17 resolutions may be up for Synod consideration in 2023

Reparations, reproductive rights, trans and nonbinary people, white supremacy, gun violence, green energy, plastics and public schools.

These are just a few of the issues addressed in proposed resolutions slated to come before the United Church of Christ General Synod this summer.

“Seventeen resolutions were formally submitted to the Office of the General Minister and President by the deadline of January 2,” said adjunct national staff member Kevin Peterson. He and David Anderson staff the Synod’s resolution and committee process.  

Their pre-Synod job is to make sure proposed resolutions meet guidelines for format and content.

“The resolutions were previously reviewed by the Resolution Review Team,” he said, “which screens for polity concerns, clarity, and to see if the resolution topics were addressed by resolutions in either of the previous two General Synods, which would make them ineligible for submission if they did.”

Nineteen resolutions were originally submitted, Peterson said, but “two of them were not able to meet all of the requirements for official submission.”

The proposed resolutions will be reviewed later this month by the Subcommittee on Disposition which will send a report to the UCC Board as to how Synod should address each resolution – for example it could be assigned to a committee, sent to plenary for consideration or directed to implementing bodies. That information will be shared with submitting groups in February.

“The subcommittee report is a recommendation to the UCC Board,” Anderson said, noting the board will vote on the recommendations at its March meeting. After the Board vote, the proposed resolutions will be posted on the General Synod website for delegate review prior to the biennial gathering at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis June 30-July 4.

And while future resolutions aren’t expected, Peterson said, General Synod Standing Rules do allow emergency resolutions to be submitted by May 31 about topics that “could not have been anticipated. The burden is on the submitters to explain why they qualify.”

Of the proposed resolutions:

• Four have been submitted by a delegate with the written concurrence of at least ten more delegates.
• Two were proposed by local churches with the written concurrence of at least five other churches.
• Five were submitted by Associations.
• Six were proposed by Conferences with one of those co-submitted by the UCC Board.

A few other broad topics the resolutions address involve access to technology, ministerial standing and authorization, personal diet choices, solitary confinement and harm reduction.

Bookmark the General Synod website for additional information. The planning team will be posting updates, so be sure to check back frequently!

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