LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — November 1, 2001, Page 2

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Concordia University, River Forest; Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne; and
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, are directed to work with the BHE to establish standards of
deaconess education, practice, and placement.

Bylaw 3.409 establishes the functions of the BHE. Those subsections applicable to this question are: “a.
develop detailed coordinating policies and procedures for implementing structural arrangements and
individual college, university, and seminary roles established by the Synod and be responsible for their
implementation;” and “c. review and approve programs, both church work and nonchurch work, both
undergraduate and graduate, in the interest of the institutions and the constituency.”
Res. 5-06B permits graduate deaconess training at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and thereby the Synod established roles for these two schools.
Accordingly, the BHE, in accord with Bylaw 3.409 a, must develop detailed coordinating policies and
procedures for implementing the decision of the convention of the Synod. Further, the BHE, in accord
with Bylaw 3.409 c, has the duty to review and approve all programs, both undergraduate and graduate, in
the interest of the institutions and the constituency, and this includes the program permitted by Res. 506B. Therefore, approval by the BHE of the component parts of the proposed program is required before
its implementation. However, such approval must be based on standards that do not exceed the standards
applied to all other programs.
Question 2:

Can the BHE/CUS deny approval of the program at one or both seminaries?
Scenario: the feasibility studies might indicate that the student body would be
diluted to a level that makes the program untenable at any institution.

Opinion: Res. 5-06B clearly indicates that the Synod wishes to establish graduate level deaconess
training. It further indicates that such training is permitted (not mandated) at Concordia Theological
Seminary, Fort Wayne, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. In adopting this resolution the Synod did not
rescind Bylaw 3.409. Those duties remain with the BHE and include the responsibility to determine
whether graduate level deaconess training is to take place at one or both schools after taking into
consideration all aspects of the program.
Question 3:

The resolution refers to “graduate level deaconess training,” but the deaconess
certification program is a baccalaureate-level program. Is it referring to initial
preparation of deaconess candidates or to advanced-level training for those who are
already deaconesses?

Opinion: Res. 5-06B does speak of requests for additional deaconesses, that there is but one synodical
school training deaconesses, and that the BHE and the three schools should establish standards of
deaconess education, practice, and placement. These are general statements regarding deaconess training,
both graduate and undergraduate. However, the specific language of the first resolve is to permit the two
seminaries to offer graduate level deaconess training. Therefore, the resolution is only applicable to
graduate level deaconess training. However, the resolution does express the need for additional
deaconesses and thereby the Synod counsels the BHE to take the necessary steps to respond to the need.
212. Approval of LCEF Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws
After review and discussion, the Commission gave its approval to the changes proposed to the LCEF
Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. As a result of its review, the Commission also noted one or more
areas of concern elsewhere in the documents and will offer suggestions in a future letter to LCEF.

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