LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — May 12, 2017, Page 8

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within their districts, on behalf of the Synod. It does not grant them a unique right. It expects of them chief
responsibility. The expectation of the district presidents chiefly to act in these matters does not preclude a
right of the President, asserted by 1956 Res. 6-11 as present in Const. Art. XI B 1–3, to exercise his own
authority in these matters should they fail in their chief responsibility. Indeed, such was the sense of the
instruction (included in footnote 13, below) that was appended to the Constitution from 1864 to at least
1899, and perhaps up to the thoroughgoing revision of 1924.
Finally, Const. Art. XII 8 begins in the German, “Die Distriktspräsides sind ermächtigt, den Nebengezetzen
der Synode gemäss Prediger...zu suspendieren.” Here an immediate reference to “in accordance with the
Bylaws of the Synod,” deferred in the modern, post-1965, English to the end of the paragraph, indicates a
strong connection of the empowerment of district presidents to suspend with the elaboration of the
expulsion process in the bylaws. As noted above, the association of suspension with the district presidents
is not absolute (that is, they do not exercise it on a raw constitutional basis but in accordance with the
bylaws of the Synod, with significant expectations and limitations). It is not absolutely limited to them
(there is no “exclusive particle” in this empowerment) or explicitly treated as an added power (neither is
there an “also”). It has been reconfigured and supplemented variously over many revisions of the
disciplinary system (often, the district president himself has not been able to suspend without the
concurrence of a district board of appeals). Given all these factors, and especially the fact that Const. Art.
XI A 1 and B 7 permit bylaws to allow additional work (rights and duties) to the President of the Synod,
the commission does not find the history of interpretation or application of this paragraph to preclude the
President of the Synod receiving and handling an appeal for action in a matter involving a member under
district supervision, in a case involving doctrine and practice, and where a district president has failed to
initiate the disciplinary procedures warranted under Const. Art. VI and XIII and applicable bylaws.
The commission also notes Const. Art. XI B 1 c, that the President of the Synod “has the supervision
regarding the doctrine and administration of...the individual districts of the Synod.” 11 While the ordinary
expectation is that:
•

“[i]n the districts of the Synod, he shall carry out his ecclesiastical supervision duties through the
district’s president” (Bylaw 3.3.1.1.1[b])

•

he meet regularly with district presidents “to see to it that they are in accordance with Article II of
the Constitution, adopted doctrinal statements of the Synod, and doctrinal resolutions of the Synod”
(Bylaw 3.3.1.1.1[d]), “to see that their administration is in accordance with the Constitution,
Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod’ (Bylaw 3.3.1.2[b]),

•

he, in general, “see that [they] act in accordance with Synod’s Constitution [including the
provisions for supervision of doctrine and practice], […] admonish all who in any way depart from
it, and, if such admonitions are not heeded, […] report such cases to the Synod” (Const. Art. XI B
2)

•

and that he “advise, admonish and reprove” (Const. Art. XI B 3),

the commission does not find such to exhaust the “means at his command to promote and maintain unity
of doctrine and practice in all the districts of the Synod” (Const. Art. XI B 3).
In view of Synod-wide objectives of “conserv[ing] and promot[ing] the unity of the true faith,” “provid[ing]
a united defense against schism, sectarianism, and heresy,” “provid[ing] evangelical supervision, counsel
and care,” and “protection for congregations, pastors, and teachers, and other church workers in the
performance of their official duties” (Const. Art. III 1, 8, 9), the Constitution has granted the President the
supervision of the individual districts of the Synod (Const. Art. XI B 1 c). The Synod is not a confederation
of thirty-five synods with thirty-five sets of objectives, thirty-five standards for doctrine and practice, or
11

On this passage, see further footnote 14, below.

CCM Minutes – May 12, 2017 – Page 47