LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 216

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10. ECCLESIASTICAL SUPERVISION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION

To Amend Bylaws to Clarify
Application of Pre-Call Consultation
and Call and Be Served By (Bylaws 2.5.2–3)
beyond Member Congregations
RESOLUTION 10-02
Overture 10-02 (CW, 401–2)
Preamble
The 2019 Synod in convention in its Resolution 10-02A (B)
included in Bylaws 2.5.1–3, which required congregations of the
Synod to consult district presidents in call processes and to
call and be served by only such ordained and commissioned
ministers or candidates therefor, also “association schools,
agencies, auxiliaries, and recognized service organizations”
(RSOs). The Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM Op.
20-2957, Minutes of Oct. 30–31, 2020) and Commission on
Handbook (Item 19-005) have, in consultation with the
Council of Presidents and the LCMS Recognized Service
Organization office, noted potential unclarities or unintended
implications of this requirement being inserted as it is into
paragraphs that ordinarily deal with congregations. At a
minimum, the “association schools, agencies, auxiliaries, and
recognized service organizations” to which the language now
applies need to look in a “foreign” section of the Handbook to
find a regulation that applies to them. In certain areas,
because of the very different sort of work done by RSOs, in
particular, the language may create a certain degree of
confusion regarding how it applies to positions that are not
involved directly in teaching or practice of doctrine.
With regard to the latter, the CCM has understood served by in
Bylaw 2.5.2 to refer to “service in the sense of the distinctive
functions of the pastoral office, not to service in some purely
secular sense” (CCM Op. 20-2957, “Requirements for Call
Processes by Agencies, Auxiliaries, and Recognized Service
Organizations”). The opinion goes on: “A divine call cannot be
extended by any of the listed calling entities to any person not
listed under Bylaw 2.5.2’s (1), (2), or (3). Furthermore, such a
calling entity cannot be “served by,” in the sense of any
exercise of distinctive functions of the pastoral office, any
person not listed under Bylaw 2.5.2’s (1), (2), or (3).”
Agencies are by definition part of the Synod and would be
precluded from calling an individual who is not a member of
the Synod. This should be made explicit in Section 1.5, dealing
with agencies. Requirements incumbent on auxiliaries and
RSOs should be dealt with in the appropriate sections (Bylaw
sections 6.1 and 6.2, respectively), not in Section 2.5, which
deals with congregations and their association schools,
which, by virtue of their governance strictly be member
congregations, are subject to the same requirements as their
constituent congregations.
The commission has proposed changes that will clarify the
scope of “service by” (to refer, outside of congregations and
their association schools, to exercise of distinctive functions of
the pastoral office) and to place the provisions in their
appropriate sections.
216 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION

Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw section 2.5 be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
2.5 Calling Ministers of Religion
2.5.1
Congregations, and their association schools,
agencies, auxiliaries, and recognized service organizations
of the Synod shall seek the counsel of the appropriatetheir
respective district president when calling ordained or
commissioned ministers.
(a) A congregation or association school shall seek the
counsel of its own district president.
(b) An agency, auxiliary, or recognized service
organization shall seek the counsel of the district
president who would, by virtue of the call, assume
supervision of the minister (Bylaw section 2.12). If the
call is such that the district president to assume
supervision is not known, the counsel of the president of
the district within which the entity is located or with
which it is associated shall be sought.
(c) If such a call involves multiple districts (such as by
entity location or connection and/or position locale), the
presidents of all such districts shall be consulted and
mutually agree on which one of them will counsel the
entity regarding the call and assume supervision of the
worker called.
2.5.2
Congregations that are members of the Synod, as
well as and their association schools, agencies, auxiliaries,
and recognized service organizations shall call and be
served only by (1) ordained ministers who have been
admitted to their respective ministries in accordance with
the rules and regulations set forth in these Bylaws and have
thereby become members of the Synod; (2) candidates for
the pastoral ministry who have satisfied the qualifications
and requirements for assignment of first calls by the
Council of Presidents acting as the Board of Assignments;
or (3) ordained ministers who are members in good
standing of church bodies that have been formally
recognized to be in altar and pulpit fellowship with the
Synod when agreements for such calls are in place.
2.5.3
Congregations that are members of the Synod, as
well as and their association schools, agencies, auxiliaries,
and recognized service organizations shall call only (1)
commissioned ministers who have been admitted to their
ministries in accordance with the rules and regulations set
forth in these Bylaws and have thereby become members of
the Synod; (2) candidates of LCMS colleges and universities
who have satisfied the qualifications and requirements for
assignment of first calls by the Council of Presidents acting
as the Board of Assignments; or (3) commissioned
ministers (or those holding positions comparable to
commissioned ministers) who are members in good
standing of church bodies that have been formally
recognized to be in altar and pulpit fellowship with the
Synod when agreements for such calls are in place.
2.5.4
Congregations that violate these requirements and
persist in such violation shall, after due admonition, forfeit
their membership in the Synod.
Resolutions