A Picture Tells a Thousand Words: Proposed Structure Compared to Existing Structure

Rev. Joshua Scheer of Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bagley, MN, spent a good bit of time evaluating the structural changes in the BRTFSSG proposals. He has come up with the following two charts showing the elected and appointed offices today, and the same if all the BRTFSSG proposals are approved in Houston. He originally prepared these here on his church website but contacted us since they may be useful to help the church better understand the changes.

The difference in what the convention elects v.s. what the president and board of directors appoint are startling. We’ve all read the text, but as they say a picture is worth 1000 words and these just clarify, at least for me, what the structure changes might mean to us as a church.


Click on either picture below to see them at a higher resolution, or you can download PDF files of the Current or Proposed charts.

The Organizational Chart suggested by the BRTFSSG was previously reported by BJS in November of 2009 here (PDF here). It’s useful to look at that while you look at these two charts.

Elected and Appointed positions in the Current LCMS Structure
Elected and Appointed positions in the new structure as proposed by the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance

 

These files may be useful to help you interpret the chart above; they were developed during the research needed to generate those.


One issue not clear in the charts is that the proposed Board for International Mission and Board for National Mission (elected by the convention) are NOT program boards, i.e., they have no fiscal, legal, or personnel authority.

They are really what some organizations call a “President’s Advisory Council”. These are indicated by the dashed boxes on the proposed chart below. The Office of Internation/National Mission are the organizations who have authority, and these are staffed by the Chief Mission Officer who is appointed by the President.

From page 170 of Today’s Business:

(m) Mission Board: An officially established group of persons elected and appointed as prescribed in the Bylaws, charged with developing and determining policies for an operating function of the synod as prescribed in the Bylaws. These policies shall establish boundaries, parameters, and principles that guide the respective mission office in determining present and future activities and programs. The mission board shall have oversight of the implementation of these policies. The President of the Synod shall be responsible for supervising the implementation of mission board policies in accordance with his responsibilities under Article XI and Bylaws 3.3.1.1.1–3.3.1.3. (starting at line 36)

Definition of oversight above (line 48): For the purpose of these Bylaws, to monitor; to make inquiry and receive a response thereto; to make suggestions; to bring concerns to the attention of a higher authority.

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