LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — October 21-22, 2002, Page 12

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one of which is to be cast by the pastor and the other by the lay delegate. At the meetings of
the Synod a number of congregations shall form a group which shall be represented by two
voting delegates, one a pastor and one a lay delegate.
Further, Bylaw 3.05 a states that “all pastors who are not advisory members under Article V B of the
Constitution shall be eligible for election” as delegates to a synodical convention, and Bylaw 4.21 states
that “the convention of the Districts shall be governed by the Bylaws adopted by the Synod for its
conventions, insofar as these may be applicable.”
Since neither the Constitution nor the Bylaws of the Synod draw any distinction between those ministers
of religion—ordained who are called by congregations of the Synod full time and those who are called in
only a part-time capacity, a pastor who serves a congregation in a part-time called capacity may be
elected to serve as a delegate to either a synodical or District convention as long as the above stipulations
are met.
83. Southern Illinois District Proposed Bylaw Changes (02-2292)
The Secretary of the Southern Illinois District in a July 23, 2002 letter submitted a number of proposed
changes to the District Bylaws for approval by the Commission, such changes to be presented to the
District’s February 27−March 1, 2003 convention.
Opinion: The Commission finds the following proposed changes to be appropriate for presentation to the
District convention:
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Corrections to references in Bylaws 1.27, 2.35, 2.89, and 5.03.
The addition of a new executive and a change in the title of the current executive in Bylaws
2.05, 2.11, and 5.01.
Change of terminology for the current executive assistant in Bylaws 2.53, 2.55, and 2.57.
Elimination of current Bylaws 2.63 and 2.65 due to elimination of positions.
Description of new mission executive position in new Bylaws 2.65 and 2.66.
Description of relationship of new mission executive position with the District Board of
Missions in Bylaws 6.01 and 6.05.
Change to Bylaw 2.03 to give the District flexibility in determining number of Circuits.
Change to Bylaw 2.71 to make allowance for the fact that several of the Circuits have few
ministers of religion—commissioned.
Change to Bylaw 2.79 to retain District’s current method of nominating and electing vicepresidents.
Change to Bylaw 3.01 necessitated by changes made by the Synod to its Bylaws.

84. Use of Term “Recusal” in Dispute Resolution (02-2293)
A pastor of the Synod in a letter received August 1, 2002, submitted a request for a ruling regarding the
definition of a term that is being commonly used in conjunction with dispute resolution in our Synod.
After the pastor provided additional information regarding this term to aid the Commission in its decision,
he identified “the exact question” that he wished to place before the Commission, as follows.
Question:

“Does the Constitution of Synod give a definition for the term ‘recuse’ or ‘recused’ or
‘recusal’? If a definition is not contained within the constitution, then is it not logical to use
that most common understanding of the word mentioned above?”

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