Our Affiliation
(See Resources below)

At a congregational meeting on Sunday, February 13, 2011, St. Timothy's Lutheran Church voted 139-18 (88.5%) in favor of disaffiliating with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and 144-16 (90.0%) in favor of joining the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

On March 4, 2011, a letter was received from the NALC approving St. Timothy's request to be accepted as a member congregation.

Summary to date

February 13, 2011: The congregation voted to disaffiliate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and to join the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The vote to disaffiliate with the ELCA was 88.5% in favor, and the vote to join the NALC was 90.0% in favor.

February 6, 2011: Adult forums on the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) were held at 9:45am and 11:00am. This is the church body which our Church Council is recommending that we join.

December 7, 2010: Bishop Mark Holmerud met with the Church Council at 6:30pm followed by a meeting with the congregation at 7:00pm in the Carter Great Room. The purpose of the meetings was to answer questions and assure that proper process was being followed. Both meetings went well, with the second meeting wrapping up at 8:00 pm.

October 10, 2010: A congregational meeting was held to vote on the Church Council recommendation. The recommendation, to terminate St Timothy's affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), passed with an 80% majority. A second required vote will be scheduled to take place no less than 90 days later.

On September 14, 2010, the Church Council, after several hours of prayerful coonsideration, unanimously voted to recommend that the congregation terminate its relationship with the ELCA and then voted 12-1 to recommend joining the NALC.

On July 13, 2010, the Affiliation Team made its presentation to Council, having reduced the number of potential affiliation groups to three: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) and the soon-to-be-formed North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

At the January 31, 2010, Annual Congregational Meeting, Council was tasked with the responsibility of bringing an affiliation recommendation to the congregation by January 2011 -- whether or not to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and affiliate with another church body. An Affiliation Team was thus formed to gather the necessary information so as to allow Council to make that recommendation.

On December 6, 2009, St. Timothy's voted to join Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Renewal) and to support their efforts through 2010. Monthly Affiliation Updates, originally published in the monthly newsletter, may be found by clicking the link below.

Below are some resources which will help you as, together, we prayerfully consider where God is leading us as a congregation.