The name of this church body shall be the International Lutheran Fellowship.

Section 1. As an evangelical Christian Fellowship in general and a Lutheran fellowship in particular, the International Lutheran Fellowship accepts and acknowledges the Holy Scriptures as the divinely inspired and revealed Word of God, inerrant and wholly reliable, and the only infallible rule and standard for faith and practice. The International Lutheran Fellowship is unreservedly and without compromise dedicated to the "holding fast the faithful Word" of the Holy Scriptures (Titus 1:9), and to the "contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints," (Jude 3). It accepts and confesses not only the three oldest creeds of Christendom (The Apostolic, the Nicene, and the Athanasian) as faithful summaries of the central truths of Scriptures, but also the unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true exposition of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity together with the further development of these doctrines as contained in the Lutheran Confessions found in the Book of Concord in the sense that these confessions themselves declare in the Preface of the Formula of Concord.

Section 2. This article shall not be changed.

Section 1. To fulfill its biblical and confessional mandate, the International Lutheran Fellowship, in accordance with Acts 2:42, is to promote

Section 2. To serve as a church body for ministers and communities of faith who subscribe to the doctrines and confessions outlined in its supporting constitution and by-laws; and who make proper application for membership and are duly received in the manner described in this constitution.

Section 3. To maintain an active roster of the ministers and communities of faith who are members of this church body.

Section 4. To promote programs and activities which are in agreement with the purposes of this church body.

Section 5. To examine and ordain candidates for the Holy Ministry.

Section 6. To receive and distribute funds for the promotion of the Kingdom of God.

Section 7. To promote the unity in the Body of Christ in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4), the International Lutheran Fellowship is a non-profit Christian Corporation organized solely for the mutual benefit and help of its membership in the establishment of the Kingdom of God. It seeks to connect and guide, to foster and encourage love and fellowship in accord with the faith and practice of the Church.

Section 1. Definition of Membership

communities of faith who subscribe to the doctrinal statement in this Constitution and who have been received into membership in the manner described in this Constitution.

Section 2. Ministers

Bishops. Ministers who are Commissioned or Consecrated, and thereby considered ministers by definition, although not ordained ministers, are Teachers, Evangelists, Deaconesses, Men and Women in monastic Religious Communities, Parish Nurses, Church Musicians [Ministers of Music], and others who may be so designated by appropriate amendment of this Constitution and By-Laws. All ministers, ordained or not, may be full members of the ministeria of the International Lutheran Fellowship and participate in its functions in their respective office.

The Order of Deacons as established by the Apostles in Acts 6 is a class of ordained clergy entrusted with a ministry of assisting in worship, preaching and baptizing with the permission of the bishop or pastor in authority, evangelizing, visiting, comforting the sick, and serving the world with Christ’s love. In worship, the deacon traditionally distributes the Blood of Christ to communicants, and may take the Sacrament to the sick with the permission of the local authority. The deacon teaches and catechizes, and engages in other such Christian work as may be determined by the local community. Deacons are to exhibit the apostolic description in I Timothy 3, and may be male or female. The office of Deacon is permanent in duration and universal in its utilization in the Churches. It is conferred by a rite of ordination normally administered by a bishop in apostolic orders.

The Order of Presbyter witnessed to in the New Testament consists of persons called from among the people of God ordered to the service of Word and Sacrament ministry. In addition to those duties enumerated in Section 3 for the Order of Deacons, the following are the normal callings of the pastoral office:

Pastors are to strive to exhibit the qualifications for elders stated in the Pauline and Johannine epistles of the New Testament. They are normally to be formed through a seminary recognized by this church body, and to have served as a deacon (as in the vicariates often required by seminaries) no less than six months prior to ordination approval, unless the executive board accepts an alternative work therefor. The office of Pastor is permanent in duration and universal in its utilization in the Churches. It is conferred by a rite of ordination administered by a bishop. Because of the office’s representation of Christ at the Altar and in light of the teaching and practice of the New Testament, with the whole church until recently, the office of Pastor (Presbyter/Elder/Priest) is limited to males.

The Order of Bishop witnessed to in the New Testament consists of persons called from among the people of God ordered to the service of oversight in the Word and Sacrament ministry. In addition to those duties enumerated in Section 4 for the Order of Pastors, the following are the normal callings of the episcopal office:

Bishops are to strive to exhibit the qualifications for their office stated in the Pauline and Johannine epistles of the New Testament. They are viewed as successors to the apostolic office, as recorded in the New Testament. They normally ought to have served in the office of Pastor for at least ten years. The office of Bishop is permanent in duration and universal in its utilization in the Churches. It is conferred by a rite of ordination administered by three bishops in apostolic orders. Because of the office’s inherent apostolic overtones, its representation of Christ at the Altar, and in light of the teaching and practice of the New Testament, with the whole church until recently, the office of Bishop is limited to males.

