Article XI: Rights and Duties of Officers

Article XI Rights and Duties of Officers

A. In General

1. The officers of the Synod must assume only such rights as have been expressly conferred upon them by the Synod, and in everything pertaining to their rights and the performance of their duties they are responsible to the Synod.

2. The Synod at all times has the right to call its officers to account and, if circumstances require it, to remove them from office in accordance with Christian procedure.

3. The Synod reserves the right to abolish any office it has established.

4. Conventions of the Synod and of the districts have the right, in extraordinary cases, to elect a chairman other than the regular presiding officer.

B. Duties of the President

1. The President has the supervision regarding the doctrine and the administration of a. All officers of the Synod;

b. All such as are employed by the Synod;

c. The individual districts of the Synod;

d. All district presidents.

2. It is the President ’s duty to see to it that all the aforementioned act in accordance with the Synod’s Constitution, to admonish all who in any way depart from it, and, if such admonition is not heeded, to report such cases to the Synod.

3. The President has and always shall have the power to advise, admonish, and reprove. He shall conscientiously use all means at his command to promote and maintain unity of doctrine and practice in all the districts of the Synod.

4. The President shall see to it that the resolutions of the Synod are carried out.

5. When the Synod meets in convention the President shall give a report of his administration. He shall conduct the sessions of the convention so that all things are done in a Christian manner and in accord with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod.

6. It is the duty of the President, or an officer of the Synod appointed by the President, to be present at the meetings of the districts, to advise them, and to report at the next session of the Synod.

7. The President shall perform all additional duties assigned to him by the Bylaws or by special resolution of the Synod in convention.

8. When matters arise between meetings of the Synod in convention which are of such a nature that action thereon cannot be delayed until the next convention, the President is authorized to submit them to a written vote of the member congregations of the Synod only after full and complete information regarding the matter has been sent to member congregations

by presidential letter and has been published in an official periodical of the Synod. If such matters are related to the business affairs of the Synod, such a vote shall be conducted only after the President has consulted with the synodical Board of Directors. In all cases at least one -fourth of the member congregations must register their vote.

C. Duties of the Vice-Presidents

1. The vice-presidents shall upon request of the President represent him in all his functions.

2. In case of the disability, the deposition from office, or the death of the President, the vice-presidents, in the order of their rank of office, advance to the President’s place, with full power, until the expiration of his term of office.

D. Duties of the Secretary The Secretary shall

1. Record the proceedings when the Synod meets in convention;

2. Perform such other work as the Synod may assign to him through the Bylaws or special resolutions of the Synod.

E. Composition and Duties of the Board of Directors

1. The Board of Directors shall consist of not fewer than seven voting members, to wit: the President, the Secretary, one pastor, and four laymen. The First Vice-President shall be a nonvoting member.

2. The Board of Directors is the legal representative and custodian of all the property of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod, directly or by its delegation of such authority to an agency of the Synod. It shall exercise supervision over all property and business affairs of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod except in those areas where it has delegated such authority to an agency of the Synod or where the voting members of the Synod through the adoption of bylaws or by other convention action have assigned specific areas of responsibility to separate corporate or trust entities, and as to those the Board of Directors shall have general oversight responsibility as set forth in the Bylaws. For the purposes of this article, The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod includes both the Synod formed by this Constitution and the Missouri corporation formed by the Synod.