Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 64
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 64.
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.
2.12.1.4 An individual member serving in a foreign location or as an active -duty
military chaplain shall hold membership in the Synod through the district in which membership was held prior to installation as such, or in the case of a first call that is to foreign service, the Missouri District.
2.12.1.5 An individual member of the Synod serving in any other position shall hold
membership through the geographical district in which the place of service is located , unless serving an agency or mission of a non- geographical district, in which case membership shall be held through that district.
2.12.1.6 A member having candidate or emeritus status shall continue to hold
membership in the Synod through the district through which membership was held at the inception of that status unless the president of the district through which membership is held approves a transfer:
(a) requested by the member and approved by the president of the district to which membership would be transferred; or
(b) requested by the president of a district within which the member has come to reside or is involved in his or her ministry.
2.12.1.7 A member having suspended status shall continue to hold membership
through the district through which membership was held at the time of the suspension.
2.12.1.8 Service performed within the boundaries of any geographical district is
domestic. Service performed outside the boundaries of every geographical district is foreign.
2.12.1.9 Amendments to Bylaw section 2.12 are to be applied to members at the time
of their next installation (whether full - or part -time) or request for transfer.
2.13 Membership Status and Limitations
Specific Ministry Pastor Status and Limitations
2.13.1 A “specific ministry pastor” is a minister of religion — ordained who has
completed the requirements for service as a specific ministry pastor and has been examined by one of the Synod’s seminaries, has received a regular call, and has been placed by the Council of Presidents into a specific Word and Sacrament ministry context. He is eligible to serve only in that specific ministry context for which he has been trained and may not be offered or accept a call for ministry for which he has not been certified as determined by his district president. He shall serve under the supervision of his district president and another pastor who is not a specific ministry pastor.
(a) Because he is under supervision of another pastor and because a specific ministry pastor’s theological education has been formed in part by and for a specific ministry context, he may not be placed or called into ecclesiastical roles that exercise pastoral oversight outside the context of his call.
(b) A specific ministry pastor is not eligible to
(1) serve as a voting delegate to a national convention of the Synod— but may serve as an advisory delegate to national conventions and as a pastoral delegate to district conventions;
