Middle judicatory

A middle judicatory is an administrative structure or organization found in religious denominations between the local congregation and the widest or highest national or international level.

The typical funding model for middle judicatories is by apportionments or tithes paid from individual member congregations that have achieved a minimal level of financial stability.

[20] By the 21st century, some middle judicatories had begun shifting away from confrontational trial-based judicial practices to focus on coaching and conflict resolution techniques, according to United Methodist bishop Will Willimon.

Middle judicatories typically make decisions on the ordination and placement of clergy; deliver educational, training and outreach program; and represent the denomination to the congregation.

[22] Likewise, Methodist religion scholar Jackson W. Carroll has observed that middle judicatories' role is "best fulfilled when the integrity of the church is respected and envisioning for the future is shared.

"[27] United Church of Canada minister Thomas G. Bandy has argued that, when functioning poorly, middle judicatories "build processes of inquisition and censorship" and that they can impose "institutional rules" that curtail innovation and suffocate "transforming congregations," particularly in environments of organizational decline.

[24] In denominations that have significant theological diversity, survey research has found that cooperation at the judicatory level was hampered and engagement by the laity was depressed.

People gathering in a large room for a meeting of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
A meeting of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America .
A group of men and women, some clergy and some laity, pose for a group photo at a presbytery meeting in Berriew, Wales.
Attendees at a meeting of a Welsh presbytery in Berriew in 1940.
Clergy convene at a synod of the Anglican Diocese of Ndokwa in 2022.