Our Constitution and Bylaws

Click here to read the January update

Click here to read the January Church Council decision

Background and History

The Constitution Revision Committee significantly revised and updated our Constitution in late 2006. The Committee submitted the changes to the congregation for review, then to the Immanuel Voters' Assembly, which approved the revisions.  However, before the revised Constitution could be submitted to the Florida District for their approval, the Revision Committee discovered that the church Bylaws must also be updated and submitted to the District at the same time as the revised Constitution.  The Committee began the project to update the Bylaws in early 2007, but project completion was delayed for a variety of reasons. 

The Committee was reformed and reconvened in mid-2011, completing a draft of the the church and school bylaws with the help and input of the boards and committees of Immanuel.  After a period of congregational review and additional changes, the revised documents were presented to the Church Council for their review. 

Finally, the revised documents were presented to the Immanuel Voters' Assembly on December 4, 2011.  The Assembly voters agreed to send the revised Constitution and Bylaws to the Florida-Georgia District for its review and approval.

The Documents

All documents are in Adobe Reader format (pdf)   and may be printed or downloaded.  If you need the free Acrobat Reader, download it here.

If you have any questions, please contact the Immanuel Council Secretary via e-mail here. 

Constitution

Click here for the Old and Revised Constitution .   

Click here to see only the revised Constitution . 

Bylaws

Click here for the Old and Revised Bylaws . 

Click here to see only the revised Bylaws . 

January 2012 Update 

The Florida-Georgia District reviewed our documents and sent this response:

"The Constitution Committee of the FL-GA District has received and reviewed the proposed changes to the Constitution/Bylaws of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Brandon, FL. Your Committee has done a thorough and excellent job in their work.

"There is one area that needs your further attention. In the Bylaws under Article 2, NOMINATIONS, sub point 2.1.4, your Bylaws state: "Women may serve as officers and members of boards and committees as long as these positions are not directly involved in any function of the pastoral office and as long as this service does not violate the order of creation (usurping authority over men). Accordingly women shall not serve as Pastor, President, Vice-President, or as a member of the Board of Elders."

"In 2004, the LC-MS meeting in Convention passed Resolution 3-08A, "To Affirm the Conclusions of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations report, 'The Service of Women in Congregational and Synodical Offices'. As a result of that vote, the LC-MS suggests the following paragraph for congregations to address this matter:

""Women may serve as officers and members of all boards and committees of this congregation which do not call upon them to carry out the specific functions of the pastoral office (preaching in or serving as the leader of the public worship service, the public adminstration of the sacraments, the public exercise of church discipline). Accordingly women shall not serve as pastor of this congregation or as a member of the Board of Elders."   (The Service of Women in Congregational and Synodical Offices - Guidelines for Congregations, January 2005)

"It is now perfectly acceptable within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod for a women to serve as President or Vice-president of its member congregation since, the definition of the functions of the pastoral office listed above by the Synod do not include administration of the congregation by its lay leaders. The exercise of the President and Vice-president are not functions of the pastoral office, they are officers of an incorporated body by the State of Florida as well as leaders of a congregation.

"Under Bylaw Article 2, NOMINATIONS, sub point 2.1.4 your document also states that the service of women should "... not violate the order of creation (usurping authority over men). ..." This should be dropped from your Bylaws. The 'usurping authority over man' means that a women gains authority by unscrupulous means. If a women is nominated for office, the list of nominees is published for the congregation, and a majority of the members of the congregation elect her to office, she is not 'usurping' authority. She has been given authority to serve as a leader in the congregation by the choice and will of the entire congregation.

"Everything else in the documents is in good order. The next step for your committee is to meet and discuss the above. When that has been settled, submit to the District Constitution Committee any changes for our review. The next step is to then submit our findings and recommendations to the District Board of Directors for their consideration. The next meeting of the Board is January 27, 2012, so we have time to work on this."

Note from the Revision Committee:  You can read Resolution 3-08A, "To Affirm the Conclusions of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations report, 'The Service of Women in Congregational and Synodical Offices' here.  The report is also listed with the other Convention reports on the Synod website here.

Please direct any questions to the following Committee members: Doug Felton (e-mail here), David King (e-mail here), or Pastor Brammeier (e-mail here).