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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 150

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

150

2026 Convention Workbook

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than 10%, with some districts having half or more of their circuits in this range.12 At the same time, there are
districts reporting as many as a quarter of their circuits having net gains in the past three years. In this sense,
the vertical lines indicated in Figures 3 and 4 to show threats to circuit stability may here and there—and
more frequently in the WSW region—underestimate the challenge at hand, or, in fewer places, overstate it.
Suggested by these data is a fundamental philosophical question for the task force: To what extent should
the convention shrink to reflect this decline (see also Figure 1)? On the one hand, a proportional “shrinkage”
seems rational; on the other, it would result in “loss of representational resolution” in the areas of the Synod
where our congregations and ministerium and visitation are stretched the thinnest, areas in which
congregations face unique challenges and areas that may in some ways be the “tip of the spear” for all.

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Interesting “tweaks” have included allowing a lower congregational bound for circuits with more than 4,000
confirmed members or requiring a certain number of installed pastors. These would tend to balance the
possibility of realignment to much smaller circuits with fewer members, either by allowing greater
representation for the largest congregations or by limiting the division of new circuits.

Long-term (at least three triennia) stability of representation has been proposed a number of times as a
desirable feature (perhaps by allowing automatic exceptions for a certain number of conventions for a oncevalid circuit falling below bounds) but never adopted.

Table 1: Overview of Convention Overtures and Resolutions regarding Synod Convention Representation, 2010–23

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Figure 6: Distribution of Visitation-Circuit-Level Reported Confirmed Membership Change, 2019–22
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4. Selected Changes Proposed at the Level of Synod Convention Overtures for the Formation of
Circuits, Visitation and Electoral
In addition to the adopted changes detailed in the rationale to 2023 Res. 9-06A, there have been over the years
any number of overtures and resolutions proposing changes to the requirements and/or process for the
formation of visitation and/or electoral circuits. These are briefly summarized as follows, going back only to
2010, the most recent restructuring of the Synod (interestingly, the part of the restructuring that would have
changed how Synod convention delegates were elected received another three years of discussion and then
was roundly defeated, as 2013 Res. 7-07A, by a vote of 62 in favor and 830 opposed).
More recent proposals have been less (conceptually, if not numerically) radical, suggesting dropping the
confirmed membership requirement to 1,250, 1,000, or 750, and/or revising the congregation requirement to
5. Such proposals would render presently exceptional circuits unexceptional and give some degree of buffer
of stability into the future. They would, however, if adopted alone, also introduce the possibility of at least
some districts “optimizing” circuits for the new limits, trading stability for representational share. To the
extent this is done, representational shift will occur and the sought-after stability would not be achieved.

2016

2013

To appoint task force to study (adopted as 2023 Res. 9-06A)

Ov. 9-12

To lower confirmed membership requirement proportional to change in membership, in
consultation with Council of Presidents

Ov. 9-14

To lower confirmed membership requirement to 1,250

Ov. 9-15

To lower congregation requirement to 5 and confirmed membership to 1,000, with the
districts setting the circuits at the beginning of a decade and the circuits remaining valid
despite changes

Ov. 9-16

To lower congregation requirement to 5 and confirmed membership requirement to 750

Ov. 9-17

To eliminate distinction between visitation and electoral circuits and eliminate confirmed
membership requirement

Ov. 9-06, 07

To allow district board of directors to shift congregations to meet electoral circuit
requirements, but to create no more electoral than visitation circuits

Ov. 9-08

To allow each district president to grant exception to no more than 20% of his district’s
electoral circuits

Ov. 9-09

To eliminate distinction between visitation and electoral circuits and eliminate confirmed
membership requirement, requiring at least 7 pastors (excluding the effect of pastoral
vacancies).

Ov. 9-11

See 2013 Ov. 7-15

Ov. 11-38

To allow district boards of directors to align according to existing criteria but with
alignments remaining valid for 9 years.

Ov. 11-39

To allow district boards of directors establish electoral circuits independent of visitation
circuit boundaries, with a minimum of 7 congregations and 1,500 members, except that if
5,000 confirmed members are represented, only 4 congregations are required.

Ov. 7-03

To allow visitation circuits to be distinct from electoral circuits

Ov. 7-08

To study definition of electoral circuits

Ov. 7-14, 24

To elect Synod convention delegates by electoral circuit caucus at district conventions, with
a total number of delegates equal to 10% of the number of Synod congregations (this would
be c. 580). Ordained/lay delegate pairs would be allotted to districts proportional to the
average of their proportions of member congregations and confirmed members. Delegates
would need to be present at the district convention; ordained would not be required to be
parish pastors. (Ov. 7-24 from COH in response to referral of 2010 Res. 8-05B.)

Res. 7-07A
(declined)
A study on the regional level of circuits segmented by starting confirmed membership “size” indicated no significant correlation
between that size and the circuit’s rate of change in the years 2019–22.

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

2019

Ov. 9-01, 13