LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — May 2, 2022, Page 9

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believed to have adopted articles of incorporation compliant with Bylaw 1.5.3.6 and 2016 Res. 9-02A
(approved in Op. 18-2878) in its 2018 convention but may not have filed these articles with the state. The
commission requests a clean copy of these articles indicating their filing and looks forward to receiving
also a clean copy of the district’s bylaws as amended and a proposed revision of the district’s articles
reflecting the above. The district and its secretary are, finally, thanked for submitting these documents for
review.
146. Central Illinois District Bylaw Proposal (22-2994)
By an email of April 12, the President of the Central Illinois (CI) District forwarded his district’s bylaw
proposal for the commission’s review. The commission noted the following:
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CI Bylaw 2.05 a: In the interest of clarity, a reference could be made here to CI Bylaw 2.11, which
provides these “special provisions.”
CI Bylaws 2.05; 2.06 a 7: “teacher or DCE” should read “commissioned minister,” given the
change proposed to CI Bylaw 2.22 to allow the election of other categories of commissioned
minister. The commission questions whether a similar change might not have been intended in CI
Bylaws 2.37 a, 2.46 a, and 2.06 a 10; if so, such change is also approved.
CI Bylaw 2.05 d: This does not appear to deal properly with the term limit of the Nominations
Committee, on which no member may succeed him or herself, or with the vice-presidents of the
district, who can serve three consecutive terms (CI Bylaw 2.04 a–b). It may be better to say, in
place of the second sentence, as Bylaw 3.2.4.2 (b) does, “More than one half a term shall be
regarded as a full term under limited tenure rules.”
CI Bylaw 2.09 c: Language needs to be revised to reflect regular, not annual, submission of roster
changes; the second reference to the Synod Bylaws is to statistical reports, so language has also
been suggested in that regard: “The District President shall annually revise the official roster of
Ministers of Religion-Ordained and Ministers of Religion-Commissioned for publication in the
LUTHERAN ANNUAL and remove the names of those who have died, have severed their
connections with the Synod, have been eliminated from the roster by the Council of Presidents,
have resigned their status as Ministers of Religion-Ordained or Ministers of ReligionCommissioned in the Synod, or have in some way disqualified themselves for service in the church
shall be responsible for maintaining the official rosters of his district, reporting changes regularly
to the Secretary of the Synod, and shall, with the assistance of the circuit visitors, promote and
pursue unanimous participation by congregations in the submission of annual statistical reports
(Synodical Bylaws 4.4.7 and 4.4.8).”
CI Bylaw 2.09 g: “supervising officer” is noted as strange language, especially given that the role
seems to consist of giving advice (cf. Bylaw 1.2.1 [u], [j], and [p]); “officer charged with oversight”
may be more consonant with bylaw definitions, as regards, at least, that area of work for which the
board is ultimately responsible.
CI Bylaw 2.10 a: “as an assistant pastor” should now read “to a congregation in an assisting
capacity” (cf. Bylaw 3.3. 1 [a]).
CI Bylaw 2.12 a: The language “shall at the time of the election be in the … region” (two instances)
should be clarified as follows (Bylaw 4.3.1): “shall at the time of election and throughout time of
service be in the hold membership in a congregation of the … region.
CI Bylaw 2.12 b: “moves out of” should, corresponding to the above, read “no longer hold
membership in a congregation of”
CI Bylaw 2.15 b: Again, “resides in” should, corresponding to the above, read “holds membership
in a congregation of”
CI Bylaw 2.16: should read “who is a member of the District and of one of the congregations of
the District” (Bylaw 4.3.3). The commission notes also, under CI Bylaw 2.17 c (as reordered), that
this implies the Assistant Secretary must also meet the above qualifications.
CCM Minutes – May 2, 2022 – Page 113