LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 213

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CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS 213

b. If a person charged as herein provided is a Dis-
trict President or an officer of the Synod as distin-
guished from District offices, the charge shall be ad-
dressed to the synodical President, who shall follow
the procedures heretofore outlined to be followed by
the District President under Bylaws 5.03, 5.11, 5.13,
and 5.25 hereof.

c. When a person, including a District President,
is removed from office, he shall not again be eligible
for an office in the Synod or subdivisions thereof unless
and until he shall have agreed to meet, support, and
uphold the constitutional Bylaw requirements of the
Synod to the satisfaction of the electing or employing
agency of the Synod or subdivision thereof.

24. Res. 4-43 Size of Boards and Commissions

New Orleans Res. 4-43 (Proceedings. 1973, p. 160) asked the
committee to review “the number of members of each board
and commission of the Synod.” The committee also reviewed
the functions and responsibilities of some of the boards and
commissions. Membership on these various boards and com-
missions varies from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 11.

However, the committee feels that it would be premature to
speak specifically about the maximum or minimum number of
board and commission members at this time, because of the
prospective mergers and further reorganization which may
take place in the future.

The committee also reviewed the reasons that prompted the
Board of Directors to recommend to the New Orleans conven-
tion that the Commission on Mission and Ministry in the Church
be terminated. Cognizant of the fact that the Board of Directors
is presenting the same proposal to the Anaheim convention, the
committee reports to Anaheim that it takes no exception to the
proposal of the Board of Directors.

The committee has also ascertained that an ad hoc committee
on World Hunger was created in 1969 (Proceedings. 1969, pp. 143
—44), separate from the Board of Social Ministry and World
Relief, which exists for this and other purposes (Bylaws 13.01 to
13.09). The committee concurs, therefore, with the recommen-
dation of the Board of Directors that the ad hoc committee on
World Hunger be terminated and its work transferred to the
Board of Social Ministry and World Relief, where it properly
belongs and which already has a standing committee of its own
on hunger as well as a full-time staff person for world relief, and
second, that the Board of Social Ministry and World Relief be
urged to step up its efforts and more aggressively alleviate the
problem of world hunger.

25. Res. 10-14 A Communications

New Orleans Res. 10-14 A endeavored to establish a Board
for Communication, including the present components of the
Division of Communications, in an effort to correlate and co-
ordinate the communications activities of the various units,
including also the Lutheran Laymen's League. The committee
consulted on several occasions with the components of the
Division of Communications in order to ascertain how and
under what circumstances such a combined board could best
be established. In these consultations and explorations the com-
mittee felt that, even though a greater coordination in the
communications effort of the Synod is highly desirable, no
consensus was reached on how that coordination could be
established. The fact that an increasing proportion of the costs
of the Board for Lutheran Television will be shared by the
Lutheran Laymen's League was also considered. In view of this
complexity, the committee recommends to the Anaheim con-
vention that the entire matter of the potential merger of the
components of the Division of Communications be referred to
a proposed task force on reorganization for further study. In
addition, however, the committee also acknowledges the
principle that there are different roles involved in the various
groups currently comprising this division. Nevertheless, the
committee believes that all of them must speak with a unified
voice.

II. A Structure for Tomorrow

The structure of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, in
its basic principles, was established at the time of its founding in
1847. Uppermost in the minds of the founders was the concern
to preserve their theological heritage, which they had learned
to love and appreciate and which had served as one of the

primary concerns for the establishment of the Synod as defined
in Article II. Other of their basic principles, determining the
course of their ‘‘walking together,”” were enunciated in Article
II] and Article VI. No substantive changes have ever been made
in these principles.

In other aspects, pertaining to the form and structure, how-
ever, the Synod has periodically reexamined its methods of
operation and procedures — in its determination to proclaim the
Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only Savior, and in the compact
of mutual responsibilities. It was faith which functioned and
produced forms. The forms were changeable, but not the faith.

During the past several decades numerous petitions and
overtures have been presented to the conventions of the Synod
to study its structure and organization. Some suggested minor
improvements or modifications, while others requested studies
of the fundamental relationship of the congregations, the Synod,
and the units in between. It is within this context that the forms
and structures have been reexamined and reevaluated regularly
to determine whether a more responsive design of the relation-
ships could not be structured for more effectively achieving
the mission of the church in the 1980s.

The doctrinal controversy in our Synod has provided prob-
lems that were not visualized in setting up our present organiza-
tional structure, with the result that these problems have not
been dealt with as expeditiously as might have been desired.

The present synodical structure continues to emphasize the
autonomy and the responsibility of the congregation in all local
matters and gives the Synod authority over doctrinal super-
vision, pastor and teacher training, the broader aspects of mis-
sion work, providing Christian literature, and monitoring church
relations. Historically, all decisions relating to synodical matters
have been made at the delegate conventions. The synodical
President and the various functioning boards and commissions
have been instructed at the conventions to develop and carry
out certain projects and programs and are responsible to them.
In the intervening biennia these agencies work out the directives
of the conventions.

If circumstances changed radically during a biennium, the
agency could only report back to the next convention that the
intended program could not be successfully completed. With
the rapid pace of life in general, the changes in the political,
economic, and moral conditions at an ever-accelerated rate,
some programs, at times, could not move forward or adjust to
the changing times as quickly as one might hope, since a deci-
sion to move or amend had to wait until the next convention.
Because of the historic role of the conventions, the officers,
boards, and commissions need to refer their problems to an
interim body for guidance and counsel.

In this context the office of the synodical President, the com-
mittee observes, is an important part and crucial to our synodical
structure. His duties involve doctrinal supervision, administra-
tive responsibilities to boards and staff, programatic leadership,
church relations, and serving as the “chief executive officer” of
the corporation. His authority, in spite of these responsibilities,
to deal with normal and abnormal situations which arise, how-
ever, is limited. If all fails, he can “tell it to the church.” The
committee believes that responsibility and authority should be
commensurate.

The Synod traditionally has operated with the principle that
when the church faces new challenges or specialized oppor-
tunities, it establishes another board or commission responsible
to the conventions. Presently there are some 40 such agencies,
a reduction of some 30 within the last 10 years, who are account-
able to the conventions. Some have large staffs with huge
budgets: others have no staff and practically no budget.

New Orleans Res. 4-43 and 5-28 ‘even more broadly and com-
prehensively) asked the Committee for Reorganization to take
all these matters into consideration, considering whether the
lines of authority and accountability need to be strengthened,
whether overlap and duplication of effort can be eliminated,
whether it is possible to combine, consolidate, and even reduce
the number of boards and commissions, and in doing this, to
review the entire Constitution and Bylaws. Presently the
Board of Directors tries to monitor all of the synodical boards
and commissions, but since most are organized by a directive
of the convention and are accountable to it, the authority of the
directors consists in serving as ‘the legal representatives of the
Synod and the custodians of all property of the Synod” (Consti-
tution XI F 2), including management, coordination, and super-
vision (Bylaws 2.77 to 2.90).