# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1941_S265
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Constitutional Matters 265

for six years, but rotation in membership shall be effected
ch a way that one half of the clerical members and one or two
laymen be elected at every triennial corivention. Vacancies
be filled from the reserve list of nominations, i.e., from the
ees left after the respective election.

Organization of Boards of Appeals
3) The boards of appeals shall elect a chairman, a vice-chair-
, and a secretary. Meetings shall be called by the secretary
n: instructions received from the chairman.

Authority of Boards of Appeals

4) The boards of appeals shall be authorized to make in-
igations in matters brought within their jurisdiction. Minutes,
cuments, and other material shall be made available to the

2)
pards. . Disqualification of Member _
5) If any member of a Board of Appeals is directly or in-
ectly involved in any appeal presented, the Board shall request
nother clergyman or layman from the reserve list of candidates

erve on the Board for such appeal.

Functions of Boards of Appeals

6) a. Boards of appeals shall function whenever an individual
ember or a congregation has been dealt with by an officer or
ommittee of a District or Synod and an appeal is made to the
B= District or to. Synod. If the action of a congregation, which alone
Beexercises the Office of the Keys, is in question, the Board of
ppeals is to recognize the sovereignty of the Christian congrega-
tion and may only review the action of the congregation according
the principles laid down in Scripture and advise the congre-
gation accordingly. Either the congregation’s action will be upheld,
or it may be advised to review and eventually to revise its action.
If a congregation. refuses to review its action according to the
Word of God, Synod shall declare such congregation as having
severed its membership in Synod.

b. If a question of membership in Synod is involved and the
‘appeal has been made to a District or to Synod, the respective
Board of Appeals shall review the matter in Christian charity
according to the Constitution of Synod and its By-laws.

c. Cases arising in a District involving suspension by District
officials, shall, if an appeal is made, be adjudicated by the District
_ Board of Appeals, which shall report its finding to the appellant and
to the District.

d. If District officials and committees, including the District
Board of Appeals and the District itself, have acted and an appeal
is made to Synod, the matter shall immediately and automatically
be referred by the President of Synod to Synod’s Board of Appeals,