Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 94
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 94.
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.
and the matter shall thereafter proceed as set forth in Bylaws 2.16.4 –
2.16.10.4.
2.17.5 If the determinati on is not to initiate formal proceedings, the district
president 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 2.17.6 and then, as the “suspending ecclesiastical supervisor,” carry out the formal proceedings of Byla w 2.17.7 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
2.17.6 If the district president or the President of the Synod or the chairman of the
Council of Presidents, which ever the case may be, concludes that the facts form a basis for expulsion of the member under Article XIII of the Constitution, the appropriate ecclesiastical supervisor in commencing the formal proceedings shall
(a) provide to the member a written notification of the member’s suspended status under Bylaw 2.13.4;
(b) provide to the member a written statement of the matter which sets forth the facts and states that he is requesting expulsion of the member from the Synod in accord with Article XIII of the Constitution;
and
(c) provide to the member a written notification that the member has 15 days from the date of receipt of the statement of the matter to advise his ecclesiastical supervisor that there is a desire to have the matter heard and resolved.
