LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — July 21, 2020, Page 3

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documents into alignment with present requirements, while understanding that a final resolution of some
of these issues may best be deferred until after the convention.
37. District Constitution Committee Authority to Interpret (South Wisconsin District Bylaw 1.45 e)
(20-2939)
The President of the South Wisconsin District requested that the commission review his district’s Bylaw
1.45(e), regarding the district’s Committee on Constitutional Matters, as previously reviewed in CCM Op.
17-2862 and 17-2862A, in light of the following questions. The bylaw reads as follows:
1.45 Function:
The Committee on Constitutional Matters (CCM) shall: …
e. Interpret and give advisory interpretations in regard to congregational Constitutions
and Bylaws when requested by congregations, the District President, or the Board of
Directors. If desired, a congregation has the authority to request more than an advisory
interpretation of its documents.
Preliminary Comments: Authority of Constitution Committees and Congregational Governance
Controversies
Bylaw 2.2.1 requires each district to have a standing Constitution Committee. A congregation that wishes
to join the Synod is required to submit its constitution and bylaws to the appropriate district president, who
refers it to the committee for review. The role of that committee is to examine the constitution and bylaws
of the congregation applying for membership to ensure they are “in harmony with Holy Scriptures, the
Confessions and the teachings and practices of the Synod.” The district Constitution Committee can require
that anything contrary to such be changed by the congregation before its application for membership can
be acted on and accepted by the district board of directors. Bylaw 2.4.1 requires the committee to evaluate,
in the same manner, proposed changes to a member congregation’s constitution or bylaws. In neither case
does the committee have authority to pass judgment on or require changes to any other aspects of the
congregation’s manner of organization. This limitation is consistent with Constitution Article VII: the
Synod is advisory to congregations in relation to their self-government and as such has no authority to
impose anything upon a congregation. 1
A district Constitution Committee’s authority, established in the Bylaws of the Synod as noted, is limited
to the evaluation of congregational documents as above described. Neither Bylaw 2.2.1 nor Bylaw 2.4.1
authorizes a district Constitution Committee to interpret and give opinions regarding the constitution and
bylaws of a congregation. In fact, for it to do so may amount to a violation of Article VII of the Constitution
of the Synod if it amounts to an organ of the Synod imposing its understanding on the self-government of
the congregation. A request for interpretation of congregational governing documents may imply not just
uncertainty but a congregational controversy regarding the sense or force of such documents, and the
Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod provide specifically for Synod’s role in such matters of controversy.
While the original Constitution of the Synod provided for the Synod’s arbitration of disputes within a
congregation if all parties involved submitted the matter to Synod for arbitration, 2 these provisions were

1

At the same time, in joining the Synod a congregation agrees to abide by and be bound by the Constitution and
Bylaws of the Synod. Should a congregation act contrary to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod, the Synod
cannot force it to change. The recourse of the Synod in such an instance is to remove that congregation from
membership in the Synod (Article XIII) following the procedure of the proper Bylaw section.
2
The 1847 Constitution of the Synod, Chapter IV, Business of the Synod, provided as one of the functions of the
Synod the following:

CCM Minutes – July 21, 2020 – Page 22