Official notice: Office of the Secretary (March 2020)

March 20, 2020

The 2019 convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, by a vote satisfying the required supermajority [Yes: 873; No: 77], adopted Res. 9-05, “To Amend the Constitution to Address Individual Membership and Advisory Representation.”

Article XV of the Constitution provides that a constitutional amendment adopted by a convention becomes effective “at the expiration of six months from the date on which the amendment is submitted for vote, provided a two-thirds majority of the votes cast within that period shall have favored the amendment.”

On September 16, 2019, this amendment was, by mail, submitted to the 5,888 member congregations for ratification. At the end of the six-month voting period, on March 16, 2020, a total of 1,334 valid ballots had been received. In the process, 118 invalid ballots were returned for correction (100 of which were ultimately returned as valid votes) and 104 replacement ballots were mailed (72 of which were returned as valid votes). At the end of the period, only 8 timely but invalid ballots remained, having been received too late to be returned for correction. Ballots received after the deadline are invalid.

The Secretary of the Synod is required by Const. Art. XV to announce the outcome of the vote by districts in an official periodical of the Synod. That outcome is as follows:

District

Yes

No

Atlantic

8

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

California/Nevada/Hawaii

33

(94.3%)

2

(5.7%)

Central Illinois

47

(97.9%)

1

(2.1%)

Eastern

13

(92.9%)

1

(7.1%)

English

35

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Florida-Georgia

28

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Indiana

76

(98.7%)

1

(1.3%)

Iowa East

37

(97.4%)

1

(2.6%)

Iowa West

43

(89.6%)

5

(10.4%)

Kansas

52

(94.5%)

3

(5.5%)

Michigan

88

(95.7%)

4

(4.3%)

Mid-South

24

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Minnesota North

60

(96.8%)

2

(3.2%)

Minnesota South

77

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Missouri

60

(96.8%)

2

(3.2%)

Montana

14

(93.3%)

1

(6.7%)

Nebraska

57

(96.6%)

2

(3.4%)

New England

10

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

New Jersey

8

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

North Dakota

12

(92.3%)

1

(7.7%)

North Wisconsin

48

(96.0%)

2

(4.0%)

Northern Illinois

26

(96.3%)

1

(3.7%)

Northwest

62

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Ohio

37

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Oklahoma

8

(33.3%)

16

(66.7%)

Pacific Southwest

34

(94.4%)

2

(5.6%)

Rocky Mountain

28

(96.6%)

1

(3.4%)

SELC

7

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

South Dakota

26

(96.3%)

1

(3.7%)

South Wisconsin

54

(98.2%)

1

(1.8%)

Southeastern

41

(97.6%)

1

(2.4%)

Southern

17

(89.5%)

2

(10.5%)

Southern Illinois

32

(100.0%)

0

(0.0%)

Texas

55

(98.2%)

1

(1.8%)

Wyoming

19

(82.6%)

4

(17.4%)

SYNOD TOTAL

1276

(95.7%)

58

(4.3%)

As the amendment of 2019 Res. 9-05 has obtained the required two-thirds majority in the affirmative, it therefore now stands ratified and in effect, as reflected in the 2019 Handbook of the Synod, along with the commensurate bylaw changes noted in the Handbook’s foreword. The various Handbook footnotes that indicate how the text would have read, should the amendment have failed of ratification, may now be disregarded.

John W. Sias
LCMS Secretary

Posted March 23, 2020