The voting membership of the Synod Assembly includes clergy and laity. Most of those lay voting members are elected to that voting membership by their respective congregations. We call them congregational lay voting members. This practice can be traced back to 1748 and the first meeting of the first synodical body in America. We say elected by their respective congregations, but is this always the case? What's really happening in our congregations?

• In some congregations, the Congregation Meeting elects the congregational lay voting member to Synod Assembly.
• In some congregations, the Congregation Council elects the congregational lay voting member to Synod Assembly.
• In some congregations, the pastor or Congregation Council [vice] president asks/begs someone/anyone to attend, and whoever volunteers (or agrees if recruited) gets the job.
• In some congregations, someone simply says that they are attending, and it is treated as a fait accompli because no one says, "Wait, this has to be voted upon."
• In some congregations, no one attends because no one is willing to attend (or the question is never even asked).
  

Not all of the above are legal (i.e., consistent with the governing documents of our church). Assuming your congregation's constitution does not predate the formation of the ELCA, *C5.04 governs how congregational lay voting members are enfranchised for Synod Assembly. Until 2025, the only legal means for enfranchisement was election by the Congregation Meeting (with some few exceptions). We are not so naïve as to believe that most congregations were actually following their respective constitutions. The list above is not hypothetical; it is anecdotal. It is probably the reality on the ground that compelled the Church Council of the ELCA to recommend in 2025 amendment of *C5.04 to allow the Congregation Council to elect the congregation lay voting members to Synod Assembly. In short, rather than try to get congregations to comply with the constitution as it was written, the Churchwide Assembly 2025 opted for the path of least resistance and amended the Model Constitution for Congregations. Because Churchwide Assembly amended the Model Constitution for Congregations, the guidance previously published by this synod no longer applies in full. We offer this expanded and amended guidance to not only deal with the 2025 changes to *C5.04 but also to include the possibility that your congregation is still working under a pre-2025 constitution.

Which version of *C5.04 applies to your congregation depends upon the date of your last congregational constitution amendment. *C5.04, as found in two different iterations of the Model Constitution for Congregations. Let us compare versions.

The critical difference between the older and amended versions is in the granting to the Congregation Council the power to elect Synod Assembly congregational lay voting members.

Prior to Churchwide Assembly 2025's amendment, congregation in *C5.04 would have indicated, in most cases, the Congregation Meeting, as *C5.02 and *C5.03 reserved to the Congregation Meeting those powers not otherwise delegated through the congregation's governing documents to the Congregation Council or others. We may think of this as a constitutional default setting. Some few congregations may have adopted local provisions that did in fact delegate the election of Synod Assembly lay congregational voting members to their Congregation Councils, but there is no evidence that a such has been a wide-spread custom.

That your congregation might navigate this process within the parameters of your congregation's governing documents, we offer two sections below:

• For congregations that have not amended their constitutions to conform with the Model Constitution (2025) — pre-2025 constitutions
  
• For congregations that have amended their constitutions to conform with the Model Constitution (2025) — 2025 (and later) constitutions
  

Be sure to compare your constitution's *C5.04 against the wording of the versions provided above to make sure you have the right one.

For congregations that have not amended their constitutions to conform with the Model Constitution (2025)

In light of *C5.02 and *C5.03, which reserve to the Congregation Meeting those powers not delegated through the congregation's governing documents to the Congregation Council or others, the constitutional "default setting" is election by the Congregation Meeting. Everything in this section is built on the assumption that your congregation is not able to immediately amend its constitution. Caveat: what is written in this section applies only if your constitution pre-dates the 2025 amendment of *C5.04.

In your congregation, who elects voting members to Synod Assembly?

• If your Congregation Meeting elects, and
  
• your congregation is happy with that, you can probably stop reading now, but
  
• if your congregation is not happy with that, you can create a rule (i.e., bylaw or continuing resolution) that delegates this power to the Congregation Council or the Executive Committee (or, in theory, some other committee).
  
• If your Congregation Council elects, do your congregation's governing documents (constitution, bylaws, or continuing resolutions) contain a provision authorizing Congregation Council to do so?
• If such a provision does exist,
• and your congregation is happy with that, you can probably stop reading.
• If your congregation is not happy with that, amend your governing documents by striking the provision; this will return the election process to the Congregation Meeting.
  
• If such a provision does not exist, and
  
• your congregation wants the Congregation Council to continue electing the voting members to Synod Assembly, you need to create a rule (i.e., bylaw or continuing resolution) that delegates that authority, but
  
• if you your congregation is not happy with the Congregation Council electing voting members to Synod Assembly, stop doing so and have the Congregation Meeting elect.
  
