Synod Assembly

Assembly Vocabulary

Voting members are not delegates! We gather as members—baptized members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We assemble for an assembly, not as a random collection of baptized members. Each assembly member, on behalf of our church (the ELCA), is assigned specific, strategic, and crucial responsibilities.
The terminology related to the legislative process of this church is not an accident. It was chosen by those who originally shaped the constitutions of our church to reflect thoughtfully and carefully this church's policy. The words Synod Assembly rather than convention, and voting members rather than delegates, were deliberately used for our governing documents. The words voting member and assembly reflect the ecclesial understanding that the three primary expressions of our church—congregation, synod, and Churchwide organization—exist and serve within this one church.

Congregation: We know the church most consistently and most basically through the congregation of which we are a part. Each congregation is the primary center for mission within each community. Each congregation is created and gathered by Word and Sacrament, the means of grace for the people of faith. Members gather for worship, carry out service together, extend the arms of mercy not only to the immediate community but also, by means of the synod and Churchwide organization, to the whole world. Members also minister in their daily life. For decision-making, voting members assemble occasionally and properly for governance matters and elections.

Synod Assembly: The people of this church in each of the 65 synods are not sent as delegates from a given caucus; they assemble as duly selected members of this church with voting responsibilities for governance and elections on behalf of the synod.

The Synod Assembly is just that—an assembly of the people of this church, some of whom are granted the responsibility of being voting members. They are not to be regarded as politicized delegates to some regional party convention. They are members of this church entrusted with decision-making authority; they are summoned to serve on behalf of this church within the synod and are accountable to each member of each congregation, as well as the whole synod as an expression of the church.

The vocabulary we use shapes and reflects our understanding of our church. We can catch a vision of the whole church even as we care deeply for each member and each expression of the church.

Description by Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary.