Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 72
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 72.
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.
Synod by conveying to him the accuser’s formal written accusation, the record of his investigation, and his preliminary determination . The President of the Synod shall respond within 60 days.
(a) Should the President of the Synod concur, the district president may include the concurrence in his determination, indicating that it precludes an appeal for action by the accuser to the President of the Synod.
(b) Should the President of the Synod not concur, he shall consult with the district president, who may revise his determination. He may request additional time to extend his investigation, which the President of the Synod may grant.
2.14.4.3 In the event the district president is disqualified because he has a conflict
of interest or is unable to act, the next qualified district officer shall function in his place. The President of the Synod, who is his ecclesiastical supervisor, shall determine any challenge to the eligibility of the district president to act that is not agreed to by the district president.
2.14.5 If the district president determines not to initiate formal proceedings, he
shall in writing so inform the accuser, any other district president involved, and the involved member, which shall terminate the matter, subject to the following:
(a) If a matter of doctrine or practice is involved, the accuser may, within 15 days after receipt of such notice, appeal for action by the President of the Synod (Constitution Art. XI B 1–3 ). The accuser shall so notify the district president, who shall within 15 days:
(1) notify the accused and any other district president involved that an appeal for action is underway; and
(2) forward the appeal for action, with the record of his investigation and determination and the accuser’s formal written accusation, to the President of the Synod.
(b) The President of the Synod shall, within 15 days of receipt of such appeal for action, consult with the district president.
(c) The President of the Synod may consult with the accuser, the accused, and others involved. He may appoint an investigative committee and / or ask an opinion of the CCM or CTCR, which opinion shall be followed. He shall consult with the vice -presidents of t he Synod.
(d) The President of the Synod may, in a matter of doctrine and practice, and within 120 days of receipt of notice, suspend the member as provided in Bylaw 2.14.6 and then, as the “suspending ecclesiastical supervisor,” carry out the formal proceedings of Bylaw 2.14.7 and following.
(e) If the determination is made not to initiate formal proceedings, the President of the Synod shall in writing so inform the accuser, any district president involved, and the involved member.
Commencing Formal Proceedings
2.14.6 If the district president or the President of the Synod, acting under Bylaw
2.14.5, concludes that the facts form a basis for expulsion of the member
