LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — January 20, 2022, Page 2

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Synod Bylaw 4.6.1 does require that each district “elect or appoint a committee, board, or
individual responsible for stewardship,” so the district may not eliminate the board so
responsible without otherwise providing for this requirement.

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Synod Bylaw 3.8.2.4 (as recently renumbered; the “second” Bylaw 3.8.2.3 in the printed
2019 Handbook) likewise anticipates that the activities of the Office for National Mission
will be mediated through appropriate facilities of each district. The bylaws of the district
should provide for the means of such “domestic ministries that especially serve
congregations and schools” to be carried out through the district.

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This board is also mentioned twice in SID Bylaw 2.05(a) and once in SID Bylaw 2.53
(b)(1), and that deletions here should also be included.

To be approved for presentation to the convention, the proposal would need to redesignate the
above responsibilities before eliminating the board so charged.
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Overture 2-09: This overture to change the membership of the district’s Commission of
Communications does not conflict with the Constitution or Bylaws of the Synod and is approved
for presentation to the convention.

The commission also notes in SID Bylaw 2.19(a) that the district president is the chief executive of the
district (Synod Bylaw 4.4.1) but not its chief executive officer, as stated in the district bylaw, this term being
freighted with inapplicable corporate baggage. The word “officer” should therefore be removed. Such a
change, though minor, is approved and should be noted in the district’s next comprehensive revision of its
bylaws.
In response to the district secretary’s inquiry as to what would happen should a floor committee modify any
of these proposals from the approved form prior to their adoption as resolutions by the convention, the
commission notes its Op. 17-2863 (CCM Minutes, Nov. 10–11, 2017), clarifying the application of Bylaw
3.9.2.2.3 (b), which notes that “bylaw amendment resolutions including non-pre-approved changes adopted
under 3.9.2.2.3 (b) have no force or effect until approved in their final form by the Commission on
Constitutional Matters.” The opinion advises further:
District conventions are advised to divide those independent portions of proposals that
involve floor amendments, as much as possible, into separate resolutions. Bylaw changes
effected by resolutions that contain only pre-approved changes and involve no floor
amendments can thus be of immediate and certain effect. Bylaw changes effected by
resolutions involving floor amendments must be held in abeyance until approved by the
commission. When dividing pre-approved bylaw proposals into separate resolutions, care
must be exercised that the separation into parts does not affect the meaning of the parts
taken individually (i.e., that the parts separated are truly independent of each other).
A resolution to adopt changes that have not been pre-approved in final form should be stated explicitly as
subject to its contingency on approval of the Commission on Constitutional Matters and subject, further, to
the corrective process noted in Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 (b).
The district and its secretary are thanked for the submission of these overtures for review and reminded to
send the commission a clean copy of bylaws as adopted by the convention, also indicating any language
adopted that was not prior approved and that therefore requires subsequent approval by the commission.
John W. Sias, Secretary

CCM Minutes – January 20, 2022 – Page 87