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2025 WND Synod Assembly

May 30-June 1, 2025 | Minot, ND

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About the THEME of the 2025 Synod Assembly.

In 2025, the Western North Dakota Synod Assembly will gather under the theme “Rooted and Grounded in Love” based upon the Apostle Paul’s prayer to those who would read his letter to the church in Ephesus.

“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” (Ephesians 3:16-17)

What does it mean, for people of faith who call the western North Dakota prairies their home, to be rooted and grounded in love?

God’s mission for our synod is “to encourage and equip the ministries” of our synod, “so that the Good News of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, and all God’s children feel welcomed and included in the ministries to which God calls us.” Each year, Synod Assembly gives us a chance to give God thanks for this mission and ministry and celebrate the many ways we are living this out together across our synod and around the world. Encouraging, equipping, proclaiming, welcoming, and including one another every step along the way. Rooted and grounded in Christ’s love across the 160 congregations who make up the Western North Dakota Synod.

Why Synod Assembly?

The Synod Assembly is the annual gathering of all 160 congregations of the Western North Dakota Synod. We gather together for worship, education, celebration, and to do the business of this synod. The 2025 Synod Assembly will be held in Minot, ND. Event location details will be shared as they become available.

Who attends Synod Assembly?

Each congregation elects lay voting members based on their baptized membership numbers (see Voting Member Information for ratio). Rostered ministers (pastors and ELCA deacons) who hold a letter of call from a congregation or synod council, as well as retired ministers also have voice and vote in the assembly plenary sessions. Attendance at the assembly is expected of all rostered ministers under call. Anyone is welcome to attend the Synod Assembly by registering as a visitor and paying the visitor fee. Visitors do not have voice or vote at the Assembly.

2025 Synod Assembly Daily Agenda

FRIDAY, MAY 30

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

12:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Registration Check-in

1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Pre-Assembly Workshop – Reading Luke Backwards with Eric Barreto (Main Assembly Hall)

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Dinner on your own

6:30 pm

Opening Worship – First Lutheran Church (120 5th Ave NW)

8:15 pm

Opening Reception

SATURDAY, JUNE 1

7:30 am

Assembly Registration/Check-in

8:00 am

8:30 am - 10:00 am Plenary #1 (Arena)

10:00 am

Coffee Break

10:30 am - 12:00 pm Plenary #2

12:00 pm

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Lunch

1:15 pm – 2:15 pm Conference Caucuses

Western Prairie –

Heart River –

East Missouri –

Upper Missouri –

Lonetree –

Badlands –

Turtle Mountain –

2:30 – 3:45 pm Plenary #3

3:00 pm

Deadline for Nominations

3:45 pm -4:15 pm

4:15 pm – 5:00 pm

Workshop #1 (information in Assembly packet)

5:15 pm – 6:00 pm

Workshop #2 (information in Assembly packet)

6:30 pm

Dinner with Bible Camp Staff

SUNDAY, JUNE 2

8:00 am

8:30 - 10:00 am Plenary #4

10:00 am

Coffee Break

10:30 - 11:45 am Plenary #5

11:45 am

Reset for Worship

12:00 pm

Closing Worship

1:00 pm

Closing of the Assembly

Lodging Information

We are blessed to have the Clarion Hotel partnering with us for the 2025 WND Synod Assembly! Reservations can be made starting APRIL 22, 2025. Request the Western North Dakota Synod Assembly block of rooms.

The Clarion Minot

2200 E. Burdick Expy, Minot

701.441.7077

Room block opens April 22

$119/night

Who Can Serve as a Voting Member?

Rostered Ministers:

All ELCA Rostered Ministers (pastors and deacons) under call by a congregation of the Western North Dakota Synod or Western North Dakota Synod Council who register and attend.

All retired ELCA Rostered Ministers (pastors and deacons) who are on the retired roster of the Western North Dakota Synod who register and attend.

Further guidance for Rostered Ministers serving as voting members of the Synod Assembly is found in the WND Synod Constitution and related Synod Council Continuing Resolutions.

