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

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Background: Op. 10-2580, 13-2675, and 19-2906 do not definitively answer this question. Op. 10-2580
notes that “Bylaw 3.1.2.1 (j) allows appointment by a district president in some instances of defective
elections. However, in each of those prior instances considered by the CCM where that right was
recognized, an election was held in a timely manner, but was defective in some other respect.” Op 10-2580
seems to refer to Ag. 1851 (Dec. 3, 1998), in which the commission commended appointment of
replacements by the district president in a situation where delegates and alternates had been elected “timely”
but outside the forum and by a procedure other than that specified in the bylaws. At the same time, Op. 192906 speaks of “due election” and Op. 13-2675 states that “Where no proper election has occurred, no
vacancy exists [to be filled by presidential appointment].”
Opinion:
The commission finds that Bylaw 3.1.2.1 (m), which authorizes presidential appointment,
presumes the prerequisites of both a delegate and an alternate election. Subparagraph (l), adopted in 2023
Res. 9-05A, emphasizes that a circuit can, before the deadline, remedy an earlier failure to elect a delegate
or alternate. A circuit that has not elected both a delegate and alternate by the bylaw deadline does not, in
accord with Op. 13-2675 and longstanding practice, have recourse to presidential appointment.
The commission finds that an election invalid at the time of election and not certified by the district secretary
does not constitute an election of a delegate or alternate. The remedy for a failure to elect is to complete the
failed election in another forum prior to the deadline (Bylaw 3.1.2.1 [l]). If the circuit has not before the
deadline validly elected both a delegate and alternate in the category (pastoral/lay) where the vacancy
occurs, recourse to presidential appointment is not available.
172. LCEF Board of Directors, District Membership Limitation (26-3076)
The Secretary of the Synod posed the following question on February 5:
Background: The Board of Directors of The Lutheran Church Extension Fund—Missouri Synod (LCEF)
is a governing board of the Synod (Bylaw 3.2.2), the membership of which is stated in Bylaw 3.6.4.3, which
reads as follows, the number of directors being left to specification in the bylaws of LCEF:
3.6.4.3

The board of directors for the Lutheran Church Extension Fund—Missouri Synod shall
consist of such number of directors as are specified in the bylaws of The Lutheran
Church Extension Fund—Missouri Synod. All voting members of the board of
directors of the Lutheran Church Extension Fund—Missouri Synod shall serve a
maximum of four three-year terms.
1. Three directors shall be elected by the Synod in convention and shall include
one ordained or commissioned minister and two laypersons.
2. The remaining voting directors shall be chosen by the members.
3. The representative designated by the Board of Directors of the Synod shall also
be a nonvoting member of the board.

LCEF Bylaw II 1 provides: “No more than two elected Directors can be from the same district of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.” Presently, the board has mid-term incumbents from seven districts.
Three seats (and possibly four, if Bylaw 3.6.4.3 [1] is amended to admit four convention-elected directors
as approved in Op. 24-3050A) are up for election by the 2026 convention. Two of those seats are held by
lay incumbents having districts in common with two of the seven mid-term incumbents, meaning that, under
the LCEF bylaw, no further members can be admitted from those two districts (presuming the incumbents
are re-elected). There is the potential that electing another member from one of those two districts in the
ordained/commissioned seat (which is elected prior) could either preclude the reelection of an incumbent
in one of the lay seats or produce a situation where the LCEF bylaw stricture is violated.
The commission has dealt prior with agency bylaws placing additional geographical limitations on the
membership of a partially-elected, partially-appointed board, in Op. 16-2800A finding:

CCM Minutes – February 6–7, 2026 – Page 140