The 65th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod will be held July 20-25, 2013, at the America’s Center Convention Complex, St. Louis, Mo.
Election of Voting Delegates
Bylaws 3.1.2-3.1.2.2 [2010 Handbook, pp. 99-101] set forth the provisions governing official voting representation at national conventions of the Synod.
a) An electoral circuit consists of one or two adjacent visitation circuits, as determined by each district. The total number of congregations in each electoral circuit must range from 7 to 20 congregations with a total of 1,500 to 10,000 confirmed members. Exceptions to these requirements can be made only by the President of the Synod upon request of a district board of directors.
b) Voting delegates are elected by the electoral circuit forum (Bylaws 3.1.2.1 (a) and 5.3.3 [2010 Handbook, pp. 100 and 202]) at the call of the circuit counselor(s). This meeting must be held prior to Oct. 20, 2012, nine months prior to the opening date of the convention, and must be conducted according to the procedure provided by Bylaw 3.1.2.1. If meetings of electoral circuit forums are held in conjunction with district conventions, care must be taken that all congregations in multiple congregation parishes have opportunity to be represented.
c) Before the meeting of the electoral circuit forum, each congregation must determine which pastor (if it has more than one) and which layperson will serve as its representatives. Multiple-congregation parishes are entitled to a lay vote from each member congregation.
d) Prior to the meeting of the electoral circuit forum, each congregation may nominate one layperson from its own membership or from a sister congregation of the electoral circuit to serve as the lay delegate or alternate lay delegate to the Synod convention. The name of this nominee must be submitted to the circuit counselor(s) prior to the day of the electoral circuit forum. No names may be added at the meeting.
e) Electoral circuit forums must meet to conduct their business, and delegates to the Synod convention and their alternates must be elected by written ballot. The four persons elected (two delegates and two alternates) must come from four different congregations of the electoral circuit.
f) The names and addresses of elected pastoral and lay delegates and alternates must be submitted to the secretary of the district by Oct. 20, 2012, or as soon thereafter as possible.
Election of Advisory Delegates
Bylaws 3.1.3-3.1.4.6 [2010 Handbook, pp. 102-103] set forth the provisions for the selection of advisory delegates for national conventions of the Synod.
a) Advisory members of districts are represented at conventions of the Synod by one advisory delegate for every 60 advisory ordained ministers and specific ministry pastors, and one advisory delegate for every 60 commissioned ministers in the district.
b) Advisory ordained ministers include pastors whose congregations do not hold membership in the Synod, assistant pastors, specific ministry pastors, and ministers not in charge of congregations (Constitution, Art. V B; Bylaws 2.13.1 [b] [1], 2.11.2 [2010 Handbook, pp. 14-15, 63, 67]).
c) Advisory commissioned ministers include teachers with membership in the Synod, directors of Christian education, directors of Christian outreach, directors of family life ministry, directors of parish music, deaconesses, parish assistants, certified lay ministers and candidates for any of these offices (Constitution, Art. V B [2010 Handbook, pp. 14-15]).
d) Selections of advisory delegates are to be made by the respective groups at meetings called by the district secretary either during the district convention or at official pastor and teacher conferences. These selections must be completed by Oct. 20, 2012 — nine months prior to the opening day of the convention.
e) Fractions of groups are to be disregarded, except that each district is entitled to at least one advisory delegate in each category, ordained and commissioned.
f) Advisory ordained ministers and commissioned ministers who are eligible for selection in any category under Bylaws 3.1.4-3.1.4.5 are not to be counted in determining the number of advisory delegates from each district, nor are they eligible to be selected or participate in the selection process.
g) Each district board of directors is entitled to send one representative from its membership and one member of the district executive staff other than the district president. If a district has no executive staff, it may select two members of its board of directors.
Overtures
Bylaws 3.1.6 and 3.1.6.2 [2010 Handbook, pp. 104 and 105] define who may submit overtures and provides the procedure for their reception and inclusion in the business of a national convention.
a) Overtures are recommendations in the form of proposed resolutions requesting action on the part of the convention. They may be submitted by a member congregation of the Synod, a convention or board of directors of a district, an official district conference of ordained and/or commissioned ministers, the faculty of an educational institution of the Synod, the Board of Directors of the Synod, a board or commission of the Synod (as listed in Bylaws 3.2.2, 3.2.2.1, 3.2.3, and 3.2.3.1 [2010 Handbook, pp. 109-110], a committee established by a prior convention, or a forum of a circuit.
b) Overtures are to be submitted (signed and in triplicate) to the President of the Synod no later than March 2, 2013 (20 weeks prior to the opening date of the convention). To meet printing deadlines, it will be helpful to receive overtures by Feb. 1, 2013 (with an electronic copy provided to the Office of the Secretary of the Synod by email to: lcms.overture@lcms.org). Overtures submitted after the final March 2 deadline will not be accepted for convention consideration unless a committee consisting of the President, First Vice-President, and Secretary adjudge them to be of overriding importance and urgency and not adequately covered by documents already before the convention.
c) Overtures involving capital outlay or current expenditures must be accompanied, to the extent feasible, by cost projections and the basis thereof.
d) The President of the Synod will decide which overtures will be published in the Convention Workbook. He will determine if any overture contains information that is materially in error or contains any apparent misrepresentation of truth or character and will not approve its inclusion.
e) The content of the Convention Workbook (convention manual, reports and overtures, the names and mailing addresses of all voting delegates, and other information) will be posted on the Synod’s website no later than 12 weeks prior to the opening date of the convention. Printed copies will be mailed to all delegates and alternates, officers of the Synod, and members of boards, commissions and councils.
