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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 204

2026 Convention Workbook
169
OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
gation puts its membership in the Synod in jeopardy (Bylaw 2.5.4; 
Const. Art. VI 3; XIII 1).
Question 2: Does a 
district president have the authority to autho-
rize a pastor who is a member of a church body with 
which the LCMS is not in altar and pulpit fellowship 
to proclaim the Word and administer the Sacraments 
on a regular basis to a congregation of the Synod?
Opinion:
 No. A
 district president does not have the authority to ig-
nore the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod but rather needs to 
admonish a congregation that insists on calling or being served by 
a pastor who is a member of a church body not in pulpit and altar 
fellowship with the Synod that by doing so the congregation puts 
its membership in the Synod in jeopardy (Bylaw 2.5.4; Const. Art. 
VI 3; XIII 1). 
Advisors in Restriction, Removal from Office, Etc. 
(23-3011)
Minutes of June 8–11, 2023
By an email of June 6, a member of the Synod, an ordained minis-
ter, requested opinions on the following questions, which he pref-
aced with the following statement:
CCM Opinion 12-2660 states the following: “An overarching 
principle in the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod, as well 
as in the [Standard Operating Procedure Manuals (SOPM)] 
for both the dispute resolution process and the process of ex-
pulsion from membership in the Synod, is one of due process, 
fairness, and impartiality. Thus, all hearings and all investi-
gations must be conducted in a fair and equitable manner.”
The following questions pertain to the “due process, fairness, 
and impartiality” of the LCMS Bylaws and other official 
documents when addressing the issue of obtaining and pro-
viding advice and counsel in the adjudication process when 
an individual member of Synod faces potential removal from 
office or is placed on restricted or suspended status by a dis-
trict president.
In its reply, the commission notes the following context, which is 
necessary to understanding the opinions that follow:
The commission, as interpreter of the Constitution, Bylaws, and 
resolutions of the Synod, can only interpret the term advisor with 
regard to such advisors as are identified explicitly in the Bylaws, for 
example in Bylaws 2.14.7.8 (h), 1.10.7.4 (a), etc. It does not in the 
following responses deal with other individuals from whom parties 
may informally seek advice, except in response to Questions 6 and 
8, in which the “advisors” in question are not those described in 
the Bylaws.
With regard to questions of “due process, fairness, and impartial -
ity,” raised at several points below, the commission responds that 
the Constitution of the Synod and procedures set forth in the By-
laws (and attendant Standard Operating Procedures Manuals) es-
tablish the parameters for “due process, fairness and impartiality.” 
The conduct of an ecclesiastical supervisor within such processes 
and generally, as he carries out his duties under Constitution Ar -
ticle XII 7–8, is expected to be consistent with the constitutional 
purposes of his office, namely as described in Const. Art. III 8–9. 
His conduct is subject to review by mechanisms included in these 
processes and by the President of the Synod. 
Question 1: 
 Bylaw 2.14.7.8 (h) indicates that 
the accused is per-
mitted to make use of an advisor in the adjudication 
b. Congregations that are members of the Synod shall call 
and be served only by ordained ministers who have been 
admitted to their ministries in accordance with the rules 
and regulations set forth in these Bylaws and have thereby 
become members of the Synod.
c.
 Congregations that 
are members of the Synod shall call 
only commissioned ministers who have been admitted to 
their ministries in accordance with the rules and regula -
tions set forth in these Bylaws and have thereby become 
members of the Synod.
d.
 Congregations that 
violate these requirements and persist 
in such violation shall, after due admonition, forfeit their 
membership in the Synod.
This change demonstrates that the terms call and be served by are 
not to be regarded as synonyms. In today’s practice many others 
are serving congregations by leading worship without a call. Emer-
itus pastors regularly serve as vacancy pastors, at times for congre-
gations not in the process of calling, or regularly simply serve in 
vacant congregations every Sunday, often for periods of a year or 
more, which might include offering the Sacraments and conduct -
ing weddings and funerals. Ordained ministers on candidate status 
also are eligible to serve in the same way. Students from the sem-
inaries of the Synod lead worship in congregations that have no 
pastor. Vicars on occasion are the only one serving congregations 
with their supervising pastor called by and serving a neighboring 
congregation. While these other instances of serving reflect a wide 
variety, what is consistent is that those serving are either ordained 
members of the Synod, or students authorized by a seminary of 
the Synod and under the supervision of an ordained member of the 
Synod. 
Question 1:
 Is a 
congregation in violation of Const. Art. VI 3 
and Bylaw 2.5.2 if it has as its worship leader a pas-
tor, not called by the congregation, who is Lutheran 
and has promised to teach completely in line with 
LCMS teaching but is on neither the roster of the 
Synod nor that of a church body in altar and pulpit 
fellowship with the Synod?
Opinion:
 In its 
response, the commission understands the term 
worship leader as used in this question to mean the individual per-
forming the role of the pastor in the public worship of the congre-
gation, proclaiming the Word and/or administering the Sacraments.
A pastor who is not a member of the Synod or of a church body 
with which the Synod is in altar and pulpit fellowship is ineligible 
either to be called by a congregation or to serve a congregation by 
leading worship. For a congregation to so call or be served would 
be a violation of the conditions of membership under Const. Art. 
VI 3. Bylaw 2.5.2 requires congregations to “call and be served 
only by” individuals listed in the three following categories (i.e., 
ordained ministers on the roster of the Synod; candidates certified 
for initial placement, for example, by successful completion of 
colloquy; and ordained ministers in good standing on the roster of 
church bodies in altar and pulpit fellowship with the Synod), the 
word “only” highlighting the exclusive nature of this requirement. 
A congregation may not call an excluded individual. The words 
“and be served by” indicate that a congregation also may not be 
served by an excluded individual in a pastoral capacity (such as by 
his leading worship), even if it does not call him (cf. Op. 20-2957). 
By calling or being served by an excluded individual, the congre-