• If your Executive Committee elects, what has been said about the Congregation Council electing applies. Be sure that any provisions adopted to delegate the election to the Executive Committee state Executive Committee and not Congregation Council.
  
• If your pastor or [vice] president appoints, stop it! This is a really bad idea for a myriad of reasons. As ill-advised as it may be, your congregation is, however, free to create a rule that codifies this practice.
• If no one elects but members just volunteer and no one in authority confirms it, stop it! This is an even worse idea than the pastor or [vice] president appointing.
  

Tradition is a poor substitute for codification in a congregation's governing documents. Tradition can be quasi-authoritative when governing documents are silent, but when governing documents are explicit, tradition does not take precedence. Since it is simple enough to codify that which is practice, why not codify? Furthermore, why would a congregation not want to follow the non-required provisions of its own constitution when the congregation has the freedom to amend them?

If your congregation wants to delegate the prerogative of the Congregation Meeting to elect the congregation's lay voting members to Synod Assembly, you may adopt as either a bylaw or a continuing resolution the following (or something similar):

The [Congregation Council][Executive Committee] shall elect this congregation's lay voting members to Synod Assembly.

In the event that the Congregation Meeting fails to elect this congregation's lay voting members to Synod Assembly at its annual meeting, the [Congregation Council][Executive Committee] shall do so.

This second example has the benefit of making the Congregation Meeting the usual elector while providing a backup in case it fails (e.g., forgets) to do so.

For both examples, chose between Congregation Council and Executive Committee; do not use both. Remember to remove the brackets, and codify appropriately.

N.B.: when adopting any change to the governing documents of your congregation, follow the procedure outlined in your constitution. If creating a provision delegating authority is urgent, create a continuing resolution.

For congregations that have amended their constitutions to conform with the Model Constitution (2025)

Two complications arise from the amended language. First, the addition of Congregation Council was not accompanied with a coordinate amendment of congregation to Congregation Meeting. The older version's use of congregation allowed, as previously mentioned, delegation of power in conformity with *C5.03. By explicitly naming the Congregation Council in the amended version, congregation may no longer be taken broadly. The freedom to create a delegating provision empoweing, e.g., the Executive Committee evaporates as the juxtaposition with Congregation Council forces congregation to indicate the Congregation Meeting, under the 4^th principal of interpretation: "If the bylaws authorize certain things specifically, other things of the same class are thereby prohibited" (q.v. RONR (12^th ed.) 56:68). This new rendering, therefore, prohibits the delegation of this power beyond the Congregation Meeting and the Congregation Council, and as *C5.05 is a required provision, not even a local constitutional provision can delegate.

Or also complicates things. In an effort to give congregations greater freedom—and likely to acknowledge that many Congregation Councils were already electing the congregational lay voting members to Synod Assembly (in contravention of their constitutions)—the use of or appeared to be a solution that allowed Congregation Councils to elect where desired without forcing those congregations happy (and perhaps insistent upon) the Congregation Meeting electing to abandon the practice. The presence of or now forces the question "which?" How does any individual congregation decide which body (Congregation Meeting or Congregation Council) will do the actual electing?

As much as it is to be preferred that governing documents clearly delegate authority, the presence of such ambiguity may often be resolved by an appeal to custom (following the maxim "consuetudo pro lege servatur"). In other words, what has your congregation done in the past?

• Has the Congregation Meeting been electing the congregational lay voting members to Synod Assembly? Then continue to do so.
• Has the Congregation Council been electing? Then continue to do so.

Appealing to custom will prove serviceable so long as people know the custom. Caveat: the day may come when people do not know the custom or get locked in a fight over custom; when this happens, clearly written rules (e.g., bylaws and continuing resolutions) will spare the congregation unnecessary conflict (assuming such rules are consistently followed).

The Congregation Meeting is the highest legislative authority in the congregation. It may codify which body (Congregation Meeting or Congregation Council) elects, even abolishing longstanding custom. The Congregation Council may, in the absence of a determination by the Congregation Meeting, make its own determination; any such determination by the Congregation Council may be overridden by the Congregation Meeting. The following examples are offered. They may be adopted as bylaws or continuing resolutions (the later being the faster and more flexible option). Select the one that best works for your congregation (modifying as seems prudent).

• The Congregation Meeting shall fulfill the duties of *C5.04, the Congregation Council being empowered to fill any vacancy that shall arise.
  
• The Congregation Council shall fulfill the duties of *C5.04.
• The Congregation Meeting shall, at its annual meeting, fulfill the duties of *C5.04, and should it fail to do so, the duty shall devolve to the Congregation Council for that year.