wfn.org | [ENS] Listening: 'Communion in Mission' document tapped for study,

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

Episcopal News Service Listening, Learning & Epiphany

Friday, January 13, 2006

'Communion in Mission' document tapped for study, litany

Executive Council asks General Convention to act on inter-Anglican
initiative

[ENS] Citing the document's role as "a vision for Anglican faithfulness to
the mission of God," Executive Council on January 12 proposed that General
Convention join the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in commending
"A Covenant for Communion and Mission" for widespread study and response.

Executive Council's Committee on International Concerns, chaired by New
York Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam, drafted the resolution that will
come before the 75th General Convention, meeting June 13-21 in Columbus,
Ohio. At its own January 9-12 meeting in Des Moines, Council further
used the document to adapt a litany prayed during Eucharist (see text
at end of this release).

The proposed resolution affirms the "Communion and Mission" document
developed by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Mission and
Evangelism and affirmed by ACC in 2005.

Following is the text and explanation of the resolution proposed to
General Convention:

Resolution (A000; number to be assigned): Covenant for Communion in
Mission

Resolved, the House of __________ concurring, That the 75th General
Convention of the Episcopal Church recognize the call of the Anglican
Consultative Council at its 13th meeting in Nottingham, England, in June
2005 for all churches of the Anglican Communion to study and apply the
document "A Covenant for Communion in Mission" that was presented to
it by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism;
and be it further

Resolved, That the 75th General Convention commend "A Covenant
for Communion in Mission" as a vision for Anglican faithfulness to
the mission of God for study by parishes, dioceses and seminaries;
by networks such as the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission, the
Global Episcopal Mission Network, and the Companion Diocese Network; by
the House of Bishops; and by the Standing Commission on World Mission,
the Standing Commission on International Peace with Justice Concerns, the
Standing Commission on Ministry Development, and the Standing Commission
on Constitution and Canons; and be it further

Resolved, That the 75th General Convention request the Standing Commission
on World Mission to gather responses to "A Covenant for Communion in
Mission" from groups within the Episcopal Church and include reflections
and recommendations concerning application of the covenant in its report
to the 76th General Convention.

Explanation

The Anglican Consultative Council established the Inter-Anglican
Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism (IASCOME) at its 11th
meeting in Dundee, Scotland, in 1999. IASCOME is the latest in a series
of commissions, committees and working groups with responsibility to
maintain a global overview and provide international coordination of
mission and evangelism in the Anglican Communion. IASCOME's report
to ACC-13 in Nottingham, England, in June 2005 is titled "Communion in
Mission." It opens with an introduction, reproduced below, which contains
"A Covenant for Communion in Mission":

A Covenant for Communion in Mission

The Lambeth Commission in its Windsor Report "recommended and urged the
primates to consider the adoption by the churches of the Communion of
a common Anglican Covenant which would make explicit and forceful the
loyalty and bonds of affection which govern the relationships between
the Churches of the Communion" [Windsor Report, pp. 62-64].

IASCOME has discussed ways to take forward the mission imperatives in
the Communion following the Partners in Mission process and the Decade of
Evangelism. The idea of a Covenant for Communion in Mission has emerged
as a key proposal. We believe that a Covenant enshrining the values
of common mission that could be used as a basis for outward-looking
relationships among the churches, mission organizations and societies,
and networks of the Communion would provide a significant focus of unity
in mission for the Anglican Communion.

In Scripture, covenants are central in the Old Testament to God's
relationship to Noah, Abraham, Moses and to the people of Israel.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretell the coming of a new covenant - in which
God will give God's people a new heart and new life and will walk with
them, and they with him. In the New Testament Jesus inaugurates this New
Covenant. It was marked by the breaking of his body and the shedding of
his blood and celebrated in the central Christian meal of the Eucharist
and effected through the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ for all people
for all time.

IASCOME considered in depth the nature of covenant. We recognized that
within our cultures a covenant is a serious and significant agreement.
Covenants are fundamentally about relationships to which one gives oneself
voluntarily, while contracts can be seen as a legally binding document
under a body of governing principles. Covenants are free-will voluntary
offerings from one to another while contracts are binding entities whose
locus of authority is externally to oneself. Covenants are relational:
relational between those who are making the covenant and relational with
and before God.

As Anglican churches, we have a tradition of covenants that help to
clarify our relationships with other ecumenical churches, such as the
Porvoo agreement between the Church of England and the Baltic Lutheran
churches, and Called to common Mission between the Episcopal Church and
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

We recommend for consideration by the ACC and testing within the
Communion, the following nine-point covenant. We believe it provides the
basis for agreements between Anglican churches at the national level -
but also may be used by local parish/congregations, mission movements
and networks, companion diocese links, etc. We believe the Covenant for
Communion in Mission thus provides a focus for binding the Communion
together in a way rather different from that envisaged by the Windsor
Report.

The covenant is deliberately general in its principles. In its
understanding of mission, it builds on the Five Marks of Mission of the
1984 and 1990 Anglican Consultative Councils. It provides a framework
within which those entering into the covenant can identify specific
tasks and learnings that relate to their particular situations.

