Update Made Easy: New 2025 Constitution Guidance for Your Congregation
Better Together: A Streamlined Path to Constitution Updates
The 2025 ELCA Model Constitution for Congregations is here—and the Grand Canyon Synod is ready to walk with you through the update process. Designed by Pastor David Brandfass and tested across the synod, our newly streamlined approach saves your congregation up to 12 hours of administrative work and ensures compliance with ELCA requirements—without the need for a second meeting.
Every congregation in the ELCA is required to bring its Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions (CBCRs) into alignment with the model document following each Churchwide Assembly. The 2025 amendments are primarily administrative—focusing on consistency, clarity, and structural improvements—but include required sections (denoted by asterisks *) that must match the model exactly. Congregations are also encouraged to review the recommended changes and select customizable options that suit their local context.
Rather than doing it alone, this new process connects you directly with a Grand Canyon Synod constitutional consultant. Once you choose your contextual options in the provided form, our synod staff will merge them with the required language to generate a polished document ready for council approval—complete with a Table of Contents!
This service ensures:
Full compliance with Churchwide constitutional requirements
A smooth review process by the Synod Council
Less time rewriting and formatting
Avoidance of common errors that require restarting the process
Congregations still have the option to complete this on their own, but we encourage you to make use of this support. If your updated constitution is submitted with more than ten required errors, it will be returned with an invitation to use the synod’s streamlined approach.
As always, we do this work together, in the spirit of community and shared mission.
