LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — March 22–23, 2019, Page 4

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In the limited circumstance that the only individuals available to the district president (who are reasonably
able to function at the convention as the circuit’s pastoral delegate) would have been precluded from
consideration for election by reason of the restrictions Bylaws 3.1.2.1 (d)(3), (e)(3), (f), (f)(3), (g), and (h),
this does not in and of itself preclude the District President from acting, in consultation with the circuit
visitor, as required by Bylaw 3.1.2.1 (j), to select such an individual as a replacement. In the interest in
fairness and to maintain the integrity of the process, however, the district president must make every effort
to ensure that the representative weight that the spirit of this bylaw seeks to accomplish is preserved to
extent possible (see generally, Op. 13-2675 May 19, 2013), while providing for the full representation of a
circuit that has duly and properly elected delegates and alternates and has suffered losses of the same.
Question 2:

Could the district president, acting under Bylaw 3.1.2.1 (j), appoint as a pastoral delegate
a pastor whose congregation or parish is also providing the lay alternate, Bylaws 3.1.2.1
(d)(3), (e), (e)(3), (f), (f)(3), (g), and (h) notwithstanding?

Opinion:
The answer to Question 2 is essentially the same and is dependent on the same reasoning
as that set forth in response to Question 1.
Question 3:

If the answers to the above are not affirmative in the general case, may an allowance for
the above be made, for the sake of the circuit’s representation, if the district president has
no other reasonably feasible option to appoint an alternate pastoral delegate that is not the
pastor of a congregation or parish that has already provided a lay delegate (or alternate)?

Opinion:

This question is sufficiently answered by the foregoing.

Question 4:

Can the district president, acting under Bylaw 3.1.2.1 (j), appoint as a pastoral delegate a
pastor whose congregation or parish is also providing the lay alternate, provided that the
lay delegate and / or alternate elected from said pastor’s congregation or parish would
voluntarily step aside?

Opinion:
As noted in response to Question #1, “the system set forth in Bylaw 3.1.2.1, as a whole, is
designed to fairly ensure a breadth of representation from the circuits.” At issue are fairness and the
preservation of the right of the congregations within the circuit to choose their own delegates. The circuit
in question has taken all available measures to secure its right to full representation at the convention,
including electing alternates as a first safeguard. As noted above, where the choice of the district president—
the second safeguard of the circuit’s full representation—is constrained, such that he could only make an
appointment that, due to the parish restrictions of Bylaws 3.1.2.1 (d)(3), (e), (e)(3), (f), (f)(3), (g), and (h),
the forum could not have made by election, he may do so, to ensure that full representation. Should the
complementary (in this case, lay) delegate or alternate, in a sense of churchmanship or fairness, be willing
to forego his position to enable the district president, in making his selection, to more evenly distribute
representation within the circuit, nothing within these Bylaws would preclude these steps being taken. Nor,
of course, would this be required.
199. SELC District Articles of Incorporation (19-2899)
By an e-mail of Jan. 11, 2019, Counsel for the SELC District forwarded a draft amendment to the district’s
articles of incorporation. The commission finds the proposed addition to satisfy the requirements of Bylaws
1.5.3.6 and 2016 res. 9-02A, but recommends the following simplification of the proposed addition to the
articles:
Except to the extent, if any, that the law requires otherwise, and notwithstanding anything
in the Bylaws to the contrary, the Articles of Incorporation or any other governing
documents are amended as follows: (a) All provisions of itsthese Articles of Incorporation
and Bylaws are subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Bylaws, and the
resolutions of the SynodThe Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in convention, and (b) that
in the event of dissolution other than by direction from the Synod in convention, the assets
CCM Minutes – March 22–23, 2019 – Page 152