wfn.org | ELCA Council Proposes Amendments on Clergy Call Termination

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 16, 2000

ELCA COUNCIL PROPOSES AMENDMENTS ON CLERGY CALL TERMINATION
00-278-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) proposed constitutional amendments that
would make it possible, under certain circumstances, for a
congregation to terminate its pastor by a simple majority vote.  The
proposals will be transmitted to the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly
for its consideration.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves
as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies.  The council met here Nov. 10-13.  Assemblies are held
every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2001, in Indianapolis.
      At the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Denver, voting members
considered a related constitutional amendment, which narrowly failed
to achieve the two-thirds majority needed for adoption.  Under that
proposal, if a congregation voted by a simple majority to dismiss the
pastor, the bishop may exercise his or her "sole discretion" to
consent to the pastor's dismissal. The assembly's vote left the ELCA
constitutional requirement for dismissal unchanged.  It currently
provides for a congregation to dismiss its pastor, but only with a
two-thirds majority at a properly called congregational meeting.
     Members of the ELCA Conference of Bishops said they needed some
latitude to deal with serious conflict in some congregations.  Some
said they have experienced cases in which the congregation may want
to terminate the pastor's call, but could only generate a majority
vote rather than the required two-thirds.
     The proposed amendments are for constitutions of congregations
and synods. In cases of conflict involving the pastor and the
congregation, the proposed amendments call for all concerned people
to be heard.  Following that, a synod bishop and an advisory
committee, described in synod and congregational constitutions, may
recommend a course of action to the congregation and pastor.   If
they agree, no further action is needed.
     If they disagree the congregation, in consultation with the
bishop, may dismiss the pastor.  The proposed amendments allow for
dismissal by a two-thirds vote of the congregation, when the bishop
and advisory committee did not recommend termination of the pastor's
call.  The proposal also said a pastor may be dismissed by a simple
majority vote, if the bishop and advisory committee recommended the
call be terminated.
     The council took other actions related to constitutional
issues:
     + It proposed an amendment to allow the church's publishing
house, Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, to conduct some of its
activities through a separate corporation, with the publishing house
board serving as the board of any separate corporation.  The council
action affirmed actions of the Augsburg Fortress board of trustees.
The publisher plans to house its Internet business in a separate
corporation to help it remain price competitive with other companies
that market products through the Internet.
     + It asked the ELCA Office of the Bishop to present a report to
the April 2001 council meeting on the possibility of a consultation
with large congregations of the ELCA.  The request came from the ELCA
Saint Paul Area Synod Council, which asked the ELCA council to
consider a formal consultation with representatives of large-sized
congregations.  In its request, the Saint Paul Area Synod said some
large congregations in the synod are "defining themselves beyond the
parameters of the ELCA Model Constitution."  In some cases, they want
the right to ordain, and want to define roles for the synod and its
bishop in the process of calling a pastor, said the Rev. Mark S.
Hanson, bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod, in a comment last month
to the ELCA Conference of Bishops meeting last month in Chicago.
     + The council proposed an amendment to a churchwide bylaw that
would change the name of the ELCA Southern California (West) Synod to
Southwest California Synod.
     + The council amended a continuing resolution that changes the
wording used to identify an ethnic group.  The council's amendment
changes "Hispanic" to "Latino." The change was made in response to a
memorial from the ELCA Caribbean Synod, and with the recommendation
of an ethnic association and the steering committee of the ELCA
Commission for Multicultural Ministries.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html