LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 26 – 27, 2014, Page 7

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

When the newly adopted bylaw was incorporated into the 1983 Handbook, the new paragraph read: “c.
Serve as the only sending agency through which workers and funds are sent to the mission areas of the
Synod, even though programs are supported by districts and other entities” (p. 69). It is this version that
current Bylaw 3.8.3 essentially reiterates, as proposed by the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure
and Governance and adopted by the 2010 convention. The bylaw’s historical background clarifies the
intent of this specific provision of the bylaw, i.e., that for the sake of good order and effectiveness, the
Board for International Mission is to serve as the Synod’s only sending agency through which workers
and funds are sent to the foreign mission areas of the Synod.
That this practice may be considered restrictive in the present day was addressed by the 2013 convention,
noting that “[d]uring the last 50 years, people’s ideas about mission have changed owing to the ease of
global transportation and communication, the affluence of North American society, and the desire of
people to have direct and personal contact with a specific mission project” (2013 Res. 1-08 “To Work
Together in Mission,” Proceedings, p. 103). The convention’s response was twofold:
Resolved, That the Synod, by the next convention, develop and provide a mission best-practices policy
document for districts and congregations engaged in mission projects to assist them better to carry out their
mission in their life together; and be it further
Resolved, That these best practices include encouragement to districts and congregations to communicate
their international mission activities to the Synod’s Director of Church Relations and Offices of National and
International Mission for the purposes of healthy coordination and good stewardship.

By not altering the wording or meaning of Bylaw 3.8.3 and instead offering these two resolve paragraphs,
the Synod itself has provided input into a proper understanding and application of the bylaw. It continues
to stand in principle, and Synod leadership must develop the ways and means for its application today, as
God’s people, with their “greater fervor and interest in foreign mission,…coordinate their resources for
maximum effect” and “work in unity as they carry out the Lord’s commission in making disciples of all
nations” (2013 Proceedings, p. 103).
B. Districts and Foreign Missions
Districts are established by the Synod “in order more effectively to achieve its objectives and carry on its
activities” (Bylaw 4.1.1). They are “the Synod itself performing the functions of the Synod” (Bylaw
4.1.1.1). As such, “[t]he Constitution of the Synod is also the constitution of each district; the Bylaws of
the Synod shall be primarily the bylaws of the district” (Bylaw 4.1.1.2) and resolutions of the Synod are
“binding upon the districts” (Bylaw 4.1.1.1).
Over time, even with the above principles in place, the Synod recognized the need to spell out more
clearly its relationship with its districts. 1967 Res. 4-07 (1967 Proceedings, p. 105) was adopted upon
request of the Commission on Constitutional Matters to clarify further the districts’ relationship to the
Synod, the commission itself offering the proposed wording that is now Bylaw 4.1.5 (2013 Handbook, p.
188):
4.1.5 Jurisdiction with respect to everything that is administered by or for the entire Synod resides in the
national Synod itself. Jurisdiction includes but is not limited to general supervision of doctrine and
practice; foreign missions; institutions of the Synod; qualification for ordination, commissioning, and
installation of ordained and commissioned ministers and requirements for individual as well as
congregational membership in the Synod; publication of official religious periodicals; conduct of
negotiations and affiliations with other church bodies; and the like.

Foreign missions is one administrative area that the Synod has, since early on, reserved for itself by
decision of its congregations meeting in convention. This does not include non-foreign missions, which
CCM Minutes – September 26–27, 2014 – Page 37