LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — December 3–4, 2021, Page 5

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thus cannot relate to [administrative] supervision as defined in Bylaw 1.2.1 (u), meaning, “to have authority
over, to direct actions, to control activities.”
The second sentence reads: “Through the Chief Mission Officer, he shall supervise the duties listed in
Bylaws 3.4.3–3.4.3.8.” This sentence, read together with Bylaws 3.8.2.6 and 3.8.3.6 (as recently
renumbered by Commission on Handbook; contrast Bylaws 3.8.2.1 and 3.8.3.1, which speak, as above, of
specifically ecclesiastical supervision), contrariwise, speaks of administrative supervision: “All staff shall
be responsible and accountable for their activities to the President of the Synod (Constitution Art. XI B 1–
4) between conventions of the Synod” (Bylaws 3.8.2.6, 3.8.3.6), consistent with the definition of
administrative supervision in Bylaw 1.2.1 [u]: “to have authority over, to direct actions, to control
activities.” While the ecclesiastical supervisory leadership described in the first sentence (and in Bylaw
3.3.1.3 [c]) certainly extends to those administering the duties described in Bylaw 3.4.3–3.4.3.8, and while
the administrative supervision described in this sentence is designated to be not direct and immediate
but through the Chief Mission Officer (as clarified, with reference to Bylaws 3.4.3.6–8, by 2013 Res. 709A, Part E), it is clear that the supervision intended here—directed specifically toward those activities
conducted under the aegis of the Chief Mission Officer—is of a broadly administrative and not narrowly
ecclesiastical scope.
The two sentences of Bylaw 3.3.1.3 (g) thus speak of two different kinds of supervisory duties and
responsibilities, and indeed of two overlapping but different groups supervised. To respond directly to the
question of the Commission on Handbook, it is the opinion of this commission that the two sentences may
well be separated into distinct subparagraphs without injury to their meaning.
106. New Jersey District Bylaws, As Adopted (21-2966A)
The Secretary of the New Jersey District forwarded a clean copy of district bylaws as amended by the
district convention on May 21, 2021. The adopted changes are de facto under the procedure of Bylaw
3.9.2.2.3 (b), as the amendments were not yet approved by the commission at the time of their adoption.
The commission finds the bylaws as amended to be consistent with the Constitution, Bylaws, and
resolutions of the Synod, rendering them, in accordance with Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 (b), effective. The district is
thanked for its attention to its governing documents and for the submission of this clean copy of the district’s
bylaws for the commission’s review and filing.
The commission notes for future work, in addition to the longer-term items noted in the previous review, a
few very minor items for the district’s consideration:
•
•
•

There remain instances of the term clergy roster where ordained minister roster would be the
present language.
In Bylaw 3.31 (a), “expired” should apparently read “unexpired.”
In Bylaw 5.09 (c), the fourth line, “it if such corporate agent.”

107. Wyoming District Bylaws (21-2967)
By an email of July 1, 2021, the Wyoming District Secretary forwarded a bylaw amendment for the
commission’s review, consisting of the addition of language, as previously suggested by the commission,
to WY Bylaw section V (as renumbered, WY Bylaw 5.2.1), to allow the district board of directors to make
amendments to the district bylaws as “necessitated by amendments to the Synod Constitution or Bylaws,
or otherwise directed by a resolution of the Synod in convention.” The change is approved as adopted by
the district convention, having already taken place.
By the same email, the Wyoming District Secretary forwarded, for the commission’s files, a clean copy of
the district bylaws as adopted (and as reformatted and renumbered). For this the commission is grateful.
The commission notes with regard to WY Bylaw 5.1.1, as renumbered, that planned changes to the bylaws
need to be reviewed and approved in advance by the Synod Commission on Constitutional Matters (Bylaws

CCM Minutes – December 3–4, 2021 – Page 77