Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 393
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 393

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

INTERNATIONAL WITNESS
government … in carrying out … its own ministry programs and
financial affairs”; and
WHEREAS, Synod Bylaw 3.8.3 deals only with who has authority
to send ministers of religion and other workers into Synod
foreign mission fields, and prior bylaws have been careful not to
restrict congregational activity specifically relating to whom
congregations could send funds overseas, and nothing in the
current bylaws restricts or could restrict the right of member
congregations to (a) fund ministries in foreign countries, or (b)
send/fund congregation members for service with organizations
seeking to share the Gospel; and
WHEREAS, 1983 Res. 5-37, in amending the bylaws, only dealt
with who on behalf of Synod as a whole could send missionaries
at the expense of the Synod, and where the restriction applied, it
being a sending bylaw only, was clearly not applicable to
congregations in any event; and
WHEREAS, CCM Opinion 14-2724, referring to 2013 Res. 1-08,
“To Work Together in Mission,” called for a two-fold response:
First, “Resolved, That the Synod, by the next convention,
develop and provide a mission best-practices policy document
for districts and congregations engaged in mission projects to
assist them to better carry out their mission and their life
together,” indicating that districts and congregations have and
are recognized to have mission work and practices of their own,
and because they have their own mission work and practices, the
Synod should assist and support those efforts by developing a
best-practices policy; and second, “Resolved, That these best
practices include encouragement to districts and congregations
to communicate their international mission activities to the
Synod’s Director of Church Relations and Offices of National
and International Mission for the purposes of healthy
coordination and stewardship” (emphasis added), indicating that
districts and congregations can have their own mission activities,
and when they do they are encouraged to communicate these
activities to the Synod for coordination and good stewardship;
and
WHEREAS, CCM Opinion 14-2724 states in part, “Congregations
may not send funds to mission societies and non-Synod entities
for work in foreign areas without taking into consideration
policies developed and determined for this purpose by the Board
of International Mission as the only sending agency”; and
WHEREAS, CCM Opinion 14-2724 incorrectly restricts the
mission outreach of congregations and others to give bold
witness by word and deed to the love and work of God the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, and extend that Gospel witness into all the
world; therefore be it
Resolved, That the congregations of the Texas District and of the
LCMS be encouraged, with much prayer and under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, to send missionaries to foreign areas; and be
it further
Resolved, That the Texas District affirms and encourages
congregations, auxiliaries, recognized service organizations,
districts, and individual members of the Synod in their efforts to
give bold witness by word and deed, to the love and work of God
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and extend that Gospel witness
to all the world; and be it further
Resolved, That nothing in the bylaws of Synod should ever be
interpreted to limit efforts by congregations, auxiliaries,
recognized service organizations, districts, and individual

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members of the Synod to give bold witness by word and deed to
the love and work of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and
extend that Gospel witness to all the world, but only be
interpreted as requesting information which might allow the
Synod to support (and to assist in connecting potential support
for) congregations and individual members, to assist in
connecting potential mission partners, and to provide bestpractices information which could assist the efforts; and be it
finally
Resolved, That the Texas District in convention memorialize the
Synod in convention to adopt this resolution and to overrule
CCM Opinion 14-2724, to be thereby declared null and void and
of no effect.
and
WHEREAS, The above resolution appears in the 2016 Workbook
as Overture 2-04 (pp. 318–9) thereby affirming its material
accuracy; and
WHEREAS, Three other LCMS districts, three district boards of
directors, one circuit, and seventeen LCMS congregations also
adopted this resolution; and
WHEREAS, Two other overtures (2016 Ov. 2-07 and 2-09,
Workbook, 320–22) were submitted to the 2016 Synod convention
that also requested that CCM Opinion 14-2724 be overruled; and
WHEREAS, LCMS Bylaw 3.9.2.2 (c) regarding the CCM says, in
part:
An opinion rendered by the commission shall be binding on the
question decided unless and until it is overruled by a convention
of the Synod. Overtures to a convention that seek to overrule an
opinion of the commission shall support the proposed action with
substantive rationale from the Constitution, Bylaws, and
resolutions of the Synod. All such overtures shall be considered
by the floor committee to which they have been assigned and
shall be included in a specific report to the convention with
recommendations for appropriate action. (emphasis added)
and
WHEREAS, No such report was given to the 2016 Synod
convention, as a report and a resolution (including the resolution
identified as Res. 2-06A in Today’s Business, pp. 348–50, that was
never brought to the convention floor) are not the same thing
according to Bylaw 3.1.6.1 and Bylaw 3.1.6.2, which clearly
differentiate between reports and overtures, defining reports, in
part, as “statements of work performed or contemplated by those
charged with conducting the business of the Synod” (2016
Handbook, 101) and overtures, in part, as “recommendations in the
form of proposed resolutions requesting action on the part of the
convention” (cf. Bylaw 3.9.2.2.1, which also distinguishes between
reports and overtures); and
WHEREAS, No disposition of these overtures whatsoever is
recorded in the 2016 Proceedings; and
WHEREAS, The document “LCMS Best Practices in Short-Term
Mission” requests congregations to receive approval from the
Synod to be involved in short-term mission trips by referencing the
Bylaws, which has been seen, correctly or incorrectly, as restricting
congregations in “giving bold witness by word and deed” when and
where they see fit (https://wmltblog.org/2015/01/lcms-bestpractices-in-short-term-mission/, accessed 3/9/2018); therefore be
it

2019 Convention Workbook