LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — October 30–31, 2020, Page 8

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Regarding the South Dakota District Bylaws:
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Bylaw 1.01 [b–c]: “of the Synod” in each instance should read “of the district,” as noted in Op. 172849.
Bylaw 1.27: “Board of the Synod” should be “Office of the Synod” to reflect the post-2010
structure (Bylaw 3.8.2.3); the meaning, at the present time, of the phrase “and ordinarily shall be
represented at their conferences” is also uncertain and this phrase should perhaps be removed.
Bylaw 2.05: The President is an officer of the district and its chief executive, but the Bylaws of the
Synod do not refer to him as “Chief Executive Officer,” a term associated with corporate models
not entirely compatible with the constitutional structure of a district, and especially confusing in
relation to the supervision of the (entirely proper) supervision of the Executive Secretary and
Business Manager directly by the board.
The commission observes a heavy emphasis on administrative duties and perhaps a recasting of the
ecclesiastical supervisory role of evangelical supervision, counsel, and care (Const. Art. XI 1–3;
XII 6–9) as simply counseling. Finally, while the district president does on the Council of
Presidents counsel together with other district presidents and the Synod Praesidium on matters
regarding doctrine and administration of the Synod and its districts, the Bylaws of the Synod
nowhere consider the district president to be the “representative spokesman of the constituency” of
a district. This bylaw, which threatens to confuse expectations, requires revision to bring it into
greater consistency with the role of district president as described in the Constitution and Bylaws
of the Synod.
Bylaw 5.05 (f) [7]: “remove” should read “removed.”
The commission notes an inconsistency between Bylaws 5.05 (f) [3/7] and 5.05 (c) [3]; the district
may want to use the procedure of Bylaw 5.05 (f) [3/7] also in the former case, since ties for third
place and therefore ballots of more than three are allowed for.
Bylaw 6.01 (a): The manner in which the provision of Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 (b) has been incorporated
as (a)(4), and in which the new (a)(5) is proposed to be incorporated, may lead to confusion.
Subparagraphs (a)(1)–(a)(3) and the first sentence of (a)(4) refer to one sequence of actions under
(a); the remainder of (a)(4) and (a)(5) refer to two different sequences. The following (not the only
means, but a means of clarifying) is suggested:
o Subparagraph (a)(4) should read: “Adopted by a majority vote of the Convention.” The
remaining material of the present (a)(4) and (a)(5) would be dealt with as follows.
o Bylaw 6.01 (b) would then read: “Amendments arising in the course of a convention, or
during the course of a convention being made to previously approved proposals, may be
adopted by a majority vote of the convention, provided the resolution is contingent on
approval by the Commission on Constitutional Matters. The amended bylaws become
effective immediately upon, and only upon, approval of the Commission on Constitutional
Matters. Should the Commission on Constitutional Matters not approve the adopted
changes, the District Board of Directors may modify the amendments to comply with the
Commission on Constitutional Matters’ requirement, upon their two-thirds vote.”
o A new 6.01 (c) would incorporate the material existing in present Bylaw 6.01 (a)(5), to
read: “Changes in, and additions to, these Bylaws may also adopted by a two-thirds
majority of the District Board of Directors, when necessitated by amendments to the Synod
Constitution or Bylaws or otherwise expressly directed by a resolution of the Synod in
Convention. Such amendments shall have been drafted by the Secretary of the District and
approved in advance by Synod’s Commission on Constitutional Matters.”

The commission thanks the district and its president for submission of these proposed changes and looks
forward to reviewing a draft with these issues corrected, so that it may approve the changes for presentation
to the district convention.

CCM Minutes – October 30–31, 2020 – Page 46