LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 30, 1998, Page 8

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member was not allowed to serve after his status changed from lay member to member of the Synod and to
the recent convention of the Synod and its measures taken to prevent two persons from the same District
from serving on certain boards.
The Commission's response is as follows:
The Commission would clarify that while two current members of the Board of Directors of the Synod
may reside in the same state, the decisive qualification for board membership on the part of church
workers is not place of residence but District membership, as stated in Bylaw 3.189 of the 1998
Handbook,
The synodical Board of Directors is elected by a convention of the Synod. The board shall
consist of 13 voting members serving a maximum of two six-year terms: four ordained
ministers; one commissioned minister; and eight laypersons. No more than one of the ordained
ministers or laypersons may be elected from any one District.
So long as District membership is held in different Districts of the Synod, residence in the same state is of
no consequence. A board member may be an emeritus church worker who has upon retiring changed his
place of residency. His synodical membership, however, ordinarily remains in the District where he last
served, in accord with Bylaw 2.41, e:
An emeritus member not regularly serving any congregation or other agency shall continue to
hold membership through the District through which membership was held at the inception of
the emeritus status unless a transfer is approved by both the President of that District and the
President of the District to which membership would be transferred.
6. Articles of Incorporation of All Incorporated Entities of the Synod (98-2128)
A letter was received from Synod's legal counsel calling attention to an action of the Board of Directors of
the Synod at its May, 1998, meeting requesting that the Commission on Constitutional Matters in
consultation with legal counsel review the Articles of Incorporation of all incorporated entities of the
Synod. The purpose of this review will be to ascertain that the Articles of Incorporation of all entities
include "appropriate language regarding relationship to Synod, its appropriate board(s) and property
disposal upon dissolution of the corporation."
In response, the Commission instructed the Secretary of the Synod to procure copies of the Articles of
Incorporation from all incorporated entities of the Synod and to present these documents to the legal
counsel of the Synod for appropriate review.
7. Handbook Changes resulting from Convention Actions (98-2129)
Dr. Walter Rosin led the Commission through a page by page review of the Handbook identifying changes
to be incorporated into the 1998 edition as a result of actions of the 1998 convention of the Synod. The
Commission noted and discussed the changes made and gave its approval for publication.
It was noted that the changes proposed in the Constitution of the Synod will not be ratified by the vote of
the congregations prior to printing. These changes will therefore be identified with brackets in the 1998
Handbook.
8. Late Agenda Items
The Commission briefly reviewed items of business that had been received after the agenda for the meeting
had been prepared and mailed to Commission members (98-2130; 98-2113, A; 98-2131; 98-2121, A; and