Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 27
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 27.
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.
(b) Staffs ordinarily serve as the liaison between the national and district levels. Staffs at the national and district levels consult with one another in developing program proposals.
(c) Each chief executive or executive director shall report on staff activities and recommendations to the national Synod, district, agency, or officer to which that executive is responsible and, as requested, to the president of the district or of the Synod.
1.5 Regulations for Corporate Synod and Agencies of the Synod
General
1.5.1 Board and commission members of all agencies shall be members of
member congregations of the Synod.
1.5.1.1 Unless otherwise specified or permitted by the Bylaws, chief executives and
executive directors, faculty, staff, and all other employees on either the national or district level shall not be members of the board of the agency under which they serve, nor shall any such executives or staff be members of the board of any other agency of the Synod. For purposes of this bylaw only, staff shall mean:
(a) Employees, other than faculty, rostered as ministers of religion — ordained or ministers of religion — commissioned, whether or not serving in such capacity; or
(b) Employees of c orporate Synod or an agency of Synod, other than faculty, who are responsible for the development and/or implementation of policies, goals, and programs; or
(c) Employees of corporate Synod or an agency of the Synod who assist chief executives, executive directors and faculty in their work and are supervised by these individuals directly or through a line of supervision.
1.5.1.2 No one, either in the Synod or a district, or between the Synod and a district,
shall hold more than one elective office; or hold more than two offices, although one or both be appointive; or ever hold two offices of which one is directly responsible for the work done by the other.
(a) An office shall be regarded as elective only if it is an office filled through election by a national or a district convention, even though a vacancy in such an office may be filled by appointment.
(b) Doubtful cases shall be decided by the President of the Synod.
1.5.1.3 Every board or commission member, officer, and all staff of corporate
Synod and every agency of the Synod shall be sensitive in their activities to taking or giving offense, giving the appearance of impropriety, causing confusion in the Synod, or creating potential liability.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
1.5.2 Every board or commission member, officer, and all staff of corporate
Synod and every agency of the Synod shall avoid conflicts of interest as described in this bylaw.
(a) Every agency shall implement the synodwide conflict -of-interest policy, and that policy shall be applicable to them and all staff
