Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 95
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 95.
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.
2.17.6.1 Failure by the member to file such written request for hearing and
resolution within the 15- day period shall be deemed to be consent to expulsion from membership in the Synod.
Hearing Panel
2.17.7 If the request for hearing as granted in Bylaw 2.17.6 (c) is made, the
ecclesiastical supervisor shall inform the Secretary of the Synod, who shall initiate the formation of a Hearing Panel, such formation to be accomplished within 30 days of the request i n accordance wit h the provisions in this bylaw.
2.17.7.1 At the time that the request for hearing is made, the ecclesiastical
supervisor shall forward to the Secretary of the Synod the statement of the matter and a written memorandum describing the manner in which there was compliance with the provisions of Bylaws 2.17.3– 2.17.7.
2.17.7.2 A Hearing Panel consisting of two district presidents (excluding the
involved district president[s]) , two lay reconcilers, and one ordained reconciler, selected as follows, shall conduct the hearing:
(a) One district president shall be selected by the accused.
(b) One district president shall be selected by the ecclesiastical supervisor who imposed the suspended status (a district president may not choose himself).
(c) Two lay reconcilers and one ordained reconciler shall be chosen by blind draw from the Synod’s roster of reconcilers with the blind draw administered by the Secretary of the Synod and audited by witnesses.
(d) Each Hearing Panel shall be assisted by a nonvoting hearing facilitator selected according to Bylaw 2.14.2 (j).
(e) No two members of the panel nor the hearing facilitator shall be from the same district.
(f) The hearing facilitator shall chair the proceedings and may draw upon persons and resources that he deems necessary for conducting a hearing in a fair and equitable manner.
(g) The hearing facilitator shall serve as an advisor to the panel on the form but not the substance of the decision.
2.17.7.3 Upon receipt of a request for hearing, the Secretary of the Synod shall
promptly notify the accused and the involved ecclesiastical supervisor of their respective right to choose one Hearing Panel member and direct that the identity of their selec tion be transmitted to the Secretary of the Synod within 15 days from the date of such notice. If either party declines to make a selection within such 15-day period, the Secretary of the Synod shall then make such selection within five days.
2.17.7.4 The Secretary of the Synod shall also promptly select two lay reconciler s
and one ordained reconciler to serve as the remaining three members of the Hearing Panel and a hearing facilitator to assist the panel.
2.17.7.5 When the Hearing Panel members and hearing facilitator have so been
chosen, they shall promptly be notified of their selection to the Hearing Panel.
2.17.7.6 Within 15 days after the Hearing Panel is constituted, the hearing facilitator
shall, after conferring with the panel, the accused and the involved
