LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — March 1, 1999, Page 2

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ecclesiastical supervision.” (Handbook, pp. 41-42). Thus, in the realm of ecclesiastical supervision, the
Bylaws pertaining thereto define the term.
Article XII, 8, lends further light on this question, stating, “District Presidents are empowered to suspend
from membership ordained and commissioned ministers for persistently adhering to false doctrine or for
having given offense by an ungodly life, in accordance with such procedure as shall be set forth in the
Bylaws of the Synod” (Handbook, p. 15). The Bylaws dealing with suspended status are 2.25 and 2.27
(Handbook, pp. 28-29). Neither of these Bylaws gives to a District President authority to order a pastor
under his ecclesiastical supervision to take a leave of absence from the position of service he holds.
In the case in question, the authority that issued the call to the ordained minister was the District Board of
Missions. Under appropriate circumstances and after consultation with its called worker, a calling authority
may direct the worker to take a limited paid leave of absence. The Bylaws do not state or infer, however,
that a District President has this authority. A District President may ask an ordained minister to take a leave
of absence; he may urge a calling authority to take such a step; he may place an ordained or commissioned
minister on “restricted status” if the criteria of Bylaw 2.23 are met (Handbook, p. 27); he may even advise
the worker to take a leave of absence rather than be the subject of an action under Bylaw 2.27 to terminate
membership in the Synod; but a District President does not have the authority to order an ordained or
commissioned minister under his ecclesiastical supervision to take a leave of absence.
The second question asked of the Commission is whether the District President, when placing the pastor on
restricted status, had the authority to order the pastor not to engage in further pastoral work or ministry at
the church he was serving as pastor or elsewhere until the restricted status was removed.
Bylaw 2.23, b, states, “An individual member of the Synod on restricted status is ineligible to 1. Perform
functions of ministry except in the position of service, if any, held at the inception of restricted status and
otherwise only if approved by the District President; and 2. Accept a call to any other position of service in
the Synod.” This Bylaw clearly states that an ordained minister on restricted status is eligible to continue
the position of ministry he held when placed on restricted status. The clause “and otherwise only if
approved by the District President” allows a District President to enlarge the area of ministry performed by
the individual on restricted status beyond the current position of service, but the Bylaw does not give a
District President the power to further restrict the activities of an ordained minister beyond the terms of the
Bylaw itself.
Accordingly, the answer to the second question is that the District President did not have the authority to
order the pastor who was on restricted status to not engage in further pastoral work or ministry at the
position of service he held at the time he was placed on restricted status.
29. Questions Regarding Appropriate Use of Dispute Resolution Process (99-2140)
The Office of the President has received notice that a member of the Synod is seeking the use of the Dispute
Resolution Process with the Chairman of the Synod's Commission on Doctrinal Review because the
Commission revoked its certification of a book that he authored. The President's Office requests the opinion
of the Commission on Constitutional Matters in answer to the following questions:
How do the limitations of the Dispute Resolution Process as stipulated in Bylaw 8.13 speak to the
question of invoking the Dispute Resolution Process in regard to the revocation of a doctrinal review
certification?
Since the Commission on Doctrinal Review is to concern itself exclusively with "official periodicals and
journals of the Synod as well as any material with doctrinal content" (Bylaw 11.03a), and since the Dispute
Resolution Process is to concern itself exclusively with "parties, members of the Synod, the Synod itself, a