I raised in
my report. I am very thankful the board of regents resumed
the process outlined by our governing documents. I believe
the future of Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor
is bright.

Introduction
On March 23–25 and April 1, 2022, consistent with the duties
and responsibilities given my office by the Constitution and Bylaws of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), which
also govern Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor
(CUWAA), I conducted an ecclesiastical visitation of the university. This is a summary of the report I sent to the CUWAA Board of
Regents (BOR) and an update on progress made since that visitation.
I announced my intention to conduct this visitation in a March
9, 2022, letter to CUWAA Interim President Dr. William Cario. I
wrote, in part:
I am taking this action because Concordia has been such
a precious blessing to the LCMS, to her Gospel-defined mission, and to countless thousands. I am also acting because of
a consistent and growing number of concerns addressed to
me by lay and clergy members of the Synod, district presidents, regents, CUS representatives, faculty, and students of
CUWAA.
On October 13, 2021, I emailed the entire CUWAA Board
of Regents that, because of bylaw violations in the search
process and because of “persistent complaints from the campus about attitudes, actions and events which are not in harmony with the public teaching, doctrine and practice of the
LCMS, if you act to terminate the [presidential] search process and do not proceed in clear accord with the Bylaws, I
shall be forced to exercise my responsibility with respect to
Bylaw 3.3.1.2 (c).”
In that same email, I stated, “I shall form a task force to perform
a visitation of the campus and speak to all concerned. And I shall
report accordingly to the church, including the Synod in convention.”
CUWAA has been established by the congregations of the
Synod, and its Board of Regents and administration are responsible to them for its faithful operation. The congregations allow
the school great freedom in accomplishing its mission, but that
mission is defined “within the broad assignment of Synod” (Bylaw
3.10.6.1). Concordia, as an “agency” of the Synod, has a sacred responsibility to operate in accord with the bounds of the confession
of Synod (“the written Word of God as the only rule and norm of
faith and practice,” and in accordance with the Symbolical Books