RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the church council of Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley on April 13, 2010
called a special meeting of the congregation for May 17, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Calvary’s sanctuary
for the purpose of approving and adopting the following resolutions proposed by the council,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the congregation of Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley at this
duly-called May 17, 2010 special meeting approves and adopts the following resolutions:
ONE: The constitution and bylaws of Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley are hereby
amended by deleting Article IV of the constitution, which relates to the legal relationship with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (“ELCA”), by replacing the deleted Article IV with one
sentence, “This congregation shall be a Lutheran congregation.”, and by deleting or appropriately
amending all other references in the constitution or bylaws to the ELCA, the synod, or the synodical
bishop, all of which amendments are expressly set forth in the attached “Attachment To Resolution
ONE” and are hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of this resolution. Also attached to
this resolution for reference are copies of Calvary’s existing constitution and bylaws upon which
deleted words are stricken and replacement words are underlined to show the effect of the
amendments resulting from this Resolution ONE.
TWO: The congregation of Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley hereby, pursuant to Article
IV of its constitution, expresses its desire to terminate its membership in the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (“ELCA”) and does hereby terminate its membership.
THREE: Calvary shall continue to support ELCA ministries and organizations in furtherance of
Calvary’s mission as may be determined in Calvary’s normal governance process.
FOUR: Calvary shall welcome all people, including gay and lesbian persons, to worship with this
congregation and to become members, both by public statements and by tangible actions which
encourage their participation in the life of Calvary, and further, resolve to find ways for this
congregation and its members to meet all persons where they are in their life journeys with grace,
forgiveness, love, and support, consistent with the admonition of Jesus to “feed my sheep,” John
21:15-17.
FIVE: Calvary shall encourage the ELCA to consider creating alternative forms of affiliation with
the ELCA other than the constitutional affiliation model currently in use.
SIX: The congregation declares that the foregoing resolutions ONE through FIVE inclusive are
interrelated and each is dependent on all of the others, and none of such resolutions shall have any
force and effect until all of them are in full force and effect. The constitutional amendments in
Resolution ONE and the termination of membership in the ELCA in Resolution TWO require
approval by a two-thirds vote at two congregation meetings, the bylaw amendments in Resolution
ONE require approval by a two-thirds vote at one meeting, and Resolutions THREE, FOUR, and
FIVE, require approval by majority vote at one meeting. Thus none of the foregoing resolutions
become effective unless this congregation resolution is approved by a two-thirds vote and until the
constitutional amendments and the termination of membership in the ELCA provided in Resolutions
ONE and TWO are approved at a second meeting.
Attachment To Resolution ONE
The current provisions of Article IV shall be entirely deleted and shall be replaced by the following sentence:
“This congregation shall be a Lutheran congregation.” The amended Article IV then shall state as follows in
its entirety:
“This congregation shall be a Lutheran congregation.”
In subparagraph c. of paragraph 5 of Article V, the words “Evangelical Lutheran Church of America” shall
be deleted and replaced by “Lutheran Church” and the amended subparagraph then shall state:
“c. Support the work of this congregation and of the Lutheran Church.”
Paragraphs 5 and 6 of Article VI shall be amended to strike the words “or the synodical bishop.”
The last sentence of paragraph 1. of Article VII, which states that “The call committee shall consult with the
synodical bishop with respect to such call.” shall be deleted.
The last sentence of paragraph 2. of Article VII, which states that “The call committee shall consult with the
synodical bishop with respect to such call.” shall be deleted.
In paragraph 6 of Article VII, the words “and the synodical bishop” in the second sentence and the words “in
consultation with the synodical bishop” in the third sentence shall be deleted, and the amended paragraph
shall then state:
“6. The call of a pastor may be terminated by the congregation, but only at a special meeting by a twothirds majority of voting members present and voting. Notice of the meeting shall be mailed to all voting
members at least ten days in advance of the meeting. However, the termination must first be considered by
the council prior to the congregation meeting.”
In paragraph 3 of Article VIII, the words “the ELCA and the ELCA has no” shall be deleted and replaced by
the words “any organization and no such organization has any” and the amended paragraph then shall state:
“3. Ownership by the congregation of its real and personal property is not affected by the
congregation’s membership in any organization and no such organization has any authority whatsoever with
respect to the real and personal property of the congregation.” Paragraph 4 of Article VIII shall be deleted.
Paragraph 3 of Article XI, which states that “Any amendments to the bylaws shall be sent to the synod.”
shall be deleted.
Paragraph 4 of Article XII, which states that “Any amendments to this constitution shall be sent to the
synod.” shall be deleted.
Consistent with the foregoing amendments to the constitution, the bylaws of Calvary Lutheran Church of
Golden Valley are hereby amended as provided in the following paragraphs:
Subparagraph c. of paragraph 5 of Section IV, which requires a written ballot for “termination of the
congregation’s relationship with the ELCA” shall be deleted.
In the last sentence of Section IX , the words “and to the synod” shall be deleted and the amended sentence
then shall state:
“The senior pastor shall annually report these statistics to the congregation.”