LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 6–7, 2026, Page 1

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MINUTES
COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
Hilton St. Louis Airport, St. Louis
February 6–7, 2026
166. Opening Prayer and Adoption of Agenda
With all commission members present, Chairman Peters called the meeting to order and member Killian
opened with a devotion on John 1; Chairman Peters offered a devotion on Saturday from Matthew 5. The
commission proceeded with its previously distributed agenda, as follows:
167. Kansas District Operations Manual (24-3034)
At the commission’s request (in connection with Op. 24-3033), the Secretary of the Kansas (KS) District
forwarded his district’s Operations Manual for the commission’s review. The commission notes the
following:
•

Page 4, “SUMMARY OF PURPOSE”: The board’s duties to administer the business, property, and
legal affairs of the district (Const. Art. XI E 2; XII 6; Bylaw 4.5.1) would be well to include.

•

Page 4, “MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION”: The commission notes appointment of service
boards by the district president, to be approved by the board of directors; it notes, however, that
these do not seem to be, strictly speaking, committees of the board, to which Bylaw 1.5.3.1 would
apply.

•

Pages 4 and 6, “DUTIES/AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES”: The commission notes the
absence of the usual (elsewhere) lead-in: “Subject to the Sacred Scriptures, the Lutheran
Confessions, the Synod Handbook, and the Bylaws of the Kansas District…”

•

Page 5, “MEETINGS”: Board meetings should be quarterly, not just four per year, and actions
taken without a meeting must comply with Synod Board of Directors Policy 4.1.3, which requires
a unanimous vote including all voting members (see again under “ELECTRONIC MEETINGS,”
“Actions Using Electronic Ballot”).

•

Page 5, “ELECTRONIC MEETINGS”: The last two paragraphs seem not to pertain only to
electronic meetings. The third-last paragraph pertains to action without meeting and deserves a
separate heading to clarify this is not an electronic meeting. Perhaps this and the material above
that treats action without a meeting should be corrected and collected under its own head.

•

Page 6, “AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES”: The executive committee’s actions are
limited by Bylaw 1.5.3.2.

•

Page 6, “MEETINGS”: It seems this means that the executive committee meets in conjunction with
(prior to each?) regular board of directors meetings, and not that the board sets the meeting schedule
for the committee. The commission notes that, as with the board itself, only the president can call
these meetings; emergencies (Bylaw 1.5.3.2) are conceivable in which someone else might need to
act.

•

Page 14, “BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION”: The description of this committee’s work seems to
have it assuming the fundamental duties of the district board of directors itself. The committee
includes a non-member, the Treasurer. The committee does not seem to fall under Bylaw 1.5.3.4
and has very expansive scope. It is not clear to the commission how this level of delegation, if
carried out in fact, does not deprive the board of directors of the bulk of its proper work.

•

Page 16, “POSITION DESCRIPTION: PRESIDING OFFICER”: The term presiding officer is not
common and seems more related to terminology for the president of the district, as opposed to the
commonly used term chair(man) (Bylaw 1.5.3).
CCM Minutes – February 6–7, 2026 – Page 135