LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 195

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and maintaining the office of a stewardship counselor
or secretary, who shall be responsible to the district
stewardship board.
(c) Each district may invite a representative of the
Synod to meet for mutual assistance in budget planning for mission and ministry.
(d) Each district shall arrange for adequate time at
its convention for a report on the mission and ministry program of the Synod, made by a representative
of the Synod assigned by the President of the Synod.
(G) Formation of Electoral Circuits
(Bylaw 3.1.2)
Rationale
Current Bylaw 3.1.2 calls upon each district to determine the
composition of its electoral circuits prior to each Synod convention.
The bylaw is unclear as to how districts are to go about combining adjacent visitation circuits to create electoral circuits when
necessary. It is noted that action on this issue may not be needed,
depending upon the convention’s decision regarding the commission’s response to 2010 Res. 8-05B. The commission offers the
following proposed action to amend Bylaw 3.1.2 for consideration
by the 2013 convention if needed.
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.1.2	Voting delegates shall consist of one pastor and one
layperson from each electoral circuit.
(a) An electoral circuit shall consist either of one
or two adjacent visitation circuits, as shall be determined by eachthe district board of directors on the
basis of the following requirements: each pair of
delegates shall represent from 7 to 20 member congregations, involving an aggregate communicant
membership ranging from 1,500 to 10,000.
(b) Exceptions to these requirements may be made
only by the President of the Synod upon request of a
district board of directors.
Action: Adopted (5)
(When the committee introduced Res. 7-13, paragraph (f) of
Bylaw 2.4.1 was changed to read: “Until a congregation formally
adopts a revised constitution and/or bylaws using this process, the
Synod shall consider the existing constitution and bylaws to be in
effect for all purposes.” After brief discussion, Res. 7-13 was adopted
as changed [Yes: 887; No: 79].)

R e s olu t i on s

To Address Handbook Issues re Synod
Conventions
RESOLUTION 7-14
Overture 7-22 (CW, pp. 265–267)
Background
During the triennium, concerns related to bylaws governing
the Synod’s conventions were brought to the attention of the Commission on Handbook. This overture identifies those concerns and
advocates bylaw amendment solutions proposed by the commission
for adoption by the 2013 convention of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod.
(A) Committee for Convention Nominations
(Bylaws 3.12.3.4–3.12.3.6)
Rationale
The Secretary of the Synod plays an important role in assisting the Committee for Convention Nominations by gathering
and presenting to the committee names and biographical information of individuals to be considered for election to office in the
Synod. Bylaw 3.12.3.4 sets forth the Secretary’s duties in the nomination process, but limits the agencies and individuals with whom
he works in carrying out his work. This limitation might inadvertently exclude qualified individuals from nominations for elected
office. Greater involvement of the agencies and members of the
Synod in the nominations process would increase confidence in it.
For these reasons, the Commission on Handbook proposes changes
to Bylaw 3.12.3.4.
In addition, experience has demonstrated that the terminology
and content of Bylaws 3.12.3.4–3.12.3.6 are less than clear regarding
the expectations of and the process to be followed by the Committee for Convention Nominations. The Commission on Handbook
proposes the following bylaw changes to clarify the important
responsibilities of this committee.
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.12.3.4

The Secretary of the Synod shall handle the preliminary work for the Committee for Convention
Nominations.
(a) He shall begin to solicit names of potential
nominees from officers, boards, commissions, and
agencies of the Synod and its districtsthe agencies
and officers of the Synod at least 24 months prior to
the convention.
(b) Approximately 24 months before a regular meeting of the Synod in convention, he shall solicit from
the mission boards and the synodwide corporate
entity boardsthose agencies with positions to be
filled descriptions of criteria of qualified candidates
to serve in those positionson those boards.
(c) With such criteria in view, the Secretary shall issue
the first call for nominations through a publication
of the Synod and on the Synod Web site 18 months
2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

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