The Office of the Secretary is a constitutional office of the Synod (Constitution Article XI D) and, with the Department of Rosters, Statistics, and Research Services (reporting to the Secretary; see Report R4.1) and the Department of Archives and History (on whose board the Secretary serves ex officio), a significant portion of its “organ of recording, recollection, and regulation.”
A. Constitutional and Customary Duties The Synod is first and foremost a confessional union. It is also a constitutional one, the offices, boards, commissions, and agencies being specifically empowered by the member congregations to serve them and on their behalf. The well-being and well-functioning of the whole as a confessional union, in which the congregations are served with what they need and the service on their behalf is what they have authorized, depends on the health of the constitutional part. While the polity of a church can take many forms, fundamental to each is that one runs only as sent to run, and that offices are received and not assumed. The structure of a church, to be worthy of being called that, must be able to regulate the teaching and practice, to keep the whole growing up “until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” together “into Him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This involves, at our scale, a constitutional framework
capable of supporting the ecclesiastical work this involves. The President is responsible for ecclesiastical supervision (Const. Art. XI B 1–3). The Board of Directors handles property, business, and legal matters (Const. Art. XI E 2) so the work of the Church can be less concerned with “civilian pursuits.” The Secretary’s work is specified but not so neatly bundled by the Constitution and Bylaws. But much of it comprises the necessary maintenance of the constitutional framework on which all else hangs, and in which a broad and diverse and long-running Synod of sinful people, if we are truly “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16). The Secretary, with the help of his office, carries out “all the customary duties of a corporate secretary” for corporate Synod, serves on the Board of Directors of the Synod, facilitates most of the official convention nomination, election, registration, and business processes, administers dispute resolution and expulsion processes, supervises the maintenance of the Synod’s official rosters and statistical information, and retains documents on Synod’s agencies, while performing “such other work as pertains to his office” or “as the Synod in convention, the President, or the Board of Directors may assign to him” (Bylaws 3.3.3, 3.3.3.2). It is a demanding office, even at the “minimum” defined in the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod. The office proper consists of the Secretary; an assistant to the secretary, Christian Boehlke—a new addition in this triennium, which has already proven to be useful in helping the office achieve electronic form submission and support major higher education governance and corporate formation requirement projects—and one office administrator, Lori Leighton, without whom I could not do. I am blessed and the Synod is blessed that the office has the support it has. There is never a slow day. We live by grace and sometimes have to ask for patience.
B. Analysis and Technological Advance The Synod convention and the Synod offices, districts, entities, and educational institutions, if they are to make wise and forward-looking decisions, must be properly informed by facts. The Synod has from its inception provided for the gathering and publishing of information on Lutheranism in America. The office continues to encourage submission of annual parochial statistics, which continues at a steadier 70–75 percent submission rate, with statistics less than three years old available for 85 percent of congregations and 93 percent of confirmed membership. This remains far below the “unanimous” expectation of Bylaw 1.3.4.3, particularly in the Eastern, Northwest, Southern Illinois, Minnesota North, California-Nevada-Hawaii, and English Districts, in which both more than 20 percent of congregations and more than 20 percent of people have not been reported on in at least three years (Southeastern, South Dakota, Texas, and Southern Districts lack recent reports on more than 20 percent of congregations, but not more than 20 percent of their people). As we try to understand the impact of events like COVID-19—from which attendance is now finally, largely, on aggregate, recovering to trend lines—or investigate the implications of change on things like circuit health and parameters, which we did this triennium, this is a significant impediment. It is but one of many areas in which congregational disengagement threatens our ability to serve as Synod as the congregations have asked and need. As circuit parameters for this convention have been discussed extensively in white papers prepared for the 2023 Res. 9-06A Circuit Alignment Task Force, I’ll not report further on that here.
While work with the “parochial service report” continues and we hope to have a significant report ready for floor committees on patterns of pastoral service and ordained minister supply and demand, we have not made the progress we’d like on supplying the Synod with deep and broad analysis or work with the entities to achieve an “enterprise data” approach of value to the Synod. Other areas of work—principally legal and governance matters—have taxed our capacity. Intention remains firm, and with a new triennium at hand, hope is being renewed.
