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Resolutions and Memorials
One way the Synod Assembly informs, encourages, instructs, or makes requests of other expressions of the ELCA or synodical structures is through the adoption of resolutions and memorials.
The Synod Assembly meets every year to make decisions regarding the organizational life and to address issues regarding the ministry of this Church.
The Synod Assembly is made up of voting members sent by congregations, clergy, associates in ministry, deaconesses, diaconal ministers, lay members of the Synod Council and Synod officers, 10% of the retired clergy, and 10% of the retired lay roster.
Each member of the Synod Assembly must be a voting member of a congregation of the Rocky Mountain Synod. Members of the Assembly are neither instructed nor bound by the congregations who send them; rather, they act as a body formed to deal with the particular agenda of each Assembly.
One way the Synod Assembly informs, encourages, instructs, or makes requests of other expressions of the ELCA or synodical structures is through the adoption of RESOLUTIONS and MEMORIALS.
RESOLUTIONS
• Are the means by which the Synod Assembly articulates its thinking on a particular matter and requests action by synodical boards, committees, Synod Council, congregations, the office of the bishop and/or assembly voting members
• May request the synodical bishop to address government officials on the synod’s territory
• May request our bishop or the Synod Council to address matters to the rest of the ELCA through the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop or Church Council
• Are a means for synod boards and committees to directly address churchwide boards and committees to which they relate.
MEMORIALS
• Are the Assembly’s way of requesting action of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Memorials are worthy of debate by the whole church in assembly and are usually offered in the year of a Churchwide Assembly (2009)
• May request the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop or appropriate entity to address the Federal Government. Memorials should be reserved for broader policy issues that belong to the Churchwide Assembly. |
who may submit a resolution?
Prior to the Assembly
• A congregation of this synod
• A board, committee, or conference of this synod
• Resolution or memorial signed by at least ten rostered leaders and/or members of RMS congregations
During the Assembly
• Any voting member of the Assembly may submit a resolution or memorial to the Committee on Reference and Counsel. The Committee on Reference and Counsel will make recommendations to the Assembly and may work with the author(s) of the resolutions to craft appropriate language.
what is the process?
The Resolution Submission Form is used when submitting a resolution or memorial for consideration by the RMS Assembly.
All resolutions and memorials received in the Rocky Mountain Synod office at least 60 days prior to the opening of the Assembly will be placed in the pre-Assembly materials and will be considered by the Assembly.
Resolutions and Memorials for the 2010 RMS Assembly must be submitted no later than March 16.
Submit an electronic copy by email to
jladd-horkey@rmselca.org, then sign and mail a hard copy to:
Rocky Mountain Synod ELCA
Attention Janice Ladd-Horkey
455 Sherman Street, Suite 160
Denver, CO 80203
Resolutions and memorials submitted after the deadline and up until the stated time in the agenda will be submitted to the voting members. However, resolutions and memorials submitted during this time period must receive two-thirds vote of the Assembly before they are allowed to be debated and voted on by the Assembly. Thus, resolutions and memorials received after the deadline may not be dealt with by the Assembly All resolutions and memorials, regardless of when they were received, are immediately dated and sent to the members of the Committee on Reference and Counsel.
what is the format?
Information about how to prepare a resolution and use the correct format is available for download.
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