Operations Manual - Trinity Lutheran Church

Proposed Constitution & By-Law Changes - May 2008

These documents had not been revised in years, perhaps decades, until they were re-drafted in 2004 and approved in 2005. This was primarily due to the efforts of Mark Waltz and a constitutional review committee. This initial effort was to better synchronize the documents with Synod and do some general updating. It was a great effort, but that notwithstanding, now that we have had some experience with them in real operation the Council has identified many needed changes.

With our increase in size since the ‘70’s and change in pastoral leadership and staff, it is timely to re-look at these documents. Most urgent is the need to modernize the approach to voting membership and provide more flexible language for called staff. These changes are appropriate because:

• We have a Director of Christian Education whose position is not recognized in these documents.

• With the growth of the church and voting membership, the current method of voting membership and record keeping is unwieldy. It is not practical to keep attendance rolls for meetings and the approval of voting membership should be the same as and included with the acceptance as a communicant.

To address these immediate needs, Council has reviewed and recommends the following changes for approval at the May voters meeting.

1. Include generic wording for other called church professionals and include flexibility for the eventual addition of a second Pastor. Eliminate specific references such as ‘teacher’.

2. Simplify voting membership by including this in the new member acceptance process. If you are a communicant member over 18 and wish to become a voter, you can be added to the rolls of voting membership by the Elders or Pastor provided you agree to abide by the Constitution and By-laws of Trinity.

3. Modernize membership rolls, including Voters, by committing to a computer data base which can be generated, maintained and published as needed and eliminating the need for a ledger book.

4. Expedite Voter’s meetings by eliminating recording of attendance and approval of new Voters. Voter participation can be challenged by exception.

Council recognizes and emphasizes that these are not all the changes that need to be made to these documents, this is good first step. The Council is pursuing a more rigorous review by a constitutional review committee. However, there is a sense of urgency to proceed with the proposed changes in advance of this effort.

proposed revisions to Constitution - May 2008

proposed revisions to by-laws - May 2008