CTX Board of Regents declines to seat new members

Update on Concordia University Texas from the LCMS Board of Directors

August 16, 2023

On Aug. 8, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Board of Directors (BOD) reached out to the Concordia University Texas (CTX), Austin, Texas, Board of Regents (BOR) seeking a board-to-board meeting in keeping with the spirit of Resolution 7-03, adopted on Aug. 1 by the Synod in convention. In that letter, the LCMS BOD also asked the CTX BOR:

To recognize and seat the four CTX regents elected by the Synod convention on Aug. 3; and

Not to seat anyone who has not been elected or appointed to the CTX BOR under Synod Bylaws.

The next day, on Aug. 9, CTX President Dr. Donald Christian notified the LCMS BOD via email that the four CTX regents elected by the Synod convention would not be seated on the CTX BOR.

Attached to Christian’s email were copies of letters from Christopher Bannwolf, CTX BOR chair, that previously had been sent to each of the four newly elected regents. Those letters referred to the regents’ “purported election” to the CTX BOR. They also claimed that the current CTX Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws “do not allow for Regents to be elected or appointed externally by someone else,” including by the LCMS convention.

The Synod BOD has been informed by Bannwolf that the CTX BOR will meet soon to discuss its response to the Synod BOD’s Aug. 8 letter requesting a meeting.

About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (lcms.org)

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, with nearly 2 million baptized members in some 6,000 congregations coast to coast, is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis. Through acts of witness and mercy, the church carries out its mission worldwide to make known the love of Jesus Christ.