To St. John-St. Matthew-Emanuel members –

Your Congregation Council invites you to consider some changes to St. JME’s Constitution and Bylaws, and
attend a meeting of the Congregation on May 20, 2007, after services, when those changes will be discussed and voted on (along with our proposed 2007-2008 budget).

If the idea of changing our Constitution seems unfamiliar, it should. St. JME has not revised its Constitution since 1992, fifteen years ago. In that time our greater Church, the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA), has added many new clauses to the ‘model Constitution’ its congregations are expected to follow.

For this reason, most of the changes proposed are required of us by ELCA. These changes are mostly new legal language guarding against the loss of church property and preventing disputes. By adopting them we would be doing our part as good ELCA members to bring our Constitution up to date.

Your Congregation Council recommends all of these ELCA-inspired changes, plus three others:

Excess Spending Limit

If unforeseen maintenance or repairs are called for, your Council can now spend $8,000 in excess of a given year’s budget before calling a Congregational Meeting to ask for more. $8,000 may have been enough in 1992 but it is now restrictive, especially considering the needs of our 109 year old Church. We suggest changing the excess spending limit to 10% of the annual budget which would amount, this year, to approximately $22,500.

Mission Statement

Now the mission statement of St. JME is embedded in our Constitution, making it very difficult to change. Your Council, and the ELCA, recommend that it be deleted from the Constitution, to simplify the process of keeping this expression of our Congregation current.

Annual Budget Meeting Date

Now our annual budget meeting takes place in May, in preparation for our June 1 - May 31 fiscal year. Unfortunately our Bylaws still peg the date of that meeting in December, as if we still had a
Jan.1 – Dec.1 fiscal year. We recommend correcting the meeting date.

Copies of our Constitution and Bylaws, with all the proposed changes underlined, are available at the Church now. Please pick up a copy. If you cannot do so before the May 20th meeting, and want a copy of the Constitution and Bylaws mailed or emailed to you, call the Church Office at 718-768-0528.

One final note: We all owe a word of appreciation to Gene Hiigel, who has both briefed the Council concerning these changes and prepared the Constitution and Bylaws for your review. Thank you, Gene!

Respectfully,

Jim Vizzini, Congregation Council President
April 5, 2007