# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1975_S182 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 182 ADMINISTRATION istrative Officer of the Board of Directors, the Executive Secre- tary of the Board for Stewardship, and two District Steward- ship Executives. The committee was supplemented by the Synod’s Treasurer and the Director of Planning and Budgeting. Meetings were held in St. Louis on Dec. 2, 1974, Feb. 26, March 4, and March 19, 1975. The committee agreed on the following as basic assumptions to be considered in revising the process of budgeting in the Synod: Theological Assumptions 1. Because God has sent us on His mission, every function in which we engage as His church (budgets, work programs, Bylaws, etc.) must serve the cause of God’s mission. 2. The doctrine of the priesthood of believers commits the church to a strategy of recognizing the people of God as being unique and varied gifts of God to His church, for fulfilling His mission in the world. Both by their baptism in Christ and their talents, God has called them and equipped them to work re- sponsibly and fruitfully. 3. The carrying out of God's mission on all levels is a re- sponsibility and a joy which belongs to all of God's people and therefore should involve them as fully as possible. 4. Because God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight, carrying out His mission requires more than just the human skills we bring to our task. It also involves the vision, the daring, and the risking that faith in God’s promises requires. Organizational Assumptions 1. The Synod and its Districts are servants of the congre- gations, aiding them to be in mission both locally and to all the world. Districts are the Synod functioning in a given geograph- ical area and are therefore essential to the general well-being and effectiveness of both Districts and the Synod. 2. National and District synodical leaders, including leaders of sister churches, can bring full expression to their respective callings by seeing themselves as partners in God’s mission. 3. The Synod, as a voluntary organization of congregations, requires (a) involvement and support of the constituency in establishing mutual goals, (b) assignment of responsibility and accountability to leadership, and (c) support of the constituency in carrying out its work. 4. Sister churches are autonomous units. Environmental Assumptions 1. Institutional loyalty is increasingly less hereditary and more and more must be earned (cultivated). 2. A growing number of people are demanding a more significant voice in the mission, ministry, and action of the Synod. They vote with their participation and their dollars. These kinds of votes are extremely significant in carrying out the directives of conventions and assemblies. 3. Synod devotes far more time to the expenditure side than to the income side of the budget. 4, The broad involvement of people is an important and necessary investment of time and money. 5. Synodical conventions have insufficient time to consider mission and ministry concerns in detail. 6. The services provided by the church and the levels at which they are performed need to be continually evaluated. It is essential in this process that all elements of the church be consulted in order to properly respond to the needs and to generate support for the various ministries. 7. Unless congregations and committed Christians are pro- vided sufficient options for mission and ministry in the Synod, they will elect options for expressing their Christian commit- ment for mission and ministry outside of the Synod. While the committee designed several possible programs for planning, programming, and budgeting, it did not settle on one plan for recommendation, chiefly out of the realization that a workable plan can be developed only over several years of experience and should be done during the next biennium in coordination with the work of the Synod’s Committee for Reorganization. However, the committee also agreed that any new plan should contain the following ingredients: a. As much as possible, methods and procedures should be devised to involve congregations both in the development and evaluation of the programs of the Synod and the Districts. Greater involvement will help people identify more closely with programs, thereby resulting in greater support both in prayer and deed. b. The process must allow for better coordination of the Synod and the Districts’ budget development procedures, since shared priorities and objectives influence both. c. Proper planning requires the coordinated definition of synodical and District program needs early enough to allow the fund-raising agencies sufficient time to communicate the financial requirements to the constituency. d. Sound fiscal management requires that the constituency respond with financial commitments early enough to permit setting budgets so that the spending agencies may react re- sponsibly to the budgeting decisions. e. Neither the Fiscal Review Commission as presently structured, the Boards of Directors, nor conventions should set the budget. A new and representative group should be developed which can address itself to the consolidated needs of the Synod and its Districts. Consideration should be given to the involvement of both District and synodical Boards of Directors and District and synodical convention delegates (between conventions) as communication links with the circuits and congregations. f. A more equitable allocation of mission contributions for District and synodical programs needs to be devised. This per- haps can be achieved by a coordinated budgeting process or through a percentage division of funds as preset at District conventions. Recommendations The committee presents its recommendations to the Ana- heim convention in the form of the following proposed reso- lution: WHEREAS, The present method and timetable for setting the budget is inadequate to meet the needs of the Synod and its Districts; and WHEREAS, Developing a new planning, programming, and budgeting system requires time for reflection, development, and experiment: therefore be it Resolved, That the present work program-budget process as detailed in Bylaws 2.85 a 2, 9.01, 9.13 c, and 9.15 be held in abeyance for the next 2 years, during which time: a. The Ad Hoc Committee to Revise Bylaws for Budget Preparation, in consultation with the Committee for Reorgani- zation, will develop proposed Bylaws for presentation to the 1977 convention. b. Fiscal conferences will be held before the fall District and congregational stewardship visitations for the purpose of developing plans for both income and expenditures for the following year: sharing ideas on objectives, programs, fore- casts, priorities, and communication devices for the Synod and Districts; and making appropriate recommendations to the Synod and District Boards of Directors for their consideration in future fiscal and programmatic planning and fund-raising. c. The Board of Directors will set the synodical budget after consultation with the Council of Administrators and the Council of Presidents. John P. Schuelke, Chairman Vern Aurich, Secretary 4-13 Report of Ad Hoc Committee to Study Supplemental Funding (New Orleans Res. 12-01) The New Orleans convention adopted the following reso- lution: