LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 308

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308

OPINIONS OF COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS

same Synod-established procedures to discipline them…In summary,
all Synod members, including organizations of Synod members, must
follow the Synod’s bylaws regarding dissent, dispute resolution, and
ecclesiastical supervision. To do otherwise invites the member’s/
members’ ecclesiastical supervisor(s) to use those same Synod-established procedures to discipline them” (CCM Opinion 11-2589).
Thus, fellowship with one another in the Synod is not a selective
fellowship. And the fellowship of the Synod is not a cafeteria where
members can pick and choose, i.e., take what they want and leave the
rest or serve themselves. The nature of fellowship with one another in
the Synod is not marked by selective appropriation or elimination of
certain constitutional and bylaw provisions and resolutions—much
less the confessional basis, confessional position(s), and objectives
of the Synod. As reflected in the Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws and
resolutions throughout its history, the members of the Synod are in
fellowship with one another. For a further relevant treatment of the
matter, the commission calls attention to the entire CCM Opinions
05-2443, 05-2444, and 11-2589.
(Adopted Nov. 11–13, 2011)

Authority of a District President (11-2616)
In a letter dated September 17, 2011, a pastor member of the
Synod submitted a series of questions for response by the commission. Additional supplemental information was received on September 27.
[NOTE: In carrying out its duties, the commission is required by
Bylaw 3.9.2.2 (b) to notify an officer or agency of the Synod, including the district president involved in this matter, if a request for an
opinion involves an activity of that officer or agency, and to allow
that officer or agency the opportunity to submit in writing information
regarding the matter(s) at issue. While the commission is not a finder
of facts and must rely on the information provided to it in questions
submitted, the additional background information contemplated by
Bylaw 3.9.2.2 (b) can often assist in understanding and responding
to the questions presented.]
Question 1: In light of Article VII of the LCMS Constitution and
4.4.6 of the LCMS Bylaws and the Synod’s recent action
declaring that the LCMS Constitution takes precedence
over LCMS Bylaws, under what circumstances, if any,
may a District President write a letter on District letterhead, using a congregation’s membership directory
in his possession to mail said letter directly to the individual members of the congregation for the purpose of
calling a Voters Assembly?
Opinion: The duties, responsibilities, and authority of a district
president do not include the unilateral authority to call a business
meeting of a congregation’s voters’ assembly. He does, however,
have authority to assist a congregation as it may request, and the
duty, responsibility, and authority to inquire as to the prevailing
spiritual conditions of a congregation, as directed in Bylaw 4.4.5,8
and may arrange and conduct official visits or investigations as
described in Bylaw 4.4.6. Article VII of Constitution reads as follows:

Article VII Relation of the Synod to Its Members
1.	In its relation to its members the Synod is not an ecclesiastical
government exercising legislative or coercive powers, and with
respect to the individual congregation’s right of self-government
it is but an advisory body. Accordingly, no resolution of the
Synod imposing anything upon the individual congregation is of
binding force if it is not in accordance with the Word of God or if
it appears to be inexpedient as far as the condition of a congregation is concerned.

2013 Convention Workbook

2.	Membership of a congregation in the Synod gives the Synod no
equity in the property of the congregation.

Bylaw 4.4.6 reads as follows:
4.4.6

The district president, even without formal request therefor,
may through the proper channels arrange for an official visit
or investigation when a controversy arises in a congregation
or between two or more congregations of the district or when
there is evidence of a continuing unresolved problem in doctrine or practice.
(a) He shall ask for a full report on the case in order that he
may have a clear understanding of the situation.
(b) If he authorizes anyone to represent him in such matters,
his representative shall be accorded the same rights as the district president.

The responsibilities of a district president in this regard flow not
only from the Bylaws, but also Article XII 7 of the Constitution:
The district presidents shall, moreover, especially exercise supervision over the doctrine, life, and administration of office of the ordained
and commissioned ministers of their district and acquaint themselves
with the religious conditions of the congregations of their district. To
this end, they shall visit and, according as they deem it necessary, hold
investigations in the congregations. Their assistants in this work are the
circuit counselors, who therefore shall regularly make their reports to
the district president.

In conducting an official visit or investigation, a district president
or his representative may arrange for such meetings with a pastor,
the leadership of a congregation, groups within a congregation, or the
congregation itself as he deems necessary. Even such a meeting with
the entire congregation, however, cannot properly be characterized
as the calling of the voters’ assembly unless the congregation itself
chooses to convene such a meeting as part of its response to such
visit or investigation.
Separate and apart from any such official visit or investigation,
pastors and/or congregations often call upon a district president for
guidance, assistance, and support in the conduct of their spiritual
and other affairs. Where called upon by the recognized leaders of a
congregation to do so, a district president might well use his letterhead and a membership list supplied by the congregational leaders
to assist the congregation’s leaders in publicizing a voters’ assembly
business meeting authorized and called by the congregation’s leaders
as provided in the governing documents of that congregation, and
at the congregation’s invitation, use such a meeting to carry out the
responsibilities described in Bylaws 4.4.5 and 4.4.6. Nothing in the
Constitution or Bylaws of the Synod prohibit the providing of such
assistance upon request. In fact, they encourage such support and
assistance when appropriate.
As described in recent CCM Opinion 10-2581, there may be times
when internal disagreement in a congregation results in the need for
a district president, by specific provision in a congregation’s governing documents or the absence of having been provided some other
internal dispute resolution, to be involved in the resolution of a congregation’s internal disputes.9 In carrying out his responsibilities in
such a circumstance, and in assisting the congregation’s leaders in
the conduct of their own affairs, a district president might be even
more inclined to allow the use of district letterhead and the resources
of the district office in the scheduling and coordination of a voters’
assembly called by the leaders of the congregation itself. However, it
should not be construed that the district president himself is calling a
meeting of the voters’ assembly of the congregation for the purpose
of conducting congregational business but the congregation itself in
accordance with its own governing documents.
While a district president may not call a meeting of the voters’
assembly of a congregation, he or his designee may be present at
such meeting for the purposes of carrying out the district president’s