To Amend Bylaw 2.13.1 to Clarify Terminology for Specific Ministry Pastor Mentorship and Oversight

Official Workbook overture source text

6-09 
To Amend Bylaw 2.13.1 to Clarify Terminology for 
Specific Ministry Pastor Mentorship and Oversight 
Rationale 
In 1998 the Synod added to its Bylaws a set of definitions, now 
designated as section 1.2 “Definition of Terms.”  Two important 
definitions are those of supervision  and oversight. In the Synod’s 
Bylaws, outside of “ecclesiastical supervision,” the term 
“supervision” means “to have authority over, to direct actions, to 
control activities” [1.2.1(u)]. “Oversight” means “to monitor; to 
make inquiry and receive a response thereto; to make suggestions; 
to bring concerns to the attention of a higher authority” [1.2.1(p)]. 
In 1998 it proved necessary, for example, to make it clear that the 
Synod’s Board of Directors cannot control the activities of the 
various synodwide corporate entities or issue binding directives to 
their boards. With respect to synodwide corpor ate entities, it has 
oversight.   
When the Synod established its Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) 
program almost a decade later, via 2007 Res. 5 -01B, it adopted 
Bylaws providing that a specific ministry pastor serves under the 
supervision (not specifically termed “ecclesiastical supervision”) of 
his district president and another pastor who is not a specific 
ministry pastor. The next sentence refers again to the specific 
ministry pastor being under supervision  of another pastor, who in 
some instances may be a neighboring Synod pastor who has no call 
to the church served by the specific ministry pastor. The definition 
of supervision (“to have authority over, to direct actions, to control 
activities”) that had been placed into the Bylaws largely to clarify 
the spheres of authority for various governing boards does not apply 
to the relationship between a specific ministry pastor and his district 
president. Nor does it necessarily apply to the specific ministry 
pastor’s relationship with the non- specific ministry pastor who 
oversees him. This inapt  use of defined terms, along with its 
potential for introducing confusion, was noted by the Commission 
on Constitutional Matters (Op. 23 -3017) and referred to the 
Commission on Handbook for improvement. 
The word oversight, as defined in the Bylaws, seems much more 
fitting for the efforts of non-specific ministry pastors who work with 
all specific ministry pastors. In the revision below, this term is 
paired with another, mentorship . Current nomenclature within the 
SMP program speaks of specific ministry pastors and their 
“mentors.” Together, the two words account for both the monitoring 
and the nurturing services that designated non- specific ministry 
pastors render to specific ministry pastors.  
Therefore be it 
Resolved, That Bylaw 2.13.1 be amended as follows: 
2026 Convention Workbook
366 PAST ORAL MINISTRY AND SEMINARIES