Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 75
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 75.
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.
consultation with the President of the Synod, as the case may be, may properly advise or inform the involved congregation(s) an d/or the district or the Synod.
(g) Any party and/or parties to a matter shall have the right to request disqualification of a panel member or hearing facilitator. The standard for disqualification shall be actual partiality or the appearance thereof.
If that individual does not agree to the disqualification, the decision shall be made by a separate three -member panel of district presidents not involved in the case, selected as follows.
(1) Nine names shall be selected by blind draw by the Secretary of the Synod or his representative, to be mailed to each party with the opportunity to strike up to three of the names from the list, to be returned to the Secretary of the Synod within one week after receipt.
(2) No member of the panel shall be from the district in which the matter arose or any district of a party to the matter.
(3) In the event that additional names are needed, three names shall again be selected in the manner set forth above, which names shall be submitted to each party with the right to strike one name before returning the list to the Secretary of the Synod within one week.
(4) In the event that a panel member or hearing facilitator is disqualified, another individual shall be selected in the same manner as the disqualified member was selected.
(5) The Secretary of the Synod shall correct any problem with the list, using the blind draw process as necessary.
(h) Any party to the matter may seek, at its own personal expense, the assistance of individuals familiar with the issues involved in the matter. They may actively participate in research and the preparation of necessary documents. At the hearing, however, eac h party to the matter may have an adviso r present but must represent itself, with no public participation by the advisor.
(i) The panel shall determine the number of witnesses necessary for a full and complete understanding of the facts involved in the matter. It shall question persons involved and witnesses directly and may also permit the parties to the matter to do so.
(j) All panel records in which the panel has rendered a final decision shall be placed in the custody of Concordia Historical Institute. All such records shall be sealed and shall be opened only for good cause shown and only after a panel of three district pre sidents, selected by blind draw for that purpose by the Secretary of the Synod and audited by witnesses, has granted permission.
(k) If any part of the matter involves a specific question of doctrine or doctrinal application, each party to the matter shall have the right to an opinion from the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR). If it involves questions of constitution or bylaw interpretation, each party to the matter shall have a right to an interpretation from the Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM).
(1) The request for an opinion must be made through the panel, which shall determine the wording of the question(s).
