LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 160

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Resolved, That the 2013 LCMS convention adopt the following
changes to Bylaw 1.2.1:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
1.2 Definition of Terms
1.2.1

The following definitions apply to are for use in understanding the terms as used in the entire Bylaws of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod:
(a) Agency: An instrumentality other than a congregation or corporate Synod, whether or not separately
incorporated, which the Synod in convention or its
Board of Directors has caused or authorized to be
formed to further the Synod’s objectives Objectives
(Art. III of the Constitution).
(1) Agencies include each board, commission,
council, seminary, university, college, district,
Concordia Plan Services, and each synodwide
corporate entity.
(2) The term “agency of the Synod” does not
describe or imply the existence of principal and
agency arrangements as defined under civil law.
(b) Chief Executive: The top staff administrator of an
a separately incorporated agency of the Synod, who
may be referred to as president, other than a mission
board or commission.
(c) Commission: A group of persons, elected or
appointed as prescribed in the Bylaws, rendering a
precisely defined service function of the Synod and
responsible, as the case may be, to the Synod in convention, to the President of the Synod, or to the Board
of Directors of the Synod. The commissions of the
Synod are:
(1) Commission on Constitutional Matters
(2) Commission on Doctrinal Review
(3) Commission on Handbook
(4) Commission on Theology and Church Relations
(d) Concordia Plan Services: Concordia Plan Services
is a controlled entity of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod created to manage the Concordia Plans.
(e) Concordia Plans: The Concordia Plans, while
operating under the supervision of the Synod Board
of Directors, are trust agencies whose assets are not the
property of corporate Synod.
(df) Corporate Synod: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the Missouri nonprofit corporation,
including its offices, boards, commissions and the
departments operating under the supervision of the
Board of Directors of the Synod and its mission boards
and commissions.
(1) “Corporate Synod” is not an agency of the
Synod.

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2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

(2) Concordia Plan Services is a controlled entity
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod created
to manage the Concordia Plans.
(3) The Concordia Plans, while operating under
the supervision of the Synod Board of Directors,
are trust agencies whose assets are not the property of corporate Synod.
(24)The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, in
referencing the laws of the State of Missouri in
these Bylaws and in the Synod’s Articles of Incorporation, intends to acknowledge its responsibility
to be subject to civil authority. In all such references, however, the Synod intends to retain all
authority and autonomy allowed a church under
the laws and Constitution of the United States and
the State of Missouri.
(eg) Council: An officially established group elected
or appointed as an advisory body. The council of the
Synod is the Council of Presidents.
(fh) District: A division of the Synod as determined by
a national convention of the Synod.
(gi) Ecclesiastical supervision: The responsibility,
primarily of the President of the Synod and district
presidents, to supervise on behalf of the Synod the
doctrine, life, and administration of its members, officers, and agencies. Such supervision, subject to the
provisions of the Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws, and
resolutions, includes visitation, evangelical encouragement and support, care, protection, counsel, advice,
admonition, and, when necessary, appropriate disciplinary measures to assure that the Constitution,
Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod are followed
and implemented. Thus, ecclesiastical supervision is
also the presenting, interpreting, and applying of the
collective will of the Synod’s congregations. Ecclesiastical supervision does not include the responsibility
to observe, monitor, control, or direct the day-to-day
activities of individual members of the Synod, whether
in the conduct of their work or in their private lives
(cf. Bylaw 2.14.1 [a]). Further, those constitutional
articles and bylaws pertaining to ecclesiastical supervision shall determine the full definition of ecclesiastical
supervision.
(h) Executive Director: The top staff administrator of
a mission board of commission of corporate Synod.
(ij) Governing Board: A board that directs a separately
incorporated agency of the Synod. Governing boards
are such as a board of directors, a board of trustees, a
board of regents, a board of managers, or a board of
governors.
(jk) May: Permissive, expressing ability, liberty, or the
possibility to act.
(kl) Member of the Synod: See Art. V of the Constitution. Members of the Synod are of two classes:
corporate members (congregations that have joined
R e s olu t i on s