Constitution metadata
- Article
- Article XIII
- Source pages
- p. 18
Site-authored orientation
A high-stakes membership article that should be read with the detailed bylaw procedures.
LCMS Constitution
Article XIII: Expulsion from the Synod
Constitutional provisions for expulsion from membership.
The LCMS Handbook is official LCMS governance material. This Field Guide provides navigation, search aids, references, and study helps. Readers should verify all quotations, procedures, and requirements against the official Handbook.
This page reproduces text from the 2023 LCMS Handbook for study and navigation. Readers should verify procedural, legal, parliamentary, or governance questions against the official LCMS Handbook and appropriate LCMS authorities.
Official Handbook Source Text
Article XIII: Expulsion from the Synod
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 18.
This page reproduces text from the 2023 LCMS Handbook for study and navigation. Readers should verify procedural, legal, parliamentary, or governance questions against the official LCMS Handbook and appropriate LCMS authorities.
Article XIII Expulsion from the Synod
1. Members who act contrary to the confession laid down in Article II and to the conditions of membership laid down in Article VI or persist in an offensive conduct, shall, after previous futile admonition, be expelled from the Synod.
2. Expulsion shall be executed only after following such procedure as shall be set forth in the Bylaws of the Synod.
3. If the member expelled is an ordained or commissioned minister serving a congregation of the Synod, such congregation, unless it has already done so, is held to depose him from office and to deal with him in accordance with the Word of God, notwithstanding an appeal. If it persistently refuses to do so, the respective district is to deal with it. If all negotiations and admonitions fail of their purpose, such congregation forfeits its membership in the Synod.
4. Because of their expulsion those so expelled forfeit their membership and all share in the property of the Synod. The latter holds good also with respect to those who for any reason themselves sever their connection with the Synod.
