“By no vote of their own were put in the ELCA”

Presumbably, that congregation had delegates to the LCA assemblies that decided to merge… they were not helpless stooges without voice or vote. That congregation could have opted out of the LCA, or the merger, or the ELCA at any time by following the procedures within the CONGREGATION’S OWN CONSTITUTION, which undoubtedly would have required 2/3, but your implication that your congregation was totally void of any power over its own destiny is totally false. Similarly, your terminology “to get out from under their control” is a grotesque misunderstanding of the polity of your own congregation. To suggest that the ELCA “controls” local congregations is paranoid and conspiratorial.

You also attempt to create an analogy between apples and oranges. When Urland joined the loose affilation known as LC3, it was not a constitutional action of major importance, and may well have been simply the pastor’s decision. To equate the circumstances of joining LC3 with the ELCA merger is a gross overstatement. Even now, the process of joining Lutheran Core is informal: “Churches join Lutheran CORE by affirming the Common Confession and declaring in writing their intention to support Lutheran CORE’s ministry. Send a letter on your church letterhead signed by your pastor or president with the date of your church’s decision,” according to CORE’s own website.