A Covenant for Communion in Mission

This Covenant signifies our common call to share in God's healing and
reconciling mission for our blessed but broken and hurting world.

In our relationships as Anglican sisters and brothers in Christ, we
live in the hope of the unity that God has brought about through Jesus
in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The preamble recognizes that the world is one that has been graced by
God but that God's work through Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit,
is to seek to heal its hurts and reconcile its brokenness. The preamble
reminds us that as Christians we are called to share our relationships
in the mission of God to the wider world, bearing witness to the kingdom
of love, justice and joy that Jesus inaugurated.

Nourished by Scripture and Sacrament, we pledge ourselves to: The nine
points of the covenant are predicated on Scripture and the Sacraments
providing the nourishment, guidance and strength for the journey of the
covenant partners together.

-- Recognize Jesus in each other's contexts and lives The nine points
begin with Jesus Christ, the source and inspiration of our faith and
calls for those covenanting for mission to look for, recognize, learn
from and rejoice in the presence of Christ at work in the lives and the
situations of the other.

-- Support one another in our participation in God's mission Point two
acknowledges that we cannot serve God's mission in isolation and calls
for mutual support and encouragement in our efforts.

-- Encourage expressions of our new life in Christ Point three asks those
who enter into the covenant to encourage one another as we develop new
understandings of our identities in Christ.

-- Meet to share common purpose and explore differences and disagreements
Point four provides for face-to-face meetings at which insights and
learnings can be shared and difficulties worked through.

-- Be willing to change in response to critique and challenge from others
Point five recognizes that as challenges arise so changes will be needed
as discipleship of Christ is deepened resulting both from experience in
mission and encounter those with whom we are in covenant.

-- Celebrate our strengths and mourn over our failures Point six calls
for honouring and celebrating our successes and acknowledging and naming
our sadness and failures in the hopes of restitution and reconciliation.

-- Share equitably our God-given resources Point seven emphasis that there
are resources to share - not just money and people, but ideas, prayers,
excitement, challenge, enthusiasm and calls for a move to fair sharing
of such resources particularly when one participant in the Covenant has
more than the other.

-- Work together for the sustainability of God's creation Point eight
underscores that God's concern is for the whole of life - not just people,
but the whole created order - and so we are called to strive to safeguard
the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

-- Live into the promise of God's reconciliation for ourselves and for the
world This last point speaks of the future towards which we are living,
the hope of a reconciled universe - in which 'God's will be done on
earth as it is in heaven' for which Jesus taught us to pray. We make this
covenant in the promise of our mutual responsibility and interdependence
in the Body of Christ.

The conclusion provides a strong reminder that we need each other, are
responsible for each other, and are mutually interdependent in the Body
of Christ.

IASCOME proposes that the ACC commend the Covenant for Communion in
Mission to the churches of the Anglican Communion for study and action
and remits it to the next IASCOME for evaluation of its reception in
the Anglican Communion. IASCOME further proposes that the ACC advance
the Covenant for Communion in Mission to the bodies of the Anglican
Communion tasked to continue consideration of covenants for the Anglican
Communion as commended by the Windsor Report and the "Communique" of
the February 2005 Primates Meeting. To that end, IASCOME presents the
following resolution for adoption by ACC 13:

ACC RESOLUTION - This Anglican Consultative Council: 1. Commends
the Covenant for Communion in Mission to the churches of the Anglican
Communion for study and application as a vision for Anglican faithfulness
to the mission of God; 2. Advances the Covenant for Communion in Mission
to the bodies of the Anglican Communion tasked to continue consideration
of covenants for the Anglican Communion as commended by the Windsor Report
and the "Communique" of the February 2005 Primates Meeting; 3. Remits the
Covenant for Communion in Mission to the next Inter-Anglican Standing
Commission on Mission and Evangelism for monitoring responses to and
evaluating effectiveness of the Covenant for Communion in Mission across
the Anglican Communion. [ends]

- - -

Prayers of the People, adapted from "A Covenant for Communion in Mission"
Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, January 11, 2006

Litanist - In our relationships as Anglican sisters and brothers in
Christ, we live in the hope of the unity that God has brought about
through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nourished by Scripture
and Sacrament, we pray:

-- That we may recognize Jesus in each other's contexts and lives: Lord,
in your mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may support one another in our participation in God's mission:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may encourage expressions of our new life in Christ: Lord,
in your mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may meet to share common purpose and explore differences and
disagreements: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may celebrate our strengths and mourn over our failures:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may share equitably our God-given resources: Lord, in your
mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may work together for the sustainability of God's creation:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

-- That we may live into the promise of God's reconciliation for ourselves
and for the world: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Celebrant - Father in heaven, you call us into communion with you and
with one another: Bless and strengthen the ties that bind us in the
Anglican Communion, that we may be one as you and your Son Jesus are one,
through the same Jesus Christ, who with you is the author and unifier
of all creation, and who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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