Montana Synod (ELCA)

Montana Synod (ELCA)
Bishop:	Rev. Jessica Crist
Affiliation:	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Region 1
Congregations:	144
Members:	49,576[1]
Mailing Address:	2415 13th Avenue South Great Falls, MT 59405
Official Website:	http://www.montanasynod.org/

The Montana Synod (ELCA) is a synod, or diocese, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It encompasses state of Montana and four churches in Wyoming and supports congregational mission throughout the region.

The Rev. Jessica Crist was elected Bishop of the Montana Synod in 2007. Crist is the first female bishop in the Montana Synod, ELCA. Crist succeeded the Rev. Richard R. Omland, who had served the synod as bishop since 2001. Omland did not seek reelection. She also serves as an officer of the synod council which is the governing body of the synod between assemblies. It is composed of the Bishop and 20 members elected at-large as well as from each of the 12 synodical geographic regions called clusters. There are one-hundred and forty nine Lutheran congregations in the synod.^[2]

The ELCA has partnered its synods with other regions throughout the world and the companion synod for Montana is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA) – Cape Orange Diocese.^[3]

External links

• Montana Synod official site

Notes

1. ^ "Jessica Crist Elected Bishop of ELCA Montana Synod". ELCA News Service. 2007-06-05. http://www.elca.org/ScriptLib/CO/ELCA_News/encArticleList.asp?article=3605. Retrieved 2007-07-16. 
2. ^ "About Us". Montana Synod ELCA. 2007. http://www.montanasynod.org/AboutUs.html. Retrieved 2007-05-28. 
3. ^ "Synodical Relations". Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 2007. http://www.elca.org/synods/regions.and.synods.html. Retrieved 2007-05-28.