LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 202

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5. CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS

5-01

Report of Commission on Constitutional
Matters

J, Organization

Most of the members of the commission are appointed by
the President and the Vice-Presidents. For the sake of
convenience only the President will be referred to in the
following rundown.

Pastor Elmer Luessenhop. Arvada, Colo.. the chairman of
the commission, was appointed by Dr. Harms in 1962, 1965,
1967, and by Dr. Preus in 1971. His present term, expiring
Dec, 31, 1975, will be the last for him under the limited
tenure rule.

Pastor George Sommermeyer, Long Island City, N. Y.
was appointed by Dr. Harms in 1965. and reappointed by
Dr. Preus in 1969. He, too, is serving his last eligible term,
which will come to an end Dec. 31, 1973.

Dr. Herbert Kuenne, who had served the commission for
24 years, died suddenly of a heart attack in February 1971.
Mr. Herbert Freise of Walla Walla. Wash., an attorney, was
appointed by Dr. Preus to fill the vacancy. He was reap-
pointed after the Milwaukee convention and is now in his
first full term.

Mr. Gerhardt Jersild. an attorney from Chicago, had been
appointed to the commission by Dr. Harms and had been
reappointed by Dr. Preus following the Denver convention.
When he, however, declined reappointment, the appointment
was extended to Mr. Frederick Polzin. When Mr. Polzin
joined a congregation of another synod upon being trans-
ferred in his occupation, President Preus appointed Mr. Jay
Pfotenhauer of San Francisco, an attorney and former mem-
ber of the synodical Board of Directors. When Mr. Pfoten-
hauer found it necessary to decline the appointment. Mr.
Donald Prevallet of Blytheville, Ark., an attorney, was ap-
pointed; he will be serving the unexpired term until Dec.
31, 1973.

Dr. Herbert Mueller, the only elected member of the
commission, was elected at the 1965 convention in Detroit
and reelected in 1969 at Denver.

Dr. W. Harry Krieger was appointed to replace Dr. Paul
Streufert as the vice-presidential advisory member of the
commission when Dr. Streufert resigned his post in 1972.

The commission met approximately every second or
third month and was confronted with an increasingly heavy
agenda.

II. Actions

Immediately following the Milwaukee convention it car-
ried out its responsibility to revise the synodical Handbook
in order to bring it into conformity with the many Bylaw
actions of the convention.

Among the major Bylaws or Bylaw revisions adopted in
Milwaukee were those for the following: Board of Doctrinal
Review (11.151 ff.); Commission on Lay Higher Education
(6.181 ff.); pensions and support (10.01 ff.):; fraternal organi-
zations (14.01 ff.); Concordia Publishing House (7.01 ff.):
Commission on Theology and Church Relations (2.109 ff.):
evangelism (8.40 ff.): Advance magazine (11.131 ff.); tenure
and termination (2.12.); delayed induction (2.09 ff.); ad-
visory delegates (1.57 ff.): District and other advisory rep-
resentatives (1.61 ff.); Administrative Officer, replacing Ex-
ecutive Director (2.91 etc.); election of President and First
Vice-President (2.17 ff.); stewardship (15.05 ff.). Of special
interest was the adoption of an entire new Chapter V of
the Bylaws on “Adjudication and Appeal.” Since the con-
vention failed to elect the new svnodical Commission of Ad-
judication, the Commission on Constitutional Matters ruled
that its function should continue for the next 2 years to
remain the responsibility of the synodical Board of Appeals.

The convention asked the Council of Presidents in consul-
tation with the commission to develop proposed Bylaws for
the newly created Board for Lay Ministers. It is hoped that
these will be ready for presentation to the convention.

The convention also authorized the commission to make
certain language changes in the Constitution without having
these changes regarded as constitutional amendments. The

singular verb in Article VIII A 2 was therefore changed
to a plural: “official organs” and “official publications” were
changed to “official periodicals” in Article XI B 9 and Arti-
cle XIV 3 and 4; and the definite article “the” was uniformly
inserted before the word “Synod” in 82 instances.

Since three different dates no prevail for the beginning
of terms (one for the officers and Board of Directors, an-
other for newly elected members of other boards, and a
third for appointed board and commission members), the
commission advised all boards and commissions to organize
themselves after the latest date set for the beginning of the
terms of newly elected or appointed members.

Since the convention had failed to take an action on a
resolution deciding whether the President or the First Vice-
President should serve as chairman of the Council of Ad-
ministrators, the commission ruled that the Board of Direc-
tors should name the chairman of the Council of Adminis-
trators for the next 2 years until the convention can act.

Since Resolution 4-39 also failed to receive convention
action, the paragraph stating that the President would “cr-
dinarily” exercise certain supervision through the Adminis-
trative officer was not adopted. However, since the com-
panion wording “as he directs” had been adopted in Reso-
lution 4-38 for the regulations governing the office of Ad-
ministrative Officer. the commission resolved to insert into
Bylaw 2.27b the word “ordinarily,” as originally recom-
mended.

In Resolution 4-34 the Milwaukee convention decided
that the Board for Church Extension shall hereafter be ap-
pointed. However. since by that time the convention had
already elected men to the board, the commission ruled that
{hose so elected should continue to serve their full term.

Since the convention adopted new regulations regarding
4-vear tenure for executives and provisions for termination.
the commission was asked to rule on several questions. It
ruled that no present staff officer should be subject to reap-
pointment until he had served in his present position for
at least 4 years. It further ruled that the anniversary date
of the assumption of his responsibilities in his present posi-
tion should be the date of possible reappointment of the
staff member. In this connection the commission also sug-
gested that no reappointment should be made until after
Jan. 1, 1972. a procedure which would give opportunity for
the 90-day notice device to be applied if necessary, and
that any staff member who by Jan. 1, 1972, had served more
than 4 years in his present position should not be subject to
reappointment and prior review until he had served 8 years,
12 vears. etc. (4-year multiples).

The commission has started a study of new structures for
congregations. In response to an announcement in the
Reporter a few congregations submitted their constitutions
for study. The commission hopes within a few years to is-
sue a booklet with perhaps several suggested types of struc-
ture to replace the present Guidelines which contains a so-
called model constitution.

The commission calls attention to the fact that the latest
convention failed to take action approving the new Bylaws
for the combined Board of Social Ministry and World Re-
lief. This needs to be done in New Orleans.

The commission gave guidance to several Districts in
the formulation or revision of Bylaws.

Since the articles on “object” and “dissolution” very often
present difficulties in District bylaws, the commission resolved
to adopt as models two paragraphs on these subjects pre-
pared several years ago by Chairman Herbert Kuenne.

The Milwaukee convention gave the commission the as-
signment to determine whether a detailed statement on the
rights of members should be added to the Handbook and
if so to draft a proposed statement. The commission reports
that in its estimation no such detailed statement is neces-
sary.

The commission gave major attention over several meet-
ings to the question of presidential power. Several unso-
licited papers had been received on the subject. The com-
mission also requested papers from more than 20 individuals
who had had much experience in this area or were known
to have given considerable study to the question. Several
personal presentations were heard including those given by