LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 194

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194 STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUTION

2.189 Coordination and Supervision

g. The members of the Board of Directors shall
attend each convention of the Synod. The board shall
submit to the convention a comprehensive report
with appropriate recommendations regarding the
Svnod’s work.

d. The Board of Directors shall require monthly
and annual financial reports and statements from
the Accounting Department and from the Treasurer.
It shall arrange for the publication and distribution
of financial reports according to synodical
regulations.

f. The Board of Directors shall report on the work
and on the needs of the Synod in an official] periodical
of the Synod as often as it may deem necessary butat
least anually.

H. Planning Council

Flowing out of the proposal in the previous section is the
further proposal of the Commission on Structure that a
Planning Council, which in effect has already been operating,
be structured as an integral part of the Synod's organizational
pattern. This Planning Council would involve the Board of
Directors and the Council of Presidents, with the Council of
Administrators serving in an advisory capacity. In this way
the mission of the Synod and its Districts would be unified and
enhanced asa result of wider input and greater participation in
reaching decisions relative to the planning and budgeting
process.

Inorder to effect this proposal, the commission recommends
the adoption of the following new bylaw:

a 2.721 Planning Council

The members of the Board of Directors and of the
Council of Presidents shall serve as the Planning
Council of the Synod under the chairmanship of the
synodical President. The staff members of the Coun-
cil of Administrators shall function in an advisory
capacity. .

The Planning Council shall—

a. establish planning, programming, and budget-
ing systems encompassing short-, mid-, and long-
range plans to serve as a basis for program and
budget formulation, allocation of resources, and fi-
nancial planning, review, and reporting for the
Synod and its Districts; such systems shall provide
for the sharing of the work and needs of the Synod
and its Districts;

b. establish and monitor operating budgets.
short-range plans, and long-range plans at the
church body program level based on proposals and
analysis made by the Council of Administrators
through the office of the President; and report the
budgets, plans, and performance to the convention.
Such budgets and plans shall be prepared in accor-
dance with Chapter VII of the Bylaws;

c. approve and authorize, after consultation with
the implementing board, all new programs between
conventions;

d. be responsible for and accountable to the next
convention for the prioritization, implementation,
and coordination of convention-approved programs
to be conducted with available resources and for new
programs approved by it between conventions;

e. establish policies and review programs to as-
sure the necessary operating and capital funds for
carrying out the work of the Synod.

The Commission on Structure also recommends that the
Planning Council report to the 1986 convention on the implementa-
tion of this resolution and make further proposals refining
these procedures.

u. report at least quarterly to the Synod on synod-
ical activities through an official periodical and
annually through a special report sent to each
congregation;

v. make available upon request and at a reason-
able price a verbatim copy of the minutes of its
meetings, except for its executive sessions,

w. provide for synodical representation on the
Television Committee of the International Lutheran
Laymen’s League.

I. Help in Dire Emergencies (Bylaws 2.213 and 2.423)

At one point Task Force II proposed that all world relief
responsibilities and related efforts be transferred to the Board
for Mission Services.

However, the Board for Social Ministry Services remained
more or less intact and was given the continuing assignment of
world relief.

It is further to be noted that the Board for Mission Services
has very little direct contact with the stateside congregations
of the Synod. It would therefore seem that Bylaws 2.213 fandg
of the Board for Mission Services, which speak of assistance to
congregations in dire emergencies and the extending of love
and compassion by helping the homeless, the persecuted, the
sick, and the needy, should be transferred from the Board for
Mission Services to the Board for Social Ministry Services.

The Commission on Structure therefore recommends that
the following two paragraphs be deleted from the list of
functions of the Board for Mission Services and be inserted into
the list of functions of the Board for Social Ministry Services as
follows:

2.423 Functions (Board for Social Ministry
Services)

c. give assistance to congregations or through
them to their members or others in dire emergencies
or disaster situations;

d. serve as achannel for the love and compassion
of the church for helping the homeless, persecuted,
sick, and needy as a witness to our faith in Jesus
Christ.

The Commission on Structure further recommends that
present subparagraph c of Bylaw 2.423 be deleted as a result of
the above action and that paragraphs d, e, and f be relettered.

J. Provision for Human Care
(Bylaws 2.223, 2.225, 2.423, 2.425)

Some confusion exists between the Board for Parish Ser-
vices and the Board for Social Ministry Services as to who has
the responsibility to sensitize members of the congregations to
the necessity to be concerned about human care and who shall
provide specific programs and suggestions for congregations
to translate such sensitivity into action.

The Commission on Structure has come to the conclusion
that it might be well to retain in Bylaw 2.223 the paragraph
lettered e, which speaks of such sensitivity. However, the
Commission on Structure recommends the elimination of a
Standing Committee on Human Care under the Board for
Parish Services.

Instead, the Commission proposes that a Standing Com-
mittee on Human Care be added to the list of standing
committees of the Board for Social Ministry Services in Bylaw
2.425.

In addition, the commission proposes the addition of a