RESOLUTION 12-01
Report R65D (CW, p. 301); Overtures 12-01, 12-11–13, 12-15–21, 12-23–27, 12-39–40 (CW, pp. 415, 419–424, 430–431)
Rationale
Membership in the Synod is and always has been a privilege that is either granted or terminated by the Synod. In the earliest period of its history, the Synod retained the authority to make decisions regarding membership to itself, to be made by its conventions. Over time, the Synod adopted bylaw processes for making such decisions. In the matter of expulsions from the Synod, such processes were to be fair and impartial.
Initially, the President of the Synod as ecclesiastical supervisor assumed the authority to suspend members prior to their expulsion. Not long after, district presidents as the President’s agents were given the authority to suspend, with final decisions regarding expulsion to be made by a convention of the Synod or district. In time, Synod bylaw changes provided opportunity for appeals of suspensions to commissions and boards of the Synod or districts prior to expulsion.
The 1992 convention of the Synod, which created the Synod’s dispute resolution process, retained district presidents’ authority to suspend but delegated the authority for final decisions regarding expulsion from membership to dispute resolution panels. When the 2004 convention created new processes solely for suspension and expulsion, panels of three district presidents were given responsibility for expulsion decisions. The 2010 convention replaced one of the three presidents on such panels with a lay reconciler.
Of particular note, as the removal from membership process evolved over nearly 170 years, was the decision by the 1965 convention to empower the President of the Synod to act when a district president failed to act on an accusation brought against a member of the Synod. This presidential authorization to act was then given to the Praesidium of the Synod in 1989 and retained as part of the overhaul of the suspension/expulsion processes in 1992.
The 2004 convention’s major overhaul of the process removed the right of an accuser to appeal to the Praesidium of the Synod when the district president declined to act. In its place, the accuser could now request that the matter be presented to a Referral Panel of three circuit visitors if the district president fails or refuses to act, this panel then making the decision regarding the suspension, thereby reducing the opportunity for a full and objective hearing and placing an ecclesiastical supervisory decision in the hands of circuit visitors which constitutionally only belongs to district presidents.
The history of the suspension/expulsion process supports a return to past practice which existed from 1965 to 2004, leaving the responsibility for suspension in the hands of those charged with ecclesiastical supervision. When a district president fails or declines to act, this will allow an appeal by the accuser to the Praesidium of the Synod, who will decide when an accusation warrants suspension and, if requested by the accused, a hearing before a panel.
Prior to the 2004 LCMS convention, there also existed a right of appeal to the LCMS Praesidium in matters of ecclesial supervision involving such serious disciplinary action under former Bylaw 2.27.2 (b), which stated:
b. If the district president declines to suspend the member or fails to act within 90 days after receipt of the written complaint, the complainant may present the written complaint to the Praesidium of the Synod, which consists of the President and the vice-presidents of the Synod. If after investigation the Praesidium concludes that the facts form a basis for expulsion of the member under Article XIII of the Constitution, the Praesidium shall proceed in the same fashion as hereafter required of the district president. If the Praesidium determines not to proceed, it shall in writing so inform the complainant and the involved member, which shall terminate the matter.
therefore be it
Resolved, That the following changes be made to sections 2.14 and 2.15 & 2.17 of the bylaws.
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
See resolution for proposed wording