  We describe a method to remove non-decoupling heavy fields from a quantized
field theory and to construct a low-energy one-loop effective Lagrangian by
integrating out the heavy degrees of freedom in the path integral. We apply
this method to the Higgs boson in a spontaneously broken SU(2) gauge theory
(gauged linear sigma-model). In this context, the background-field method is
generalized to the non-linear representation of the Higgs sector by applying (a
generalization of) the Stueckelberg formalism. The (background) gauge-invariant
renormalization is discussed. At one loop the log M_H-terms of the heavy-Higgs
limit of this model coincide with the UV-divergent terms of the corresponding
gauged non-linear sigma-model, but vertex functions differ in addition by
finite (constant) terms in both models. These terms are also derived by our
method. Diagrammatic calculations of some vertex functions are presented as
consistency check.
