Page Contents Articles of Incorporation Constitution Updating the Congregational Constitution Updated with 2022 amendments Updated with 2016 amendments but not since Updated before 2016 Bylaws Continuing Resolutions The Parliamentary Authority Robert's Rules of Order Special Rules of Order Workshops and Presentations

Welcome to the Congregational Governing Documents page, part of our constellation of pages for matters related to polity. This page is under development. Topics will be added as they are developed. Eventually, this page will cover all the governing documents of the congregation (articles of incorporation, constitutions, bylaws, and continuing resolutions). For now, this page focuses upon updating a congregational constitution. A separate page focuses upon parliamentary procedure (parliamentary authority).

Articles of Incorporation

There will be a lot of material coming on this topic in February. Check back.

Constitution

This is usually considered the chief governing document of the congregation, though the congregation's articles of incorporation (if any) technically take precedence.

Because a congregation of the ELCA must abide by the provisions of Chapter 9 of the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a newly form congregation must adopt as part of its congregational constitution the required provisions of the Model Constitution for Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (2025). A congregation already received as member congregation must bring its congregational constitutions into conformity with required provisions whenever it makes any amendment.

The Office of the Secretary of the ELCA has recorded an hour-long educational session on congregational constitutions (including PowerPoint slides) as well as a guide to The Model. These is available for your study on the ELCA's Constitutions page. under the Congregations heading, listed as

• Guide for Use of the Model Constitution for Congregations
• Congregation Constitution 101 Slides
• Congregation Constitution 101 Presentation - Oct. 14, 2025

Updating your Congregation's Constitution

Churchwide Assembly (CWA) 2025 adopted revisions to both the required provisions and recommended provisions of the Model Constitution for Congregations. This happens every CWA (which, since 2013, takes place every three years). It is advisable to update your congregation's constitution after every Churchwide Assembly.

Synod Ratification

If your amendments involve only bringing your congregational constitution into conformity with the required provisions of The Model Constitution for Congregations, your amendments do not require synodical ratification, though you are still required to submit a copy for the synod's records. You also do not need synodical ratification for any amendments that bring your congregational constitution into conformity with the recommended provisions of the Model Constitution for Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. If your congregational constitution predates 2003 and you make any amendment, you must submit it for synodical ratification.

Amendment beyond the cases mentioned above require synodical ratification. Please include a redline version with the final form (unless it is a revision rather than an amendment of the constitution). It is preferred that a redline version use strikethrough for deletions, underlining for insertions, and yellow highlight and/or red font for both. If you have any questions, contact the bishop or one of the synod parliamentarians for assistance. To assist you in covering all your bases, use the Congregational Constitution Amendments Checklist.

For Constitutions Last Updated with Churchwide Assembly 2022 Amendments

If you updated your constitution after CWA 2022, updating will be easy. Download the 2025 Amendments to the Model Constitution for Congregations (also posted on the ELCA's Constitutions webpage) and follow the procedures for amendment. Note the following:

• You have the option of not revising anything in your constitution.
• If you revise anything in your constitution, your constitution must be brought into compliance with all required provisions in the Model.
• If an exception to the rule above is sought, consultation with the bishop is required.
• It is not necessary to adopt the recommended provisions.
• The congregation may, of course, adopt additional provisions which are not in the Model so long as they do not conflict with required provisions in the Model.
• In all this, follow the provisions for the amendment of your constitution scrupulously.
• If none of this makes sense to you, contact the bishop.

For Constitutions Updated with Churchwide Assembly 2016 Amendments But Not Since

If you updated your constitution after CWA 2016 but did not update after Churchwide Assembly 2019 or since, you will have extra work to do because you will have to capture all the sets of changes since. To be frank, it may be easier to simply start over, following the procedure for a general revision mentioned at the bottom of this section.

Determine the years that have been missed, download all of the missed years, reconcile the differences, and follow the procedures for amendment. The years of amendment are downloadable here:

• 2019 Amendments to the Model Constitution for Congregations
• 2022 Amendments to the Model Constitution for Congregations
• 2025 Amendments to the Model Constitution for Congregations

Note the following:

• You have the option of not revising anything in your constitution.
• If you revise anything in your constitution, your constitution must be brought into compliance with all required provisions in the Model—n.b., changes to required provisions made in 2019, 2022, and 2025 must be included.
  
• If an exception to the rule above is sought, consultation with the bishop is required.
• It is not necessary to adopt the recommended provisions.
• The congregation may, of course, adopt additional provisions which are not in the Model so long as they do not conflict with required provisions in The Model.
• In all this, follow the provisions for the amendment of your constitution scrupulously.
• If none of this makes sense to you, contact the bishop.

For Constitutions Older than Churchwide Assembly 2016

• Everything on the list for the simple update applies here along with some additional points (listed).
• It may be easier, depending on how far your constitution is out of compliance with the required provisions of The Model, to start with The Model as your base document and do a wholesale replacement of your constitution; this is called a revision (or a general revision).
  
• When doing so, first go through and identify all your recommended provisions and all provisions unique to your congregation.
• Compare your recommended provisions (i.e., provisions that are not required) with those in The Model and decide which you would like to to keep, modify, or trash.
• Incorporate as appropriate.
• In less drastic cases, entire chapters can be replaced.
• Do the same with any local provisions (i.e., items unique to your congregation) in your constitution.
• Follow the provisions for amendment of the your constitution as they appear in your current constitution (not as they appear in The Model, as they may be different).

Revision (or General Revision)

As mentioned above, it may be easier to start over, i.e., to replace your current constitution with The Model as is or with permitted local modifications. The procedure for a constitutional [general] revision is different from that used in what we call isolated amendments. We recommend downloading Parliamentary Procedure for the Consideration of a General Revision to a Congregational Constitution (2025) as a guide.

Again, feel free to contact the bishop or one of the synod parliamentarians for assistance.

Bylaws

Continuing Resolutions

The Parliamentary Authority

The parliamentary authority of a society, organization, or congregation is the manual or set of adopted rules for parlianetary procedure.

Parliamentary Authority: Robert's Rules of Order

A non-required provision in The Model Constitution for Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America states,

C10.07. Robert’s Rules of Order, latest edition, shall govern parliamentary procedure of all meetings of this congregation.

For more about Robert's Rules of Order (and alternatives to Robert's Rules of Order), go to our Robert's Rules of Order page.

You will also find there information related to both electronic meetings and procedure in small boards (e.g., your Congregation Council).

Special Rules of Order

If your congregation employ's Robert's Rules or Order, you have the ability to create special rules of order. A special rule of order overrides the applicable provision(s) in Robert's Rules of Order. Again, we plan to expand on this in the future.

Workshops & Presentations

The WV-WMD Synod offers workshops and presentations for congregations on a variety of topics. The following are currently available, but more will be added as time goes on. If there is something you would like to see that is not listed, contact Bishop Riegel. To make arrangements for a presentation or workshop, email Bishop Riegel (Bishop@WV-WMD.org).

• Crafting Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions
  
• Intro to Roberts Rules of Order
• Procedure for Small Boards (e.g., Congregation Council)
  
• Updating Constitutions & Bylaws
  

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