Church of South India Synod is the highest administrative body of the Church of South India. The Synod (CSI Synod) governs the whole church and convenes the annual general meeting of CSI. The Moderator of the Synod is a Bishop who is a presiding officer of the election conducted in the Annual General Meeting. The elected board is normally to hold office for three years. Church of South India Trust Association was constituted as a legal holding body of the movable and immovable properties of the Church of South India. The CSITA was incorporated in 26 September, 1947 under Section 26 of the Indian Companies Act 1913[1] (now Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act 1956) as a religious and charitable company which has no business character and with no profit motive. The properties of the Churches in Union have been transferred to CSITA.
The CSI synod consists of bishops of 24 dioceses, presbyters and layman (both men and women) who are elected from the respective diocesan councils to the synod. The synod members will elect the apex body consisting of a Moderator, Deputy Moderator, general secretary and Treasurer. The Moderator is the spiritual and administrative head of the Church. Only Bishops are eligible to contest for the Moderator and Deputy Moderator posts. Pastors and lay members are eligible to contest for the remaining two posts of General Secretary and Treasurer. The ordinary session of the synod is held once every three years. The last synod meeting was held in January 2023 at Hubli. The practice has been to hold the meeting during the pongal holidays in mid January and over four days. Special meetings of the synod (between ordinary sessions) could also be convened by a decision of the Synod Executive. The Synod office is situated at CSI Center, Royapettah, Chennai.
Synod Executive
As the Church of South India synod meets only once in every three years, the power of the Synod is mostly delegated to Synod Executive which is appointed by the Synod and which meets at least twice a year. The Synod Executive is a subset of Synod which has 107 members excluding the Officers of the Synod. The Synod Executive consists of 4 members each from the 24 dioceses of Church of South India, 3 nominees of the Moderator and 4 officers of the synod (Moderator, Deputy Moderator, General Secretary and Treasurer).
Synod Working Committee
The Synod Working Committee is a subset of the Synod Executive and it consists of 24 members excluding the Officers of the Synod. The working committee has a representation of one member each from the 24 dioceses of Church of South India and 4 officers of the Synod. The Synod Working Committee meetings are held based on need basis and they are held in between Synod Executive meetings. All decisions of the Synod Working Committee must be ratified at a subsequent meeting of the Synod Executive.
Church of South India Synod Participants
According to the Church of South India constitution the participants in the Synod belong to five categories:
Bishops of the 24 dioceses and assistant bishops, if any.
The President and General Secretary of the Women's Fellowship,
Presbyters and lay persons representing the various dioceses who are elected by their dioceses to represent them at the Synod.
10 members nominated by the moderator
Dioceses send representatives based on a graded scale that starts with those having 10,000 baptised members sending two pastors and four lay persons while the maximum number of representatives to the synod come from dioceses with over 150,000 baptised members that send six presbyters and 11 lay persons.
According to the report of the 2014 synod meeting, there were [2] 135 presbyters, 275 lay members and 22 bishops who participated in the synod. Other invitees to synod meetings include accredited visitors, heads of synod departments, fraternal delegates (representing various CSI affiliated bodies), special invitees, overseas guests and resource persons.
Quorum
The quorum is one-third of the total membership of which not less than two-thirds shall be lay members.
Agenda
First day of the synod meeting consists of confirmation of minutes of the previous Synod, Appointment of various committees to oversee elections, Take up resolutions, moderator's address, general secretary's report and Election of the four Officers of the Synod (Moderator, Deputy Moderator, general secretary and Treasurer). The second, third and fourth days of the Synod consists of a series of presentations by the treasurer, heads of synod departments, special invitees, etc. and some limited question-answer sessions. The final act of each Synod is the formal installation of the new Officers of the Synod on the last day.
Officers
Due to the Madras High Court's ruling, which invalidated the recent elections and identified procedural discrepancies at the Synod meeting held in Hubli in January 2023.[3][4][5] The officers were elected for a three-year term at the Synod meeting in Hubli, January 2023. The Moderator and the Deputy Moderator position along with the position of General Secretary and Hon. Treasurer is currently vacant and awaiting election.[3][4][5] The church is presently under the administration of court-appointed administrators, Justice R. Balasubramanian and Justice V. Bharathidasan, pending new elections for these key leadership roles.[3][4][5]
For proper guidance of the life and work of the Church the CSI Synod has set up various Commissions and Committees. The following are some of the important ones:
Ministerial Committee: which deals with issues relating to the ordained ministry.
Theological Commission: which deals with questions relating to the faith of the Church.
Liturgy Committee: for advising the Church on matters relating to worship and orders of service for different occasions.
Board of Mission and Evangelism: for promoting missionary outreach both within the CSI area and outside.
Union Negotiations Committee: for negotiations with other churches towards wider union.
Commission on Political Questions: for considering issues of justice and peace from the perspective of the Church's witness to the Gospel.
List of Synod Meetings
Synodical Sessions of the Church of South India with years, venue and elected Moderator and Deputy Moderator[6]
↑ K. M. George, Church of South India: Life in Union, 1947–1997, Jointly published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, New Delhi and Christava Sahitya Samithi, Tiruvalla, 1999.
1 2 George Conger, New moderator for the Church of South India, Anglican Link, January 12, 2020.
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