of the
West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod
| Register
for Synod Assembly Click Here for Info |
| Pre-Assembly
Bulletin of Reports Click Here |
|
Contents
|
| COVID-19 Click Here |
By order of the Synod Council of the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a regular meeting of the Synod Assembly shall convene on Saturday, 31 May 2025, at 10:00 AM, at the Mon County 4H Center, Mylan Park, Morgantown, WV.
Although the first save-the-date was published in August,
Synod Assembly is officially announced by the "Call of the
Assembly," that must be issued 60 days prior to the
convening of the assembly.
Agenda
As this is a regular meeting of the Synod Assembly, all
business required by the governing documents will be on
the agenda. That includes an explicitly enumerated set of
reports and elections. New business is also allowed, but
there are rules that set a deadline for submission of
nongermane resolutions and memorials (see here).
The proposed agenda will be published in The
Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports. It is subject to
amendment by the assembly.
Elections
Synod Assembly will be holding elections for
- synod secretary
- five seats on the Synod Council, and
- clergy and laity to both the Committee on Discipline and the Consultation Committee.
Visit the Nominations page for
details.
Amendments to the Constitution
Amendments to the Constitution of the West
Virginia-Western Maryland Synod, as proposed by the Synod
Council, have been posted since September 2024. They will
be considered by the Synod Assembly. Click
here to review.
Budget
It is routine for the Synod Assembly to establish a
budget for the upcoming fiscal year. In some years, the
Synod Assembly has amended the budget for the current
fiscal year. Budget-related materials are published in the
Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports.
Nominations
Preliminary material related to the work of the
Nominating Committee and the seats to be elected at Synod
Assembly 2025 is now available. For more information click here.
Churchwide Reports
Churchwide Representative: The Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos
Our Churchwide Representative for Synod Assembly 2025
will be The Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos, Director for
Theological Diversity & Ecumenical and Interreligious
Engagement for the ELCA. Dr. Santos' dissertation explored
the intersection of theology and science related to the
human brain.
Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church
The Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church was
established, in part, in response to a memorial submitted
by the WV-WMD Synod (and several others) to Churchwide
Assembly 2022. We have a dedicated page for matters
related to the CRLC; you may
review the report of the CRLC and the response of the
Church Council of the ELCA there. Addtionally, the CRLC
has produced a PowerPoint presentation (download here)
that you may view at your leisure. It will not be shown at
the Synod Assembly.
Proposed Social Statement on Civic Life & Faith
Another major item before the Churchwide Assembly is the
proposed social statement Civic Life and Faith.
Again, you may review the proposed statement on your own
at our dedicated SSTF | Civic Life
& Faith page.
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Who's Your Congregational Lay Voting Member? It Might Be You! Per our rules, those elected by their
respective congregations to serve as lay
voting members of the Synod Assembly remain
lay voting members until replaced by their
congregations or otherwise disqualified. If
you have been a congregational lay voting
member in the past, you may still be (if your
congregation has not formally replaced you).
Review our roster
of congregational lay voting members
to find out. Please note: returning congregational lay voting members should register for this assembly. Having an idea as to who is going to show up helps us plan. |
Registration for Synod Assembly 2025 is open!
Registration Deadlines
19 May 2025 14 May 2025: In order to receive notice of publication of the Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports, registration must be submitted online by close of business 19 May 202514 May 2025. Those registering after this date are responsible for accessing the Synod Assembly page themselves (or through their agent) in order to obtain Synod Assembly reports and materials.
- 26 May 2025: Online registration closes at the
end of the day. Those registering after this date are
responsible for accessing the Synod Assembly page
themselves (or through their agent) in order to obtain
Synod Assembly reports and materials. To register after
this date, one will have to register at the Synod
Assembly (see below).
- 31 May 2025: You may register the day of the Synod Assembly. A downloadable registration form will be posted on this page after online registration closes. If registering the day of the Synod Assembly, please download the form, print it, fill it out, and bring it with you to the Synod Assembly, reporting to the registration desk for submission and processing.
Voting Member Minimum Requirements
Voting members fall into two classes: clergy and laity.
