In the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

, the model of government is the 'Bishop in

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

', meaning that a diocese is governed by a bishop acting with the advice and consent of representatives of the clergy and laity of the diocese. In much of the Communion the body by which this representation is achieved is called the diocesan synod. (In the Episcopal Church in the US, the corresponding body is called a diocesan convention.) The precise composition of a diocesan synod is subject to provincial and local canon and practice.

Church of England

In the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

diocesan synods exist under the terms of the Synodical Government Measure 1969. A diocesan synod consists of three Houses, as follows: * The

House of Bishops The House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

consists of the diocesan

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, together with any stipendiary

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

s or area bishops, and assistant bishops as nominated by the diocesan bishop with the agreement of the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

. * The House of Clergy consists of clergy representatives chosen by the clergy in each deanery synod, together with a number of ''ex officio'' members – any other assistant bishops working in the diocese; the dean of the cathedral; the

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

s of the diocese; the clergy elected to the

General Synod 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, is the legislative body of the Church ...

for the diocese (known as Proctors to the Lower House of

Convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

), and some others. * The House of Laity consists of representatives of the laity, elected from each

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

by the members of that deanery's deanery synod. There are also ''ex officio'' members, including the lay representatives elected by the Diocese to the

. Clergy and lay elected representatives are elected for a three-year term of office. The first diocesan synods met in 1970, and elections have been held every three years since, most recently in 2018. Election is by the members of the deanery synods of the diocese, and the number of representatives of each deanery is in proportion to the total number of 'members' of the churches in that deanery, compared with the diocese as a whole. The House of Clergy and the House of Laity should have approximately the same number of members. The method of election may be by simple plurality (i.e.,

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

) or by

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

, and each diocesan synod may choose between these two. In general the three Houses of the diocesan synod meet together, debate together and vote together, and a majority is assumed to be a majority of each of the three Houses. However, a vote by Houses can be requested, and in certain cases is required. In a vote by Houses, the consent of each of the three Houses is required in order for the assent of the Synod to be given. In addition, the diocesan bishop may declare that the House of Bishops shall only be deemed to have assented if the assenting majority includes the bishop. This means that the diocesan bishop may exercise a veto over the diocesan synod if they so wish.

Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

The governing bodies of Episcopal Units in the three-''tikanga'' church are each referred to by names appropriate to their ''tikanga''s language: the New Zealand and Polynesia dioceses by ''diocesan synods'', Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa by '' te rūnanganui'' ("great assembly") and the other ''pīhopatanga'' by ''hui amorangi''. These smaller ''pīhopatangas ''hui amorangi'' ("governing bodies") are not exactly equivalent to diocesan synods in that they are not fully independent of ''te rūnanganui''.anglican.org.nz
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References

{{reflist Anglican organizations Governing assemblies of religious organizations