Source: The Arizona Republic

On April 1, 2001, The Arizona Republic reported that "dissenting Lutherans voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new branch within the church as a backlash to the full communion agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church U.S.A...About 160 of the 10,000 ELCA congregations have voted to join. Others...want to work within the ELCA to reverse the decision that gives bishops more power."