LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 7–8, 2009, Page 4

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75. Review of District Bylaws and Proposed Bylaw Amendments
(A) Oklahoma District Bylaws (08-2536)
The commission reviewed the draft copy of The Handbook of the Oklahoma District upon request of the
district president prior to its submission to the district convention for approval. In the interest of
encouraging and facilitating uniformity of usage in bylaw and policy documents of the Synod, a copy of
the commission’s “Frequently Noted Aberrations” document will be provided to the district along with
the following suggestions and recommendations for change prior to convention action. The commission
also understands that this handbook is a work in progress and will be submitted for further review by the
commission upon its completion at a later date.
1. Page 3, Preamble paragraph: Mention in line 6 of “members of district and Synod” is inaccurate
and fails to clearly reflect that membership is held in the Synod and not in its districts.
2. Page 4, paragraph 3: This statement should be changed to indicate that membership is in the
Synod and that such membership is governed by the Constitution as well as the Bylaws of the
Synod.
3. Page 5, paragraph 1 a: Mention of a “voting” congregation in the first sentence is redundant since
member congregations are being discussed, but the sentence should make clear that this is to be a
congregation “within the district.”
4. Page 7, paragraph d: The final sentence should make clear that the treasurer is to be a “lay”
member of a congregation of the district.
5. Page 9, paragraph f: Reconcilers are not appointed after every district convention since they serve
six-year terms.
6. Page 11, first paragraph: To use the terms “non-clergy” and “commissioned” is a redundancy.
7. Page 11, final two paragraphs: The content of the paragraphs should reflect CCM Opinion 002197 which provided for conference calls to conduct legal business “provided that there is full
agreement on the part of the entire board to this manner of doing business, provided that
appropriate care is taken to respect and protect the rights of all parties, to include opportunity for
full and complete discussion, and provided that such practice does not contradict state law.”
8. Page 13, paragraph b: This and other paragraphs assume that the time of the district convention
will remain constant. It may be helpful to use time frames that do not hinge on a particular
calendar day.
9. Page 14, paragraph 1: No mention or provision is made in the district’s Bylaws for the election
of the LCEF Vice-President or the district’s elected member of the Synod’s Committee for
Convention Nominations every other convention (Synod Bylaws 3.12.3–3.12.3.3).
10. Page 14, paragraph 2: No mention is made of the time frame for the nominations of the officers
mentioned, or that circuit counselor elections are governed by Synod Bylaw 5.2.2.
11. Page 14, paragraph 3: Since vice-presidents are district officers, their elections by smaller
caucuses should not only be ranked but also ratified by the district convention, as is also the case
with circuit counselors (Synod Bylaw 5.2.2 [f]).
12. Page 15, paragraph b: It is not possible to have “contract commissioned ministers” since a
would-be contract of a commissioned minister is regarded by the Synod as a call.
13. Page 15, paragraph c: Multiple parish congregations must also determine their pastoral delegate
in cases in which there is more than one pastor serving the parish in called positions.

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