West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod
|
Page
Contents
|
Welcome to the Congregational
Governing Documents page of our newly (re)designed
constellation of pages for all matters related to polity.
This page is under development. Topics will be added as
they are developed. Eventually, this page will covers 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
mid-December. 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 congregations 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, newly formed congregations must adopt
as part of their congregational constitutions the required
provisions of the Model Constitution for Congregations
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Those already received as member congregations must bring
their congregational constitutions into conformity with
required provisions whenever making any amendment.
Updating your Congregation's Constitution
Churchwide Assembly (CWA) 2022 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.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. 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, italics for insertions, and yellow highlight 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 basis, use the Congregational Constitution Amendments Checklist.
For Constitutions Last Updated with Churchwide Assembly 2019 Changes
If you updated your constitution after CWA 2019, updating will be easy. Download the 2022 Amendments to the Model Constitution for Congregations 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
Changes But Not Updated with 2019 Changes
If you updated your constitution after CWA 2016 but did not
update after Churchwide Assembly 2019, you will have to do a
little extra work because you will have to capture two sets
of changes (those made by CWA 2019 and those made by CWA
2022). Download both the 2019 Amendments
to the Model Constitution for Congregations and
the 2022 Amendments to
the Model Constitution for Congregations 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—n.b.,
changes to required provisions made in both 2019 and
2022 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
If your constitution was not revised after CWA 2016 (or is not in compliance with the Model in areas other than the CWA 2022 update), you may want to contact the bishop. CWA 2016 produced a massive revision to the Model, especially to the required provisions of Chapter 9. The bishop can provide advice on how too reduce the weeping and gnashing of teeth involved in making this sort of update. The first step in this process is to download the 2022 Model Constitution for Congregations. Note the following:- 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.
- 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).
Again, feel free to contact the bishop or one of the synod parliamentarians for assistance.
Bylaws
Bylaws are next in the hierarchy of governing documents. If one reads Robert's Rules of Order or state/commonwealth code, one can easily become confused because references are usually to bylaws. Note well: the term constitution is comprehended in the term bylaws for both those sources of parliamentary and legal authority. We are working on this section and hope to have some sage advice posted later in the year.Continuing Resolutions
For those familiar with Robert's Rules of Order, a continuing
resolution is a standing rule. They are next
in the hierarchy of governing documents. We are working on
this section and hope to have some sage advice posted later
in the year.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
Couldn't find what you were looking for?
Try refreshing your page. Most browsers cache pages for
faster loading. Unfortunately, when a page updates,
sometimes, your browser is pulling a saved copy of the
page from your cache. If you came here because you saw an
announcement about something being added to the page but
can't find it, it could be browser caching. By refreshing
your page, you can force your browser to download the most
recent version from the server---well, most of the time.
℅ St. Paul Lutheran Church, 309 Baldwin Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
304-363-4030 + Porter@WV-WMD.org