Our congregational board decided to review and bring our constitution up to date to reflect our practice of “Mission Centered Policy Governance”. Both Chris Janik and I (Glenn Ming) volunteered to co-chair this task. We took the most recent revised constitution of March 2022 and divided chapters and sections to bring language and content up to date to reflect current practices and synodical changes. A major revision has not been done since 2010. Some language was added, some deleted, and some changed to reflect current practice and required synod changes.
The Synod (the national ELCA organization) recently updated its constitution and whenever a church decides to update their constitution it must change and adopt all the changes that the Synod made to the basic constitution of the Lutheran Church ELCA. As a consequence, most changes to the sections of our constitution were Synod-mandated word for word. Some noteworthy Synod required changes are in Chapter 8 section C8.03 regarding New Member Approval; and Chapter 9 now entitled “Rostered Minister" including special language regarding deacons and use of eligible ministers for services.
Some important changes we made to the constitution to reflect our current policy practices and legal language involve a change to the name of the Church Chapter 1 section C 1.04 from St. John American Lutheran Church to St. John Lutheran Church ELCA Farmington Hills MI. Other changes include communion participation changes Chapter 8 section C 8.04.01 inviting all to participate regularly in Holy Communion and changes in voting practices in Chapter 10 section C 10.06 using green cards to vote and the requirement to be physically present at meetings or verified on Zoom for voting purposes.
These are major changes cited and do not reflect every change to the constitution. We plan on putting up a copy of the new constitution on the church website for you to read or download and review. The congregational board has met and reviewed the newly revised constitution and has unanimously recommended that the congregation approve the new constitution at a special congregational meeting to be scheduled for this September. The date will be September 22nd after the Sunday church service with coffee hour and the special congregational meeting all taking place in the MPR.
It is important that you consider attending to ask questions and approve this important document.
Glenn Ming and Chris Janik
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