LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 211

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CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS 211

19. Res. 5-39 Principle of Compatibility

Pending since the Milwaukee convention is a response to
Overture 4-71, which had produced Milwaukee Res. 4-44
(Proceedings. 1971, p. 150). When that convention was unable
to take action on it, it referred the matter in a pre-New Orleans
omnibus resolution to the Committee on Organization. The orig-
inal Overture 4-71 (Workbook. 1971, p. 230) asked that the ‘‘prin-
ciple of compatibility’? should not be a matter of primary con-
sideration for synodical service.

The committee made its recommendation after study of the
background and implications of both the original overture and
the proposed resolution and agreed that, though not of primary
importance, compatibility nevertheless was highly desirable.
But the question of judging such compatibility, the committee
felt, was a matter of opinion. At New Orleans the Floor Com-
mittee recommended Res. 5-39 for adoption. For a second time,
that convention, however, did not have sufficient time to deal
with this resolution: consequently it was referred again under
Omnibus Res. 4-47 to the Board of Directors, and the Committee
for Reorganization reviewed the recommendation and proposes
the resolution for a second time. Thus the committee once more
proposes to the Anaheim convention that New Orleans Res.
5-39 be adopted (Proceedings, 1973, p. 174).

20. Res. 5-25 Restriction of District Clergy Offices
to Parish Pastors

New Orleans Res. 5-25 (Proceedings. 1973, p. 171) represents
another carry-over resolution from that convention referred
in Res. 4-47 to the Board of Directors and subsequently to the
committee. The original Milwaukee overture, on which the
resolution was based, the committee believed, stemmed from
a misinterpretation of Bylaws 3.21 and 3.61 a, since it had
requested that clergy officers elected to their respective posi-
tions be pastors of voting congregations only within the confines
of their own District.

Res. 5-25 was originally based on a referral from the Milwau-
kee convention (Proceedings. 1971, p. 165) and recommended
for adoption that year. Because of the lack of time, it also was
referred in an omnibus resolution in Milwaukee to the Board of
Directors, which referred it to the Committee on Organization.
The committee has now reexamined the proposals twice, once
before New Orleans and again before the Anaheim convention.

The committee therefore recommends to the Anaheim con-
vention that New Orleans Res. 5-25 be adopted.

21, Res. 5-41 On Referenda

New Orleans Res. 5-41 (Proceedings, 1973, p. 175) was formu-
lated by the Floor Committee in response to the committee’s
original recommendations to the New Orleans convention on
the use of referenda in synodical decision-making (Workbook,
1973, p. 209). The committee responded to a resolution of the
Milwaukee convention and two additional overtures which had
been submitted to the New Orleans convention (Workbook. 1973,
pp. 239 — 40). One of the overtures asked that a two-thirds vote
be taken on fellowship matters. In addition, the Council of
Presidents urged the New Orleans convention that it decline
the use of referenda for fellowship and merger proposals. Since
New Orleans these matters, in addition to the use of the referen-
dum in the adoption of doctrinal statements by the Synod, have
once more been before the committee.

Before presenting its proposals on these issues to the con-
vention, the committee calls attention to the recommendation
of the Council of Presidents made to the New Orleans conven-
tion on the general matter of the referendum, because it con-
siders these recommendations of substantive value. In the
council’s opinion a referendum when a merger is proposed
would violate both the principle of majority rule, which is
basic to our life and work together as a Synod, and the long-
established polity of our church, as expressed in the following
statement contained in an opinion of the Synod’s Commission
on Constitutional Matters, unanimously adopted on June 6,
1969:

It is the opinion of the Commission that the question of the con-
stitutionality (of the congregational referendum on fellowship ques-
tions) must be answered in the negative. To transfer responsibility
for making a decision on fellowship or any other question is incon-
sistent with the type of policy set forth in the constitution and under
which the Synod has operated for generations. This policy is one of
representative government which calls for a full and free discussion
of issues in a deliberative assembly and then imposes responsibility

on each delegate to make a decision. The delegate may not even be
bound by instruction given to him by his constituency.

Not only does the constitution make no provision for a referen-
dum, but on the contrary, many provisions of the constitution and
bylaws give clear indication that the policy is one of representative
government. A majority vote at the convention itself controls ‘Article
VIII C). Articles VII] and IX give additional evidence that the govern-
ment of the Synod is a representative government and not a govern-
ment by referendum ...

The committee therefore proposes two resolutions to the
Anaheim convention for adoption. The first, a short-range
solution, recommends that New Orleans Res. 5-41 be adopted.
(Proceedings. 1973, p. 175).

The second recommendation of the committee, a long-range
proposal, urges the convention to call into being a special com-
mittee to study the development and status of formal statements
of belief, including a draft of a proposed addition to the Hand-
book.

In doing this, the committee endorses the suggestions made
by the Commission on Constitutional Matters, the Commission on
Theology and Church Relations, and the Board of Directors. In
its recommendation the committee also urges that the proposal
of the committee set forth clearly the following three elements:

1. The status of doctrinal statements as distinguished from

the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions:

. The procedures for adoption of such statements, including
the broad involvement of the membership of the Synod in
the process:

3. The procedures for proper expression of dissent and

possible revision.

bho

The committee further recommends to the convention that
each of the following groups appoint one representative to
that committee: the Commission on Theology and Church
Relations, the Commission on Constitutional Matters, the Coun-
cil of Presidents, the Springfield and the St. Louis faculties:
and that the President of the Synod appoint, after consultation
with the Council of Presidents, an additional three laymen and
two teachers: and further, that this committee of 10 be urged
to utilize the expertise of authorities in various fields such as
symbolics, history, dogmatics, etc.: and finally that the proposed
committee make its proposals to the 1977 convention of the
Synod.

22, Res. 5-07 Appointment or Election of Boards and Commissions

Another carry-over from the Milwaukee convention (Pro-
ceedings. 1971, pp. 148—49) represented an effort to establish
a rationale between the appointment and the election of all
synodical boards and commissions. The proposals enabling
implementation of such a rationale were presented to the New
Orleans convention for adoption. The Floor Committee at that
convention concurred in the committee's proposals and pre-
sented Res. 5-07, which, however, could not be adopted for lack
of time. Subsequently Omnibus Resolution 4-47 referred it
back to the Board of Directors and through the latter to the
Committee for Reorganization. Even though the committee in
the present biennium has given serious thought to the merger
of certain boards and commissions, it did not have sufficient time
to make concrete proposals for such mergers. In the meantime,
however, the committee feels that the rationale of the original
proposals nevertheless would aid significantly in clarifying issues
at this time, in spite of any mergers which may be proposed in
the future.

The New Orleans convention made some changes in the
original recommendations, namely by merging the Board of
Managers for the Concordia Plans with the Board of Pensions
and Support, now known as the “Board of Managers,” and
attached the Commission on Social Concerns to the Commission
on Theology ahd Church Relations.

The committee recommends to the Anaheim convention the
adoption, essentially, of New Orleans Res. 5-07 (Proceedings.
1973, p. 166), subject to any additional changes that may be
made either by this committee or by the convention itself. The
text of the resolution, including the changes which have been
noted above, reads:

To Revise Bylaws re Appointment Method of Boards and
Commissions
WHEREAS. The President of the Synod is given the authority
(responsibility) and charged with the accountability provided in