LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 250

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250 PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION

members of the Committee for Convention Nominations of the
Synod (Bylaw 3.2.5); and

WHEREAS, This procedure, though apparently more balanced,
has resulted in confusion and disorder in the Synod, such that, qual-
ified candidates were not considered for positions, appeals from
even the President of the Synod to consider other candidates were
not heeded; and

WHEREAS, The committee that handles nominations between
conventions involves no nationally elected or appointed persons,
but only those elected by representatives of half the districts, open-
ing the committee to the charge that the best interests of the na-
tional Synod are being forsaken for the sake of regional or personal
interests; and

WuERrEAS, The Bible commands that all things be done decently
and in good order; and

WHEREAS, The purpose of the nominating committee is to as-
sist in nominations, not to create a final list, which is acknowledged
at the Synod convention by the ease of and regularity of floor nom-
inations, and the number of people elected after having been nom-
inated from the floor; and

WHEREAS, The nationally elected Synod officials who are
tasked with electing persons to fill vacancies are more than quali-
fied to add names to the nomination process after receiving a re-
port from the nominating committee; and

WHEREAS, Robert’s Rules of Order, which Missouri nonprofit
law commands be followed in all corporate meetings, encourages
just this practice; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Bylaws be changed to read: 3.2.5 (d) Floor
nominations will be sought and received in a manner to be deter-
mined by the Board of Directors of the Synod.

Trinity
Wheatland, WY

7-41

To Promote Transparency in Governance
of Synod and Its Institutions

WHEREAS, The Synod has established a number of permanent
boards, commissions, and councils in order to carry out its busi-
ness between conventions; and

WHEREAS, From time to time the Synod establishes special
boards or commissions to accomplish specific goals or address spe-
cific concerns; and .

WHEREAS, These boards, commissions, and councils are re-
sponsible to the Synod and its members as to the conduct of their
duties; and

WHEREAS, Openness and transparency of operation by these
boards, commissions, and councils builds trust and confidence in
the members of the Synod that the Synod is being governed cor-
rectly and competently; and

WuerEAS, Current technology, including the Internet, enables
timely and accurate communication; and

WHEREAS, Some boards and commissions of the Synod have
properly and helpfully taken advantage of current technology and
regularly publish their minutes on the Synod’s Web site; therefore
be it

Resolved, That all boards, commissions, and councils of the
Synod and boards of regents of its educational institutions regu-
larly announce their upcoming business with the publishing of their
detailed meeting agendas at least one week prior to any regular
meeting and as soon as possible before any specially called meet-
ing; and be it further

Resolved, That all boards, commissions, and councils of the
Synod and boards of regents of its educational institutions will
maintain only one set of detailed minutes, that these be the official
minutes of every meeting, and that these minutes be published
within three weeks of the conclusion of any regular or specially
called meeting; and be it further

Resolved, That these agendas and minutes be published on the
Synod’s Web site or, in the case of the educational institutions of
the Synod, on the institution’s Web site; and be it further

Resolved, That boards, commissions, and councils of the Synod
and boards of regents of its educational institutions may omit from
the published versions of their minutes discussion that take place
during executive session as long as the reason for the executive ses-
sion is clearly stated in the published minutes; and be it further

Resolved, That boards, commissions, and councils of the Synod
and boards of regents of its educational institutions will normally
go into executive session only for the following reasons: to receive
the advice of legal council; to avoid publishing information re-
quired by law to be kept confidential; or to discuss personally sen-
sitive issues concerning third parties (such as personnel issues) that
cannot be publicly discussed—and that this be done only in order to
protect the reputation of the third party; and be it finally

Resolved, That the Synod in convention commend those boards,
commissions, and councils of Synod or boards of regents who are
currently publishing their official agendas or minutes.

Grace, Lexington, MO; Faculty, Concordia University Chicago

7-42

To Include Treatise on Power and
Primacy of Pope in Confessional Standards

Rationale

Without a doubt, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has
long valued the Treatise on the Primacy and Power of the Pope
(hereafter, “the Treatise”) as part of its confessions. Not only is it
included in the 1580 Book of Concord; it has been frequently cited
to define the position of the Synod on church and ministry. Fur-
thermore, our English-language agendas have always asked or-
dained and commissioned workers of the church to confess this
particular symbol along with the rest of the Book of Concord.

However, the Treatise was originally considered to be an ap-
pendix to the Augsburg Confession. Later, because it was written
around the time of the Smalcald Articles, it was considered to be an
appendix to that confession. Thus, many in the Lutheran Church
have not thought it necessary to explicitly list the Treatise among
the confessional symbols because they believed that they were
adopting it when subscribing to the Augsburg Confession or the
Smalcald Articles. It was most likely for this reason that the
Synod’s Constitution omitted listing the Treatise in Art. II.

In order to prevent varying confessional standards among the
churches of the Synod, its congregations are not free to have a dif-
ferent confessional standard other than that of Art. II of the Synod’s
Constitution. Thus, three problems have arisen:

1. Many congregations of the Synod are not in compliance with the con-
fessional standards of the Synod inasmuch as they have added the
Treatise to their list of confessions in their constitutions.

2. The ordained and commissioned members of the Synod obligate
themselves to a confessional standard to which member congrega-
tions of the Synod are forbidden to commit themselves.

3. The Constitution of the Synod explicitly commits itself to “all the
Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church” (emphasis
added), while the Constitution, in effect, forbids its members to em-
brace all of the Symbolical Books found in the 1580 Book of Con-
cord.

Rather than ask many, perhaps a majority, of congregations in
the Synod to change their constitutions to exclude a document that
was probably intended to be included anyway, it would seem the
more prudent thing is to ask Synod to recognize the Treatise as one
of its confessions.

Resolved, That the words “the Treatise on the Power and Pri-
macy of the Pope” be added after “the Smalcald Articles” to Art. II
of the Constitution of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

First Bethlehem
Chicago, IL