C. Nominations and Elections The office supports the nomination and election processes of the Synod convention (Bylaw 3.12), performing the preliminary and final work for the Committee on Convention Nominations (CCN) as well as the administration of the processes for nomination of the President and his election and for the nomination of the vice-presidents of the Synod—these latter nomination processes being ballot-based and numerical. In the CCN process, a total of 459 individuals (210 ordained, 59 commissioned, and 190 lay), including incumbents, were nominated for at least one of the 62 officer, board, or commission positions to be filled by the convention through the work of the Committee on Convention Nominations (excluding the seven praesidium positions). Despite about 25 percent more nominations (including more duplicates), the total is the same as the previous triennium (though those were comprised of slightly more ordained, more commissioned, and fewer lay) but up from 347 the one previous. A new electronic system supported the process, enabled gathering of more complete and more timely information, eased the work of the committee, and reduced the amount of staff time required to be devoted to the process. We could still use more, and more thoughtful, nominations. The nominating process for President and vice-presidents, conducted electronically for the second time through Yes Elections (formerly Election America, the contractor used by the Synod since 2013 to conduct the election of the President), will be reported on separately. Registration of presidential voters, also online for the second time, is underway at the time of this report’s preparation. The accustomed, relatively low level of participation in these processes remains of concern for the Synod. The last two triennia, this office again provided a detailed report on participation in the online presidential election (2019 Today’s Business [TB] 2B:239–45; 2023 TB 2B:286–90). The pre-convention election of the President continues to deserve the convention’s careful review. The office continued its revised approach to convention-related communications this triennium, focusing on official notices and electronic communications with congregations, which can be more timely and have a broader reach than print. Districts were engaged to strongly encourage submission of congregational and congregational leader emails at lc.lcms.org, which have been used consistently and with timely information from online processes to remind multiple leaders in each congregation of opportunities to participate. There remain a small number of generally smaller congregations without many means of email contact and initial, “official” communications are still made on paper. Our evaluation is that this works probably better than the old postcard approach, although participation rates continue, across the board, on their accustomed downward trend—also a concern for the convention.
D. Facilitation of Appointment Processes, Vacancy and Regular The office facilitates appointment processes for positions elected by the convention that become vacant mid-term and for positions appointed by the Board of Directors and Council of Presidents. Annual appointments include Concordia Plans / Plan Services Boards of Trustees / Members and the Lutheran Church Extension Fund Board of Members; triennial appointments, the LCMS Foundation and Commissions on Constitutional Matters and Handbook, as well as various appointments by the Council of Presidents. This triennium saw a decline to a more typical rate of vacancy appointments under Bylaw 3.2.5: Board for National Mission, 2; Board for International Mission, 2; LCMS Foundation Board of Trustees, 1; Concordia University Chicago, 2; Concordia University, Nebraska, 1. District boards of directors and others often have the opportunity to participate in the nomination processes, and their input is generally low in volume but greatly appreciated. These processes, too, have been supported with a new electronic system, which is still working its way to full realization in the time we have to give it.
E. Dispute Resolution and Expulsion Processes The office administers the Synod’s processes of dispute resolution and expulsion, provides associated training, and has a key practical role, with the Commission on Constitutional Matters and Council of Presidents, in maintaining the processes’ Standard Operating Procedure Manuals. The triennium now drawing to a close saw the conclusion of hearing panel proceedings as follows: two expulsion proceedings under Bylaw section 2.14 (one is underway and one concluded by resignation after a panel was requested but before the hearing). Many suspensions of workers and congregations do not result in a panel, resolving instead in a removal by default or resignation. Reconcile rs on the Synod’s roster function extensively in the districts, whether in informal or formal capacities; this activity is not regularly reported to the Office of the Secretary. Appeals from panel decisions were requested in three of four concluded expulsion proceedings, but no review hearings were granted by an appeal panel. Given infrequent activation of reconcile rs and hearing facilitators by blind draw for panel roles, the office, together with the Commission on Constitutional Matters and Council of Presidents, is engaged in review of the training apparatus and size of the pools. Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Synod’s training partner, will be providing the January 2027 training online in an effort to increase accessibility and retention of material, as well as to shift cost from travel and lodging to the creation of “off-year” continuing education for hearing facilitators and already-roster ed reconcile rs.
