News

Convention Workbook to be mailed by May 1

The 2010 Convention Workbook will be in the mail by May 1 to this year’s LCMS convention delegates and alternate delegates, lay members of Synod boards and commissions, and all remaining rostered LCMS church workers, says Synod Secretary Dr. Raymond Hartwig.

Hartwig indicated that Concordia Publishing House’s mailing of the workbook will require most of the 23,000 copies printed.

Also a part of the mailing will be two other volumes: the report of the Committee on Convention Nominations — with biographical information and statements from candidates nominated for election at the convention — and the final report of the Synod’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance.

The front cover of the workbook and the Synod convention itself — set for July 10-17 in Houston — will carry the convention theme, “ONE People — Forgiven,” based on Eph. 4:32 and taken from the Synod’s three-point vision statement.

At almost 300 pages, the 2010 Convention Workbook contains 238 overtures (proposed resolutions), 123 fewer than the 2007 Convention Workbook.

Overtures are proposed by congregations, district conventions and boards of directors, church-worker conferences, circuit forums, boards, commissions, and other official entities in the Synod. As in past convention years, the workbook contains a number of individual overtures listing more than one submitting entity, which indicates that their overtures were “identical or very similar to the one printed,” Hartwig explained.

The Convention Workbook also includes reports; official opinions; a directory of Synod officers, boards and commissions; a list of registered convention delegates and representatives; theological documents; and other supplemental material.

Eight convention floor committees will meet May 21-24 in St. Louis to draft resolutions for convention action, based on overtures and reports. In addition, Floor Committee 8, assigned the task force on structure report and related overtures, met for the first time April 16-18 in St. Louis. All floor committees also will meet and conduct open hearings in Houston, just before the convention gets under way.

The floor committees for the 2007 convention proposed 97 resolutions that resulted from 361 overtures and 69 reports.

The 238 overtures in the 2010 Convention Workbook are organized under the numbers and names of the floor committees to which they are assigned for consideration, as follows:

1. Missions — with 11 overtures.
2. District and Congregational Services — 25 overtures.
3. Theology and Church Relations — 33 overtures.
4. Administration and Finance — 23 overtures.
5. Seminary and University Education — 36 overtures.
6. Human Care — eight overtures.
7. Ecclesial Matters — 21 overtures. Hartwig said that this newly named committee’s overtures include matters related to Synod membership, opinions of the LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters, and dispute resolution.
8. Synod Structure and Governance — 81 overtures. A new committee, its resolutions are scheduled for delegates’ consideration over the first two days of the 2010 convention.