Pastors selected to be Bishops from among the membership of and in service for the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be nominated at one annual synod of the church body. Candidates will have a period of discernment to accept or decline nomination lasting no more than one year. Candidates who accept such nomination shall then be presented to the next annual synod for election. All ballots for bishop shall be by paper (secret) vote, which shall follow an invocation of the Holy Spirit in a form to be determined by the presiding officer, who shall be a bishop in this church body. A three-quarters majority of the House of Clergy, including unanimous approval of the sitting bishops present and voting, and a simple majority of the House of Delegates, shall elect the candidate. Having accepted nomination, the candidate shall indicate his acceptance of the election, which shall complete the process of election. A date and place for the Liturgy of Episcopal Ordination shall be set and announced while the particular synod which elected the new bishop is in session, and shall be held prior to the next annual synod.

Bishops of other church bodies who wish membership in the International Lutheran Fellowship shall have their application for membership presented as any new member would (see Article IV, Section 8, below) at an annual synod following approval of the executive board. The approval of membership of a bishop shall require the same form of ballot as in the election of a bishop, with the exception that the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and the processes of nomination and ordination will be omitted. The new member bishop will be seated as a member following the vote with all the rights and privileges of his episcopal office, providing he has been ordained as described above in his previous expression of the Church.

Communities of Faith are established assemblies gathering around the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments (Augsburg Confession VII). Some communities of faith are congregations formally established to fulfill the local function of being the Church of Jesus Christ in the Lutheran tradition. Some communities of faith are missions which may or may not become congregations. Communities of faith for this definition are to be distinguished from ministries of the Church which have specific functions to fulfill for the Church but which are not communities gathered around Word and Sacrmament, such as Schools, Youth Groups, Hospitals, Clinics, or other social, educational, or service ministries established by the church. Such ministries may be identified as members of this church body as a ministry, but not as a community of faith, so as to delineate constitutive (voting) members from affiliated members (which would be non-voting). Communities of Faith are:

Although not primarily gathered around a location where Word and Sacrament ministry is conducted, the International Lutheran Fellowship shall maintain a roster of interested individual Lutherans who may or may not be connected to another Lutheran congregation, and who are dispersed throughout the world, especially including those who have difficulty in relating to any established local congregation or community of faith. This roster shall be known as the World Lutheran Parish and shall be regarded as a community of faith as defined in Section 6. The local ministerial deans shall have pastoral oversight for those members of this parish in their geographical areas of ministry in such ways as are possible, including the attempt to provide at least an annual Word and Sacrament ministry to members of this parish. The lay members of this parish shall be entitled to voting delegates as would any other community of faith. A Missionary Bishop will be assigned pastoral care of those not in a ministerium area.

Admission to the roster of Ministerial Members or to the roster of Communities of Faith of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall follow the following procedure:

Membership in this church body may end in the following ways:

The Synod (which is the historic ecclesiastical word for "meeting" in Greek, not used to imply any hierarchical structure or particular type of power flow, nor to indicate a structure akin to other American Lutheran denominations), shall meet annually in a place to be designated by the previous synod. All ministers on the membership roster (ordained and commissioned) and delegates from all communities of faith on the membership roster are encouraged to attend and have voting rights at meetings of the Synod in the manner herein described. The decisions of the Annual Synod in matters not pertaining to directives in this Constitution and By-Laws shall constitute the policy and authority of the International Lutheran Fellowship. Although the members of the Synod will commonly meet together, its votes shall be taken according to the House in which their membership adheres. The simple majority of both houses concurring on issues shall be sufficient to adopt a motion. Unless there is sufficient reason the chair of a meeting determines, such votes may be taken simultaneously. The two Houses so determined are the House of Clergy and House of Delegates. The ordinary chair of the Synod is the Presiding Bishop.

All ministers of the International Lutheran Fellowship, as defined in Article IV of this constitution, shall be members of the House of Clergy, and shall each have one vote. The Presiding Bishop shall normally preside over this house if it meets separately.

Each community of faith, as defined in Article IV of the constitution, shall select two lay members of its community to be delegates to the Synod and its House of Delegates. While the community may bind them to vote in certain manners in known issues before the Synod, they have the freedom to exercise their votes in session as they determine. If a congregation as a community of faith has more than 500 voting members in its own constitutional definition, it is entitled to an additional delegate to the House of Delegates, and if more than 1,000, another, in like manner an additional delegate per 500 additional members. There shall be a lay delegate elected by the House of Delegates, meeting separately at the beginning of the Synod, who shall serve as Chair of that House if it meets separately for votes or other business during the Synod, and who shall serve meetings of the Synod as Vice President for that year’s Synod.

