During its November 2024 meeting week, the General Synod tasked the Church Council with promoting the equal representation of young influencer groups in parish decision-making bodies and supporting the work of these groups.
The General Synod also mandated the Church Council to prepare a Church Order amendment allowing parishes and parish unions to grant young influencer groups the right to speak and be present in selected parish bodies.
The General Synod approved on 7 November 2024 the Central Church Fund’s action and economic plan for 2025–2027.
The spearhead projects for 2025–2026 are Carbon Neutral Church, a re-translation of the Old Testament for a mobile platform, recruitment development, and the Digi@Church project, which is aimed at leveraging AI to support Church activities. Spearhead projects are Church-wide projects targeted at making significant changes to Church or Church Council work.
The General Synod had a lively debate about the distribution criteria for the state funding the Church receives. In 2025, state funding will be distributed to the parishes as follows: the current distribution criteria based on municipal population figures will have a weighting of 50%, and the new distribution criteria prepared by the Church Council will also have a weighting of 50%. The new distribution criteria include not only municipal population figures, but the number of deceased and buried persons as well, along with a cultural heritage index based on the number of protected buildings. The same distribution criteria will be applied in both 2025 and 2026.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has a number of statutory societal duties for which it receives state funding. One of these statutory duties is burial service: the Church is responsible for burying all deceased, regardless of their religious affiliation. Other statutory duties include protecting an extensive cultural heritage and maintaining population registers.
The Finnish Government recently proposed cutbacks in the Church’s state funding. The General Synod will submit a statement to the Government regarding the proposed cuts.
If the Government’s proposal is adopted, it would slash the Church’s state funding by a total of about EUR 20 million. In its statement, the General Synod argues that the proposed reduction is a violation of the Finnish Constitution and points out that the cuts would also undermine Church activities that are crucial to society’s overall safety and possibly increase burial service costs as well.
The Government’s proposal is related to its budget adjustment measures, which are expected to result in a generous increase in the church tax.
The General Synod’s statement also contends that if state funding no longer constitutes a reasonable compensation for the parishes fulfilling their societal duties, parish membership should, in accordance with the wording of the law, be allowed to influence the determination of burial service fees.
Church Council Director General Pekka Huokuna submitted his resignation to the General Synod on Monday, 4 November 2024 and will step down effective 1 September 2025.
The General Synod will appoint a new director general at its May 2025 meeting. To allow for this, the General Synod has initiated its selection process for the Church Council’s new senior officeholder by referring the matter to the recruitment team so they can begin preparations.