Council Hears Coalition Strategies and Approves Mission Resolutions
Episcopal News Service. May 18, 1978 [78145]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- How the Episcopal Church's overseas and nationally aided dioceses in the U.S. work together in collaborative styles was the subject of presentations here to the 41-member national Executive Council on May 18.
Representatives of Coalition O -- from jurisdictions in 14 nations outside the U. S. -- and Coalition 14 -- originally 14, now 15, jurisdictions within the U. S. -- spoke of who they are, what they do, and their hopes for the future.
They were joined in the presentation by representatives of a larger group -- the Anglican Council of North America and the Caribbean -- in explaining yet another way in which the Episcopal Church is engaged in mission at home and overseas.
The Rt. Rev. G. Edward Haynsworth, Bishop of Nicaragua and Bishop-inCharge of El Salvador, told how representatives of the 21 dioceses and areas which compose Coalition O meet twice a year "to share mission opportunities and common resources."
Those representatives, he said, have the responsibility for distributing the funds approved by the General Convention through the Executive Council to the several dioceses. The total amount allocated to the jurisdictions in 1978 is $2,922,911.
Bishop Haynsworth said that all the dioceses work in different ways "but they do have in common a movement toward self-reliance and partnership." He cited special emphases on evangelism, stewardship, and new styles of ministry as examples of means to accomplish their goals.
He said, "The coalition of overseas bishops is unique among present coalitions in the Episcopal Church because our present planning is leading us to disappear as a coalition in favor of new provinces or regional council of churches in the Anglican Communion."
Reporting for Coalition 14 was the Rt. Rev. William Davidson of Western Kansas who spoke of the voluntary association of 15 -- originally 14 -- jurisdictions in the U. S., which will be receiving $1,598,721 from the General Church Program Budget in 1978.
His report indicated that representatives of Coalition 14, which came into being following the 1970 meeting of General Convention, screen, evaluate, and approve their own grant requests; develop membership criteria, such as full payment of national apportionment, full disclosure, and no lapsed balances; plan new avenues of ministry, such as Church Growth and stewardship; and work with other agencies to share their concerns.
Bishop Davidson reported that consultants are studying the rationale for the involvement of the national Church in developing diocesan strategies. He said among the hopes of the coalition for the future are continued support for diocesan strategies and an expansion to other areas of church life.
The Rt. Rev. John Charles Bothwell of the Diocese of Niagara of the Anglican Church of Canada, addressed the Council on the work of the Anglican Council of North America and the Caribbean of which the Episcopal Church is a part along with the Anglican Church of Canada and the Church of the Province of the West Indies.
The Council -- known as ACNAC -- came into being about 10 years ago through the efforts of the late Bishop Stephen Bayne, head of the overseas office at the Episcopal Church Center, and others. The Council seeks to assess the needs and resources of its member churches and to promote "unity in the faith and to seek a wider unity," Bishop Bothwell said.
Among the recent activities of ACNAC cited by Bishop Bothwell were several workshops and the Tobago Conference of 1974. The annual budget is $18,000, of which about twothirds comes from the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Bothwell said ACNAC is "an internal coordinating committee binding the Anglican Church in our part of the world together.... I believe ACNAC has acted imaginatively and creatively for our churches."
With Bishop Bothwell were the Rev. Jack Potter of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, and Oscar Bird, Executive Secretary of the Church in the Province of the West Indies.
In business sessions, the Council dealt with a variety of resolutions presented by its National and World Mission Committee, chaired by the Rt. Rev. George T. Masuda of North Dakota.
The Council voted to table a resolution that would have joined with the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches "in deploring the killing and mutilation of several thousand innocent men, women and children by Israeli troops during the recent invasion of Southern Lebanon," and called on the Council to ask the U.S. Congress not to supply anti-personnel weapons to Israel.
The motion to table prevailed after Dr. Paul Neuhauser of Iowa City, Iowa called the action requested in the resolution "unbalanced," saying that its scope should be broader than just Israel.
The Council also voted to refer a request for action from the Presbyterian Church's General Assembly in Taiwan to the Taiwan Episcopal Church for a response before considering the matter further. The Presbyterian request, which is supported by the Executive Committee of the Taiwan Christian Church Council of North America, is to ask the President of the United States "to continue to uphold the principles of human rights while pursuing the normalization of relationships with Communist China."
The Council received a report from the Committee endorsing the action of a recent consultation in the Dominican Republic which recommends that the annual reduction in funds for Brazil through 1983 be used for new work in overseas Episcopal dioceses.
Resolutions concerning the Episcopal Church's relations with Church World Service (CWS), the relief office of the National Council of Churches, were approved by the Council after considerable discussion.
The Council voted that it "agrees to consider the recommendation that onethird of the Episcopal Church's acceptance of the base support suggested by CWS be included in General Church Program and Budget starting in 1980."
The base administrative cost of CWS, it was pointed out by Joseph Hargrove, Shreveport, La., who reported for the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, is approximately one-third of its budget. In 1978, one-third of the Episcopal Church's grant of $214,000 to CWS would amount to approximately $73,000. The remaining two-thirds for CWS program would come from receipts from the Presding Bishop's Fund, he said.
Mr. Hargrove said the base administrative cost of CWS should be provided by the whole Church. He urged greater participation by Episcopalians on the various committees of the National Council of Churches in order to have more voice in making policy decisions.
Presiding Bishop John M. Allin said that this proposed change in allocation of funds for CWS "is not just a budget process. It is to increase our ecumenical commitment."
The Council agreed to the resolution after an amendment made it clear that this is only an agreement to consider the proposal when the budget for 1980-1982 is drawn up for presentation to General Convention in 1979.
The Council also supported the Board for the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief in asking CWS "to provide (1) a clearer policy of the distribution of funds, (2) a clearer articulation of accountability for overhead expense by CWS, (3) and the clarification of the evaluation, monitoring, and audit processes of projects in place and the adequate feedback through support systems."