LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — April 29, 2003, Page 7

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Opinion: Bylaw 3.181 relates only to the Board of Directors of the Synod whereas Bylaw 3.407 relates to
the Board for Higher Education.
Question 3:

In the case of 3.181 a, members are elected for a six (6) year term. If under the above
circumstance, one current member’s term ends in 2004, while the other member elected
from a separate District has a term which does not expire in 2004, (but this person transfers
to the other person’s District)—at the 2004 convention, which District may not have any
other person nominated or elected to this Board—the District from which this transferred
member was originally elected, or the District in which this transferred person would
currently hold membership?

Opinion: In answer to the question posed, it is the status of District membership at the time of election
that is one of the determining factors. If a member midterm transfers District membership to a District
from which another Board member has already been elected and is serving, it is when the term
ends/timing of the election that is a determining factor.
Assuming that one current member of the Board of Directors who was elected from a separate District
and whose term ends in 2007 transfers District membership midterm to another District which already has
a person elected from that District to the Board of Directors and whose term ends in 2004, the following
is the application of the bylaws: A person from the District of the person whose term ends in 2004 may be
nominated and elected from that given District to the Board of Directors since “no more than one of
these” was “elected from one District” (Bylaw 3.181 a). The person whose term ends in 2007 (assuming
that the previous person was elected in 2004) may not be nominated and elected from that same District in
2007 since “more than one” member would have been “elected from one District” (Bylaw 3.181 a).
Assuming that one current member of the Board of Directors who was elected from a separate District as
an individual member of the Synod and whose term ends in 2007 moved midterm to a another state but
did not transfer District membership and perhaps even joined the same congregation of the District which
already has a person elected from that District to the Board of Directors and whose term ends in 2004, the
following is the application of the bylaws: A person from the District of the person whose term ends in
2004 may be nominated and elected from that given District to the Board of Directors since “no more
than one of these” was “elected from one District” (Bylaw 3.181 a). The person whose term ends in 2007
may be nominated and elected from that District where membership is still held in 2007 since “no more
than one of these” was “elected from one District” (Bylaw 3.181 a).
150. Additional Confessional Statements (03-2328)
In a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Commission dated January 17, 2003, an ordained minister of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod asked the following series of questions:
1. Do LCMS pastors or congregations violate the conditions of membership in the Synod if
they adopt a “confessional statement” or invite LCMS members to join them in a common
confession of this statement?
2. If they practice church fellowship only with those who subscribe to that “confessional
statement,” are they practicing selective fellowship?
3. Would the above action and practice in a sense be a “church within a church—a synod
within the Synod,” and would they be wrongfully “disfellowshiping” those members of the
Synod who accept 2001 convention Resolution 3-07A while rejecting the “confessional
statement” of this group?
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