Coming Soon – the LCC District Convention Season!

It’s that time of the triennium where all three LCC Districts hold their conventions! And what conventions they will be where the main order of business will be to receive a number of reports, acknowledge service anniversaries, nominate people to positions in the restructured Synod (1), and a elect a new Board.

For the East District, all its ecclesiastical responsibilities will be eliminated and its governing documents will turn it into a holding company responsible for managing its CEF.

Central District‘s new Board will run the “business” of the District until the time comes to turn off the lights. From the Central District Convention Workbook:

These new bylaws will replace the existing bylaws as of January 1, 2019, putting in place a four-member board to see that all bills are paid, reports filed, and that remaining District assets are transferred to Lutheran Church-Canada.

I expect ABC District‘s workbook to look similar to Central District’s with the exception of having to deal with the aftermath of

• telling membership one thing when the reality was different for over two decades,
• blowing a $50M hole in its depositors’ savings,
• launching a task force to look into the matter and then shutting it down,
• refusing to discuss what happened,
• staffing the office exclusively with people named in the Representative Action,
• failing to take any discernible action with respect to ecclesiastical supervision,
• having the audacity to pick a theme of ““Called to Proclaim His Righteousness…To a People Not Yet Born” for its final convention

I can only speculate how all this may have contributed to ABC District’s July 27, 2018 Convention Bulletin #3 statement “Over half of our congregations have not submitted the delegate forms.” (Delegate forms were due June 25, 2018). According to the 2012 ABC District handbook “The presence of at least one third of the voting members of the corporation shall constitute a  quorum for the holding of any such meeting.”  If ABC District cannot achieve quorum then it cannot transact business. No business means no elections, no nominations, no change of constitution, etc. to allow for winding up the District as a corporation, etc.

I sincerely doubt it’ll come to that – but if so….

There is a curse “May you live in interesting times.” For Synod and ABC District, these are indeed “interesting times.”

(1) LCC’s new constitution does not allow for placing Regional Pastors until on or after Synod’s 2021 convention. The 2017 Synod convention motion that purportedly allowed for filling these positions before then is null and void to the extent it is in conflict with the governing documents Synod had passed earlier during the same convention.