Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 195
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 195.
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.
(6) be the object of an evaluation prepared by the Board of Directors of the Synod and submitted to the convention.
4.1.1.4 Transfer of congregations between districts is completed upon approval of
the respective district boards of directors at the request of the congregation.
4.1.1.5 Transfer of congregations between partner churches requires the
additional approval of the governing boards of the church bodies.
4.1.2 The membership of a district consists of all those members of The Lutheran
Church— Missouri Synod (congregations, ordained and commissioned ministers) who have been received into the district at the time of joining the Synod, who have been transferred from another district, or who have been assigned to the district by the Synod.
4.1.2.1 Termination of membership in the Synod terminates membership in a
district.
4.1.3 A district may incorporate or adopt such other convenient form of
association as may be permitted by the civil laws under which the district carries on its activities. The form of incorporation or association and any subsequent proposed change thereof shal l be submitted to the Commission on Constitutional Matters of the Synod for review and approval before adoption by the district and before presentation to the proper civil authorities.
4.1.4 Upon dissolution of a district, all property and assets to which the district
holds title or over which it has control shall be transferred immediate ly to the Synod or its nominee.
4.1.4.1 Upon dissolution of a corporation controlled by a district (through its
board of directors or its member congregations), the assets of such corporation shall be distributed to the district, or, if the district is not in existence, to The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod.
4.1.5 Jurisdiction with respect to everything that is administered by or for the
entire Synod resides in the national Synod itself. Jurisdiction includes but is not limited to general supervision of doctrine and practice; foreign missions; institutions of the Synod; qualification for ordination, commissioning, and installation of ordained and commi ssioned ministers and requirements for individual as well as congregational membership in the Synod; publication of official religious periodicals; conduct of negotiations and affiliations with other church bodies; and the like.
4.1.6 The relationship of a congregation to the district is the same as the
relationship of a congregation to the Synod as defined in Article VII of the Constitution of the Synod and Bylaw sections 1.3, 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8.
4.1.6.1 Relationships on the district level are those as defined in Bylaw section 1.4.
4.1.6.2 Congregations interested in expanding their Gospel outreach into an area
that crosses district lines are encouraged first to discuss their intent with their own district officials, followed by discussion with the appropriate district officials and the local congregations impacted by such work.
(a) Any such expansion of Gospel outreach into an area that crosses district lines shall require the concurrence of both the president of the receiving geographical district and the board or committee responsible for missions in that district.
