LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 196

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196

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

The commission now responds to the questions posed, first to
Questions 1 (a) and 2, regarding potential calls within a district;
then to Questions 1 (b) and 2, regarding potential calls across district lines; and, finally, to Question 3:
Question 1:

When a vacant congregation of the Synod is in the
process of calling a pastor and requests information
on an ordained member of the Synod in good standing, whether a member of its own district or of another district:

(a) Does the president of the congregation’s district
have the authority under the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod to refuse to supply the congregation with the requested information regarding that
individual ordained member of the Synod who is a
member of the district of which he is president?
Question 2:

If the answer is yes, the district president may refuse
to provide information, what basis do the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod specify that would
authorize this refusal?

Opinion (Questions 1 [a] and 2, as regard potential calls within a
district): The Constitution and Bylaws of Synod do not address the
calling process in detail, nor the role of the district president in it.
The primary duty of a district president is to exercise ecclesiastical
supervision over the congregations and individual members of the
district of which he is president (Const. Art. XII 6–7; XI B 1–3;
see definition of ecclesiastical supervision in Bylaw 1.2.1 [j]). An
integral part of his being ecclesiastical supervisor of the congregations requires the district president to be aware of the conditions
of the congregations in his district, to “advise the congregations of
his district as to the calling of ordained and commissioned ministers, give counsel, and respond to requests and inquiries” (Bylaw
4.4.5 [a]). An additional part of his duties is maintaining the official
rosters of his district (Bylaw 4.4.7), which includes knowing the
fitness for ministry and standing of all those ordained and commissioned ministers on the roster of his district.
A congregation, as a condition of membership in Synod (Bylaw
2.5.4), may call and be served only by ordained ministers or candidates who have been admitted to the roster of Synod (Bylaws
2.5.2). A congregation is also required “to seek the counsel of [its
own] district president when calling” (Bylaw 2.5.1). This counsel
given by the district president flows from the district president’s
authority and responsibility to “exercise supervision over the doctrine, life and administration of office” of the ordained ministers of
his district and to “acquaint [himself] with the religious conditions
of the congregations of [his] district” and, thereupon, to “advise,
admonish, and reprove” (Const. Art. XII 6–7; XI B 3; see further
Const. Art. II and III 1–2, 8–9). A calling member congregation
of the Synod is required to seek (Bylaw 2.5.1) and has a corresponding right to expect (Bylaw 4.4.5 [a]) its district president’s
counsel on candidates under consideration regarding their doctrine,
“blamelessness of life” (Const. Art. VI 3), administration of office—in other words, for their fitness for ministry—and in specific
regard to their suitedness to the “religious condition of the [specific] congregation.” Advice received must be of sufficient nature
and scope to allow the congregation to make an informed decision
regarding whether or not it is advisable to extend a divine call to a
given eligible man. This is inherent in the fact that, regarding the
call process, there is, relative to the congregational duty to seek
counsel (Bylaw 2.5.1), a corresponding duty of the district presi2023 Convention Workbook

dent to advise (Bylaw 4.4.5 [a]), as just described. Bylaw 4.4.5,
furthermore, says that a district president shall “respond to requests
and inquiries” (Bylaw 4.4.5[a]).
A district president may have good reason for advising a congregation not to call a candidate who is eligible to be called but not recommended, which is integral to his role to advise and counsel. Every district president is free and, indeed, bound to offer the calling
congregation his prayerful wisdom, experience, knowledge, and
counsel to persuade the calling congregation why such candidate
is not recommended. However, a district president must assume
only such rights as have been expressly conferred upon him by the
Synod (Const. Art. XI A 1), and, while there may be wise and pastoral reasons for recommending why a requested candidate is not
recommended, there is no authority in the Constitution and Bylaws
of the Synod given to the district president of a calling congregation—perhaps intending to prevent such a call—to withhold the basic adequate information described above on any ordained minister
of the Synod. The district president cannot prevent a congregation
from acting unadvisedly, but given his duty to advise, his denial of
information must not be the precipitant of such an unadvised act.
There are three qualifiers on this basic duty:
•

First, if information were to be requested on a specific ministry pastor who in the determination of the involved district
president(s) with regard to a call “for which he has not been
certified” (i.e., that is outside the specific ministry context
for which he has been trained), it suffices for the district
president simply so to indicate to the calling congregation.
Such a call not only may not be accepted by the SMP pastor;
it may not even be offered to him, and the congregation is
therefore not permitted to extend it (Bylaw 2.13.1).

•

Second, information may be requested on an ordained minister whose standing on the roster of the Synod would not
allow him to accept the call; that is, he may be on either
restricted (Bylaw 2.13.2.2 [b]) or suspended (Bylaw 2.13.4.2
[c]) status. Here, the man’s status and the reasons for it—
particularly in the case of restricted status, which may be
investigative in nature, regarding allegations not yet fully
resolved as true or false—may not be known to a congregation, and a district president may not be able fully to share
them.

•

Third, information may be requested on a man who is neither restricted nor suspended but whose personal or family
circumstances would reasonably preclude his acceptance of
a call at a given time. These may be of a very private nature,
such as a particular health or financial issue being addressed
at a given time, and may not be fully disclosed by the pastor
in the usual information provided to a calling congregation.

In these second and third cases, the district president has responsibility as ecclesiastical supervisor both to the congregation and
to the man concerned. He must, in providing counsel, balance the
interests of the congregation’s call process and of the reputation
of the restricted or otherwise constrained ordained minister. While
the commission cannot prescribe the exact means of doing this in
every case, it appears to the commission that there are approaches
that provide adequate counsel and protect the reputation of the man
concerned.
The district president might, for example, consult with a restricted
or suspended ordained minister at the time status is initiated, as part
of his ministry to him (Bylaw 2.13.2.4; 2.13.4.3 [b]), advising the