Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 228
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 228

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

225 CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS

following questions concerning the right of submitting
overtures intended for presentation to and consideration
by a delegate convention of the Synod:

a. Shall this right be restricted to the members of the
Synod only? [This is the effect of Handbook section 1.27
as presently worded.]

b. Shall this right be further restricted, so that over-
tures will be accepted from no individual in the Synod?
[This is a new possibility mentioned by Committee 5 of
the New York convention. ]

c. Shall this right be extended to include others, such
as individual lay people and the governing boards of
synodically recognized auxiliary organizations? [This is
the approach urged by the proponents of the overtures to
the New York convention. ]

Deliberations and Conclusions
of the Committee

Handbook section 1.27 presently uses the words
“reports, overtures, proposals, petitions, and other mat-
ters” in referring to items intended for presentation to
and consideration by a delegate convention of the
Synod. The committee recommends that the words
“proposals, petitions, and other matters’ should be
deleted because they are redundant, vague, and indefi-
nite in meaning and because all official communications
with a delegate convention of the Synod can be accom-
plished through either a report or an overture.

The committee also feels that a distinction should
be drawn between reports and overtures in determining
who should be able to submit such items to a synodical
convention. Reports are (1) statements of work per-
formed or contemplated by those who are charged with
conducting the business of the Synod between conven-
tions, (2) communications to a convention with respect
to studies which may have been made for the Synod
in order to further its work, or (3) other types of com-
munications to the Synod. Consequently the commit-
tee recommends that the following be permitted to sub-
mit reports to a synodical convention:

a) the corporate officers of the Synod, to wit, the
President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer:

b) the principal staff officers of the Synod, to wit,
the Executive Director and the Controller;

c) the boards and commissions of the Synod:

d) other individuals or groups who are charged
either by the Bylaws of the Synod or by action of
a prior synodical convention to submit reports to a con-
vention; and

e) such other individuals or groups from whom the
President of the Synod, in his discretion, may request
a report in order to provide a convention with informa-
tion which will facilitate or further its work.

In the opinion of the committee it is neither neces-
sary nor advisable to permit reports to come from any
other source.

Overtures are unlike reports in that they are recom-
mendations in the form of proposed resolutions request-
ing action on the part of a convention. In this area the
committee concluded that the door should be left open

as wide as possible, consistent, however, with the con-
duct of an orderly and efficient convention.

In this connection the committee was confronted
with two somewhat conflicting considerations. On the
one hand it recognized the fairness of permitting as
many people as possible to submit overtures. On the
other hand the time and energy of a convention and
of its committees is limited, and it is important — in
fact, essential — that some effort be made not only to
hold down the number of overtures submitted but also
to assure that overtures coming before a synodical con-
vention are well-considered and thoughtfully worded
by the proponents. The committee, after much careful
deliberation, concluded that the most effective way to
accomplish these two goals would be to deny all indi-
viduals (whether corporate officers, synodical officials,
professors, pastors, teachers, or laymen) the right to
submit overtures and to limit this right to

a) a member congregation of the Synod:

b) a board or commission of the Synod:

c) a convention or Board of Directors of a District:

d) an official District pastoral or teachers confer-
ence;

e) the faculty of an educational institution of the
Synod; and

f) a committee authorized by a prior convention
of the Synod.

The committee reasons that if anyone has a matter
that he feels should be presented to the Synod, and
if his proposal has any merit, there are sufficient ave-
nues open to him to bring his proposal before a con-
vention. Moreover, by requiring that all overtures be
submitted by a duly constituted group of individuals
(whether a congregation, board, or some other group).
there is more likelihood that the end-product will re-
flect more considered judgment and more refinement
in wording than if submitted by an individual.

Specifically, the committee recommends that the
present Section 1.27 be amended as follows:

PRESENT WORDING

1.27 Reports, Overtures, etc.

a. Reports, overtures, proposals, petitions, and other mat-
ters intended for presentation to and consideration by a
delegate convention of the Synod may be submitted only
by a member of the Synod, an officer of the Synod, a board
or commission of the Synod or of a District, the Council of
Presidents, a faculty or Board of Control of an educational
institution of the Synod, or a convention of a District of
the Synod.

AMENDED WORDING

1.27 Reports and Overtures

a. The principal business of a synodical convention shall
be the consideration of reports and overtures.

1. Reports to a convention of the Synod may be sub-
mitted only by the President, a Vice-President, the Secretary,
the Treasurer, the Executive Director, the Controller of
the Synod, a board or commission of the Synod as listed in
Sections 2.03 and 2.05, and other individuals or duly consti-
tuted groups of individuals who may be required or per-
mitted by the Bylaws, by action of a prior synodical con-
vention, or by the President to report to a convention. A
report shall not include an overture unless the report is