The president and council can only exercise there ecclesiastical supervision over synodical matters and not local congregations. Their jurisdiction only extends to the synod offices , seminaries and missions. Being a pastor at a local congregation does not allow them anymore jurisdiction in the synod as it does in a local congregation where the voters make the decision. The congregations are autonomous.
Unfortunately there is a power play within synod to take away the voting privileges of the laity and to have the congregations totally under the jurisdiction of the synod according to their assumption of episcopal polity. This takes away from the original statements of CFW Walther where the congregation has the right to call a pastor and judge doctrine.
As the possessor of all church power, the local congregation must be divinely instituted by God. Walther would quote the Lutheran Confessions to prove that:
1. The full authority of the Gospel belongs to the lay people:
Smalcald Articles Par. 67, Trig. p. 523"For wherever the Church [local congregation] is, there is the authority [command] to administer the Gospel . . . Just as in a case of necessity even a layman absolves, and becomes the minister and pastor of another; as Augustine narrates the story of two Christians in a ship, one of whom baptized the catechumen, who after baptism then absolved the baptizer.")
2. Christ gives supreme and final jurisdiction to the local congregation:
Treatise, Concordia Triglotta, p. 511 par. 24-25"...the keys belong not to the person of one particular man, but to the Church, as many most clear and firm arguments testify. For Christ, speaking concerning the keys adds, Matt. 18, 19: If two or three of you shall agree on earth, etc. THEREFORE HE GRANTS THE KEYS PRINCIPALLY AND IMMEDIATELY TO THE CHURCH, just as also for this reason the Church has principally the right of calling. [For just as the promise of the Gospel belongs certainly and immediately to the entire Church, so the keys belong immediately to the entire Church, because the keys are nothing else than the office whereby this promise is communicated to everyone who desires it, just as it is actually manifest that the Church has the power to ordain ministers of the Church. And Christ speaks in these words:Whatsoever ye shall bind, etc., and indicates to whom He has given the keys, namely, to the Church: Where two or three are gathered together in My name. Likewise CHRIST GIVES SUPREME AND FINAL JURISDICTION TO THE CHURCH, WHEN HE SAYS: TELL IT UNTO THE CHURCH.] Therefore it is necessary that in these passages Peter is the representative of the entire assembly of the apostles, and for this reason they do not accord to Peter any prerogative or superiority, or lordship [which he had, or was to have had, in preference to the other apostles.
3. The Confessions teach that the congregation elects its own pastor.
Treatise, Concordia Tiglotta 69] Lastly, the statement of Peter also confirms this, 1 Pet. 2, 9: Ye are a royal priesthood. These words pertain to the true Church, which certainly has the right to elect and ordain ministers since it alone has the priesthood. 72] From all these things it is clear that the Church retains the right to elect and ordain ministers. also Eph. 4:8, 1Pet. 2:9; Acts 6-7, 14:23, Titus 1:7, 1Tim. 3:10)
4. The congregation is above the ministers.:
Treatise, Concordia Triglotta, p. 507, par. 11 In 1 Cor. 3, 6, Paul makes ministers equal, and teaches that THE CHURCH IS ABOVE THE MINISTERS. Hence superiority or lordship over the Church or the rest of the ministers is not ascribed to Peter [in preference to other apostles]. For he says thus: All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, i.e., let neither the other ministers nor Peter assume for themselves lordship or superiority over the Church; let them not burden the Church with traditions; let not the authority of any avail more than the Word [of God]; let not the authority of Cephas be opposed to the authority of the other apostles, as they reasoned at that time: 'Cephas, who is an apostle of higher rank, observes this; therefore, both Paul and the rest ought to observe this.' Paul removes this pretext from Peter, and denies [Not so, says Paul, and makes Peter doff his little hat, namely, the claim] that his authority is to be preferred to the rest or to the Church." see also Matt. 18:17, Col. 4:17, 1Peter 5:1-3, 2Cor. 8:8
5. The Confessions teach that the congregation is the final tribunal in church discipline.
Trig. 511 Par. 24-25 "Christ gives supreme and final jurisdiction to the church
" also Matt. 18:17-18; Acts 1:15, 23-26; 15:5, 12-13, 22-23; 1Cor. 5:2, 6:2, 10:15, 12:7, 2Cor. 2:6-8, 2Thess: 3:15)
6. The Confessions teach that the sheep judge their shepherd in all doctrine.
Trig. 525 par.72
the churches are in duty bound before God,
because Paul, Gal. 1: 7f , enjoins that bishops who teach and defend a godless doctrine and godless services should be regarded as accursed, also Matt. 7:15-23, 1John 4:1, 1Cor. 10:15, Matt. 23:10, 1Thess. 5:1, Mark 10: 42-44, Acts 17:11, 2Pet. 2:1, 1Cor.14: 29, Rev. 2:2)
7. The Confessions teach that the congregation and not the Synod is church, hence synods are human organizations.:
Augsburg Confessions VII & VIII p. 47 Likewise Christ gives supreme and final jurisdiction to the Church, when He says: Tell it unto the Church. Trig. 511 par. 24, also The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered., also Pieper, Vol. III, 421; also Preamble, LCMS Constitution, p. 8, Reason for the Forming of a Synodical Union: 1. The example of the apostolic church, Acts 15:1-31)