Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 16
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 16.
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.
by presidential letter and has been published in an official periodical of the Synod. If such matters are related to the business affairs of the Synod, such a vote shall be conducted only after the President has consulted with the synodical Board of Directors. In all cases at least one -fourth of the member congregations must register their vote.
C. Duties of the Vice-Presidents
1. The vice-presidents shall upon request of the President represent him in all his functions.
2. In case of the disability, the deposition from office, or the death of the President, the vice-presidents, in the order of their rank of office, advance to the President’s place, with full power, until the expiration of his term of office.
D. Duties of the Secretary The Secretary shall
1. Record the proceedings when the Synod meets in convention;
2. Perform such other work as the Synod may assign to him through the Bylaws or special resolutions of the Synod.
E. Composition and Duties of the Board of Directors
1. The Board of Directors shall consist of not fewer than seven voting members, to wit: the President, the Secretary, one pastor, and four laymen. The First Vice-President shall be a nonvoting member.
2. The Board of Directors is the legal representative and custodian of all the property of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod, directly or by its delegation of such authority to an agency of the Synod. It shall exercise supervision over all property and business affairs of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod except in those areas where it has delegated such authority to an agency of the Synod or where the voting members of the Synod through the adoption of bylaws or by other convention action have assigned specific areas of responsibility to separate corporate or trust entities, and as to those the Board of Directors shall have general oversight responsibility as set forth in the Bylaws. For the purposes of this article, The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod includes both the Synod formed by this Constitution and the Missouri corporation formed by the Synod.
Article XII Districts of the Synod and Their Regulation
1. The Synod is divided into districts, the geographical boundaries of which are determined by the Synod and are altered by it according to circumstances.
2. This Constitution is also the constitution of each district of the Synod;
however, each district is at liberty to adopt such bylaws and pass such resolutions as it deems expedient for its conditions, provided that such bylaws and resolutions do not conflict with the Constitution and the Bylaws of the Synod.
3. The officers of the districts are:
a. A district president b. District vice-presidents as the Bylaws prescribe
