United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
The inclusion of the laity in gatherings termed "synod" began with the Reformed churches and spread to the Lutherans. In the 1600s, Reformed-style synodical governance was adopted by the Lutheran congregations in the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg when the sovereigns ceased to play a hand in church matters. A combination of consistorial and presbyterial-synodal style governance was instituted in the Prussian Union of Churches under Frederick William III of Prussia. Lutherans who immigrated from Germany and Scandinavia also adopted this form of synod, because the lands they immigrated to had no state church. The specific design of the synods took guidance from philosophies of organizational governance used at the time such as those modeled after the influence of Kant and Hegel. When the German monarchy and the sovereign governance of the church was ended in 1918, the synods took over the governance of the state churches.