S14.15. Each minister of Word and Sacrament on the roster of this synod shall submit a report of ministry to the bishop of the synod at least 90 days prior to each regular meeting of the Synod Assembly.
S14.15.A23. A minister of Word and Sacrament on the roster of this synod may have voice but not vote at a Synod Assembly if the minister has not complied with S14.15.
S14.34. Each minister of Word and Service on the roster of this synod shall submit a report of ministry to the bishop of the synod at least 90 days prior to each regular meeting of the Synod Assembly.
S14.34.A23. A minister of Word and Service on the roster of this synod may have voice but not vote at a Synod Assembly if the minister has not complied with S14.34.

Lay Voting Members:

The number of lay voting members allotted per congregation is based on the congregations’ baptized membership. Refer to the chart at the right to determine the number of lay voting members your congregation may bring.

Furthermore, the WND Synod Constitution guides voting membership of a Synod Assembly.

†S7.21. The membership of the Synod Assembly, of which at least 60 percent of the voting membership shall be composed of laypersons, shall be constituted as follows:
All rostered ministers under call on the roster of this synod shall be voting members of the Synod Assembly.
A minimum of one lay member elected by each congregation with fewer than 175 baptized members and a minimum of two lay members elected by each congregation with 175 or more baptized members related to this synod, typically one of whom shall be a man and one of whom shall be a woman, shall be voting members. The Synod Council shall establish a formula to provide additional lay representation from congregations on the basis of the number of baptized members in the congregation. The Synod Council shall seek to ensure that, as nearly as possible, at least 45 percent of the lay members of the assembly shall be women and, as nearly as possible, at least 45 percent shall be men.
Voting membership shall include the officers of this synod.
S7.21.01. Voting members shall begin serving with the opening of a regular Synod Assembly and shall continue serving until voting members are seated at the next regular Synod Assembly.
†7.21.02. If a special Synod Assembly is called and voting members at the previous assembly are unable to serve as voting members, where permitted by state law, the congregation through the Congregation Council may elect new members who shall continue to serve until the next regular Synod Assembly.
S7.22. This synod may establish processes that permit retired rostered ministers, or those designated as disabled, or on leave from call, on the roster of the synod to serve as voting members of the Synod Assembly, provided that such processes not result in fewer than 60% of the voting members of the Synod Assembly being laypersons in contravention of †S7.21.c. If the synod does not establish processes to permit the rostered ministers specified above to serve as voting members, they shall have voice but not vote in the meetings of the Synod Assembly.
S7.22.A20. The following individuals shall have voice and vote at a Synod Assembly:
Retired rostered ministers.
Interim ministers of Word and Sacrament serving a synod congregation.
Representatives of a synod authorized worshiping community (SAWC).
A minister of Word and Sacrament from a full communion church body serving in a synod congregation.

Baptized Membership = Lay Voting Members

2 - 500 = 2

501 - 1000 = 3

1001 - 1500 = 4

1501 - 2000 = 5

2001 - 2500 = 6

2501 - 3000 = 7

3001 - 3500 = 8

3501 - 4000 = 9

4001 - 4500 = 10

4501 - 5000 = 11

Go To Voting Member Info Page

Featured Assembly Speakers

Keynote Speaker -

Assembly Chaplain -

ELCA Churchwide Representative -

Descriptions of Assembly Workshops

Pre-Assembly Workshop - Reading Luke Backwards

Location:

Eric D. Barreto, Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary

Pre-Assembly is Friday, May 30th at 12:30 PM 

Some stories are not meant to be read once and in order. Some stories are meant for us to revisit over and over again. The Gospel of Luke is such a story. Luke’s Gospel can help us learn the story of Jesus’s cross and resurrection anew, afresh, and perhaps from a different vantage point. Thus, the invitation to read Luke backwards. In a world turned upside down, how might we approach this narrative if we start at the foot of the cross, at the threshold of the empty tomb? And what if we end the story where it starts, in the arms of Mary? From the end to the beginning, Luke narrates a good news that transforms a ruptured world.

Resolutions for Assembly Consideration