LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — March 15–16, 2024, Page 1

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MINUTES
COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
St. Louis, Missouri
March 15–16, 2024
24. Opening Devotion and Adoption of Agenda
With all members present, Chairman Peters opened with a devotion, on Friday, based on Matthew 10 (and
on Saturday, John 8), and the meeting’s agenda was proposed and adopted as follows.
25. Opinion Request: Specific Ministry Pastor Supervision of Commissioned Ministers (23-3017)
By an email of September 27, a district president requested an opinion on the following questions regarding
the permissibility of supervision of commissioned minsters by a specific ministry pastor (SMP). Consonant
with Bylaw 3.9.2.2 (b), the commission requested, received, and reviewed input from the Council of
Presidents and members of the Pastoral Formation Committee. Having concluded the extensive discussion
begun in its December meeting, the commission offers the following background and responds to the series
of questions as follows:
Background: Interpretation of Bylaw 2.13.1 (a)
The questions asked arise out of Council of Presidents Policy Manual 14.2.3’s assertion (dated April 2018)
that the “supervision of commissioned ministers, other rostered workers, a school, etc.” by an SMP is
precluded by Bylaw 2.13.1 (a)’s prohibition of the SMP “being placed or called into ecclesiastical roles that
exercise pastoral oversight outside the context of his call.” The commission must first address the meaning
of Bylaw 2.13.1 (a), namely, to determine if the language “outside the context of his call” necessarily
prohibits the specification of an SMP’s call as involving supervision of some other called worker, such as
a commissioned minister.
The “Background” for 2007 Resolution 5-01B slightly elucidates “outside the location of his call,” the
original language of the noted bylaw, adding (Proc., 135) the clarifying language “i.e., in the church-atlarge,” along with the four subordinate examples that came to be included as the prohibitions of Bylaw
2.13.1 (b)(1–4). It further speaks of the SMP’s “jurisdictional” limitations being on the basis of “theological
education [] formed within the context of [an SMP’s] specific ministry and [that] does not represent the
breadth and depth of theology and ecclesiology that forms a basis for pastoral oversight beyond the local
level.” (In the related bylaw language, 2010 Res. 7-05 replaced location with context, with the sole stated
purpose of preventing the misinterpretation of Bylaw 2.13.1 [a] to mean that an SMP cannot receive a call
to a new position of service, even though he has been trained for such and certified for such as determined
by his district president.) The prohibition of Bylaw 2.13.1 (a) does not, therefore, address the SMP’s
exercise of pastoral oversight within his parish, as may be assigned to him in the role described in his call
documents (e.g., sole pastor, staff pastor). Rather, it addresses and prohibits his undertaking ecclesiastical
roles exercising pastoral oversight in the church-at-large, such as (but not limited to) those listed in Bylaw
2.13.1 (b)(1–4).
Granting that this is far from the only consideration in whether an SMP may properly be placed into such
a role (see further below), Bylaw 2.13.1 (a) does not itself, therefore, prohibit an SMP’s specific context
and call from being defined to include supervision of another called worker of the same parish, such as a
commissioned minister. This understanding of Bylaw 2.13.1 (a) is consistent with the Synod’s designation
of the SMP as pastor and even in some circumstances as sole pastor of his parish. The bylaw limits the
SMP’s jurisdiction to the scope defined by his present call (see 2007 Res. 5-01B, “Background,” Proc.,
133–34) but does not make him less a pastor within the scope of that call. (This is not, however, to deny
that his service as pastor remains, throughout his service as an SMP, subject to the additional supervision
of a general ministry pastor.)

CCM Minutes – March 15–16, 2024 – Page 13