Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 106
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 106.
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.
ministers, the faculty of an educational institution of the Synod, the Board of Directors of the Synod, a board or commission of the Synod listed in Bylaws 3.2.2, 3.2.2.1, 3.2.3, and 3.2.3.1, a committee established by a prior convention, or a forum of a circuit.
(a) Overtures are recommendations in the form of proposed resolutions requesting action on the part of the convention.
(b) Overtures with reference to a case in which a member has been suspended and which is at present un der formal proceedings (Bylaw
2.14.2 [i]), as well as overtures which, upon advice of legal counsel, may subject the Synod or the corporate officers of the Synod to civil action for libel or slander or which contain libel and slander, shall not be accepted for convention consideration.
(c) The President of the Synod shall determine if any overture contains information which is materially in error or contains any apparent misrepresentation of truth or of character. He shall not approve inclusion of any such overture in the Convention Workbook and shall refer any such overture to the district president who has ecclesiastical supervision over the entity submitting the overture for action. If any published overture or resolution is found to be materially in error or contains a misrepresentation o f tr uth or of character, it shall be withdrawn from convention consideration and referred by the President of the Synod to the appropriate district president for action.
Convention Committees
3.1.7 All reports and overtures accepted by the President in accordance with the
foregoing paragraphs shall be referred by him to convention floor committees. Such floor committees shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the Council of Presidents and the Praesidium.
(a) Appointments will be made from among the voting delegates (Bylaw 3.1.2ff), advisory delegates (Bylaw 3.1.3ff), and advisory representatives (Bylaw 3.1.4ff).
(b) Ordained ministers, commissioned ministers, and laypersons shall be represented on all committees.
(c) The President shall notify floor committee members of their appointment and of the time and place of their first meeting no later than 16 weeks before the start of the convention.
(d) The committee rosters shall be published in an official periodical at least 10 weeks before the convention.
(e) If the President deems it advisable, he may convene floor committees prior to the opening of the convention.
(f) After due consideration of the matters referred to it, each floor committee will report its findings and recommendations to the convention.
(g) Each proposed resolution involving expenditures, prior to its consideration on the floor of the convention, shall be presented to the floor committee on financial matters, which in consultation with the accounting department shall attach to the recommended resolution accompanying information on estimated cost on an annual or project basis.
