LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — October 2, 2002, Page 4

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or for effectively carrying on the work of the Synod” so long as they do not “conflict with the
Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod.”
Speaking specifically of District conventions, Bylaw 4.21 requires that such conventions “be governed by
the Bylaws adopted by the Synod for its conventions, insofar as these may be applicable,” adding that
Districts “may adopt any other regulations, provided these are not contrary to the Constitution and
Bylaws of the Synod.” Regarding therefore the submission of overtures to a convention of the Synod,
Bylaw 3.19 a 2 states that such overtures “may be submitted only by a member congregation of the
Synod, a convention or Board of Directors of a District, an official District conference of ordained and/or
commissioned ministers, the faculty of an educational institution of the Synod, a board or commission of
the Synod listed in Bylaws 3.55 and 3.57, a committee established by a prior convention, or a forum of a
Circuit.” No mention is made of advisory members submitting overtures. They therefore do not have the
privilege of submitting overtures to a District convention and the District is advised to amend its Bylaws
to bring them into agreement with the Bylaws of the Synod in this regard.
Question 4:

“Is [this District’s] practice of allowing an individual to be elected by the convention to the
Lutheran Island Camp Board of Directors even after that individual has been elected by the
convention to another office in conflict with the Synod’s rule of no one holding more than
one elective office? Or is this a possible extension to that rule, due to the fact that it is a
camp board of directors?”

Opinion: Bylaw 4.109 of the Synod pertaining to District elections and appointments states the following:
4.109 Holding More than One Office
a. No one, either in the Synod or in a District, or between the Synod and a District,
shall hold more than one elective office; or more than two offices, although one or both
be appointive; or ever hold two offices of which one is directly responsible for the work
done by the other.
b. An office shall be regarded as elective only if it is an office filled through election
by a national or District convention, even though a vacancy in such an office may be
filled by appointment.
c. Doubtful cases shall be decided by the President of the Synod.
The intention of this bylaw is clear. No one in the Synod or in a District or between the Synod and a
District shall hold more than one elective office (filled through election by a national or District
convention). Since the question sets forth the possibility of a person holding two such elective offices,
this is in conflict with the Bylaws of the Synod regardless of the nature of one of the offices in question,
especially given the fact that the District owns the camp, and the District Board of Directors exercises a
supervisory role.
Question 5:

“Is the phrase ‘pastors and lay delegates’ in the provision for a caucus of the pastors and lay
delegates of the Circuit at a District convention (Bylaw 5.11) limited to those pastors and
lay people who are voting delegates at a District convention or does it include also advisory
ordained and/or emeriti ordained ministers from the Circuit?”

Opinion: Bylaw 5.11 states that if no pastor has received a majority in the balloting for circuit counselor,
additional balloting “shall take place by the pastors and lay delegates of the Circuit” in a Circuit caucus
during an early session of the District convention. Those pastors and lay delegates who are to participate
are identified in Bylaw 5.03 c: “a pastor of each congregation, and one member of each congregation

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