The General Synod is effectively the Church of England's parliament.
Unlike its equivalent in other churches, such as the Presbyterian General Assembly
in Scotland or Ireland, its decisions are part of the law of the land.
That is because the Church of England is the Established Church: an arm of the state with the Queen as its legal head.
Like Parliament it has its own jargon, its own complex - at times tortuous - procedures, and on some issues at least something akin to parties, or "groups" as they prefer to be known.
Its passage of bills - or "measures" as they are known - echo those of parliamentary
process, with each piece of legislation passing through several stages and
eventually requiring royal ascent.
And while Parliament has two houses, the Commons and the Lords, the Synod has
three - Bishops, Clergy and Laity - to represent the three historic strands
of the church.
These distinctions will prove crucial in tomorrow's historic vote on women bishops.
After an extraordinary 12 years of twists and turns, the measure is at last due to come before a vote to receive final approval.
The different houses will be crucial here. Although there will be one debate with the full Synod, the voting will be counted separately by house.
Because of the significance of the change proposed, it must secure a two thirds majority in all three strands.
It is clear that there is overwhelming support among the bishops who met twice this year to vote on it - and made what proved to be a highly contentious amendment to the wording which set the process back by four months.
Clergy too are expected to give it strong support.
But there are still doubts that it will pass the two thirds mark in the House of Laity. Lay representatives of the conservative evangelical and Anglo-Catholic strands of the church are well represented on the Synod and have recently joined forces taking out advertisements in the ecclesiastical press and sending glossy mail-shots to Synod members.
In addition to the main campaign groups, such as "Reform", the evangelical group, a raft of smaller campaign outfits have sprung up. They include "Proper Provision", a group representing women opposed to women bishops.
On the other side - although they do not like to be portrayed as 'sides' - the "Watch" coalition (standing for Women and The Church) have been steering the campaign for women bishops for years.
But, with much at stake, recently the Archbishop of Canterbury has come in to bat for the cause with his own campaign.
Famous for having no mobile phone and admitting to being mystified by Twitter, the Archbishop has helped marshall an unexpected internet video campaign.
He has lined up leading church figures to speak out for the measure in short video clips.
Others have also piled in on the web front including "Church Mouse" a Christian blogger who is behind the "Yes2WomenBishops" website.
It might not quite be Obama v Romney but this is as close as the Church of England gets to a hard-fought campaign with a cliff-hanger finish.
These distinctions will prove crucial in tomorrow's historic vote on women bishops.
After an extraordinary 12 years of twists and turns, the measure is at last due to come before a vote to receive final approval.
The different houses will be crucial here. Although there will be one debate with the full Synod, the voting will be counted separately by house.
Because of the significance of the change proposed, it must secure a two thirds majority in all three strands.
It is clear that there is overwhelming support among the bishops who met twice this year to vote on it - and made what proved to be a highly contentious amendment to the wording which set the process back by four months.
Clergy too are expected to give it strong support.
But there are still doubts that it will pass the two thirds mark in the House of Laity. Lay representatives of the conservative evangelical and Anglo-Catholic strands of the church are well represented on the Synod and have recently joined forces taking out advertisements in the ecclesiastical press and sending glossy mail-shots to Synod members.
In addition to the main campaign groups, such as "Reform", the evangelical group, a raft of smaller campaign outfits have sprung up. They include "Proper Provision", a group representing women opposed to women bishops.
On the other side - although they do not like to be portrayed as 'sides' - the "Watch" coalition (standing for Women and The Church) have been steering the campaign for women bishops for years.
But, with much at stake, recently the Archbishop of Canterbury has come in to bat for the cause with his own campaign.
Famous for having no mobile phone and admitting to being mystified by Twitter, the Archbishop has helped marshall an unexpected internet video campaign.
He has lined up leading church figures to speak out for the measure in short video clips.
Others have also piled in on the web front including "Church Mouse" a Christian blogger who is behind the "Yes2WomenBishops" website.
It might not quite be Obama v Romney but this is as close as the Church of England gets to a hard-fought campaign with a cliff-hanger finish.