LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 18−19, 2015, Page 2

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

129. Ecclesiastical Supervision Responsibilities of the President of the Synod (15-2750)
Via a February 2, 2015 email, a district president submitted three questions pertaining to the
responsibilities of the President of the Synod in the exercise of ecclesiastical supervision of individual
members of the Synod.
Bylaw 1.2.1 (i) states in part:
(i) 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. [underlining
added]
Bylaw 1.2.1 (l) states, as it defines “member of the Synod”:
(l) Member of the Synod: See Constitution Art. V. 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).
Question 1: Since Bylaw 1.2.1 (i) states that ecclesiastical supervision rests primarily with “the President
of Synod and district presidents,” does the President of the Synod have the responsibility,
when necessary, to discipline members of the Synod as a district president disciplines
members of the Synod?
Opinion: This definition alone does not define the roles of the President of Synod and the relevant district
president in a case of discipline (expulsion), as the remainder of the definition (1.2.1[i]) indicates.
Constitution Art. XIII 2 states: “Expulsion shall be executed only after following such procedure as shall
be set forth in the Bylaws of the Synod.” Such procedure is set forth, as applies to members of the Synod
under district supervision, in Bylaw sections 2.14 and 2.17. This procedure, while of an obligatory as
opposed to a discretionary nature, is to be carried out by the respective district presidents: “[T]he district
president of the accused shall commence the following action when he becomes aware of information or
allegations that could lead to expulsion of a member from Synod” (Bylaw 2.14.4, emphasis added; see
also Bylaw 4.4.5 and Constitution Art. XII 7). In doing so, the district president is responsible to and
reports to the President of Synod (Constitution Art. XII 9 b) as the chief ecclesiastical supervisor of
doctrine and practice (Bylaw 3.3.1.1; Constitution Art. XI B 1).
The district president thus carries out within his district the charge assigned principally to the President of
the Synod as the “chief ecclesiastical officer of the Synod” (Bylaw 3.3.1.1), who is to “conscientiously
use all the means at his command to promote and maintain unity of doctrine and practice in all the
districts of the Synod” (Constitution Art. XI B 3). “In the districts of the Synod, [the President of Synod]
shall carry out his ecclesiastical duties through the district’s president” (Bylaw 3.3.1.1.1[b], emphasis
added).
The President of Synod, who “has the supervision regarding the doctrine and the administration of (a) all
officers of the Synod; (b) all such as are employed by the Synod; (c) The individual districts of the Synod;
(d) All district presidents” (Const. Art. XI B 1; see also paragraphs 2, 3, and 4), has broad responsibility
and authority to supervise (in the sense of ecclesiastical supervision [Bylaw 1.2.1(i)]) and to oversee
(Bylaws 3.3.1.2; 3.3.1.2 [b]; 1.2.1[o]) the activity of his district presidents in this regard (see Bylaws
3.3.1, 3.3.1.1, 3.3.1.2[c]) and, ultimately, to “see to it that [district presidents] act in accordance with the
CCM Minutes – September 18–19, 2015 – Page 100