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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 457

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

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION
registration of the voting delegates of each congregation or
parish to vote for the president of the Synod so long as it involves
the collection by some means of the required “signatures” (i.e.,
verifiable attestations, by some commonly understood means of
physical or electronic signature) of two congregational officers.
This same logic would seem to apply to Bylaw 4.2.2 (except,
perhaps, for its use of the term mailing). A change should be made
to Bylaw 4.2.2 to allow clearly for a secure and verifiable electronic
registration method to be implemented by district secretaries. As
with similar processes on the district level, the existing, paper-based
approach remains an acceptable “secure and verifiable method.”
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 4.2.2 (a) be amended as follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
4.2.2
The delegates of a voting congregation or multicongregation parish to a district convention shall be accredited.
(a) To be entitled to vote, delegates shall return the proper
credentials provided by the district secretary and signed by two
of the congregation’s officers, either by mailing them to the
district office at a date determined by the district or by presenting
them to the district secretary at the opening of the convention.The
congregation or parish shall present to the district secretary, via a
secure and verifiable method provided by him, the names of the
pastor and elected lay delegate to represent it at the district
convention, as well as an attestation by two of its officers that
these delegates are properly authorized by it to do so. Only those
delegates named in such credentials, having been submitted to the
district secretary by a date set by the district or presented to him
at the convention, shall be entitled to vote.
(b) All duly elected voting delegates shall attend all sessions of
the convention regularly until the close of the convention.
(c) Should a multi-congregation parish involve congregations
having membership in different districts, the pastoral delegate
shall be accredited in the convention of the district in which he
holds membership and lay delegates, voting and advisory, shall
be accredited in the convention of the district in which each
delegate’s respective congregation holds membership. No multicongregation parish is entitled to more than one pastoral and one
lay voting delegate because of its inclusion of congregations from
different districts.

D. TO AMEND BYLAW 3.1.3.2 TO CLARIFY
CERTIFICATION OF VOTING AND ADVISORY
DELEGATES AND ADVISORY REPRESENTATIVES
Rationale
The LCMS Office of the Secretary has implemented a new system
for the collection of information in the processes that gather
information on officially elected, appointed, or designated Synod
convention voting and advisory delegates and advisory
representatives. As part of that work, the office reflected on, and
brought to the COH, the following issues of wording in Bylaw
3.1.3.2. The COH now recommends the proposed amendment
below for the following reasons:
1. Bylaw 3.1.3.2 uses language of certification, which is
helpful and should be used for all official convention
attendees or potential attendees, such as delegates,
representatives, and their alternates. This may be
distinguished from the later registration, which could then
apply exclusively to the later process of arranging for actual
attendance, hotel accommodations, etc. There has been
confusion in the minds of many over whether registration
has been completed when the individual is simply named to

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participate; accommodations remain, importantly, to be
worked out. Using the term certification exclusively to
refer to the official process of determining and recording
who is to attend and the term registration exclusively to
refer to the process of arranging for the actual attendance of
such individuals will improve clarity of communication.
2. With regard to the word forwarded, there is an implication
that there is movement of a document, either hard copy or
digital, from one person to another. With the
implementation of an electronic forms system, this
information is submitted to the Office of the Secretary
rather than forwarded. Bylaw 3.12.3.4, which deals with the
work related to the Committee for Convention
Nominations, uses submitted to refer to the information
pertaining to nominees, all of which is being collected
using an online form system. The same term could be used
here.
3. Bylaw 3.1.3.2 appears to be located in the section
pertaining to Nonvoting Advisory Delegates and yet refers
to all district representation, including voting and
nonvoting advisory delegates and representatives and their
alternates. The commission recommends introduction of a
subsubsection header to clarify the scope of this bylaw
without adjusting the section outline.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.3.2 be amended and a header be
inserted as follows:

PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
Certification of Voting and Advisory Delegates and District
Advisory Representatives
3.1.3.2
All district voting and nonvoting advisory delegates and
representatives and their alternates shall be certified before attending
a convention of the Synod.
(a) The names and addresses of all voting and nonvoting
advisory delegates and representatives and their alternates shall
be forwardedsubmitted by the district secretary before the
announced registration deadline to the Secretary of the Synod on
registrationthe forms provided by the latter.
(b) This procedure shall constitute certification.

E. TO AMEND BYLAW 3.10.6.9 TO CLARIFY HOW
UNIVERSITY FACULTIES MAY VOTE TO SUBMIT
OVERTURES
WHEREAS, Questions have arisen as to how university faculties
may vote to submit overtures to a convention, as allowed in Bylaw
3.1.6.2; and
WHEREAS, Bylaws provide in other instances for how faculties
elect advisory representatives (Bylaw 3.10.6.9 [c]), certify church
work students (Bylaw 2.8.2), and deal with their voting in general
(Bylaw 3.1.6.2), but do not deal with this specific issue; and
WHEREAS, The submission of an overture to a convention of the
Synod is a right afforded only, otherwise, to bodies composed
entirely of members of the Synod or of members of Synod member
congregations (Bylaw 3.1.6.2); and
WHEREAS, The voting model used for certification of church
work students (Bylaw 2.8.2) therefore seems appropriate to this
faculty function, as well; therefore be it
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.10.6.9 be amended as follows:

2026 Convention Workbook