LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — January 15–16, 2021, Page 6

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81. Nebraska District Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, Proposed (20-2962)
By an email of Dec. 7, the Nebraska District President forwarded for the commission’s review a draft
revision of his district’s articles of incorporation and bylaws, along with two overtures, one providing for
the district board of directors to be empowered to realign visitation circuits and the other to effect a visitation
circuit realignment. With regard to the district’s articles of incorporation and the proposed amendment to
Article XI and the insertion of Article XII, treating the district’s relationship to the Synod, the commission
finds these, as proposed, to be in harmony with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod, including the
requirements of Bylaw 1.5.3.6 and 2016 Res. 9-02A. The district is thanked for undertaking this revision.
As to the draft bylaw revision, the commission notes the following:
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NEB Bylaw III A 1 (as renumbered): It will be clearer to use the term “regular convention” instead
of “general convention” for the district convention (Const. Art XII 13) (also elsewhere, e.g., IV C
2 b). Further, the commission does not understand the last sentence to preclude the items indicated
from occurring at a special convention, if called for those specific purposes. This could stand to be
clarified.
NEB Bylaw III C 2 a 1: Nominations for district president are not limited to the roster of the district
but can be drawn from the clergy roster of the Synod (Bylaw 4.3.1).
NEB Bylaw III C 2 c–d: The district is advised that it now has the option (but not the necessity) of
using a nominating committee for these regional positions, if it might find such a process more
effective or reliable than the numerical nomination process.
NEB Bylaw III C 3 b 5: “reviewed” should read “reviewed and verified” (Bylaw 3.10.6.2 [8]). It is
unclear, with regard to other positions, what the review of qualifications entails. This may be
worthy of clarification.
It appears that Section III, treating District Administration, should be renumbered IV, and Section
IV, on Amendments, renumbered V. The numbering of the following items presumes that
numbering.
NEB Bylaw IV A 1 b’s statement that “Should a regional [officeholder] join a congregation outside
his/her governing area or region, but still within the District, he/she shall complete his/her term of
office” is inconsistent with Bylaw 4.3.3 and must be reversed or removed. The only circumstance
when a regional officeholder may continue service from outside the region is when put outside by
a region boundary change occurring during his or her service.
NEB Bylaw V C needs to end with an “and” connecting the process of A–C with the two concluding
steps in D 1 and D 2, so that it is clearly understood that the steps of either D 1 or D 2 are contingent
on prior accomplishment of the foregoing.

Regarding the overture treating the board of directors’ alignment of visitation circuits, the language
proposed suggests assignment of individual members to circuits, rather than simply congregations. This
would go beyond what is specified in the Synod Bylaws. The commission suggests the following language
in place of the proposed II G 1: “The Board of Directors shall be responsible for assignment of
congregations to visitation circuits and, where necessary, for requesting exceptions to, or combining
adjacent visitation circuits to satisfy, the requirements for electoral circuits as stated in the Bylaws of the
Synod.”
Provided the above are addressed as indicated, the commission finds the proposed articles and bylaws, as
well as the two overtures, to be in harmony with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod and approves
them, subject to the above, for presentation to the district convention. The district is reminded to file its
articles as amended with the State of Nebraska and to forward to the commission, for its files, clean copies
of governing documents as finally adopted by the convention. The district and its president are thanked for
sending these documents for review.

CCM Minutes – January 15–16, 2021 – Page 62