LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — December 9, 2001, Page 1

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MINUTES
COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
December 9, 2001

224. Call to Order
Chairman Walter Tesch called the telephone conference call meeting to order and asked Secretary
Raymond Hartwig to open the meeting with prayer. All members of the Commission responded to the roll
call.
225. Ecclesiastical Supervision of the Synodical President (01-2240)
A District President has questioned the correctness of this Commission’s opinion in 98-2122, dated
September 30, 1998, which opined that the President of the Synod is under the ecclesiastical supervision
of the President of the Missouri District. He has pointed out that pursuant to Article XI B 1 d of the
Synod’s Constitution the Synod President is the ecclesiastical supervisor of all District Presidents. He has
also pointed out that this Commission has previously issued an opinion on January 10-11, 1992, Ag.
1915, which found that the Missouri District President did not have ecclesiastical supervision of the
synodical President. Can these two conflicting opinions be reconciled? The Commission finds that they
cannot. Which opinion is correct? For the reasons stated below, the Commission withdraws the pertinent
paragraphs of its 1998 opinion, 98-2122, and reaffirms its 1992 opinion, Ag. 1915.
Because of the importance of this question, both prior opinions are reproduced herein. The 1992 opinion
reads as follows:
69. Supervision of Synodical President (Ag. 1915)
A pastor had asked the question of the Commission on Constitutional Matters whether on
the basis of Bylaw 3.533, d the President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod was
excluded from the responsibility placed upon the President of the Missouri District in
4.73 of the Handbook of the Synod. The further question was asked, “If he is excluded, to
whom does a brother bring his concern when personal admonition to have the President
of the Synod carry out the responsibilities of his office as defined by the Handbook?” The
Secretary had prepared a possible response for consideration by the Commission on
Constitutional Matters which stated:
[The pastor’s] question is not easy to answer. I would assume that in some
instances, such as if a synodical President were serving as a pastor of a
congregation in the district, the district president would have responsibility for
supervision.
However, if someone disagrees with the supervisory activity of the synodical
President, it would not seem that the district president is in a position to exercise
supervisory responsibility over the synodical President. Article XI of the
Constitution is quite clear in that the synodical President has supervision of a
district president, an officer of the Synod (XI,B,1,d). It is the Synod which has a
right to call its officers to account and to remove them from office in accordance
with Christian procedure. (XI,A,2). This is supported by Bylaw 3.103, c which
states, “Any member of the Synod shall have the right to appeal to the
convention of the Synod from his [the President’s] action.”