Montana Synod (ELCA)
Bishop Bishop A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the... :	Rev. Jessica Crist
Affiliation:	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them... Region 1
Congregations:	144
Members:	49,576
Mailing Address:	2415 13th Avenue South Great Falls, MT 59405
Official Website:	http://www.montanasynod.org/

The Montana Synod (ELCA) is a synod, or diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...

 (ELCA). It encompasses state of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 and four churches in Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 and supports congregational mission throughout the region.

The Rev

The Reverend

The Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...

. Jessica Crist was elected Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Montana Synod in 2007. Crist is the first female bishop in the Montana Synod, ELCA. Crist succeeded the Rev. Richard R. Omland, who had served the synod as bishop since 2001. Omland did not seek reelection.
She also serves as an officer of the synod council which is the governing body of the synod between assemblies. It is composed of the Bishop and 20 members elected at-large

At-Large

At-large is a designation for representative members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent the whole membership of the body , rather than a subset of that membership...

 as well as from each of the 12 synodical geographic regions called clusters. There are one-hundred and forty nine Lutheran congregations in the synod.

The ELCA has partnered its synods with other regions throughout the world and the companion synod for Montana is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is a Lutheran church in South Africa. The Church has 580,000 baptized members. in seven Dioceses in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland. It became a member of the Lutheran World Federation in 1976 after it was formed out of four previous Synods in...

(ELCSA) – Cape Orange Diocese.