LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 7–8, 2009, Page 6

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Bylaws Article II H: The phrase “Official conferences of pastors and teachers” should be changed
to “Official conferences of ordained and commissioned ministers” for the sake of clarity and
uniformity. Paragraph a immediately following should begin with “An” rather that “A.”

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Bylaws Article III A: The second sentence of paragraph 1 would better read: “He shall be a fulltime officer and will be required to hold membership in a voting congregation of the district.”
This would allow time and opportunity for an ordained minister from outside the district elected
district president to move congregational membership to a congregation of the district.

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Bylaws Article III A: Synod Bylaw 4.3.1 allows for district vice-presidents to be elected from the
clergy roster of the entire Synod and should be reflected in paragraph 2 under Article III A. It
would better read: “they shall be elected by the four (4) geographical areas….”

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Bylaws Article V B: In the second sentence of paragraph 2, “that” should be changed to “than.”
In paragraph 5, the first sentence does not reflect the need for the convention to ratify the results
of elections of vice-presidents (since they have not been elected by the entire district) just as the
convention must ratify the results of the elections of circuit counselors (Synod Bylaw 5.2.2 [e]
and [f]). The sentence might better read: “At the district convention, the four (4) geographical
area vice-presidents and four (4) geographical area lay members of the Board of Directors elected
by their geographical areas will be subject to ratification.”

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Bylaws Article V D (Note: Former section C should be relettered D): Under paragraph 3,
subparagraph c, the second-last sentence cannot stand, since commissioned ministers are not
voting members and their conference, therefore, cannot elect a member of the board of directors.
Consideration could be given to their selecting a commissioned minister for appointment to the
board by the board of directors, or to their participation in the process of nominating a slate of
commissioned ministers, one to be elected by the convention.

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Bylaws Article VI: This paragraph should stay largely the way it was, restoring the parenthetical
statement in the second sentence. The final sentence would better read: “Multiple parishes served
by one ordained minister shall be represented by one ordained minister and one lay delegate.
Likewise, the deleted sentence of Section B should be restored to reflect the Constitution and
practice of the Synod.

Again, the commission’s approval of the documents in question is contingent upon incorporation of the
changes detailed above.
(D) Northern Illinois District (08-2541)
With an e-mailed letter dated December 22, 2008, the secretary of the Northern Illinois District forwarded
four overtures to the district’s convention, requesting review by the commission. The commission noted
that the first two of the four overtures do not propose district bylaw changes and are intended for the
national Synod convention, therefore not requiring review by the commission at this time. Upon review of
the two remaining overtures, the commission offers the following comments:


Under Bylaws Article III, the section regarding the “Polity Commission” that will become “E,”
the commission suggests reconsideration of the name of the commission to match that used by the
Synod in its Bylaw 2.2.1 (b), “Constitution Committee,” for the sake of clarity and good order.



In the final proposed overture, under sections G and H: The first sentence under G speaks of “all
those elected” and proposes their assuming office as of the first day of the third month subsequent
to the convention. At the same time, the first sentence under H proposes that the district president,
one of all those elected, assume his office on the first day of the second month. An exception for
the president should be made in the sentence under section G. Also, the date “August 1” in the

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