wfn.org | [ENS] Church's mission is focus for Executive Council's October

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Monday, October 3, 2005

Church's mission is focus for Executive Council's October meeting

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

ENS 100305-1

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's mission will be foremost
on
the agenda during the Executive Council's meeting October 7-10 in Las
Vegas.

The meeting will "really look at who we have been, and who we as the
church
need to be in the future," said the Very Rev. George Werner, president
of
the House of Deputies, and Council vice chair.

The council's responsibility to oversee the ministry and mission of the
church between meetings of General Convention must "reflect to the
church
and to the rest of the world our serious commitment to the challenges
brought on by current events and by systemic issues," Werner said.

With the approach of General Convention's triennial meeting in June,
Werner
said now is an appropriate time to ask whether the way the church
operates
"is the most effective way to do the mission of the church."

The church's mission, as described through its budget, will be part of
this
analysis at the October meeting because the council gets its first look
at
the next triennium's draft budget.

Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, who chairs the council, said that
the
members will be called upon, as always, to look at the budget not just
as a
set of numbers but as the embodiment of a theology of mission.

While there are many givens in the budget, Griswold said, each program
must
be looked in terms of "what does the program have to do with being a
healing
presence in the world" and being agents of reconciliation.

Reconciliation within the Episcopal Church should involve efforts such
as
finding ways to bring the various elements of the church together and
finding better ways to include younger voices in the work of the church,
Griswold said. There is also reconciling work to be done within the
Anglican
Communion, he said.

In both arenas, reconciliation will make for more effective witness and
ministry in the world, Griswold said. He emphasized the importance, for
instance, of continuing financial support to the Anglican Communion
given
the current tension in the Communion.

"It's all the more important when there are strains to stay at the
table,"
he said, adding that strained relationships impact not only the church
but
also the world. The Episcopal Church ought to be able to show that, even
though people may disagree with it, the church is still willing to stand
with them to minister to those who are suffering in the world, Griswold
said.

Werner said he would like to find ways to provide seed money to help
expand
the ministry of dioceses, congregations and church institutions. For
example, Werner said, the people of Province IX, composed chiefly of
Latin
American dioceses, "do so much with so little. How can we get them
more?"

Having a mission-driven budget has been 10 years in the making, Werner
said,
but there needs to be a new sense of urgency to the process.

The Episcopal Church has developed a system of committees, commission,
agencies and boards what has wrestled "sometimes brilliantly" for the
past
30 years with questions ranging from liturgy and ministry to world
mission,
he said. Now, the council and the church must ask the perennial question
of
whether the church has struck the right balance between internal
programming
and ministry to the world, and between immediate needs and bigger issues
of
change.

The needs of the world, Werner said, are not just material. The
devastation
on the Gulf Coast brought to a head a "deep anger" that the church needs
to
help repair, Werner said. He said "clearly there are people who are
hungry
for Jesus and that is what I believe our purpose is."

In one sense, the Executive Council's decision to hold its meetings in
various locations is a form of witness to the Christian life, Griswold
said.
While the council gets to experience the Episcopal Church in its many
contexts, local people who may not know much about the Episcopal Church
get
a chance to hear Episcopalians singing hymns and praying together.

Griswold said people often comment to him about the "thoughtful and
polite"
presence Episcopal organizations bring to a hotel or resort. He said
such
meetings bring a "counter-cultural presence" to entertainment and
vacation
centers such as Las Vegas.

October's meeting is being held at the Las Vegas Alexis Park Resort and
Villas, one of the few resorts with no gaming facilities.

The Diocese of Nevada will be meeting during the weekend in its annual
convention, chaired by Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. Griswold will
fly
from Las Vegas to Reno to preach at the convention's Eucharist on
Sunday,
October 9.

Meanwhile, the council will worship on Sunday at Christ Church in Las
Vegas.
Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam of New York will preside, and Werner
will
preach.

A dinner with various members of the diocese is planned for Sunday
evening.

Among the agenda items for the council's October meeting are:

* A report on socially responsible investing (see related ENS story to
follow October 3, and report text).

* A report from the church's delegation to the last meeting of the
Anglican
Consultative Council. At that meeting, the delegation had observer
status
and presented a report on its actions at General Convention 2003.

* A report from Episcopal Relief and Development President Robert Radtke
on
ERD's efforts to help the Gulf Coast dioceses hit by this season's
hurricanes.

* A report from the Task Force on Employment Policies and Practices in
the
Episcopal Church. The task force's report says that the church needs to
see
itself as an institution that employs thousands of people and has a
"duty to
treat its personnel fairly and equitably."

* A request from the Task Force on Unfunded General Convention
Resolutions,
New Mission Initiatives, and Extra-Budgetary Requests, that the council
recommend to the Program, Budget and Finance committee that it warn in
its
General Convention budget presentation that resolutions passed with
funding
requests or implications that are not included in the triennial budget
will
not be considered by Executive Council once that General Convention has
ended. The task force also proposes a set of priorities for dealing with
triennial budget surpluses.

* A report from the HIV/AIDS Committee, which tells the council that
"the
response of the Episcopal Church has lost impetus because of a national
perception that the HIV crisis has passed or moved into the realm of a
'chronic disease.' " The committee urges the church to re-commit to the
Baptismal Covenant's call to seek and serve Christ in all people.

* A report from the  Standing Commission on Episcopal Church
Communication,
which is modeling on-line commission work, endorsing the Office of
Communication's new designation of province-based communication
specialists,
and proposing technology-based ideas for simplifying the work of General
Convention.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the
Episcopal News Service.

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