LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — January 15–16, 2021, Page 8

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The congregation will do well to weigh such worthy advice, counsel, and reproof, and to act as the Word
and conscience require—for the Word of God is surely binding. Synod is, as Const. Art. VII 1 states, “but
an advisory body,” but when its officers advise, counsel, and reprove from the Word of God and Lutheran
Confessions, this is not to be dismissed as “mere advice;” indeed, congregations participate in the Synod
principally to receive and provide for one another such advice.
Const. Art. VII 1 does frankly acknowledge and assert the fact that the district president does not possess
directive control under any “legislative or coercive [governmental] powers” held by the Synod over
congregations; such powers are explicitly disclaimed. What action the congregation takes, therefore, on the
basis of (or contrary to) the district president’s advice, counsel, and reproof is of its own volition—which,
while it may be captivated by the Word of God or sensible persuasion through the offices of the district
president or his representatives, its own volition remains. Even where a congregation or individual member
of the Synod is violating one of the conditions of membership in the Synod, the district president cannot
force the congregation or individual member to change or follow a particular course of action. Rather, in
such a situation, when persuasion does not suffice, the district president will ultimately need to follow the
procedure for expulsion from the Synod in Article XIII.
Question 2:

Does a district president have the ecclesiastical authority to effect the forced retirement of
a called/rostered pastor without the official involvement and consent of the body that called
that worker (i.e., the voters’ assembly of the congregation)?

The question seems to suggest that a district president might himself retire a pastor. This
Opinion:
he cannot do. A district president may advise, admonish, or reprove a pastor or a pastor’s congregation
where there is or appears to be potential cause for removal of a pastor from office. Where a compelling
circumstance exists, a district president may indicate that a failure to act, either by the congregation or by
the pastor, will result in restriction of the pastor or suspension and possible expulsion from membership in
the Synod of either the pastor or the congregation. The district president “has and always shall have the
power to advise, admonish, and reprove” (Const. Art. XI B 3, XII 6) and exercises the “ministry of
ecclesiastical supervision” (Bylaws 4.4.3; 1.2.1 [j]). By doing so he does not himself retire the pastor. The
call of a pastor can be resigned by the pastor himself or rescinded by the congregation itself (either properly
and advisedly, in accord with our doctrines of Church and Ministry and of the divine call, or improperly
and unadvisedly, which would be wrong, would put its continued membership in the Synod in jeopardy,
and may result in a dispute resolution process which could find the congregation liable). While the district
president may within his office and presuming a compelling circumstance attempt to persuade a pastor to
resign or a congregation to rescind a call, he has no means himself to retire the pastor.
Question 3:

When a district president intervenes in an intra-congregation dispute, may the district
president force his individual will on a congregation or called pastor by his own
interpretation and application of the governing documents of the congregation?

See the above. The district president may advise, admonish, and reprove, based on the
Opinion:
Word of God and his understanding of the congregation’s commitments established in its own documents.
The congregation then makes its own decision, which—if contrary to the doctrine and practice of the Synod
or to its own commitments—may result in the further exercise of ecclesiastical supervision, in the need for
dispute resolution, or the congregation’s membership in the Synod being placed in jeopardy.
Question 4:

When a district president intervenes in an intra-congregation dispute, what remedy does
the congregation have if its voters’ assembly disagrees with the district president?

Opinion:
The question, while unclear in itself, relates to how the advice given from the office of the
district president is received and acted upon by the congregation. By virtue of the congregation’s
membership in the Synod, the congregation has the duty and responsibility to give due consideration to
such advice. Should the advice of the district president be inconsistent with the Scriptures and Confessions,
that is, with the doctrine and practice of the Synod, or inapplicable to the congregation’s situation, the

CCM Minutes – January 15–16, 2021 – Page 64