LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 18, 1998, Page 2

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"Requests for Recognized Service Organization status shall be made to the board of the Synod to which
the organization desires to relate. Within the area of its responsibility, each board of the Synod may
determine those organizations to which Recognized Service Organization status will be granted."
It can be properly assumed that the practice of a Recognized Service Organization would be in harmony
with its Articles of Incorporation and that RSO status was granted on the basis of that understanding. If the
board of the Synod which granted RSO status were to conclude that the practice of the organization stood in
opposition to the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of the RSO, it could revoke that status. Such
revocation authority is set forth in the Letter of Agreement between the RSO and the Synod, as well as in
paragraph eleven in the Policy Statement of the Board of Directors of the Synod which was adopted in
accord with Bylaw 14.03 (d).
With respect to question four, the Commission notes the following:
A) Bylaw 14.03 states that an RSO ". . . is not part of the Synod. .
B) The duties and authority of the Commission on Constitutional Matters are set forth in Bylaw 3.905
of the Synod and, since an RSO is not a synodical entity, the Commission is not authorized to
examine the Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws of an RSO or any amendments thereto. Likewise,
Bylaw 2.03 does not give such authority to a standing constitution committee of a district, although,
as previously indicated in this opinion, a district may establish additional criteria for RSO status.
C) The Board for Congregational Services in its publication "Church Recognition of Recognized
Service Organizations" states in paragraph six under the section entitled "Responsibilities on the
Part of the RSO" (p. 14) "The RSO will submit to the BFCS (Board for Congregational Services)
proposed changes in its mission statement or amendments to its articles of incorporation,
constitution, or bylaws in the following areas: corporate membership, not-for-profit status,
dissolution clause, board election, and board membership criteria. The BFCS will advise the RSO
whether such change(s) affect(s) the recognized status of the corporation."
Any expansion of the requirements for the examination of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of an
RSO or any amendments thereto, is beyond the function of the Commission on Constitutional Matters.
This reply which had been prepared earlier and had been sent to the petitioner was now ratified by the
Commission.
140. Procedure Regarding Charges of False Doctrine (Ag. 2092): A woman in a congregation had
brought charges of false doctrine against a pastor and his associate. The District President had convened a
doctrinal review panel to examine the matter and had found no specific instances in which the preaching
and teaching was faulty. The District President informed the woman that the matter was closed. The District
President's ruling had been appealed to the Praesidium of the Synod, which informed the District President
that the ruling of the District President was upheld. The woman then appealed the Praesidium's decision,
although there appears to be no provision for this in the Handbook. A letter had now been received from the
President of the Synod, informing the District President that he "needs to continue to carry out his
ecclesiastical responsibility" with strong implication that the Praesidium's decision made to upheld the
district panel decision was now reversed. The petitioner stated that when the District President was asked if
the Praesidium had indeed reversed its earlier decision, he was told that the President of the Synod had
personally directed him to reopen the charges against the pastor and his associate and that he was not to ask
the woman to abide by Matthew 18. The specific question which was being asked now was the following: