LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — October 24-25, 1980, Page 1

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Minutes of the Commission on Constitutional Matters - October 24-25, 1980
Carl Eberhard gave the opening prayer. Within a short time all voting members were present. The minutes
of the previous meeting were approved as submitted.
114. Ohio District Church Extension Fund (Ag. 1433, A-G) : The Board of the new Church Extension
Fund-Missouri Synod had asked the Commission on Constitutional Matters to reconsider its previous
opinion on the proposed separate incorporation of the Ohio District Church Extension Fund. It had also
suggested that representatives of the Fund appear before the CCM together with representatives of the
Ohio District. However, this suggestion was made only a few days previous to the meeting and the CEF
President Arthur Haake subsequently informed the Commission that it was impossible for the Ohio
District persons to be present and therefore suggested that the matter be held over until the January
meeting of the CCM. In communicating that proposal the CEF also enclosed an additional sheet of
comments raising essentially questions as to what control the Synod would have if a District would be
permitted to create a separate corporation for its own church extension fund. The Commission men-rbers
noted that these were the very questions which the Commission had raised prior to the convention action
of 1979 with reference to the creation of the new corporation for the Synod's own church extension fund.
The matter was discussed in considerable detail. Since additional questions had been raised, it was
resolved to consider further at the January meeting the possible separate incorporation of church
extension funds. A telephone call to legal counselor Hessler of the Ohio District indicated that the District
had not yet separately incorporated its church extension fund and furthermore that it was the intention to
have the Ohio District convention elect the Board of Directors of the new corporation so that there would
be direct control on the part of the District convention. The matter was to be given further consideration
by the Commission members overnight. On -the following day the Commission ratified its resolution of
the previous day and requested its chairman Donald Prevallet to draft an appropriate reply in the proper
framework.
115. Model Constitutions (Ag. 14462 A) : The Council of Administrators had asked that the Commission
issue a new and perhaps revised edition of Guidelines containing a model constitution for congregations.
The old Guidelines were examined by the Commission which came to the conclusion that basically the
model constitution suggested was still a very good option. A reference needed to be inserted to the
question of woman suffrage and to the limitations involved if suffrage were to be extended to women by a
congregation. This could
well be in the form of a footnote to Article IV suggesting a new Section C in Article VII limiting the
offices to which women would be eligible. It was also suggested that reference should be made to Denver
Resolution 2-17 which could be printed in an appendix. Furthermore, the preface might also call attention
to other boards and commissions which congregations might wish to create in this day and age. Gene
Schnelz agreed to draft a new preface and to incorporate the references to women as suggested in the
meeting. Included in his work will be an effort to synthesize the existing preface with the mimeographed
sheet concerning several subjects which had been drafted by Herbert Kuenne years ago and approved by
the CCM and which had been mailed regularly to congregations which requested guidance.
116. Southern Illinois District Bylaws (Ag. 625, A-L) : The Commission welcomed the following
representatives of the Southern Illinois District to the meeting: President Al Kohlmann, Legal Counsel
Wallace, Executive Directors Harms, and Reverend Waldemar Hischke, chairman of the District Bylaws
Revision Committee. The principal thrust of the meeting was to determine which Articles of
Incorporation and Bylaws were operative at the present time since quite a number of versions have been
acted upon at least tentatively over the course of the years. The District representatives reported that it has
been discovered that what was presumed to be the Articles of Incorporation of the District had never been