Council Vows Support to Partnership
Episcopal News Service. May 5, 1977 [77144]
Louisville, Ky. -- "You've made a contribution, a leavening effect for which we really can give thanks. The effects of it won't show for a while, but they will show and we thank you for it. "
With these words, Presiding Bishop John M. Allin thanked the men and women from throughout the Anglican Communion who -- with others from ecumenical bodies -- had labored for two weeks to help the Episcopal Church examine and respond to its mission. Bishop Allin made his remarks at the conclusion of the Executive Council Partners in Mission Consultation held at the Galt House Hotel here April 27-29.
That meeting was the culmination of a process that had begun two weeks earlier when over 60 external partners had first gathered in Louisville for general briefing about the Episcopal Church and their partners' role. The partners then scattered to the nine internal provinces of the Church where they met with bishops, priests and laypersons to examine the life and mission of the Church within each province.
Using a format established by the Anglican Consultative Council, the provincial consultations -- which met simultaneously April 19-23 -- each went through the same process. Each diocese presented a brief report of its life and character -- resources, special needs, programs, hopes for the future. From these reports, a number of particular issues were identified and discussed in groups made up of both provincial representatives and partners.
Near the end of each consultation, the partners and provincial people separated and drew up two reports reflecting the understanding of the mission of the Church and, possibly, offering specific programs to address the mission, or citing certain needs which were not being met.
From these, a team of both partners and provincial representatives created an agreed statement on the results of the consultation.
These statements were brought to Louisville, where the Executive Council and many of the external partners went through the same process again -- this time focusing on the response of the national Church to the conclusions reached in the provinces.
Although each province's report reflected its peculiar geographic and social makeup, a number of common concerns were pressed on the Executive Council for consideration.
These included a broadly-based recognition that the problems of urban life were a concern of the whole Church; the need to emphasize the universality of ministry of all baptized Christians and support that development; the need for more ecumenical programming and planning at all levels of Church life; the need to continue and broaden the work done in stewardship to include environmental and energy resources and the need to break down pervasive attitudes of parochialism and to begin to examine evangelism seriously.
The partners also prepared a report to the Executive Council based on their experiences in the field and their conclusions largely coincided with those of the agreed statements.
In the area of mission, the partners chided the Episcopal Church for using the term "mission diocese" and "mission parish," suggesting that these terms imposed a limited understanding of mission and reinforced the attitude that "missions" were burdens instead of opportunities.
They also asked if the structures of the Church did not need serious reexamination to improve relationships and communication at all levels.
They asked if present provinces should be developed or if their boundaries were artificial and limiting and further asked the Church to examine just what intermediate structures -- between the dioceses and the Church Center -- are required.
In this light, the partners noted that the Episcopal Church's Ninth Province was the one which conformed most closely to the use of that word throughout the Anglican Communion. They urged the Church to help those churches in Latin America as they examine the possibility of autonomy from the Episcopal Church and suggested that a further consultation be held there just to explore this issue.
As its final response to the consultation, Council passed a resolution asking the Presiding Bishop to establish a working group to collate and distribute the consultation learnings and develop a proposal for continuing consultations throughout the Church.
The resolution also suggests that the Presiding Bishop consider a personal initiative "which might take the form of a challenge" to all parishes to begin a study of the Partners in Mission material in convert with at least one other parish and partners from other denominations. The Council agreed to a disbursement of up to $5,000 to support the work of the task group.