2018 Synod Assembly

Bishop Jim Gonia was re-elected on the first ballot to serve a second 6-year term! SOLI DEO GLORIA!

2018 Synod Assembly Documents and Videos

• go to Resources page for links to videos and documents

Digital Bulletins

• Opening Worship
• Friday Morning Prayer
• Friday Mid-Day Prayer
• Saturday Morning Prayer
• Closing Worship

Assembly Reports & Documents

Assembly Handbook: Everything you need to know about the assembly!

2018 Synod Assembly Churchwide Report

RMS Constitution: With the implementation of the Rocky Mountain Synod Strategic Plan, a team from our Synod Council reviewed our Constitution and discovered that Chapter 11: Committees, Boards, and Commissions was in need of significant revision.

Budget and Financial Reports

• 2017-2018-2019 Budget
• 2017 Contributions by Fund

Doctrine of Discovery

At this May’s Synod Assembly we will be focusing on the 2016 adopted resolution of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, The Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery. The Doctrine of Discovery was a set of royal and papal declarations in the sixteenth century which created the rationale for European Christians to seize the lands of the Western hemisphere and displace the peoples who had inhabited them for millennia. These actions which were set in motion by the Doctrine of Discovery led to the deaths of millions of people who had called these lands “home” long before Europeans set foot on them. You may want to do some study before the Assembly to become more familiar with the Doctrine, why the ELCA has repudiated it, and what might be “next steps” to seek greater justice with Native American peoples.

• Background video produced by the Episcopal Church (here)
• ELCA Background on Doctrine of Discovery
• Doctrine of Discovery Memorial

From the March 2017 issue of Journal of Lutheran Ethics (an ELCA publication)

• Editor's Introduction: Understanding the Doctrine of Discovery
• A Reflection on the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly’s Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery
• The Doctrine of christian Discovery: Lutherans and the Language of Empire