LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — November 4–5, 2022, Page 8

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165. Commission on Handbook Action Item 19-026: Removal of a District President from Office
(Bylaw 1.5.8.1)
It has been noted that the bylaws developed to provide orderly bylaw procedure for removal from office (as
opposed to removal from the roster) of other officers (Bylaws 1.5.8–1.5.8.1) specifically exclude district
presidents, that there is no model for dealing with this matter, which would be difficult, should it arise, and
that district bylaws are generally also silent or inadequate on questions even of temporary findings of
disability regarding this important office. At its October 28 meeting, the Commission on Handbook (COH)
asked this commission to join it in a formal request to the Council of Presidents, for the council to review
the matter and provide a proposal for its resolution.
The commission discussed the issue. District bylaws often contain incapacity language, of which Bylaw
3.3.1.4 is a model on the Synod level. Bylaws 1.5.8–1.5.8.1 specifically exclude district presidents and no
language is provided elsewhere. Special conventions of the district (Const. Art. XII 15) can be called only
by the district president, rendering this mechanism unusable. Removal from the roster (Bylaw section 2.15)
is not suitable to all potential situations that might necessitate removal from office of a district president.
The commission determined it to be advisable to raise the question with the Council of Presidents as
suggested by COH, with the goal of crafting effective Synod bylaws to handle these matters in a uniform
manner. The Secretary was asked to do so at the council’s upcoming November meeting.
166. Templates for Congregational Constitutions
The commission reviewed at length the guidelines it published in 2012 and 2015, respectively, for
congregations in general and for small and developing congregations in particular, designed to aid
congregations and district constitution committees in their work. The commission asked the Secretary to
solicit from the district secretaries and presidents questions, observations, and sample materials (including
any supplementary district material and/or interesting constitutions and bylaws of recent review). The
commission will at a future date take this material in hand and consider the scope of revisions to the
documents and their structure that seems advisable and helpful to the congregations and constitution
committees of the Synod.
167. Closing Prayer and Future Meetings
The commission reviewed the convention schedule and planned a meeting tentatively for April 28–29,
2023, principally to review convention overtures, with any intervening urgent business to be handled by an
internet conference. The commission will next meet thereafter in connection with Floor Committee
Weekend, meeting on Thursday, June 8, and Friday, June 9 (in joint session with the Commission on
Handbook in the morning), and then joining the floor committees through Monday, June 12, with some
members being released Sunday. The commission will also meet Thursday, July 27, in Milwaukee and then
join the convention through Noon on August 3.
John W. Sias, Secretary

CCM Minutes – November 4–5, 2022 – Page 126