The authority to execute the decisions of the Synod shall reside in an Executive Board, which shall submit an annual report of its activities to the Synod. It shall govern the church body in conformity with this Constitution and By-Laws and the decisions of the Annual Synods between synods. The Executive Board shall have the authority to schedule special meetings, and shall always meet at the site of the annual synod in advance of the synod to carry out preparatory and constitutional duties. It may meet by telephone or other electronic means at times it determines. Decisions of the Executive Board will be by majority vote of those present and voting at all meetings called to which appropriate notice has been given to all entitled to be present. The Members of the Executive Board shall be:

If a Board member wishes to resign, the resignation will be placed in writing to be presented to the Board and sent to the Secretary of the Board with a copy to the Presiding Bishop. Vacancies in board memberships will be filled at the following annual synod. Should a vacancy occur in the office of Presiding Bishop, the administrative duties of the Presiding Bishop on the Executive Board will be filled by the Vice President, and the spiritual duties by one of the other bishops or a dean, such person appointed by the board to act until the next synod.

The ministries of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be organized in geographical areas to be determined by the Annual Synod on recommendation of the Executive Board or Missionary Bishop. Each area is called a ministerium. The member ministers in each ministerium shall attempt to meet periodically, depending on geographical and financial circumstances, for fellowship, worship, prayer, Bible Study, and mutual support. Since it is not envisioned that business be enacted as a normal part of these ministeria, the delegates of the Communities of Faith do not normally meet with the ministeria unless some special reason determines it. Fellowship opportunities, missions, and possible joint ministries of the local communities of faith may, however, involve those communities in mutual support.

and provide the ministerium members with pastoral care on behalf of the church body. He shall be a pastor or bishop, and be resident in the territory of the Ministerium. The Presiding Bishop or the Missionary Bishop shall make such appointment initially. If the appointee is not a bishop, he shall be granted the title of Dean, noting his representation of the bishop in the oversight of the particular territory of that ministerium. The dean shall serve until he resigns, dies, or retires, or if the Executive Board or Synod removes him from office. Upon a vacancy in the office of Dean in an established ministerium, the members of the ministerium shall select a new Dean by ecclesiastical ballot in the manner prescribed for a synod to elect a bishop in Article IV, Section 5, above. Such election shall be reported to the Executive Board, on which the new Dean will serve immediately. New Deans will be installed by a Bishop at a convenient time.

Unless a bishop serves in a specific area as described in Article V, Section 6, above, he is designated a Missionary Bishop, and as such has the duty of pastoral care of those not organized into ministeria. He also is to seek to spread the Gospel anywhere in the world to which he may have ability to reach, and, where possible, to assist in organizing new ministries and supporting pastors who show interest in this church body. There may be more than one missionary bishop, depending upon the determination of annual synods. In this way the disparate regions of the world are given ministry. A Missionary Bishop will be considered the Pastor of the World Lutheran Parish, with pastoral care responsibility for those not under the care of other bishops or deans.

Since the office of Bishop in itself is permanent, the bishops of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall work in harmony with each other to effect the purposes of this church body. Retired bishops shall be responsible to the Executive Board, on which they remain, for whatever assignments they may be able to accept. No bishop will interfere in the work of other bishops. One bishop shall be designated Presiding Bishop, and he will be the chief officer of the church body, to which all other bishops report. Bishops as a college advise each other in such ways as they determine. All have authority of oversight. Some may serve a ministerium (local area, the traditional application); others are missionary, as described above.

One ministerial member of the church body shall be chosen as Presiding Bishop. He shall be the chief executive officer of the church body, and his term shall be perpetual, until the time of his death, resignation, or removal. He shall be the chairman of the Executive Board as described above (Article V, Section 4). Should he be the subject of charges which could remove him, the matter would be handled in the same manner as described in Article IV, Section 9, Item c, with the Executive Board having the authority to temporarily suspend him until the next meeting of synod, the duties being filled in the manner described in Article V, Section 4.

The Presiding Bishop shall be a God-fearing man, pious and firmly established in evangelical and missionary zeal. He shall be a man of good judgement, just, and with a strong desire for fellowship among God’s people. As much as possible, he shall be a man of practical and representative endowments. He shall give evidence by life and testimony that he is a saved sinner by grace, with an earnest desire and passion to be true to the heavenly vision of his calling and service to the Saviour and Master, the Lord, Jesus Christ. Prior to his selection as Presiding Bishop, he shall be an ordained Bishop or Pastor in good standing on the ministerial rolls of the International Lutheran Fellowship.

