LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — May 5–6, 2017, Page 5

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

48. Question Regarding Two Calls in Different Districts (17-2820)
The Secretary of the Synod brought to the commission a situation posed by two district presidents:
A district missionary from District A (called by the district) has been serving a pastoral vacancy in a
congregation that is a member of District B. After some years of this arrangement, the congregation has
determined it would like to extend a call to the missionary also to serve as its pastor. This ordained minister
would then be both a district missionary in District A and a called pastor in a District B congregation, with
the calling bodies sharing salary and benefit responsibilities. This poses a number of questions:
Question 1:

Can a called worker have two or more calls simultaneously, or must they be structured as
a single call, issued together by the various calling entities?

Opinion: The Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod nowhere prohibit a called worker from holding two or
more calls simultaneously. The CCM has previously held (Ag. 2104, May 15, 1998) that in a dual parish,
each congregation has, in fact, issued a call to the shared pastor, whether the congregations issued calls
individually or called the pastor together under a parish arrangement (see also Ag. 1275, A, B). This is
consistent with CCM Opinions dating back at least to 1970 and to historical practice much earlier.
Question 2:

Considering the posed situation and Bylaws 2.12.1.2 and 2.12.1.3, if two or more
simultaneous calls are permissible, can they be from different districts?

Opinion: Yes. This has been permitted for many years, and the CCM has previously held (e.g., Ag. 1959,
Oct. 16, 1993), for example, that nothing prohibits a dual parish composed of congregations in different
districts from calling a common pastor:
There is nothing in the Constitution or Bylaws of the Synod which prevents a pastor from
serving two congregations which are in different districts. However, it would be
appropriate in such a circumstance for the district presidents involved formally to clarify
the responsibility for ecclesiastical supervision. As you have indicated, the pastor holds
membership in a specific district with that district president as his ecclesiastical supervisor.
Nevertheless, one of the congregations which he serves and which is a member of another
district is responsible to the district president of that other district (Article XII 7; Bylaw
4.21 b; 4.73; 4.75). Consequently, it is absolutely vital, because of the unique interrelationship, that there be a formal understanding between the involved district presidents
regarding ecclesiastical supervision.
The simplest approach would, of course, be for one of the congregations to request a change
in district membership.
The commission notes, however, that this is being done, at present, only by overlooking the plain sense of
Bylaw section 2.12, which does not contemplate such an arrangement. Bylaw 2.12.1.2 does not address the
situation of a pastor called by congregations in different districts, seeming to imply that he should be a
member therefore, of two different districts—which cannot be the case, as membership in the Synod is held
through exactly one district (e.g., Bylaw 2.12.1).
The commission notes that Bylaw section 2.12, in general, does not contemplate ministers simultaneously
holding multiple calls, sometimes involving different districts or modes of ecclesiastical supervision, and
sometimes suggesting both voting and advisory participation in the district and Synod. Given the existence
of such situations, this deficiency needs to be addressed by a convention of the Synod, and is referred to
the attention of the Commission on Handbook.
Question 3:

Considering the posed situation and Bylaws 2.12.1.2 and 2.12.1.3, of which district would
the missionary/pastor be a member, and which district president would have ecclesiastical
supervision?

CCM Minutes – May 5–6, 2017 – Page 32