LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 26 – 27, 2014, Page 5

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of the terms, may serve no more than nine consecutive years, and a member first appointed to fill a
vacancy may serve no more than the length of the vacancy plus six years (if the vacancy was more than a
year and a half) or no more than the length of the vacancy plus nine years (if the vacancy was a year and a
half or less). Bylaw 3.2.4 (a) indicates that a board or commission member termed out may become
eligible again only after an interval of three or more years (unless returned to the board or commission of
necessity in an ex officio capacity under Bylaw 3.10.5.2 [4]). An elected seat and an appointed seat on the
same board of regents are not different positions, so the allowance of Bylaw 3.2.4.2 (c) does not here
apply.
60. Southeastern District Bylaws Review (14-2723)
With a June 17, 2014 email, the executive director for congregational outreach and district operations
submitted the Southeastern District’s Bylaws for review by the commission. The commission responds
with the following recommendations.
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Paragraph 2 of Article II fails to mention that it is each congregation “or parish” that has voting
representation at district conventions, as supported by Synod Constitution Art. V. The sentence
will better read: “Each member congregation or parish of the district is entitled to representation
at district conventions as prescribed by Constitution Art. V A of the Synod.”
Under Article IV, the final sentence under paragraph 1, the commission notes that this is not a
proper application of Synod Bylaw 4.5.1. First, the final sentence should identify that this is to be
a lay member of the board. Further, such added members are intended to obtain additional skill
sets and not representation by an ethnic minority. Sensitivity to ethnic representation on the board
could be satisfied when the board makes its choice to obtain an additional skill set, or such an
expectation could be included in the bylaws governing the regular elections of members to the
board of directors.
Paragraph 2 (a) under Article V requires correction. Only in the election of president must
nominations be from the clergy roster of the entire Synod. For all other offices, nominations must
be made from the clergy roster of the district. In the case of any regional elections, nominees
must be from the district with residence in the designated region.
Paragraph 3 under Article VII does not distinguish between visitation circuits and electoral
circuits. Rather than to try to sort this out, the first sentence of the paragraph could be changed to
allow the Synod’s Bylaws to do so, reading: “Circuits shall meet at least twice triennially, either
as visitation or electoral circuits.”

The commission requested that the district board of directors give attention to these matters in a new
version of its bylaws, identifying these latest changes made, and submitting the document to the
commission along with a clean copy for the commission’s records.
61. Synod as the “Only Sending Agency”—Bylaw 3.8.3 (14-2724)
In a June 19, 2014 letter, the Director of Church Relations/Regional Operations of the Synod submitted a
series of five questions to the CCM regarding the interpretation of the final paragraph of Synod Bylaw
3.8.3 and its reference to the Board for International Mission as “the only sending agency through which
workers and funds are sent to the foreign areas of the Synod, including the calling, appointing, assigning,
withdrawing, and releasing of missionaries (ministers of religion—ordained and ministers of religion—
commissioned) and other workers for the ministries in foreign areas” (2013 Handbook, p. 144).
Recognizing that the questions submitted involve matters of interest to districts and to Synod leadership,
the commission shared the questions with all district presidents and appropriate Synod officers (Bylaw

CCM Minutes – September 26–27, 2014 – Page 35