2015 Convocation Recap - North American Lutheran Church

Hyatt Regency Hotel
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas August 11-14, 2015

Among the items of business before the 2015 Convocation were several constitutional amendments and elections for Bishop (four-year term), three members of the Executive Council (1 lay for a two-year term; 1 clergy and 1 lay for a four-year term) and two members of the Court of Adjudication (clergy or lay for a four-year term).

Read the Minutes of the 2015 NALC Convocation.

Click on a link below to be taken to specific sections of this page.

Constitutional Amendments

Elections

Reports and Other Documents

Video Archive

Constitutional Amendments

In addition to the participation of congregational delegates at Convocation, NALC congregations are asked, at times, to ratify the action of the annual Convocation. As a result of the action of the 2015 Convocation, each congregation is now asked to schedule a duly called congregational meeting for the purpose of voting “yes” or “no” on the Convocation’s action to amend Articles 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15 of the NALC Constitution.

Earlier this year, following a review of its organizational direction, Lutheran CORE amended its constitution to remove all references to specific Lutheran denominations. Those amendments included removing references to the Joint Commission on Theology and Doctrine, which had been a joint commission for Lutheran CORE and the NALC.

Following this action by Lutheran CORE, the NALC Executive Council proposed amendments to the NALC Constitution to remove “Joint” from the name of the commission. The Executive Council did so for the following reasons: 1) Lutheran CORE as an organization is no longer participating in the commission; 2) the vast majority of the commission’s activity to date has been at the request of the NALC; and 3) the NALC is now providing sole support for the commission.

Most of the proposed amendments are simple deletions. The proposed amendments to Article 12.01 describe an amended procedure for appointing members of the commission, which would allow for the appointment of non-NALC members provided such individuals agree to act in accordance with the NALC Confession of Faith. They could be individual Lutheran CORE members who are members of another Lutheran church. The proposed amendments to Articles 12.02 and 13.02 provide more concise and clear wording on the role of the Commission on Theology and Doctrine in ecumenical relations.

A black-lined copy of the amendments related to the change in relationship between Lutheran CORE and the NALC that were approved by the voting delegates to the 2015 NALC Convocation may be downloaded by clicking here.

These proposed constitutional amendments reflecting a change in relationship between Lutheran CORE and the NALC were approved by the voting delegates to the Convocation and ratified by two-thirds of NALC congregations voting as of February 15, 2016. All congregations belonging to the NALC at the time of the 2015 NALC Convocation were entitled to vote on ratification.

DOWNLOAD:

NALC-Constitution-Ratified-2016-FEB-15

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Elections

Under the NALC Constitution, congregations are empowered to submit nominations for all positions to be elected at Convocation. Nominations were submitted to the Nominating Committee in accordance with the NALC Constitution, and the 2015 Nominating Committee presented the candidates for election at the August Convocation.

The following persons were elected and will begin serving their terms on October 1:

Bishop (4-year term)
+ The Rev. John Bradosky – Bradenton, Florida
Executive Council – Lay Member (2-year term)
+ Brian Sutton – Statesville, North Carolina
Executive Council – Lay Member (4-year term)
+ Rosemary Johnson – Conrath, Wisconsin
Executive Council – Ordained Minister (4-year term)
+ The Rev. Carl Rasmussen – Kirkland, Illinois
Court of Adjudication (4-year term; two persons to be elected.)
+ Carolyn Nestingen – Roseville, Minnesota
+ The Rev. Marty Ramey – Dallas, North Carolina