LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — April 6–7, 2018, Page 2

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The articles do not contain the relationship language required by LCMS Bylaw 1.5.3.6 (a) and 2016
Res. 9-02A. “[A]gencies of the Synod shall comply with the requirements of this bylaw change
[including both (a) and (b) of Bylaw 1.5.3.6] in time for the CCM to report the status of compliance
to the 2019 convention of the Synod.”
It is also noted, contra the final paragraph of the resolutions amending Article V (dated July 29,
2008 and January 31, 2017) that the prior review and approval of the LCMS Commission on
Constitutional Matters is required whenever an agency of Synod, like a university, intends to make
changes to its articles or bylaws (LCMS Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 [a]). Article VIII should mention this
requirement.

With regard to the bylaws, the commission noted that these require extensive updating to reflect the present
state of LCMS Bylaws (e.g., to reflect the organization of the colleges and universities under Concordia
University System as opposed to under the Board for University Education, to reflect the requirements
imposed upon the board of regents by LCMS Bylaws 1.5.3–1.5.3.5, to reproduce or reference the full range
of responsibilities assigned a board of regents in LCMS Bylaws 3.10.6.1 and 3.10.6.4–3.10.6.5, etc.). The
commission notes at the outset, in the first paragraph, that the university is neither an affiliate nor a member
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, but an agency thereof (Bylaw 1.2.1 [a]). Amendments to the
bylaws also require prior approval by the commission.
141. Questions regarding Const. Art. VI 2 (18-2875)
A member pastor of the Synod, by a January 19, 2018, e-mail, posed the following questions to the
commission, some regarding Const. Art. VI 2, and others, regarding Bylaw 1.8.3.
Regarding Const. Art. VI 2:
Question 1:

As used here, is unionism different than syncretism?

Opinion: Article II of the original 1847 Constitution of the Synod addressed the conditions under which an
individual or a congregation could become a part of the Synod and have fellowship with the Synod. (Since
1924, this has been treated under Article VI.) The 1847 Constitution, in Article II 3, used the phrase aller
Kirchen- und Glaubensmengerei in describing what members of the Synod were required to renounce; the
same phrase was used in Article VI 2 when the Constitution was restructured in 1924. The term
Kirchenmengerei means, most naturally, the mixing or mingling of churches with a different confessional
basis or outward church practices of the same. The term Glaubensmengerei means, most naturally, the
mixing or mingling of beliefs or confessions. In 1924, when the first official English translation of the
Constitution of the Synod was completed from the 1924 German text, the phrase unionism and syncretism
of every description was used to translate aller Kirchen- und Glaubensmengerei. While in today’s usage
the meaning of the terms unionism and syncretism may vary, depending on context, in interpreting the
constitution, they must be understood in their originally intended meaning and context.
The constitution then proceeded to give three examples of activities that would be identified as the mingling
or mixing of churches and/or beliefs, without distinguishing some as Kirchenmengerei or unionism and
others as Glaubensmengerei or syncretism. (These examples were not, of course, intended to be exhaustive,
as they are prefaced with the words “such as.”)
For the purposes of understanding the Constitution—while there may be shades of meaning, with unionism
tending more toward commingling practices or services and syncretism toward commingling doctrines or
teaching—there is considerable overlap between the two. An historically defensible, precise dissection of
these terms is unlikely to be possible. For the purposes of understanding the Constitution, though, it is not
necessary sharply to divide the terms. The phrase “aller Kirchen- und Glaubens-mengerei” or “unionism
and syncretism of every description” is best understood as an expansive single thought—perhaps a
pleonasm, the use of two almost identical terms to avoid any possible misunderstanding or minimization.
While other terms are also used in the literature of the Synod to express the same concept, the Constitution
clearly states that it is the expectation of members of the Synod that, because they “accept without
CCM Minutes – April 6–7, 2018 – Page 109