SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — On Sunday, 74% of congregation members in attendance voted for First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).
The church in downtown Sioux Falls is one of the oldest in the city. A second vote must be held before the departure is final.
The ELCA has about 200 congregations in South Dakota with about 100,000 members. There are at least seven ELCA churches in Sioux Falls.
The Sunday vote needs to be certified by the South Dakota Synod ELCA, said Jonathan Vehar, associate to the synod bishop Rev. Constanze Hagmaier.
Once the vote is certified, the synod will work with First Lutheran for 90 days until a second required vote is taken, Vehar said. That vote must also be approved by two-thirds of the voting congregation members at the vote.
The likely change for First Lutheran has been discussed for more than a year. While a September 2025 vote to leave passed, a January vote to leave failed by seven votes. The church said 530 ballots were cast in 2025, 661 in January and 617 on Sunday.
A statement sent by First Lutheran Congregation president Cami Jacobson said the congregation has been working with the synod in open forums to discuss the possible departure.
Vehar said it is the synod’s role to work with member congregations who are considering leaving the ELCA.
“The decision Sunday was a recognition from nearly three-fourths of our voting members that the governance structure inherent to being an ELCA congregation may no longer serve the mission of our church,” a statement to KELOLAND News by congregation president Cami Jacobson said.
The advocacy to leave the ELCA is driven in large part by “the continuing shift in the ELCA to a hierarchical governance structure that is continuing to remove congregational autonomy,” Jacobson said in a follow-up statement to KELOLAND News.
The ELCA meets every three years in a churchwide assembly. The ELCA can makes changes to the overall constitution at the assembly. Changes are voted on by representatives of synods, which represent individual congregations such as First Lutheran. “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 Grand Canyon Synod said on its website about the 2025 changes. It described that 2025 amendments as “primarily administrative—focusing on consistency, clarity, and structural improvements.”
In early 2025, the Eastern Wisconsin Synod of the ELCA said rumors about changes in the constitution would eliminate congregational autonomy were unfounded.
The ELCA was formed in 1988 with the merger of the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Churches and the Lutheran Church in America. Membership declined by about 1 million from 5.2 million 1987 to 2010 to about 4.2 million, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives. The ELCA said it has 2.7 million members in 50 states and the Caribbean.
If the second vote to leave the ELCA is approved, Vehar said the impact is immediate. “There is no next step required,” he said.
First Lutheran owns its building and it retains its finances, Vehar said.
