The congregation has delayed approval of the 2019 Amendments to the Model Constitution of the ELCA for inclusion in our constitution, and the provisions will be offered for a vote again at the June meeting. As the examination time is extended, there are two points to be mindful of:
- The rewritten amendments are only changes to language, and there is nothing new that affects the governance or rights of this congregation.
- The congregation has the choice of accepting the changes or disengaging from the ELCA.
In brief, the constitution we have—and all the rights contained—are exactly the same as what is in the revised document.
Some of the rearranged and reworded provisions may appear to be changes in governance, but a reading of the entire set of amendments will confirm that nothing is different from the constitution we already have. To be sure, the 2019 Churchwide Assembly’s intent was only to reword, not legislate. Please send any concerns to me at peteboal1@gmail.com.
—Pete Boal