LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — April 4–5, 2008, Page 2

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

B. Board for Mission Services (06-2475)
After a thorough review of the “Board for Mission Services Policy Manual,” the commission raises the
following concerns and/or offers the following suggestions to the board for its consideration and
response:


Page 1, under Part I “Desired Outcome Policies”: no mention is made of Bylaw 3.8.8 as the
primary source of the board’s responsibilities.



Page 1, under Part I “Desired Outcome Policies” (et al.): Use of the terminology “owners” has no
correlation in the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod and therefore is unclear without also
providing a definition.



Page 2, paragraph 12: Keeping two sets of minutes does not resonate with 2007 convention Res.
7-05B and the Synod’s interest in transparency in governance. Bylaw 1.5.3.5 anticipates a single
set of minutes to be made available upon request, with sensitive matters to be addressed in
executive sessions.



Page 2, paragraph 13: It may be more appropriate and helpful to include this paragraph under the
duties of the secretary as listed on page 5.



Page 3, paragraph c, “Policy Review”: It may be helpful to identify those “appropriate governing
bodies” that may ask for a review of specific policies, namely the Board of Directors (Bylaws
3.3.5.3 and 3.3.5.5 [a] [2]) and the Commission on Constitutional Matters (Bylaw 3.9.2.2.4).



Page 5, first bullet under section 7: Here an action delegated to the Executive Committee is
“[c]alling and/or appointing missionaries.” On the following page 6, under “Board Decisions,”
one of the decisions identified as requiring specific board action is “b. Call, appoint, assign,
withdraw, and release missionaries.” In addition to this being an inconsistency, Bylaw 3.8.8.2 2
(a) reserves this responsibility for the entire board.



Page 8, third full paragraph: The bylaw reference should be Bylaw 1.5.5.1 (a).



Page 11, paragraph 3 under section G: The word “entity” is of such broad definition to include
also auxiliaries and congregations. Care should be taken to make certain that the right word with
the intended meaning is used, i.e., whether the narrower word “agency” is intended (Bylaw 1.2.1
[a]) or the broader word “entity.” See also page 12, paragraph 1 under section J.



Page 12, paragraph 5 under section I: The reference should be to current Bylaw 3.8.2.2 (a) (1).
Wording should better reflect the wording of the current bylaw.

The Commission on Constitutional Matters requests that the Board for Mission Services consider these
concerns and suggestions, make necessary changes, and report back to the commission as soon as
possible (Bylaw 3.9.2.2.4[a]).
(Policy reviewed April 4–5, 2008)
C. Board for District and Congregational Services Policy Manual (06-2476)
After a thorough review of the “Board Policy Manual” of the Board for District and Congregational
Services,” the commission raises the following concerns and/or offers the following suggestions to the
board for its consideration and response. Note below that the commission holds in abeyance additional
comment regarding one issue raised in the manual, i.e., the removal of board members (page 19,

14