wfn.org | General Convention will consider ne

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June 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1796
General Convention will consider new plan for partnership in missions

by Nan Cobbey
   (ENS) "Every Christian is called to be a missionary," according to
the report to General Convention of the Standing Commission on World
Mission.
   Three years ago, when Executive Council proposed eliminating
almost entirely the sending and supporting of overseas missionaries,
General Convention refused to go along. "Absolutely not" was the
message deputies and bishops sent as they restored money for overseas
mission and missionaries. Then, challenged by a plethora of voluntary
missionary societies, diocesan lobbyists, sending agencies and returned
missionaries, convention increased the budget of the Standing
Commission on World Mission and asked its members to develop new
strategies for overseas mission. 
   "We took the mandate to heart," said the Rev. Ian Douglas, chair of
the 15-member commission. What they came up with is a daring plan for
sharing the responsibility for overseas missionaries and their work.

New partnership on mission
   As described in resolution A204 laid out in the report, the Episcopal
Partnership for Global Mission would be "a network comprising the
whole range of organizations engaged in global mission--parishes,
dioceses, provinces, existing and new voluntary missionary societies ...
and the Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Executive Council."
   Members of the partnership would jointly determine mission policy
and agenda, coordinate and publicize mission education across the
church, promote new approaches and new ideas and provide recognition
to those who have served overseas. 
   "It's tremendously exciting," said Douglas. "It heralds a new way of
organizing and supporting the church ... allows all different
constituencies and agencies and organizations to come to the table as
equal partners."
   Previously, he said, "we had `The National Church' and outsiders
and never the twain shall meet," he said. The new concept is entirely
different. "We articulate our theology," he said, that through baptism we
are made participants in God's mission to restore all people to unity with
each other and with God through Jesus Christ, "and everyone can find
their place under that. We get progressive thinkers and traditionalists.
We get conservatives and liberals. We get people who are concerned
about evangelism and people who are concerned about social justice."
   The partnership would also help correct problems that have long
plagued missionaries and mission work: lack of recognition and meager
participation. The report predicts the new strategy "will allow for a
diversity of missionary approaches" and "renew and regenerate the life of
the [church.]" 
   Participation in overseas work through the national church's
Anglican and Global Affairs Office--formerly World Mission--is low. In
March this year, the national church counted 22 salaried missionaries, 25
Volunteers for Mission (health insurance and training provided) and six
who serve in "special" capacities, a far cry from the 1930s and 1940s
when the national church supported 450 salaried missionaries, many with
families. 
   But while the number of General Convention-supported missionaries
has dwindled, the number sent by private voluntary organizations has
grown. According to Douglas, the Episcopal Council for Global Mission
(ECGM), the seven-year-old network of 40 different missionary societies
that is philosophical and conceptual parent to the partnership proposal,
supports nearly 200 short-term and long-term missionaries overseas.

A costly proposal
   To operate under the partnership will require a good deal of faith on
the part of the various agencies for the simple reason that it will be
expensive. 
   "It'll take trust," says Douglas, "trust from different agencies and
organizations of the church to ... let down our guards and put up our
money."
   Under the plan, the national church budget and the various voluntary
agencies would jointly pay the bills of the partnership. The
commission has proposed a 50-50 split of the costs--$135,000 annually.
That would cover one full-time and one-part time staffer, office
expenses, travel, consultations, coordination.
    This is where the courage comes in. Many of the voluntary agencies
operate on tight budgets already. Some fail to pay their dues to the
ECGM. "It's going to be as hard for the voluntary societies to come up
with the money as it will be for [General Convention's Joint Standing
Committee on] Planning, Budget and Finance to find 67,500 new dollars
every year for the next triennium," said Douglas.
   "We do believe that we can come up with that much money. A lot of
the societies and the organizations were willing to really dig deep and
sacrificially give," said Douglas, who has served as convener of ECGM
in the past. 

Concerns about duplication
   Some have wondered whether the new partnership would duplicate
the work of the Anglican and Global Relations Office at the Episcopal
Church Center. "We are convinced it does not," says the report. The
strategy "allows for the exploration of new missionary opportunities ...
[and] encourages additional giving to world mission." It also invites
participation by "Episcopalians distrustful of existing structures."
   One member of the commission, the Rev. William Wood, rector of
St. John's Episcopal Church in Wichita, Kansas, does not approve of all
details of the partnership proposal. He believes its goals can be achieved
within present structures and objects to what he calls a radical shift in the
role of the standing commission from "review, evaluate" to "implement
program."
   Wood's dissent is spelled out in the report: "It is not necessary. It
diffuses our common mission strategy and funding processes. It distorts
present mission structures ... It is contrary to the spirit of the canons."
   The dissent reflects the general concern of a number of members of
the commission "and beyond," said Douglas. "The commission worked
very hard to have the dissent included within our report because it
appropriately reflects our conversation and process," he said.
Nevertheless, the proposal will go before the convention and Douglas
hopes to see it succeed.
   "It could signal a new way for Episcopalians to come together across
a lot of divisions that currently exist in order to be about God's work in
the world," he said.
   In other recommendations to General Convention, the standing
commission:
   -- endorses a resolution from the Convocation of American Churches
in Europe seeking resources and affirmation of its "new vision and
mission outreach." The "new" work includes indigenous ministry in
Florence by an Ecuadorian priest-couple, a refugee center in Rome for
displaced Africans, a new Francophone ministry at the American
Cathedral in Paris, fledgling congregations in Eastern Europe, a
Commission on Ministry now training bilingual candidates for ministry
and dialogue with the Church of England Diocese in Europe about a
"harmonization of jurisdictions."
   -- supports the "expected petition" from the dioceses of El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama to leave the Episcopal Church USA to
join the Diocese of Costa Rica in a new autonomous province, but
questions the proposed financial arrangements. The proposed covenant
requests a 40-year annually decreasing commitment from the general
program budget. "Such a long period seems contradictory of the region's
desire for autonomy," according to the commission. 
   -- requests the last Sunday of Epiphany be designated World Mission
Sunday and that resources be developed and educational opportunities
offered throughout the church.

--Nan Cobbey is features editor for Episcopal Life, the national
newspaper of the Episcopal Church.