Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 48
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 48.
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.
as the SOPM) by the secretary of the district to serve as reconciler in the following situations arising in the district:
(a) Procedural questions involved in excommunication cases;
(b) Cases in which a member of the Synod shall have been removed from the position that such member holds in a congregation that is a member of the Synod;
(c) Cases in which a person, whether or not a member of the Synod, is removed from the position which the person holds in the district; and
(d) Cases involving differences between congregations within the same district or between a congregation and its district.
1.10.10.3 The members of the district roster of reconcilers of all the districts shall
comprise the Synod ’s roster of reconcilers. One member of the Synod’s roster of reconcilers shall be chosen by blind draw according to the SOPM by the Secretary of the Synod in all disputes except those
(a) enumerated in Bylaw 1.10.10.2; or
(b) cases under Article XIII of the Constitution, which shall follow the procedure for terminating membership set forth in Bylaw sections
2.14– 2.17.
1.10.10.4 A reconciler may be removed for ca use according to the Bylaws and the
Standard Operating Procedures Manual from a district’s roster of reconcilers by that district’s board of directors upon report of the administrator of the dispute resolution process after consultation with the president of the district.
Special Considerations for Reconcilers
1.10.11 Limitations on holding multiple offices (e.g., Bylaw 1.5.1.2) do not apply to
the position of reconciler.
1.10.11.1 If a reconciler moves from the district where appointed, such reconciler
shall remain as a member of the Synod’s roster of reconcilers until the term of service of the reconciler expires.
1.10.11.2 If all of the district reconcilers are unavailable for a particular matter, the
secretary of the district shall request that a reconciler from another district be chosen in the prescribed manner by the secretary of the other district.
Hearing Facilitators
1.10.12 After the training of the reconcilers and in consultation with the
appropriate district presidents, the Secretary of the Synod shall maintain a roster of 25 hearing facilitators selected from the roster of trained reconcilers. They may be ordained ministers, commissioned ministers, or laypersons and shall exhibit skills in the proper conduct of a fair and impartial hearing. They shall receive training for such purpose.
(a) Their term of service , monitored by the Secretary of the Synod, shall be six years, renewable without limit. Once appointed, the district membership of hearing facilitators no longer pertains to their eligibility for service in this position. Beginning six months before evennumbered conventions of the Synod (e.g., 64th in 2010, 66th in 2016 , 68th in 2023, etc.), the Secretary of the Synod shall contact all hearing facilitators to learn of their availability and willingness to continue for an additional term. Resulting vacancies on the roster of hearing
