The following actions from the Thirty-eighth Synod, held October 17-19, 1996, are reported:

That General Synod be memorialized to create a special task force to study and make recommendations as to a process which would clarify and separate the identifiable role of the Church and State in the area of Matrimony, particularly involving distinctly separate processes for civil marriage, administered by an official of the Crown, and the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony, administered by the Church.

1. The present combination of civil and ecclesiastical processes clouds the distinct issues between the sacrament of marriage and the civil and legal bond of marriage. We understand the former to include the intentional welcome by Christian believers of the triune God and the celebration of God’s presence within their marriage relationship. We understand the latter to function by design for the creation a new legal entity in the eyes of the State.
1. The intent of civil marriage is for the ordering and good of society and is consistent with Christian standards and teaching. However, the intent of the sacrament of Christian marriage is to establish a covenantal relationship with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the Church, both mystically and locally. This intent is increasingly not consistent with the society in which we live.
1. One of the foundational understandings of Christian marriage, according to our liturgies, is that Christian marriage is lived in the context of a local church - the Body of Christ. The confusion created by the mixing of civil and ecclesiastical (not to mention sacramental) standards and expectations often has the effect of diminishing this foundational understanding.
1. The fact that in most locations there are few, if any, aesthetically pleasing alternatives for a marriage ceremony except in a Church facility, has meant that couples who wish to observe a civil marriage in a location other than a judge or justice’s chambers, and yet do not share the Christian faith, come to the Church for marriage. The increasing prevalence of absence from Christian worship and fellowship by more and more couples often prior to and commonly following the ceremony suggests that they do not wish to establish and celebrate a covenantal relationship with God and His people, but that they simply want a "nice" wedding in a pleasing setting.