LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 174

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the office of the district president as ecclesiastical supervisor in
the district. It was stated that administrative matters [ecclesiastical supervision/visitations] could be dispatched with much greater
ease if broken down to the district level with greater participation
of both pastors and congregations anticipated in district sessions.
In 1866, 19 years after the founding of the Synod, with 205
congregations and more than 65,000 baptized members, the 215
delegates at the Synod convention found it “necessary” and “salutary” to reorganize the Synod by providing yet another “outward
means of assistance” by “arranging” and establishing the structure and governance of circuits and the office of the circuit visitor
as assistant to the district president in his function as ecclesiastical supervisor in the district. This new circuit structure was for
the purpose of more effectively carrying out ecclesiastical administration (including visitations) and to broaden the engagement of
pastors and congregations.
Thus, the 1854 and 1866 Synod conventions placed the matter
of the office of the visitor into the hands of the individual districts.
By 1866, President C. F. W. Walther deplored the fact that only two
of the district presidents had salaried assistants (Western and Eastern) and encouraged that others follow suit. The district presidents
by this time were so overburdened with other responsibilities that
they could no longer adequately supervise the parishes in their districts on a planned visitation program.
In his 1879 essay “Duties of an Evangelical Lutheran Synod,”
Walther indicated: “A Synod that is ‘faithful to the Confessions’
must also ‘supervise the faithfulness of its members.’” In the essay,
Walther clearly bases the supervision polity of the Synod on Scripture and Confessions as well as the provision and practice of the
Early Church and the Reformation, as evidenced by “church-visitations,” “visitorial responsibility,” and the “true episcopal and
supervisory Office.”
In this essay, Walther also stated: “However, for the welfare of
the church we set up a system of supervision.…[T]he church must
be beautifully united by the bond of love; it must work together
under the best possible system of supervision.” Walther also
quoted Gerhard: “In our churches, however, we maintain a system
of supervision among church workers …, and we insist that such
supervision must be continued, so that there are ‘some bishops’
[supervisors], ‘some presbyters’ [pastors], ‘some deacons’ etc.…[T]
he establishment of a system of supervision among church workers promotes harmony and unity, prevents divisions that arise
from self-love and ambition on the part of lower-level (Niedrigerer) church workers and curbs the presumption of those who want
to destroy the tranquility of the church.”
The 2001 Synod convention Resolved “To Clearly Delineate [the]
Ministry of Visitation in [the] Bylaws” (Res. 8-01), now reflected
in Synod Bylaw 4.4.4: “The district president shall, in accordance
with the Constitution of the Synod, in his ministry of ecclesiastical supervision visit the congregations of the district.”
(a) He shall arrange in advance for an official visit to each
congregation of his district at least once every three years
and otherwise as he deems it necessary. He may call upon the

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circuit counselors and vice-presidents to assist him with the
triennial visitation of congregations.
(b) In his official visits, he shall seek to bring about to the
greatest possible degree the achievement of the Synod’s objectives as expressed in Article III of its Constitution.
(c) He shall conduct his official visits in an evangelical manner.
(d) He shall come to the pastor and the congregation as a
brotherly advisor, reminding them of the joy of serving in
the mission and ministry of the church.
(e) In his visits, he shall include fraternal discussion in regard
to worship and communion attendance; participation by the
congregation in missions and the work of the church at large;
the congregation’s evangelism and education endeavors; its
cultivation of sound stewardship principles; all aspects of
compensation for professional church workers; the need for
maintenance of purity of doctrine; the strengthening of the
bond of Christian fellowship; and the provision of resources,
opportunities, and assistance so God’s people can grow in
their faith, hope, and love.
The same 2001 resolution Resolved that the Council of Presidents (COP) develop guidelines to be used to define the intent and
purpose of congregational visits and to provide a foundation for
training the visitors. The COP has identified such guidelines.
The 2004 convention made clear the essence of ecclesiastical
supervision as provided in Bylaw 1.2.1:
(g) 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.
In his presidential address to the 1848 Synod convention,
Walther stated, “We can hardly consider any other constitution
as the most salutary but one under which the congregations are
free to govern themselves, but enter into a synodical organization
such as the one existing among us with the help of God, for enjoying fraternal consultation, supervision, and aid and to spread the
kingdom of God jointly and to make possible and accomplish the
aims of the Church in general.”
While, as clearly seen above, the office of visitation among us has
been clearly defined both as to its importance and its function, the
R e s olu t i on s