Resolution: Federated Synod

Memorial proposing federated synods/judicatories
submitted by Philip Van Dam / Peter Suwak

Whereas the ELCA has congregations federated with congregations of other denominations, and

Whereas one of our full communion partners, the Presbyterians, have in their constitution the provision for federated presbyteries with other reformed bodies, and

Whereas the Anglican Church in Wales had proposed an ecumenical bishop for Wales to be shared with the United Reformed Church, the Methodists and the Baptists, and

Whereas the borders of our synods may be identical, or nearly identical with the borders of judicatories of some of our full communion partners, and

Whereas one of the new mission fields where new congregations are being planted is in prisons, and such plants would be helped by starting them as ecumenical in nature, and

Whereas for the sake of stewardship of limited resources, consolidation has been considered between synods, be it therefore

Resolved that the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod, in assembly, memorialize the Churchwide Assembly to add to the model constitution for synods the option to allow for the formation of federated/ecumenical synods/districts/judicatories with our ecumenical partners.