LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 7–8, 2009, Page 5

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14. Page 15, paragraph d: Circuit forums and convention-established committees should also be
listed as eligible to submit matters for consideration by the district convention (Synod Bylaw
3.1.6.2).
15. Page 16, paragraph 2: Consistent use of the terms “ordained minister” and “commissioned
minister” would be helpful. Also, under point “f,” there is no category called “consecrated
ministers.”
16. Page 17: Beginning with this page and with a few exceptions (e.g. “Procedures for Election” on
p. 19), the remainder of the material in the proposed handbook would lend itself to being a
“policy” section apart from the “bylaw” section up to page 16.
17. Page 20, fifth bullet: It would be more clear if this statement was not a bullet but set off as the
beginning of a new section, this to parallel the earlier section under the statement: “District
Business Manager duties would include:”
18. Page 21, section entitled “Mission Secretary”: Unless the full title “Mission Secretary” is used
consistently (also “Education Secretary” on p. 22), using “secretary” alone will be misleading (as
on p. 22), as the name is already used for the secretary of the district.
19. Page 21, second paragraph under “Mission Secretary”: Adding “in the district” to the end of the
first sentence will be a helpful clarification.
20. Page 27, “Rationale” paragraph: “Commissioned ministers” in place of “teachers” would be more
accurate in keeping with Synod Bylaw 4.8.2 and would necessarily include DCEs and other such
workers. “Contract teachers,” i.e., non-rostered teachers, could also be invited, as stated.
(B) Minnesota South District Bylaw Amendment (08-2538)
With a letter dated December 7, 2008, the president of the Minnesota South District submitted changes to
the district’s Bylaws as proposed by the district’s board of directors. After reviewing the proposals, the
commission offers the following suggestions:
1. Proposed change to Bylaw 4.2.15.2 b): The proposed wording lacks sufficient deadline detail to
assure carrying out other steps of proposed nominations process.
2. Proposed change to Bylaw 4.2.15.2 c): The use of a calendar date suggests that the dates of the
district convention will not be moved to a date early in the year.
3. Proposed change to Bylaw 4.2.15.4 a): Again, the proposed wording lacks sufficient deadline
detail to assure carrying out the other steps of the proposed nominations process.
4. Proposed change to second paragraph under “Membership and Constitution Committee”: The
proposed sentence appears to have a word missing before the word “shall.”
(C) Southern District Bylaws (08-2540)
With a letter dated December 10, 2008, the secretary of the Southern District provided a copy of a revised
version of the district’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws incorporating prior suggestions and
recommendations from the commission, requesting that the commission again review the documents prior
to their presentation to the district convention later this year. After reviewing the documents, the
commission offered its conditional approval to the changes made, such approval on the condition that the
following additional changes be made:


Article of Incorporation V: The final sentence must be changed to read: “Parishes in which two or
more congregations are served by one ordained minister shall be represented by one (1) lay vote
and one (1) ordained minister vote.”

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