Office of the Secretary > Records Management > Advice for Synods > Care on Rostered Persons > 3-Part Folder

To make the task of maintaining and retaining documents on clergy and other rostered leaders more efficient, consider a three-part folder:

1. Permanent Biographical Documents

These documents will become the permanent biographical file for the synod’s archives and should be transferred upon retirement, resignation, removal from the roster, or death.

• Educational and professional history;

• Copies of letters of call, acceptance, and termination;
• Questionnaires answered by the individual, including subjective essays describing the person's understanding of vocation;
• Family history, including marriages and divorces, which are legal contracts and part of the public record;
• Photographs, identified by name, location, and date;
• Personal correspondence between the pastor and the bishop (Retain only letters that relate to the pastoral vocation here.);
• Manuscripts and sermons should be acknowledged and filed by subject or treated as part of the basic biographical information file for later transfer to the synod's archives;
• News released, honors, bulletins for installations, anniversaries, retirement, and funerals

2. *Long-Term Controlled Access Documents

• These documents will be kept, under controlled access, in the synod office or synod archives for 25 years after retirement, resignation, removal from the roster, or death, and then destroyed.
• Signed letters regarding the performance of a rostered person.  If such letters warrant the bishop's attention, they should be acknowledged and retained in the synod's file.  A copy of the acknowledgement as well as a record of what action was taken regarding the issue must be retained.
• Personal correspondence between the pastor and the bishop or synodical staff member;
• Correspondence and documentation on matters that could result in disciplinary action or that relate to serious concerns about conduct;
• Rostered leader's reports to the bishop;
• Mobility forms;
• Performance evaluations;
• Letters of recommendation;
• Medical or psycho diagnostic reports are subject to physician / patient.  they should be retained if they relate to fitness for service or disability status.

*Access to the long-term controlled access files is reserved to the bishop of the synod, or a designated synod staff person, the secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and legal counsel.

3. Temporary Documents

These documents have temporary value and may be destroyed as soon as they are no longer useful or at the time of a change of call.

• Signed letters regarding the performance of a rostered person.  If such letters relate to habits or practices that do not warrant the attention of the bishop, they should be acknowledged by directing the writers to address their concerns directly to the individual or to the congregation council involved.  such material should not be allowed to accumulate in the rostered leader's file.
• Transcripts of academic records are private and should be purged after initial placement or after satisfactory completion of a graduate program for which leave time or money has been provided;
• Contractual arrangements, including grants or sponsorships, represent vital records while the contractual agreement is in effect.  They need not be retained when the agreement is no longer in force.

For Additional information contact:

Contact the Office of the Secretary: 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631 | 800.638.3522 ext. 2800
© Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | ELCA Home