If you are a lay representative and are unable to come to Synod, please send your apologies through your Superintendent Minister, who may be able to ask a substitute to come in your place. 

For all Presbyters and Deacons in the active work, attendance at Representative Synod is a mandatory part of our shared ministerial discipline. If, for compelling reasons, you are unable to attend the Synod, please request a Dispensation, addressed to District Chair Conrad Hicks in writing, preferably via e-mail. 

All Supernumeraries, Authorised and Associate Ministers are very welcome, but not required to attend Synod, so do not need a dispensation. 

The Representative Session of the District Synod shall consist of the following persons:

• The Vice-President, if relevant, and all ex-Vice-Presidents of the Methodist Conference in membership in the District

• All presbyters, deacons and probationers stationed in the District, all presbyters and deacons residing for the purposes of the stations in the District, and any other presbyter, deacon or probationer entered in the stations as a member of Synod.

• One circuit steward of each Circuit in the District or a substitute elected by the Circuit Meeting

• Lay representatives or their substitutes, elected by the Circuit Meeting of each Circuit in the District, the total number for each Circuit being determined by the Synod. At present the total number of lay representatives elected under this clause is equal to the district ministry deployment figure. 

• All members of the District Council 

• The Secretary of the Synod

• The District Treasurer

• The District Property Secretary

• The District Lay Stationing Representative 

• Representatives to Connexional Committees, as relevant

• Representatives to Regional Committees, as relevant

• All lay representatives elected by the Synod to both the last preceding and the next following Methodist Conference 

• Such lay District Officers as the Synod may determine

• Synod-elected lay members in numbers determined by the Synod

• Lay employees within the District as determined by the Synod; the Synod of September 2011 agreed that lay employees will no longer be members of Synod by virtue of their appointments.

A memorial is a message or request from a circuit or district to the Methodist Conference. It suggests that the Conference does something, or makes a statement on an issue.

How can I send a memorial to Methodist Conference? 
A memorial is a written statement that is first presented to your circuit or district for acceptance. if accepted, it is then submitted to the next Methodist conference.

Before the conference the memorials committee meets to consider the memorials and draft responses on the conferences behalf.  

if you are considering writing a memorial, we encourage you to speak to your minister, superintendent or contact the district office.

SO 413 (4) states: “Notices of Motion must be submitted in writing to the Chair and secretary of the Synod fourteen days before the date of the Synod, and the secretary shall see that they are printed and distributed to the members of the Synod not later than its opening. Only on matters of urgency and by express permission of the Synod may notices of motion be submitted during a session of the Synod.”