LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — March 5, 1982, Page 4

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1. It is to be noted that only the Constitution and not the Articles of Incorporation of Lutheran
Church-Canada had been supplied by you.
2. Please indicate which articles in the Constitution and in the Articles of Incorporation are, in
your estimation, in conflict with the synodical actions. Specifically, the Commission had
failed to find in the document submitted any substantiation for the assertion that actions of the
Lutheran Church-Canada (beyond bylaw revisions) need ratification of two of the three
Districts involved.
3. The Commission also notes that it has found no provision for a Handbook Committee or
Constitutional Committee for the Lutheran Church-Canada and desires more information on
this.
20. Right to Call a Successor to a Deposed Pastor (Ag. 1571): This matter had been before the
Commission previously but the Commission had decided not to act on it at that time to give all parties
concerned an opportunity to arrive at reconciliation. President Arnold Kromphardt of the Eastern District
had now raised some specific questions. The Commission decided to reply as follows:
1. Since the pastor involved had not been expelled from the Synod, it was proper for the District
President to give the pastor a CRM status. Whether or not the pastor should have been
expelled is a matter which lies within the judgment of the District President.
2. The Commission does not have sufficient information to make a judgment as to whether it is
proper for a deposed pastor to serve a splinter group in the same locality. This action on the
part of the pastor could very well be construed as divisive action contrary to Article III of the
Synod's Constitution.
3. The Commission holds that the congregation may at this time proceed with the calling of a
successor pastor,
a. Since the deposed pastor had allowed himself to be placed on a CRM status, thereby
accepting the fact that he had been deposed from a pastorate;
b. Since he had accepted employment with a splinter group, which would seem to have
terminated his pastoral relationship to St. Luke's congregation as such;
c. Since a congregation has the right generally to regulate its own affairs in the absence
of clear evidence of improper or offensive conduct (Article VII, Article XIII, Bylaw
8.07);
d. Since efforts at reconciliation have been unsuccessful, contrary to the hope which the
Commission on Constitutional Matters had expressed at an earlier date;
e. Since it seems self-evident that even if the adjudication procedures would find that
the congregation had acted improperly, the clergyman in question could hardly serve
the congregation again with blessing as its pastor.
21. Delegating Right to Call a Pastor (Ag. 1573: President Kuehnert of the Central Illinois District had
asked whether a congregation could delegate to a District board the right to call its pastor. The
Commission resolved that the congregation must retain the right to call a pastor. Consultation, especially