Constitution Update

This announcement serves as notice to the Congregation about proposed changes to the St. Mark’s Constitution for approval at the November 15, 2026 Congregation Meeting, under the change process of section *C16.04 of the Constitution.

At that meeting, the Congregation will be asked to approve changes to bring our Constitution into conformance with the ELCA 2025 Model Constitution for Congregations, which was approved by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2025. 

For Approval at the November 2026 Congregation Meeting:

ST. MARK’S CONSTITUTION will be voted on at the NOVEMBER 15, 2026 congregation meeting

CLICK ON THE “CONSTITUTION” ICON AT LEFT TO VIEW THE NEW CONSTITUTION to be approved on at the November 15, 2026 meeting.

The changes include the adoption of the new 2025 Model Constitution amendments, plus some minor editorial corrections to bring our Constitution into conformity with the Model Constitution. Our proposed 2025 Constitution changes have been reviewed and concurred with by the Metro DC Synod Council Secretary for conformity with the Model Constitution.

The sections in our St. Mark’s Constitution which are required under the ELCA Model Constitution are marked with an asterisk (such as *C5.04).

A printed version of this document will be available at the meeting for those who wish to see it. If anyone would like a mark-up copy (Microsoft Word format) showing detailed changes, please contact info@stmarks-elca.org.

Background:

The ELCA Amendments to the Model Constitution for Congregations 2025 document describes each of the amendments adopted in 2025 and the associated rationale. The updated St. Mark’s Constitution incorporates each of these changes. 

Click HERE for a copy of this document.

Note on update to *C5.04 and related changes:

There is an update to *C5.04 from the Model Constitution, which changes the rules for selection of Synod Assembly Voting Members to add the option for the Congregation Council to elect the voting members. This article previously only allowed the Congregation to elect voting members. 

Old Model Constitution *C5.04

This congregation shall elect from among its voting members laypersons to serve as voting members of the Synod Assembly as well as persons to represent it at meetings of any conference, cluster, coalition, or other area subdivision of which it is a member. The number of persons to be elected by this congregation and other qualifications shall be as prescribed in guidelines established by the (insert name of synod)  of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

New Model Constitution *C.5.04

This congregation or the Congregation Council shall elect from among the voting members of the congregation laypersons to serve as voting members of the Synod Assembly as well as persons to represent it at meetings of any conference, cluster, coalition, or other area subdivision of which it is a member. The number of persons to be elected and other qualifications shall be as prescribed in guidelines established by the  (insert name of synod)  of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Synod Council Secretary has recommended that St. Mark’s remove our C5.04.01, which is now unnecessary, since Council will be authorized by the new *C5.04 to elect the Synod Assembly Voting Members. Accordingly, this article is deleted in the draft Constitution for approval.

June 2023 St. Mark’s Constitution *C5.04.01 - Removed from the new 2026 Constitution
*C5.04.01. The Congregation Council is empowered to appoint the voting members to the Synod Assembly, as well as representatives to other meetings of any conference, cluster, coalition or other area subdivision of which the congregation is a member.