f) After the Convention Workbook has been published, any member of the Synod (congregation, ordained minister or commissioned minister) or any lay delegate to the convention may send written comments (in triplicate) regarding any of its content to the Secretary of the Synod by May 18, 2013 (nine weeks prior to the convention) for transmission to the appropriate convention floor committee for consideration.
g) All overtures accepted by the President of the Synod will be referred by him to convention floor committees that he has appointed from among the voting and advisory delegates and representatives. Floor committees will receive the comments received regarding the reports and overtures assigned to them and will meet in St. Louis prior to the convention to discuss and formulate proposed convention resolutions.
h) The content of the first issue of Today’s Business (proposed resolutions of the floor committees and other convention business) will be posted on the Synod’s website as soon after the floor committees have met as possible. Printed copies will be mailed to all registered delegates, all officers of the Synod and all members of boards, commissions and councils.
i) Responses to the proposed resolutions contained in the first issue of Today’s Business may be submitted (in triplicate) to the chairman of the appropriate floor committee at least one week prior to the convention. Floor committees will meet at the convention site prior to the opening of the convention to review the responses received.
Nominations for President and First Vice-President
Bylaw 3.12.2 [2010 Handbook, p. 182] sets forth the provisions governing the nomination process for the offices of President and First Vice-President.
a) Each member congregation of the Synod will be provided opportunity to nominate from the clergy roster of the Synod two ordained ministers as candidates for the office of President and two ordained ministers as candidates for the office of First Vice-President. These nominations require an official action of the congregation.
b) Only those congregations received into membership in the Synod according to the provisions of Bylaws 2.3.1-2.3.2 [2010 Handbook, pp. 57-58] and reported to the Synod’s Office of Rosters and Statistics by district presidents will be eligible to participate.
c) The Secretary of the Synod will mail President and Vice-President nominating ballots by the end of October 2012. All pastors, especially vacancy pastors, should make certain that congregations are made aware of these ballots. Only official ballots received from the Office of the Secretary may be used to make nominations. The ballots must be signed by the president and secretary of the congregation.
d) An ordained minister may be nominated only once for the same position, but he may be nominated for both positions. When two nominations are made for the same office, the order in which the names are listed on the ballot will be of no consequence.
e) The candidates for the office of President will be the three ordained ministers who received the highest number of votes in the nominating process and who consent to serve. The candidates for the office of First Vice-President will be the 20 ordained ministers who received the highest number of votes and consent to serve.
f) Nomination ballots for President and First Vice-President must be returned to the Secretary of the Synod to arrive no later than Feb. 20, 2013 (five months prior to the opening date of the convention).
Nominations for Regional Vice-Presidents
Bylaws 3.12.1 and 3.12.2.5 [2010 Handbook, pp. 182 and 184] set forth the provisions governing the nomination process for the offices of regional vice-presidents.
a) The Synod’s Board of Directors and the Council of Presidents have designated five geographic regions as required by bylaw, taking into consideration geographical and number-of-congregations information. Canadian congregations were placed as a whole into the eastern-most geographic region.
b) Each member congregation of each region (including non-geographic-district congregations in the region) will be provided opportunity to participate in the nominations process for its region’s vice-president.
c) The Secretary of the Synod will mail regional vice-president nominating ballots by the end of October 2012. Only official ballots received from the Office of the Secretary may be used to make nominations. The ballots must be signed by the president and secretary of the nominating congregation.
d) Each congregation will be given opportunity to nominate two ordained ministers from the clergy roster of the Synod with residence in its geographic region. An ordained minister may be nominated only once. The order of the names listed on the ballot will be of no consequence.
e) The names of the five ordained ministers residing within the boundaries of each geographic region who receive the most nominating votes will form the slate from which the Synod convention will select by majority vote the regional vice-presidents.
f) Nominating ballots for regional vice-president are to be returned to the Secretary of the Synod by Feb. 20, 2013.
Nominations for Regional Board Members
Bylaws 3.12.1 and 3.12.2.5 [2010 Handbook, pp. 182, 184] set forth the provisions governing the nomination process for regional board members. Bylaw 3.3.4.1 [Handbook, p. 117] requires that one lay member of the Board of Directors of the Synod be elected from each of the five designated geographical regions. Bylaws 3.8.2.2 and 3.8.3.2 [Handbook, pp. 138, 139] stipulate that five laypersons and five individual members of the Synod are to be elected to each of the Synod’s two mission boards, one of each category from each of the geographical regions.
a) The Synod’s Board of Directors and Council of Presidents have designated five geographic regions as required by bylaw, taking into consideration geographical and number-of-congregations information. Canadian congregations were placed as a whole into the eastern-most geographic region.
b) Each member congregation of each region (including non-geographic-district congregations in the region) will be provided opportunity to participate in the nominations process for regional board member positions as they occur.
c) The Secretary of the Synod will mail regional board member nominating ballots by the end of October 2012. Only official ballots received from the Office of the Secretary may be used to make nominations. The ballots must be signed by the president and secretary of the nominating congregation.
d) Each congregation will be given opportunity to nominate two persons with residence in its geographic region for each open position (layperson or individual member of the Synod as required). The same person may be nominated only once. The order of the names listed on the ballot will be of no consequence.
e) The names of the five nominees for a regional position to be filled who reside within the boundaries of that geographic region and who received the most nominating votes will constitute the slate from which the Synod convention will fill the position by majority vote.
f) Nominating ballots for regional board member positions must be returned to the Secretary of the Synod by Feb. 20, 2013.
Posted March 29, 2012
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