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Congressman William Dannemeyer distributed the
following Overture to the IV
National Free Conference On C. F. W. Walther in St. Louis. Dannemeyer
explained that lay people no longer have equal representation at District
and Synodical Conventions. Many District Presidents are stacking the
floor
committees with full-time church workers. Lay delegates are not given
an
opportunity to speak to the floor committees. The so-called Behnken
rule is
used to silence lay people at the microphones if they want to make
amendments to resolutions from the floor during a Convention. In
essence,
the Synod has being taken over by professional church workers. The
following resolution is written to remedy this inequity and restore equal
representation to lay people.
Congregations are encouraged to submit this resolution to their next
District Convention.
OVERTURE RELATING TO HOW COMMITTEES IN SYNOD AND DISTRICT CONVENTIONS ARE
TO
BE ORGANIZED
WHEREAS, Holy Scripture makes no distinction between clergy and
laymen:
"One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.
Matthew 23:8."
"The princes of the Gentile exercise dominion over them, and they that
are
great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you.
Matthew 21:25-26" and,
WHEREAS, there is no provision in the LCMS Handbook on the structure
of
committees which are formed at a Synodical convention, that is the
apportionment between clergy and lay people, nor is there any provision as
to how committees shall conduct their business, and
WHEREAS, there is a provision in the LCMS Handbook that District
Conventions
shall be governed by the By-laws adopted by the Synod for its convention,
and
WHEREAS, since the LCMS Handbook is silent on how Synod shall form
committees at a Synodical convention and conduct their business, such has
the result that there is no direction to a District as to how to form
committees at a District Convention and how such committees will conduct
their business, and
WHEREAS, at the 2000 District Convention of the PSWD the District
President
organized the committees with a majority of the persons on each of the
committees working for the church, which clearly discriminated against the
lay people of our church, and in effect denies lay people equal
representation as was promised at the founding of the Synod, and
WHEREAS, there is a definite need to establish in the LCMS Handbook
how
committees are to be formed at Synodical and District Convention, and how
the committees are to perform their function so as to give life to the
statement of our Lord that we clergy and layman are equal in the Kingdom of
God, therefore be it
RESOLVED, Our congregation does hereby request that the LCMS
Convention in
2004 and each District Convention in 2003 adopt the following
recommendations:
1. Committees appointed at a Synodical or District Convention should have an
equal number of members and an equal number of Clergy and lay delegates.
The names of Clergy and lay delegates shall be placed in separate hats and
the requisite number drawn to serve on the committee. If a chosen
person
declines to serve, a new name shall be selected from the appropriate hat
until the full number of committee members is achieved.
2. Votes of the members of the committee shall be public and recorded by the
chairman as a part of his report to the convention.
3. That at any meeting of the committee, initial or otherwise, any person,
delegate or otherwise, who is a member of an LCMS congregation should have
the right to address the committee on Overtures, which have been assigned to
it. A second or subsequent statement by a member to a committee shall
be at
the discretion of the chairman.
4. At the initial meeting of a committee, the committee members shall elect
the chairman. Any meeting of a committee shall be preceded by a notice
of
at least two weeks of the intention to meet, citing time and place.
5. The so-called Behnken rule should be abolished. This rule is the
means
whereby a chairman of a convention can arbitrarily rule from the chair that
a proposed amendment is a substitute, not an amendment, and then the
proponent has two minutes to explain why convention time should be consumed
to take up the measure. No part of the two minutes can be used to
explain
the merits of the proposal, only why it should be taken up. The
existence
of this rule is means whereby a committee chairman and the presiding officer
at a convention can effectively keep buried in a committee a measure, which
a convention should discuss. It is the means whereby an institution
can
sweep under the rug an issue which needs discussion in the church but is
considered controversial or politically incorrect; and
b, that the Bylaws of the Pacific Southwest District be amended at the
District Convention in 2003 and that Committees organized at the 2003
Pacific Southwest District Convention be consistent with the foregoing
structure. And further that the LCMS Convention in 2004 amend the
By-laws
of the LCMS to provide for the foregoing structure.
Dated this _____ day of _________, 2002
________________________________________
Name of Congregation
________________________________________
President
________________________________________
Secretary
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