LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — August 9–10, 2024, Page 4

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The commission looks forward to reviewing a draft of Bylaws and Articles addressing the above issues, so
that the commission can render its approval prior to presentation to the district convention for adoption.
The district and its secretary are thanked for undertaking these revisions and for submitting these documents
for review.
41. Florida-Georgia District, Charter and Bylaws, Proposed Revision (24-3029)
By an email of May 3, the secretary of the Florida-Georgia (FG) District forwarded a proposed revision of
the district’s articles of incorporation and bylaws, principally in response to the commission’s review in
Op. 22-2993. The commission notes the following:
•

FG Bylaw 1.05 (a) does not need to be enclosed in quotation marks but could cite Const. Art. XII
10 b, whence it is drawn.

•

Bylaw 2.05 (a) still seems to lack a date definite for transition of office, or a provision that this is
to be set by the convention or how it would be determined otherwise by the officers or board.

•

Bylaw 2.09 (b) items continue the numbering of (a), skipping 8.

•

Bylaw 2.09 (b)(14): The board should take care that the president is not so burdened with
comprehensive supervision of district staff that his ability to fulfil his Const. Art. XI/XII and Bylaw
section 4.4 responsibilities is diminished.

•

Bylaw 2.13 (f): A change similar to that of (e) should be implemented here, as well.

•

Bylaw 2.22 (b): A comma is necessary after the first “or.”

•

Bylaw 2.28 (b): In the case of non-president/vice-president elections, the language “the candidate
receiving the fewest votes and” is missing (cf. Synod Bylaw 4.7.3 [b]) and needs to be inserted.

•

The commission notes, at lines 814–15, that these two lines do not appear to be part of the text of
the bylaws, but questions the update from 2018 to 2022 at this point. These should perhaps be
deleted for avoidance of confusion about whether the changes proposed have been directed by the
previous convention.

The district and its secretary are thanked for the submission of the document for review. The commission
gives its approval to the proposed changes for presentation to the district convention and requests a clean
copy of the bylaws as adopted by the district convention.
42. North Wisconsin District Bylaws, Review (24-3027)
By an email of March 22, the North Wisconsin (NW) District Office forwarded the district’s articles of
incorporation and bylaws for review. The commission noted the following:
•

With regard to the Articles, no revisions are proposed. The Articles satisfy the requirements of
Bylaw 1.5.3.6. The commission does recommend that the language of the second paragraph of NW
Article III be reviewed to reflect more exactly, as to the district’s objects, the language of Synod’s
Articles of Incorporation, Article II a–c. The extension of the purposes of the corporation to include
“any lawful purpose” is also overbroad. In Article XI, the “Commission on Constitutional Matters”
should be spelled out. The commission also notes, relative to NW Article VIII, that the district’s
registered agent appears to have been changed, most recently, on July 22 of this year.

•

The commission also notes that the Wisconsin incorporation database shows a restatement of the
district’s articles on October 14, 2020; the submission appears to be text corresponding to the
commission’s last review of the district’s articles in 2014. It appears to the commission, from
documents received, that the version filed in 2020 is the version approved in 2014.

CCM Minutes – August 9–10, 2024 – Page 27