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Lay voting members are elected by their respective congregations. Lay voting members, in addition to election by their respective congregations, must be voting members of their congregations (i.e., a confirmed member who has made a contribution of record and communed in the congregation during the current or preceding calendar year). A congregational lay voting member remains so until the election of a replacement or disqualification. Click here to review a list currently registered lay voting members. If there is an error, please report it to the Synod Office.ⓘ
Click here for guidance on electing congregational lay voting members.
- Some few lay voting members are enfranchised by virtue of being a member of Synod Council of a synod officer. If you are in this category, click here for registration guidance.
- The lay chair of a conference is also enfranchised.
Contact the Synod Office to register.
- Clergy voting members are those under letter of call or those enfranchised under our governing documents or by the Synod Council under one of several special classes. If you are clergy and uncertain how to register, click here for guidance.
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Register Online Here! Click for form |
On-line registration for Synod Assembly 2024 opened 30 March 2024 (earlier than expected or planned). Click here to review all registration deadlines.
Dispensation from Requirement for Male and Female Laity Voting Members from a Congregation
Normally, a congregation is to send one male and one
female voting member. If your congregation is having
trouble finding both a male and a female to register as
voting members, contact the Synod Assembly Registrar
(304-363-4030 or Registrar@WV-WMD.org) as soon as
possible.
Synod Assembly 2025 Nuts & Bolts
Date(s)
31 May 2025
31 May 2025 at the Mon County 4H Center, Mylan Park, near
Morgantown, WV, was announced (by website, Roadshow,
and Facebook) shortly after the 27 June 2024 Synod Council
meeting. Some have asked: Why in May and not June? It is
longstanding custom in this synod to hold the Synod
Assembly the first weekend June with the exception of
those years in which there would be fewer than two weeks
between Synod Assembly and Camp Luther, as would have been
the case this year.
Adjourned Meeting
Synod Council has not yet reserved a date for an
adjounred meeting of the Synod Assembly. It is hoped that
all work can be completed in one day. A second day will be
necessary under two conditions (otherwise we are done at
the end of the first day and go home without having to
come back):
- The Synod Assembly has uncompleted required business under the CBCR/WV-WMD or RONR.
- The Synod Assembly has business, though not required, it wishes to take up on a second day.
An adjourned meeting is not a special meeting; it is a
continuation of session. Folks often get the terms
inverted. A "meeting" is a discreet sitting for business
without more than a momentary recess of short duration,
the assembly members remaining in the immediate area and
prepared to return to work. A dinner break, break for
mass, or the overnight break constitutes a break that ends
a meeting. The "session" is the work of the assembly that
is governed by one agenda. So, our assemblies are already
made up of at least three meetings in one session. An
adjourned meeting is the next meeting in a series of
meetings that make up the session. With an adjourned
meeting,
- we continue business where we left off;
- there is no new registration process, all the voting members at the first meeting continuing as voting members in the next; and
- alternate voting members can be seated through the Committee on Registration should those originally serving be unable to continue.
Everything mentioned here is already the case with our
Synod Assembly, but we may not have recognized it as such.
Again, the major difference is the longer period of time
between meetings.
Venue
The Mon County 4H Center is located in Mylan Park, two
miles west of I-79 Exit-155, providing easy access for
travelers (click here for
Google map). You can visit the facility online at
its Mylan Park
website. We are renting both the indoor and outdoor
pavilion, with the assembly business planned for the
outdoor space, the inside space being used by committees,
the assembly office, and, if need be, assembly hall should
the weather turn foul. As with the last Synod Assembly,
the outdoor space has ample room for exhibitors and
socialization.
 Dining Guide |
There are ample dining options, ranging from fast food
drive-thru to high class sit-down, within a short drive,
the Gateway complex and University Town Centers being two
and three miles away respectively. Drive a little further,
and even more options become available. In total, our
dining guide lists over fifty establishments. Lunch will
be an extended period of time not only to allow attendees
to eat with some leisure and also to allow the tellers to
count ballots. Attendees may also pack their own picnic
lunches and eat at the pavilion (or anywhere else in the
park). Lunch is not included in the registration package.
Coffee & Water Service
Coffee and bottled water will be available on-site at the
Community Lutheran Partners table at no charge. Feel free
to bring your favorite travel mug to help reduce waste
(and cost).
