To Encourage Visitation by Synod and District

Official Workbook overture source text

10-01 
To Encourage Visitation by Synod and District 
Preamble 
The Synod defines ecclesiastical oversight as: 
The responsibility, primarily of the district president, to monitor; 
to make inquiry and receive a response thereto; to make 
suggestions; to bring concerns to the attention of a higher 
authority, namely the Synod status granting office, as relates 
specifically to the ecclesial relations of a recognized service 
organization operating within his district, and the impact and/or 
reflection of its work on the mission and ministry of the church 
(Bylaw 1.2.1 [i]). 
So also, the Synod defines ecclesiastical supervision as: 
The responsibility, primarily of the President of the Synod and 
district presidents, to supervise on behalf of the Synod the 
doctrine, life, and administration of its members, officers, and 
agencies. Such supervision, subject to the provisions of the 
Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions, includes 
visitation, evangelical encouragement and support, care, 
protection, counsel, advice, admonition, and, when necessary, 
appropriate disciplinary measures to assure that the Constitution, 
Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod are followed and 
implemented. Thus, ecclesiastical supervision is also the 
presenting, interpreting, and applying of the collective will of the 
Synod’s congregations. Ecclesiastical supervision does not 
include the responsibility to observe, monitor, control, or direct 
the day -to-day activities of individual members of the Synod, 
whether in the conduct of their work or in their private lives (cf. 
Bylaw 2.14.1 [a]). Further, those constitutional articles and 
bylaws pertaining to ecclesiastical supervision shall determine 
the full definition of ecclesiastical supervision (Bylaw 1.2.1 [j]). 
While The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod ( LCMS) does not, 
strictly speaking, practice an episcopal form of governance, there 
remains an evangelical and biblical form of governance that places 
pastors under the supervision of their district president, and district 
presidents under the supervision of the  President of Synod. That 
supervision is enacted by way of visitation ( ἐπισκοπῆς, Luke 
19:44). 
It is the Evangelical Lutheran position that forms of governance are 
adiaphora, but as the Synod  Constitution and Bylaws are a human 
institution (1 Peter 2:13), Christians who have willingly aligned 
themselves with the LCMS are duty -bound to submit to the 
authority of the LCMS insofar as the LCMS remains faithful to 
Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. 
The shared ordination vows of pastors, as well as the confirmation 
vows of laypersons, demonstrate that there is an earnest desire to 
walk together as Synod. There are, however, theological differences 
among pastors and laypersons that extend far beyond those topics 
that may be relegated to adiaphora. 
Concerning supervision and oversight, Martin Chemnitz, in his 
Enchiridion (1574; Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An 
Enchiridion [CPH, 1981], 17–18) writes: 
Now, when this little book was to be published, I then dedicated 
and addressed it first to you, reverend heads of the monasteries 
of this duchy, because the reformation of the monasteries was 
directed to this end, that the prelates should gradually be draw n 
in and used in the consistory, for visitation, for examinations, 
and for synods, etc. and because the examinations of pastors in 
the first visitation were for the most part held in the 
monasteries—so that this little book might publicly testify what 
kind of doctrine it is regarding which pastors were examined 
toward the beginning of the reformation, which [doctrine] also 
Your Reverences embraced and still profess. Moreover, at the 
same time I also addressed you, the superintendents, general and 
special, and all pastors of the churches of this duchy, to testify 
publicly, confirm thoroughly, and firmly preserve Christian, 
salutary unity in pure doctrine, against all pernicious corruptions, 
among the ministers of the churches in the duchy and in the city 
of B
runswick, as this very model of pure, incorrupt doctrine 
resounded by divine grace in all these neighboring and other 
nearby churches of Saxony, in thesis and antithesis, till now and 
still resounds, as the chief points are explained in a simple 
manner in this manual. And since God has given His special 
grace and blessing, so that the Christian declaration of the 
disputed points of religion — which [declaration] was 
incorporated in the church order of the duchy of Brunswick, from 
which also this manual was fo r the most part drawn —is 
approved and praised as correct by many leading churches, not 
only nearby but also far away, I could not object when the printer 
wanted to issue this little book anew, and I have also improved 
it in some places.   And I hereby want the first, previous 
dedication of this little book to Your Reverence and Honor to be 
repeated and confirmed.  
May the faithful and most merciful God rule, teach, bless, and 
keep us in pure doctrine and unity of the Spirit, so that we may 
one and all, by the grace and help of the Holy Spirit, according 
to the teaching of Paul, hold steadfastly to the Word, which is  
salutary and sure, refute those who contradict, Tts 1:9, and 
endeavor to keep— besides pure doctrine — Christian, brotherly 
unity and the bond of peace, Eph 4:3. Let us guard against 
unnecessary, vexatious division and schism, Ro 16:17.   Let us 
not give way or place, even in the least, to the wolf and to tares 
of false doctrine, Jo 10:12, but, as Luther says, do both faithfully 
and diligently: feed the sheep and drive away the wolf. Amen. 
Written at Brunswick, August 6, A.D. 1574 
Martin Chemnitz 
Lord Superintendent 
It is well-established by the LCMS in its Constitution that visitation 
is a duty of district presidents and the President of the Synod: 
Article III Objectives 
The Synod, under Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, shall— 
1. Conserve and promote the unity of the true faith ( Eph. 4:3–6; 
1 Cor. 1:10), work through its official structure toward fellowship 
with other Christian church bodies, and provide a united defense 
against schism, sectarianism (Rom. 16:17), and heresy; 
2026 Convention Workbook
497FLOOR COMMITTEES: REPORT AND OVERTURE ASSIGNMENTS