General Synod
The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations.
Contents
The Anglican Communion
The Church of England
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In the Church of England, the General Synod, which was established in 1970 (replacing the Church Assembly), is the legislative body of the Church.
Episcopal Church of the United States
In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the equivalent is General Convention.
Other member churches
General Synods of other churches within the Anglican Communion
- Anglican Church of Australia
- Anglican Church of Canada
- Church of Ireland
- Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
- Scottish Episcopal Church
- Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Church in Hong Kong)
Other Churches
The United Church of Christ in the United States also calls their main governing body a General Synod. It meets every two years and consists of over 600 delegates from various congregations and conferences.
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church has as its highest Church court the General Synod. The ARP General Synod meets yearly (in recent years, it has, almost without exception, been held at Bonclarken). The delegates to the General Synod of the ARP Church are the elder representatives elected from each church's Session and all ministers from all presbyteries that comprise the Church (excluding ministers and elders from the independent ARP Synods of Mexico and Pakistan).
The Evangelical Church of Augsburg and Helvetic Confession in Austria and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany each call their main legislative bodies Generalsynode. In the Evangelical Church in Prussia the legislating body was called Generalsynode between 1846 and 1953.
The governing body of the Reformed Church in America, a Calvinist denomination in the United States and Canada, is known as the General Synod.
"Kirkemøtet", the governing body of the Church of Norway is normally translated to General Synod. It convenes once a year, and consists of 85 representatives, of whom seven or eight are sent from each of the dioceses.
Other uses
In the North American Lutheran tradition, General Synod refers to a church body which existed from 1820–1918. See Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of North America.
See also
- How the Church of England is organised
- List of Church of England Measures
- General Assembly (presbyterian church)
