Synod Website Updates

The synod website updates frequently (as in often) and irregularly (as in not on a particular schedule). Click here (or on the picture at right) to find out what has been recently updated.

Synod Council's Meeting, 18 January 2025

Phipps Lecture: “Theology Matters – Even in Secular Societies”

Crummitt Installation

Upgrades to Travel Page

We've upgraded our Travel page (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Travel in the WV-WMD Synod) with links to the National Weather Service, the inclusion of VDOT access, and fixed links to PennDOT. We've also given it an easy-to-remember URL: www.WV-WMD.org/travel. The page still include easy links to road conditions and information on inter-urban mass transit.

L.A. Fires

Lutheran Disaster Response, in anticipation of the relief and long-term recovery efforts demanded by the Fires in Los Angeles County is already at work. Visit our Social Ministry page to learn more.

IRS Mileage Standard Rate Increases

The IRS Standard Mileage Rate for 2025 is 70¢, and increase of 3¢ over the 2024 rate. For more information, visit the IRS Newsroom.

Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia Sends Greetings

Synod HQ received a letter from The Rt. Rev. Matthew D. Cowden, VIII Bishop of West Virginia (The Episcopal Church), conveying the following unanimously adopted resolution:

Be it resolved that this 147th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia sends warm and heartfelt greetings to the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to their Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Matthew Riegel, and to their clergy and congregations.

Parochial Reports

Synod Assembly

Synod Assembly 2025

Synod Assembly 2025 will be held 31 May 2025 at the Mon County 4-H Center, Morgantown, WV.

Synod Assembly Webpages Updated

Major updates to the Synod Assembly-related pages have been accomplished. You can now go to the Synod Assembly 2025 page an access information on registration, venue, resolutions & memorials, nominations, etc. Click here.

Has Your Congregation Elected Its Synod Assembly Voting Members?

Assuming your congregation's constitution does not predate the formation of the ELCA, *C5.04 applies:

*C5.04. This congregation shall elect from among its voting members laypersons to serve as voting members of the Synod Assembly as well as persons to represent it at meetings of any conference, cluster, coalition, or other area subdivision of which it is a member. The number of persons to be elected by this congregation and other qualifications shall be as prescribed in guidelines established by the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The constitutional default locates this election process in the Congregation Meeting unless delegated to, for example, the Congregation Council consistent with *C5.03. On the hunch that most of the synod's congregations have not formally delegated the authority to elect voting members to Synod Assembly and seeing that this is congregational meeting season, now would be a good time to take care of this constitutional duty.

Since posting this information in a recent Bishop's Roadshow, a question came into HQ about congregational tradition and practice. To help navigate this question, a dedicated page has been posted under the title "Who Elects Congregational Lay Voting Members to Synod Assembly?". Review the page for suggestions on how to address this in your congregation.

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Synod Council is recommending a set of five amendments to the synod's constitution. Review them on our Proposed Constitutional Amendments page.

For Congregational Budgeting

Mission Support

The Mission Support Formula for 2025 has been published. To download the Mission Support Request, Commitment (Pledge) Form, and the Remittance Form, visit out Mission Support page.

Clergy Compensation Kit for 2025

The Synod Council, meeting 27 July 2024, adopted the Clergy Compensation Kit for 2025. You may review the new guidelines for clergy compensation at our Clergy Compensation page.

The Clergy Wellness page has been updated with information on Portico enrollment for 2025, new options for plan members, other benefits.

Call Openings

We have one MSP active at the moment. We also have some settings in which a call could be considered without an active MSP. On top of that, there is potential for contract appointments. With several clergy vacancies across the territory, there are opportunities for clergy interested in serving in the WV-WMD Synod. Visit the clergy page to find out what's available (or will be available once the MSP is completed).

Mutual Ministry Committee and the Driesen Manual

In partial fulfillment of an order from Synod Assembly 2021, information about the Driesen Manual has been uploaded to the website on a new page, Mutual Ministry Committee and the Driesen Manual. You will find there an explanation an a link to the manual.

If you haven't checked out the members portal...

Don't forget to take a peek of the members portal (click the button at right near the top of this page). It's not password protected. We only call it the "members portal" because it's mostly stuff that deals with the internal workings of the synod. Visitors looking for more general information about the synod, will probably find the "guest portal" more interesting.