# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1977_S212
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

212 RESOLUTIONS

raising income to meet or exceed these needs; and be it
further

Resolved, That beginning with the delegates
assembled here in convention we challenge each
member of our Synod to respond to Christ’s total claim
on our lives with committing ourselves to the Scriptural
principle of Christian stewardship: “firstfruit, percen-
tage giving”; and be it further

Resolved, That each resolution adopted at this or
any previous convention which does or may involve the
expenditure of funds in 1977, 1978, and 1979, excluding
expenditures for capital purposes for which borrowing
may have been specifically authorized, shall be
interpreted and carried out as being mandatory only to
the extent that there are current revenues, excluding
borrowed funds, available in those years for those
purposes. If such revenues are insufficient, the Board of
Directors is hereby authorized, in addition to other
procedures available to it, to borrow such sums as it
might determine to apply against the deficit, not to
exceed in each of those years a sum equal to five percent
of the finalized budget for such year. This is intended
and shall only be construed to grant authority to
borrow, exercisable or not as the Board of Directors
may determine and, if so exercised, only in such
amounts (subject to the maximum stated above), at
such times, and on such terms and conditions as the
board may determine; and be it finally

Resolved, That the Bylaws, including Bylaw 2.85 a,
3, are construed by the convention as not absolutely

Oe

PRESENT WORDING
IX. FINANCES
A. BUDGET AND WORK PROGRAMS

9.01 Budgeting Procedure

a. The Council of Administrators shall prepare
and submit biennially to the Board of Directors a
challenging work program for each of the Synod’s
boards and commissions with accompanying cost
estimates.

b. The Board of Directors shall receive for review
plans and policies which the boards and com-
missions of the Synod intend to submit to the
synodical convention. Any board or commisson shall
have the right to take its recommendations directly
to the synodical convention for final decision, even if
these recommendations lack the approval of the
Board of Directors, provided, however, that the views

requiring the balancing of income and operating
expenditures on a yearly basis but as permitting
borrowing to the extent authorized by this resolution.

Action: Adopted (14).

(The only substantive change from Res. 13-09A offered by
the committee seems to have been in enlarging the phrase in
the third resolve, which had originally merely read: “.. . 1979,
excluding for capital purposes, shall be interpreted and...”

To Revise Bylaw 9.01 et seq.
(Budget-Setting Procedure)

RESOLUTION 13-10A
Report 13-05 (CW, pp. 392—395)

WHEREAS, The New Orleans convention established
an ad-hoc committee to revise Bylaws for budget
preparation; and

WHEREAS, The Anaheim convention received this
report, adopted certain Bylaw changes, and asked the
commitee to continue to review the budgetary process
and propose any necessary Bylaw changes to the 1977
convention; and

WHEREAS, The committee has proposed a Bylaw
revision which has been endorsed in principle by the
Synod’s Board of Directors, Board of Stewardship,
Council of Administrators, and Fiscal Review Commis-
sion; therefore be it

Resolved, That a revised budget-setting procedure be
adopted by implementation of the following revision of
Bylaw 9.01 et seq.:

PROPOSED WORDING
IX. FINANCES

A. BUDGET AND WORK PROGRAMS

9.01 General

Stewardship is the management of the total
resources God has given His people individually and
collectively to carry out His mission and ministry.
Therefore it follows that the budgeting process and
the spending budget itself shall be designed to
capitalize on the opportunities for mission and
ministry challenging the Synod. A spending budget
for the two fiscal years beginning the February 1
following the synodical convention, together with a
proposed work program for the following two fiscal
years, shall be adopted by each convention. The
Board of Directors of the Synod may adjust the
adopted spending budget as hereinafter provided.

9.02 Budget Adoption Procedure

a. By November 30 of each year preceding the
biennial delegate convention every board, commis-
sion, and operating department of the Synod shall
submit to the Board of Directors through the Council
of Administrators its proposed spending budget for
the next fiscal biennium together with its proposed
work program for the following biennium. The
request shall be submitted on a current dollar basis
in the format and under the timetable prescribed by
the Board of Directors. All programs shall show total
costs and each agency’s total financial support,
including local, synodical, and any other support.
The Council of Administrators shall review the