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Office of the Secretary > Constitutions
as adopted by the
Constituting Convention of
the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(April 30, 1987)
and as amended by the
First (1989), Second (1991), Third (1993), Fourth (1995),
Fifth (1997), Sixth (1999), Seventh (2001), Eighth (2003), and Ninth (2005)
and Tenth (2007) Churchwide Assemblies
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Edition current as of August 2007
Introduction
The basic commitments of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as well as its organizational
outline, structural patterns, and rubrics or governance are reflected by
this church’s constitutions, bylaws, and continuing resolutions. These
documents govern our life together as congregations, synods, and churchwide
organization.
We find ourselves consulting these documents
again and again to guide, direct, and assist us. They express for us, as a
church body, our understanding of the nature of the Church. They contain our
statement of purpose and our principles of organization. They define our
membership, our relationship, and our operating patterns.
While we recognize that the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America officially began operation as a church body on
January 1, 1988, through the uniting of three predecessor bodies, we realize
that our roots reach deep into the soil of the Lutheran Confessions and we
draw constant nourishment from our biblical foundations. So we really are an
old church with a different name and structure from those of our three
predecessor church bodies. We are a particular gathering of people known as
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As part of the whole Church of
Christ, we announce and declare the teachings of the prophets and apostles
and seek to confess in our time the faith once delivered to the saints.
The Rev. Lowell G. Almen, Secretary
Day of Commemoration
for Henry Melchior Muhlenberg
October 7, 2007
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