F. Other Roles Reported Elsewhere The Secretary of the Synod serves ex officio on the Board of Directors of the Synod and the Concordia Historical Institute Board of Governors, as Secretary of both the Commission on Constitutional Matters and the Commission on Handbook. He regularly assists the Council of Presidents and is involved in many task forces and other efforts (including particularly, this triennium, the 2023 Res. 9-06A work on electoral circuit requirements); as these are reported on elsewhere and by others, these activities are not reported here. Suffice it to say that in everything touching on the Bylaws or the polity of the Synod, the office is usually in some way involved. Unusually extensive litigation this triennium as well as a change in legal counsel, the present vacancy in the Chief Administrative
Officer position, an abortive attempt to replace the Synod website, and a now-underway effort to replace and vastly increase the scope of corporate Synod’s constituent relationship management system—all touching on important aspects of the Office of the Secretary—have curtailed bandwidth for other important projects, like data analytics and the Commission on Constitutional Matters’ effort to revise congregational constitution guidelines. With a new triennium, hope may be renewed. Part of that hope rests on the board’s proposal to revise the Operations Team structure, to consolidate the Chief Financial and Chief Administrative Officers into one Chief Operating Officer and then build out under that officer a rank of high-caliber leaders for important areas of corporate Synod function, including legal, compliance, and information functions. It is hoped that some of the work that falls to this office can find its new and proper home, were that realignment to be achieved.
G. Conclusion I conclude with a note of appreciation for the many folks throughout the Synod whose concern for the Synod’s well-being and cooperation have made our work, to the extent it has been accomplished, possible. In Fiscal Year 2026, including the commissions and dispute resolution and expulsion, the staff of Rosters, Statistics, and Research Services, and all overhead, the office cost each parish in the Synod about $326, on which we earnestly attempt to deliver value, and to do so all the more effectively in years to come. (The Secretary also maintains the Council of Presidents budget, which amounts to an additional $44 per parish per year.) We remain deeply grateful for and humbled by the Synod’s investment in this work. Even though now augmented with the new position, we daily find ourselves taxed beyond capacity but with no shortage of opportunities for new and improved work with significant promise. The Synod is worth it and needs our work if it is to accomplish its vital objectives, for and on behalf of our member congregations. The Lord prosper the work of our hands so that the investment of the “diversity of gifts” in us may truly be “for the common profit.” John W. Sias, Secretary
used by the Synod’s districts and national office; and o • Implementation of a new online reporting tool for congregations to manage and submit lists of seventh–twelfth grade students in support of Set Apart to Serve and recruitment efforts by the Synod’s universities and seminaries.
- Redesign and upgrade of the LCMS internet locators (locator.lcms.org) with a focus on heightened security to thwart the increased level of attempts by external parties to scrape Synod’s data; this included adding a log-in element to access the information on roster ed church workers.
- Acquisition of new scanning hardware to support the continued updating and accessing of Synod’s roster archives.
- Implementation of the collection of an array of new statistical data points covering enrollment capacity, programs, staffing data, finances, and admissions practices on behalf of LCMS School Ministry.
Research Services provides a full range of research and analysis services for the Synod and its agencies. Close integration of Research Services with Rosters and Statistics and the Office of the Secretary, as well as close interaction with ministry units at the International Center, the Council of Presidents, and Synod’s partner agencies (CPS, LCEF, etc.) has proven fruitful in exploration of new approaches and fields of study with potential to impact the present and future ministry of the Synod and its constituents; the same connections will continue to grow in importance as core technologies and access to anal yz able data continue to be enhanced. Some of the key reports delivered in the past three years include the following: • Multiple studies on pastoral formation and routes to pastoral ministry.
- Extensive study of church worker wellness, surveying roster ed workers, congregation leaders, and district presidents.
- Research support for the Circuit Alignment Task Force (Res. 9-06A), including surveys of parish pastors and district presidents.
- Research support for the Created Male and Female Task Force (Res. 1-04A), including two major surveys of roster ed workers.
- Multiple yearly surveys of congregations, church workers, and LCMS youth in support of Set Apart to Serve.
- Program evaluation support for major events, including the 2023 Synod convention, the 2024 Worship Institute, and the 2025 LCMS Youth Gathering.