CCM Verax invites you to build your own CCM Verax resolution for use at congregational, synodical (regional), and national gatherings within and without the ELCA.

All CCM Verax resolutions must contain in primary position both the "Whereas ..." clause and the "Resolved ..." clause below denoted by an asterisk.

Apart from that, you may construct your own resolution from the various suggested "Whereas..." and "Resolved..." clauses provided. Additionally or alternatively, you may include your own clauses. Please remember that the clauses listed below are only suggestions and that you take full responsibility for constructing, presenting, and defending your CCM Verax resolution.

CCM Verax Resolution - "Whereas ..." Clauses
(Click here for printer friendly version)

*Whereas the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and particularly the members of the ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly, have been taught through Called to Common Mission (CCM) paragraph 11 something about "episcopal succession" not contained in God's word, something not found or implied in the Lutheran Confessions, something contrary to the intentions of the Lutheran Reformers, something necessarily false, and something which was known to be false when the failed Concordat of Agreement was revised to become Called to Common Mission (CCM), (and)

Whereas Called to Common Mission (CCM) requires the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to adopt for full communion with the Episcopal Church an "historic episcopate," which is not of Christ, which means that Christ alone is not enough for full communion between these two churches, which is sin, (and)

Whereas Called to Common Mission (CCM) requires the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to adopt for full communion with the Episcopal Church an "historic episcopate," which has no biblical foundation, which means that the ELCA departs from the Lutheran tenet of Scripture alone, (and)

Whereas the Lutheran Reformers, both Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon, rejected the concept of "episcopal succession" which undergirds the Anglican "historic episcopate," (and)

Whereas the claim that Article 14 of the Apology to the Augsburg Confession refers to the pattern of "episcopal succession" (cf. Called to Common Mission (CCM) paragraph 11) is refuted by sound historic evidence known to at least one of the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) CCM drafting team since 1995, which means that no Lutheran confessional support exists for the to adopt an "historic episcopate" as required by CCM for full communion with the Episcopal Church, (and)

Whereas "apostolic" or "episcopal historic succession" is a "Christian fiction" whose strict enforcement even some Anglicans consider to be superstition, (and)

Whereas Called to Common Mission (CCM) requires the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to adopt for full communion with the Episcopal Church the principles of the Preface to the Episcopal Church's ordination rites which were established by the English Parliament's 1662 Act of Uniformity which sought to eradicate all non-episcopalian forms of Christian expression in England and Wales, which means that the ELCA has adopted and will share and will administer against its own clergy certain elements of these principles of religious intolerance, (and)

Whereas the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) 1999 Churchwide Assembly was informed through the ELCA's Tucson Resolution that Called to Common Mission (CCM) would not require the ELCA to become "episcopalian" in ordination practice and structure (adopt a three-fold order of ministers) and the Episcopal Church's 2000 National Convention was informed through its Resolution A041 that the ELCA had already voted to become "episcopalian" in ordination practice and structure (had adopted an three-fold order of ministers), which means that neither of these two churches' legislative bodies voted with the same understanding of the nature and implications of CCM, (and)

Whereas Called to Common Mission (CCM) as a document is full of ambiguous and deceptive language, half truths, and historical inaccuracies, (and)

Back to top

CCM Verax Resolution - "Resolved ..." Clauses

*Resolved that Called to Common Mission (CCM) is arguably the greatest act of deception ever cultivated by an ecclesial denomination in the history of North America, (and)

Resolved that _______ (congregation / synod) considers Called to Common Mission (CCM) to be an unprecedented fraud committed against the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), (and)

Resolved that _______ (congregation / synod) memorializes the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to begin the process of changing the name of this church from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to the Episcopal Lutheran Church in America to reflect the reality of the adoption of Called to Common Mission (CCM), (and)

Resolved that _______ (congregation / synod) memorializes the next Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the ELCA's Church Council, and all ELCA Synod Councils to allow any ELCA congregation, regardless of predecessor church body affiliation, to leave the ELCA by a two-thirds majority vote of the voting members present at a single properly called meeting of the congregation to decide to affiliate with a faithful Lutheran church body, (and)

Resolved that _______ Synod will repay to any congregation of this synod, which chooses to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on grounds of objection to Called to Common Mission (CCM), the full sum of that congregation's benevolence given to this synod from the time of the publication of the original Concordat of Agreement (1991) until the most recent fiscal year, (and)

Resolved that _______ (congregation / synod) requests the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to call as soon as is reasonably possible an extraordinary ELCA Churchwide Assembly to effect the immediate repeal of Called to Common Mission (CCM) and of all other changes (constitutional, liturgical, etc.) required for the implementation of CCM, (and)

Resolved that _______ Synod invites any member of this synod who has engaged in misinformation or deception in order to effect the passage and implementation of Called to Common Mission (CCM) to resign from this church and to join the Episcopal Church in the USA, (and)

Resolved that _______ Synod Assembly directs its synodical council to withhold benevolence from the churchwide expression of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) until CCM and all other associated changes (constitutional, liturgical, etc) required for the implementation of CCM have been rescinded, (and)

Resolved that _______ Synod will begin the process to establish this synod as a Lutheran church body independent of the ELCA which all congregations of this synod are invited to join, (and)

Resolved that _______ (congregation / regional church body / national church body) offers its support to the members and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) which oppose Called to Common Mission (CCM) in their endeavours to live in truth and in freedom (eleutheria) from the conditions and confines which CCM unnecessarily places on them, (and)

Back to top