Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 145
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 145.
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.
appointing, assigning, withdrawing, and releasing of missionaries (ministers of religion — ordained and ministers of religion — commissioned) and other workers for the ministries in foreign areas.
3.8.3.1 The Board for International Mission shall have oversight of the
implementation of policies adopted by the board and implemented by the Office of International Mission for the coordination of and in support of ministries of the Synod in foreign countries. The board shall annually review and endorse the Office of International Mission strategic plan and review and provide input on the Office of International Mission annual budget proposal prior to its submission for approval by the Board of Directors. The board shall be under the ecclesiastical supervision of the President of the Synod regarding doctrine and administration consistent with the President’s responsibility under Constitution Art. XI B 1 – 4 (Constitution Art. XI B 7; Bylaws 3.3.1.1– 3.3.1.3) between conventions of the Synod and ultimately shall be responsible to the Synod in convention (Constitution Art. XI A 1– 2).
3.8.3.2 The Board for International Mission shall, during the course of each
triennium between national conventions of the Synod, work with the Board for National Mission to gather pertinent and sufficient information from the Synod’s members that will facilitate the boards’ assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of the Synod’s triennial mission and ministry emphases, and shall develop accordingly a joint overture to the national convention for beneficial amendments thereto. The boards shall also provide a joint report in advance of the Synod’s district conventions, offering ideas and guidance for proposing triennial mission and ministry emphases to the national convention.
3.8.3.3 The Board for International Mission shall comprise eleven members:
1. Five laypersons and five individual members of the Synod (one of each from each region of the Synod) elected in the same manner as are regional members of the Board of Directors of the Synod (see Bylaws
3.12.1 and 3.12.2.8)
2. The President of the Synod or his representative Office of International Mission
3.8.3.4 The Office of International Mission implements the policies of the Board
for International Mission under the supervision of the Chief Mission Officer and shall be responsible for the work of the Synod in foreign countries.
Such responsibilities may include but not be limited to:
• placement and support of foreign missionaries • establishment and maintenance of international schools • coordination of international relief efforts • policy recommendations to the Board for International Mission • support and encouragement of international partner churches in conjunction with the office of the President
3.8.3.5 In carrying out its mission responsibilities, the Office of International
Mission shall receive its primary focus from the mission and ministry emphases developed triennially by the national Synod in convention and from the policies developed and determined by the Board for International
