TELC members will be voting on the approval of a new constitution for TELC. If this document is approved at this meeting and ratified at the Annual Congregational Meeting in November then it will be the governing document we will live by for perhaps the next five years.
As discussed in recent TELCaster articles, TELC’s constitution and Bylaws are being revised, and you are an integral part of the process. We are required by the new ELCA and Upstate NY Synod constitutions to revise to align with the 2016 Model Constitution for congregations.
Bishop Macholz has challenged all of the Upstate NY congregations to review and update their constitutions by the June 2018 Synod Convention.
The Church Council is proposing, for your review and approval, a draft of our new constitution which has had both Council and Synod review. The Church Council will be calling for a vote for approval of this new constitution at the April 29 Congregational meeting. Our current constitution requires the Congregation to have at least 30 days to review before this meeting.
These three documents are available to help in your review:
A. The draft of our proposed 2018 constitution: Constitution, Bylaws & Continuing Resolutions_Approval_Draft
B. A copy of our currently approved 1998 constitution: TELC Constitution and Bylaws 5-3-98
C. A summary document, called TELC Constitution, Why Revise and How which explains our Constitution and revision (amendment) process and highlights areas of change since 1998.