The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations.
Anglican Communion
The
General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the
Church Assembly
The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...
, is the legislative body of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
.
The equivalent In the
Episcopal Church in the United States
The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...
is the
General Convention.
Several other churches in the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
also have General Synods:
*
Anglican Church of Australia
*
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,2 ...
*
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...
*
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia ( mi, Te Hāhi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tīreni, ki Ngā Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa; formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand) is a province of the Anglican Communion ser ...
*
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland.
A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...
*
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
The Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (abbreviated SKH), also known as the Hong Kong Anglican Church (Episcopal), is the Anglican church in Hong Kong and Macao. It is the 38th Province of the Anglican Communion. It is also one of the major denomination ...
(Anglican Church in Hong Kong)
Other churches
The
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...
, based in the United States, also calls its main governing body a General Synod. It meets every two years and consists of over 600 delegates from various congregations and conferences.
The
Missionary Baptist Conference of the USA calls their main governing body a General Synod. It meets annually to set the theological and missional direction for the denomi-network.
The
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC), as it exists today, is the historical descendant of the Synod of the South, a Synod of the Associate Reformed Church. The original Associate Reformed Church resulted from a merger of the Associate ...
(ARP) has the General Synod as its highest church court. The ARP General Synod meets yearly and in recent years has, almost without exception, been held at the
Bonclarken
Bonclarken is a conference center located in Flat Rock, North Carolina (between Asheville, North Carolina and Greenville, South Carolina) operated by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP). Bonclarken is the conference center of the ...
in North Caroline. The delegates to the General Synod consists of 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
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
).
The
Evangelical Church of Augsburg and Helvetic Confession in Austria and the
United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany each call their main legislative bodies . The legislative body In the
Evangelical Church in Prussia was called between 1846 and 1953.
The governing body of the
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 152,317 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed ...
, a
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...
denomination in the United States and Canada, is known as the General Synod.
{{Lang, no, Kirkemøtet, the governing body of the
Church of Norway
The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church ...
, is normally translated as General Synod. It convenes once a year, and consists of 85 representatives, of whom seven or eight are sent from each of the dioceses.
The
Batak Christian Protestant Church (BPCP), or ''Huria Kristen Batak Protestan'' (abbreviated HKBP), held a twice-a-year General Synod (Sinode Godang), to discuss about matters in HKBP, and to elect the new ''Ephorus'' (or Board) for the HKBP. The first General Synod of HKBP was held in 1922.
Other uses
In North American, the
Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of North America, often referred to as the General Synod, was a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
church body that existed from 1820 to 1918.
See also
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Structure of the Church of England
*
List of Church of England Measures
__NOTOC__
This is a list of Church of England Measures, which are the legislation of the Church of England. Some of these measures may have been repealed. Since 1970, Measures have been made by the General Synod; prior to then they were made by i ...
*
General Assembly (presbyterian church)
External links
Queen's Speech at inauguration of seventh General SynodChurch of England's General Synod websiteUnited Church of Christ General Synod 25 (2005)
Anglicanism
Governing assemblies of religious organizations