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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 418

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

418

(b) review and approve new implementations of and
discontinuance, whether actual or constructive, of programs of
study leading to professional church work in the interest of the
institution(s) and the Synod;
(c) facilitate, together with respective boards of regents, the
processes of president selection (Bylaw 3.10.6.8.2) and prior
approval for appointments to theology faculties of Synod
colleges and universities (Bylaw 3.10.6.9.2);
(d) create and maintain a Model Operating Procedures Manual
for Faculty and Administration Complaints and Appeal of
Termination: Colleges and Universities, subject to approval by
the Commission on Constitutional Matters, regarding the
handling of faculty and staff complaints and dispute resolution by
college/university boards of regents, to include notification of
any relevant ecclesiastical supervisor, and monitor compliance
with such;
(e) monitor, inquire into, and report to the President of the Synod
regarding the ongoing faithfulness of Synod’s colleges and
universities to the doctrine, practice, and objectives of the
Constitution of the Synod (Const. Art. II and III);
(f) monitor—after input from the Office of National Mission; the
Department of Rosters, Statistics, and Research Services; the
Council of Presidents; and the Synod’s seminaries—and report to
the Synod on the enrollment, graduation, placement, and
retention rates in programs leading to candidacy for
commissioned ministry or to seminary enrollment and advise the
schools on the Synod’s worker needs and opportunities for
coordination;
(g) receive, revise, and recommend to conventions of the Synod
for approval any proposals for creating, essentially revising, or
renaming programs of study and certification for commissioned
ministry;
(h) in addition to providing its own report, review and respond
in each Synod convention Workbook to a detailed triennial
strategic report prepared by the Institution Advisory Council,
summarizing the state of and outlook for church worker
preparation and confessional Lutheran lay education, campus,
and ethos;
Assistive and coordinative roles:
(i) assist the Synod and its colleges and universities in
articulating and advancing the schools’ unified public confession
and application of the church’s doctrine and practice, and, in
coordination with the Board of Directors of the Synod, assist in
advancing the common defense of their rights to the free exercise
of our confession under the Constitution of the United States and
other applicable laws;
(j) develop and administer, on behalf of the Synod and subject to
policies of the Board of Directors of the Synod, financial
resources designated to assist the schools in their pursuit of the
Standards, in strengthening of churchly identity, and in their
achievement of mission outcomes;
(k) regularly convene the college and university presidents and,
as needed, other leadership to facilitate the schools’ coordination,
cooperation, and consolidation of operations, in part or in whole,
wherever prudent and practically feasible, while not itself
assuming any operational or financial responsibility for such
efforts;
(l) after input from the President and Secretary of the Synod, the
Institution Advisory Council, and the boards of regents of Synod
colleges and universities, serve as a resource for the recruitment
of highly and variously qualified potential regents, offering in
nomination (e.g., as in Bylaw 3.12.3.4 [c]) and suggesting for
appointment those suitably qualified;
(m) serve as a resource for regents’ development of and
mandatory training in governance skills, especially as they relate

2026 Convention Workbook

to the carrying out of the mission of the Synod’s colleges and
universities within the mission of the church, and foster regents’
growth in aspects of governance related to the expectations of the
Standards;
(n) serve as a resource for the development of lists of potential
teaching and administrative personnel;
(o) together with districts, congregations, local boards of
regents, and national efforts, promote student recruitment for
both professional church work and lay higher education; and
(p) participate with the Board of Directors, Council of
Presidents, and respective board(s) of regents in determinations
to consolidate, relocate, separate, or divest a college or university
(Bylaw 3.10.6.5–3.10.6.5.2).
3.69.6.2
The Board of Directors of Concordia University System
Commission for University Education shall be composed of ten
voting members and six nonvoting members (no more than two
members elected by the Synod shall be from the same district, and
no voting member shall be a regent, executive, faculty, or staff
member, as defined in Bylaw 1.5.1.1 of a Synod college or
university):
Voting Members:
1. Two ministers of religion—ordained elected by the Synod
2. One minister of religion—commissioned elected by the Synod
3. Two laypersons elected by the Synod
4. Four laypersons appointed by the elected members listed
above, after consultation with the President of the Synod and the
Institution Advisory Council; at least two of the four must have
background experience in higher education administration or
accreditation
5. The President of the Synod or his representative
Nonvoting Advisory Members:
1. One district president appointed by the Council of Presidents
2. One representative designated by the Board of Directors of the
Synod
3. One representative designated by the Commission on
Theology and Church Relations
4. The Chief Mission Officer of the Synod or his representative
5. One university president who is designated by, and is a
member of, the Institution Advisory Council, and whose
institution is in good standing, as defined in Bylaw 3.69.6.4.1 (e)
6. One university board of regents chair who is designated by the
Institution Advisory Council and whose institution is a college or
university presently in good standing, as defined in Bylaw
3.6.6.4.1 (e).
The advisory university president and university board of regents
chair shall be drawn from different institutions. Neither the advisory
university president nor the advisory board of regents chair shall
participate in the work or the sessions of the board as they relate to
the ecclesiastical visitation of any individual college or university.
3.69.6.2.1 Persons elected or appointed to the Concordia University
System Board of Directors Commission for University Education
should have demonstrated familiarity with and support of Synod
colleges and universities, shall strongly and demonstrably articulate
and support the confession and doctrinal positions of the Synod, and
shall have demonstrated a high degree of two or more of the
following qualifications or background experiences: theological
acumen, an advanced degree, higher education administration,
higher education accreditation, professional church worker
education, administration of or legal counsel to complex
organizations, religious nonprofit law, higher education law, or the
strengthening of the mission of the Synod’s congregations and
schools. The President of the Synod (or a designee) and the Secretary