 Lodging Guide |
While the assembly is planned as a one-day event, some may still opt for overnight accommodations. There is ample lodging in the area for anyone wishing to secure accommodations. Of course, many will prefer to simply travel in the morning and return home when we wrap up. A lodging guide is available for your perusal, but there are many other options that are not listed. The lodging guide does not imply endorsement. Lodging can be found in the Morgantown area at a wide variety of price points and accommodation levels. Lodging is not included in the registration package.
Cost
Synod Council has set the registration fee at
$0.00—that's right: free registration for the fifth
year in a row! This is possible because of
aggressive cost-cutting measures by SAPComm, redesign of
the Synod Assembly, an amazingly good deal on the meeting
venue, and a surplus in the Synod Assembly fund.
Synod Assembly Communications
Keeping abreast of all the information connected with
Synod Assembly isn't easy. To assist, we automatically
enroll registered attendees onto a dedicated email list.
Other means of communication (the synod website, Facebook,
and The Bishop's Road Show) are also employed.
Visit our Synod
Assembly Communications page for more information.
SMS/ Text Messaging
We've added a simple text messaging service to let you
know when announcements related to Synod Assembly are
published. Click here for more info.
Reserving the Right to Postpone or Cancel
While concerns about the pandemic have relaxed, Synod Council continues to monitor the situation and reserves the right to postpone or cancel the Synod Assembly in response to a COVID-19 outbreak. At the same time, federal, state, local health department, or venue response to an outbreak may preclude our gathering.
Why This Way? A COVID Story
For those familiar with Synod Assembly in the West
Virginia-Western Maryland Synod, this schema may seem odd.
Visit our Synod Assembly in the Time
of COVID page to learn more.
Likewise, visit our Synod Assembly in the Time of
COVID to learn about current mitigation standards.
Pre-Assembly Bulletin of
Reports: Not Final
The Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports will be
officially published 10 days prior to the convening of a
Synod Assembly. Online registration by 19 May 2025 is
vital to guarantee notice of the publication of the
bulletin. That said, it will be posted on this webpage and
announced on our synod Facebook
page and The Bishop's Roadshow.
Be sure to check out our Synod Assembly Communications page
for ways to keep abreast of developments.
| www |
Pre-Assembly Bulleting
of Reports
|
The Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports for Synod
Assembly 2025 is still being assembled, but there is
little reason not to make available some of the items now
on Manula, our online platform. Pay special attention to
the following.
- Report of the Nominating Committee (posted 5/8/2025)
- Proposed Budget FY2024-FY2025 (yet to be posted)
- Recommendations of Synod Council (yet to be posted)
- Report of the Bylaws Committee (yet to be posted)
- Prorgram & Agenda (yet to be posted)
You may access here.
You can navigate the Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports
by using the table of contents in the left of your Manula
interface (on a computer) or in the upper left corner (on
a mobile device).
After official publication (21 May 2025) additional information will be posted and integrated into the Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Reports as we receive it (and noted in the addenda section). To be alerted of such updates, you may want to subscribe to our text message (SMS) service for Synod Assembly matters; click here to learn more.
Synod Assembly 2025: Submissions
Nominations
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Deadline for Nominations 2 March 2025 |
The public input phase for nominations associated with
Synod Assembly opened 31 January 2025 and closed 2 March
2025 per the synod bylaws. Floor nominations will be
allowed (as well as write-ins during the election) at the
assembly. To learn more about which positions will be up
for election at Synod Assembly 2025 and how to nominate
for those positions, visit our Nominations page.
Reporting to/at the Assembly
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Deadline for Reports 7 April 2025 |
Exhibiting at the Assembly
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Deadline for Exhibit Application 7 April 2025 |
Significant changes were made last year when it comes to exhibiting. Please visit our Exhibiting at Synod Assembly page for more information.
Resolutions & Memorials
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Deadline for Resolutions & Memorials 11 May 2025 |
As this is a regular meeting of the Synod Assembly, the
introduction of non-germane new business is not only
permitted by expected. Those interested in introducing new
business should note the deadline, 11 May 2025. Early
submission is advantageous. Visit our Resolutions & Memorials
page for details on submission, format, etc.
If you miss the deadline, review the parliamentary aids
section located in the Pre-Assembly Bulletin of Report.