Constitutional Amendment Ballot Results (April 2017)

March 16, 2017

Article XV of the Constitution provides that constitutional amendments adopted by a convention become effective six months from the date on which ballots are mailed to the congregations of the Synod, “provided a two-thirds majority of the votes cast within that period shall have favored the amendment[s].” The Synod’s 2016 convention made three such amendments:

11-09, “To Allow Voting Privilege for Assistant Pastors” amends Article V B and Article XII 10 B by removing “assistant pastors” from the Constitution’s two lists of “advisory members [only].”

11-18, “To Clarify and Confirm the Distinction between Synod and Corporate Synod and to Provide Consistency for the Meaning of ‘Property of the Synod’ Regarding Article IV Powers,” amends Article IV by inserting, after “Synod,” the words “in convention is empowered to and has formed corporate entities which.”

11-19, “To Clarify and Confirm the Distinction between Synod and Corporate Synod and to Provide Consistency for the Meaning of ‘Property of the Synod’ Regarding Article XI,” amends Article XI E 2 to replace instances of “Synod” with “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod” and to clarify that “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.”

Ballots were mailed to all voting congregations of the Synod on September 15, 2016. Balloting was completed on March 15, 2017. A total of 1,514 properly completed, official ballots were received from the 5,995 voting congregations of the Synod, of which ballots 25 were received completely blank. An additional 20 non-original or otherwise spoiled ballots were received and not corrected before the deadline, and 13 ballots have thus far been received after the deadline, none of which can be accepted. The Secretary of the Synod is required by Article XV of the Synod’s Constitution to announce the outcome of the voting by districts in an official periodical of the Synod. That outcome is as follows:

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As each of the amendments has obtained the required two-thirds majority in the affirmative, each is therefore ratified and now in effect, and will be reflected as such in a forthcoming, updated edition of the Handbook.

John W. Sias, LCMS Secretary

Posted March 16, 2017