LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 23, 2013, Page 47

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while operating under the supervision of the Synod Board of Directors, are trust agencies
whose assets are not the property of corporate Synod.
(ed) Corporate Synod: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the Missouri nonprofit
corporation, including its offices, boards, commissions and the departments operating under
the supervision of the Board of Directors of the Synod and its mission boards and
commissions.
(1) “Corporate Synod” is not an agency of the Synod.
(2) Concordia Plan Services is a controlled entity of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod created to manage the Concordia Plans.
(3) The Concordia Plans, while operating under the supervision of the Synod Board of
Directors, are trust agencies whose assets are not the property of corporate Synod.
(24) The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, in referencing the laws of the State of
Missouri in these Bylaws and in the Synod’s Articles of Incorporation, intends to
acknowledge its responsibility to be subject to civil authority. In all such references,
however, the Synod intends to retain all authority and autonomy allowed a church under the
laws and Constitution of the United States and the State of Missouri.
(fe) Council: An officially established group elected or appointed as an advisory body. The
council of the Synod is the Council of Presidents.
(gf) District: A division of the Synod as determined by a national convention of the Synod.
(hg) Ecclesiastical supervision: The responsibility, primarily of the President of the Synod
and district presidents, to supervise on behalf of the Synod the doctrine, life, and
administration of its members, officers, and agencies. Such supervision, subject to the
provisions of the Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions, includes visitation,
evangelical encouragement and support, care, protection, counsel, advice, admonition, and,
when necessary, appropriate disciplinary measures to assure that the Constitution, Bylaws,
and resolutions of the Synod are followed and implemented. Thus, ecclesiastical supervision
is also the presenting, interpreting, and applying of the collective will of the Synod’s
congregations. Ecclesiastical supervision does not include the responsibility to observe,
monitor, control, or direct the day-to-day activities of individual members of the Synod,
whether in the conduct of their work or in their private lives (cf. Bylaw 2.14.1 [a]). Further,
those constitutional articles and bylaws pertaining to ecclesiastical supervision shall
determine the full definition of ecclesiastical supervision.
(ih) Executive Director: The top staff administrator of a mission board or commission of
corporate Synod. (Note: the use of the title executive director in these bylaws applies only to
the executives of mission boards and commissions, if any such positions exist. This title is
used in other instances within corporate Synod that are not necessarily subject to the
provisions contained herein.)
(ji) Governing Board: A board that directs a separately incorporated agency of the Synod.
Governing boards are such as a board of directors, a board of trustees, a board of regents, a
board of managers, or a board of governors.
(kj) May: Permissive, expressing ability, liberty, or the possibility to act.
(lk) Member of the Synod: See Article V of the Constitution. Members of the Synod are of
two classes: corporate members (congregations that have joined the Synod) and individual
members (ministers of religion—ordained and ministers of religion—commissioned on the
roster of the Synod).
(ml) Mission Board: An officially established group of persons elected as prescribed in the
Page 117 – 02.23.13 – COH Minutes