Section 3. Duties of the Office of Presiding Bishop

The Presiding Bishop shall preside over the entire life and work of the International Lutheran Fellowship in such ways to glorify the Master, Jesus Christ. Specifically, he will

In addition, the Presiding Bishop shall oversee the administration of the International Lutheran Fellowship with a goal towards efficiency as well as expansion.

When it is known that in the next year a new presiding bishop is to be elected, nominations shall be made by secret ballot for this office at the annual synod by all entitled to a vote. Only those who are currently pastors or bishops are candidates. If a Pastor is nominated who is not a Bishop, that person shall fulfill all the requirements for the election and ordination of a bishop contained in Article IV, Section 5. At that meeting, no more than three nominations shall be selected, balloting taking place until only three candidates remain. During the following year a time of discernment is held. Those of the three candidates who remain in nomination at the synod of election shall be the only nominees then allowed, except all fail of election and the Holy Spirit leads the synod to a party not previously nominated, in which case a unanimous vote of both houses would be required for election. Failing that, the procedure begins again. The election shall be conducted in the same manner as that for the election of a pastor to be a bishop, whether or not the nominees are pastors or bishops, as contained in Article IV, Section 5. If a

pastor is elected Presiding Bishop, he shall be installed as Presiding Bishop at the same service at which he is ordained a bishop, such service to be arranged in the same manner as described in that article. If a ministerial member already a bishop is chosen Presiding Bishop, he shall be installed such at the main liturgy of the synod at which he was elected by the outgoing presiding bishop, or by the most senior ILF Bishop present at that synod. The authority to preside over administrative matters comes with that installation. Should a pastor be elected and the installation be delayed until episcopal ordination, the synod may vote to name the Presiding Bishop-elect "Apostolic Administrator" and to serve in such administrative capacity until his installation as Presiding Bishop.

The Vice President of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be a lay member elected by the House of Delegates at each Synod for a one-year term, and shall be eligible for re-election, providing he or she remains a member of the House of Delegates at the electing synod. He shall serve as described in Sections 3 and 4 of Article V, above, and may be removed from office in the manner described in Article IV, Section 9c, if necessitated.

of this church body or a lay member of one of its communities of faith. He or she shall be a person of faith and dedication to the work of the Lord.

The Secretary of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be elected upon nomination by the annual synod of this church body by majority vote of both houses voting jointly. The term of office shall be four years, and the incumbent may be re-elected without term limit. In the case of vacancy in the office of secretary due to the resignation or demise of this officer, the Presiding Bishop shall appoint a qualified person to serve as Acting Secretary until the next annual synod, at which time a person shall be elected to fulfill the remaining term of the former secretary. If the term of Secretary would have expired at that synod, the election would be for the full term.

The Duties of the Secretary of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be as follows:

of this church body or a lay member of one of its communities of faith. He or she shall be a person of faith and dedication to the work of the Lord.

The Treasurer of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be elected upon nomination by the annual synod of this church body by majority vote of both houses voting jointly. The term of office shall be four years, and the incumbent may be re-elected without term limit. The term of office of the Secretary shall begin in one year, the term of office of the Treasurer the next year. In the case of vacancy in the office of Treasurer due to the resignation or demise of this officer, the Presiding Bishop shall appoint a qualified person to serve as Acting Treasurer until the next annual synod, at which time a person shall be elected to fulfill the remaining term of the former treasurer. If the term of Treasurer would have expired at that synod, the election would be for the full term.

The Duties of the Treasurer of the International Lutheran Fellowship shall be as follows:

By-Laws may be adopted which are not in conflict with this Constitution or the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Confessions. Such By-Laws shall be proposed and ratified in the same manner as amendments to this Constitution (see Section 2 of this Article).

Proposed amendments to this Constitution shall be presented in writing to the Executive Board for review and consideration at least ninety (90) days prior to the annual Synod at which such amendments will be presented for adoption. The Executive Board shall prepare recommendations regarding such proposed amendments to the Synod, and notify in writing all those with authority to vote at the synod of such proposed amendments in detail.

Proposed Amendments, with the Recommendations concerning them from the Executive Board, shall be discussed during business at the annual Synod. Amendments of a grammatical or minor nature proposed during the course of discussion of amendments presented in accordance with Section 2 will be in order if they are determined to be non-substantial by the opinion of the Presiding Bishop or, if contested, by the simple majority vote of both houses. If they are determined to be substantial, they will be referred back to the Executive Board for presentation at a subsequent Synod. Amendments shall be approved if they receive a two-thirds affirmative vote by both houses voting separately. Upon the declaration of such balloting by the Presiding Bishop in Synod, such amendments shall be approved and in force.