Resolved, That the Executive Council, meeting from June 8-11, 2020 approve and authorize the following, as reviewed and recommended by the Joint Standing Committee on Mission Within The
Episcopal Church; and be it further
Resolved, That grants listed below totaling $209,500.00 are approved for payment from available Constable
Fund grant funds; and be it further
Resolved, That the grantees shall submit financial and narrative reports as required; and be it further
Resolved, That the grantees shall comply with any church or civil social distancing requirements that may be in
effect.
Office of Indigenous Ministry - Doctrine of Discovery Training, $34,000.00
According to the 2018 General Convention Resolution D-011, "That the 79th General Convention direct the
Indigenous Missioner of the Presiding Bishop’s Office to identify and appoint indigenous representatives to
provide training on the Doctrine of Discovery to those seeking ordination, such that the Office of
Indigenous Ministries provide direction to and oversight of the Doctrine of Discovery training program"
(see Appendix A). This project will help carry out these objectives through a partnership with Bexley-
Seabury Seminary, which has a history of serving the needs of Indigenous theological education dating
back to the 19th century and Seabury Divinity School and has the capacity and facilities to provide trainings
and workshops to a significant number of Episcopal theological students (see Appendix B for a detailed
description on how the two parties will work together).
The trainings would be directed by the Indigenous Missioner and the Indigenous Theological Education
Coordinator, with assistance from Indigenous presenters from various Indigenous communities in TEC,
such as the four principal dioceses of Navajoland, Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and additional
regions. To help facilitate the trainings, a Power Point presentation with imbedded videos will be created,
as well as a uniform curriculum."
Office of Global Partnerships – Global Mission Toolkit, $50,000.00
"This proposal, submitted by the DFMS Office of Global Partnerships (OGP) in collaboration with the Global
Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) and the Standing Commission on World Mission (SCWM), recommends
biblically-based studies via webinars, videos, and resources for group discussion of the theology of global
mission, which is God's mission in the world. Currently neither the DFMS, OGP nor GEMN have sufficient
financial resources to develop and distribute formational materials throughout The Episcopal Church and
the Anglican Communion to inform and inspire Christians to walk and live the Way of Love-the Gospel, the
Good News of Jesus Christ-in a global context."
Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music - Liturgical Gathering, $2,500.00
"The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has redesigned the nature of our proposed Gathering for
Liturgical Formation to be entirely virtual event, using a combination of webinars and Zoom break-out
sessions. Coordinating with the Virginia Theological Seminary’s department of Lifelong Learning to host
the virtual gathering.
Fortunately, the move to a virtual platform will allow us to better invite the church to our gathering,
increasing the likelihood of a higher participation from dioceses, and certainly increasing the likelihood
that other guests would join in. This platform also will easily allow us to record, save, and share the
content and conversations.
The dates of the gathering will remain the same, as will the topics and the speakers. However, we will
condense the schedule to abide by best practices for videoconferencing. This new design reduces our budget
significantly; we only ask for $2,500, funding honoraria for our ten speakers."
Standing Commission on World Mission – Military Chaplains Just War Education Project, $43,000.00
"This project fulfills an unfunded resolution of General Convention (2015-A048) to advance the study of
Just War principles, and extends this religious teaching to the formation of the Episcopal Church's military
chaplains for meeting the pastoral needs of current members of the Armed Services and veterans, including
those coping with moral injury and other forms of combat-related trauma. Resources would be focused on
"teaching the teachers" by developing trainings and tools for military chaplains on Just War principles
relevant to their active ministry and global mission. The religious education this project fosters could also
benefit the Episcopal Church in updating its Just War policy framework for advocacy purposes; contributing
to conflict resolution initiatives and ministry to victims of violence within and beyond the Church; and
engaging congregations on war and peace issues from the perspective of Christian ethics. To administer the
project, the Standing Commission for World Mission would collaborate with the office of the Bishop
Suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries and coordinate with the Episcopal Church's Office of
Government Relations; requested funding would leverage resources currently devoted to convene military
chaplains annually and to update the Episcopal Church's Chaplains Handbook: Guidelines for Ministry and
Worship."
Province I-Preparing Lay Leaders, $19,000.00
"Province I, in collaboration with Bexley Seabury Seminary Federation, seeks to create an affordable,
accessible, and adaptable process to prepare licensed ministers for the church. Those who are identified to
be licensed ministers need both a solid understanding of our faith as well as specialized training in the
licensing area. This grant will enable the creation of 11 online courses (synchronous and asynchronous) to
ensure leaders have both a grounding in the fundamentals of our faith as well as the specialized training."
Province III – Understanding Substance Abuse, $7,500.00
"This program melds our baptismal commitment "to seek and serve Christ in all persons" and "to respect
the dignity of every human being" with a longing to increase understanding about those who are
predisposed to addictions and to offer them a path to recovery. Grounded in faith, this training helps
individuals and faith communities to reflect critically on the current state of substance use and addiction,
to prepare to minister as Recovery Allies and/or Rapid Response Teams, and to be Christ present for those
struggling with substance use."
Comment: Province III will be working with Bexley-Seabury Seminary to develop the training and
materials for the program.
Province IV – Pilgrimage to the Fields (Outreach to Migrant Farmworkers), $15,000.00
"Pilgrimage to the Fields seeks to provide latinx agricultural workers with the opportunity to get involved
with the Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry (EFWM). EFWM has been working with
farmworkers and immigrants in rural Eastern North Carolina since 1982. We respond to the physical,
emotional, and spiritual needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families, and actively
supporting opportunities for them to become self-directive. We seek to minister to farmworkers in three
principal ways: through direct services; through the development and support of programs that work
towards the empowerment of farmworkers; and by encouraging leadership development, advocacy, and
education aimed toward a systemic change of agricultural policy at local and state levels."
Province VII – Rural & Small Church Summit, $4,500.00
"Our 'contingency plan' is to divide our small and rural church summit into two parts – depending, in
part, on funding. Part one will consist of Webinars and small group meetings. We have not yet priced this,
but anticipate contracting with tech professionals to film our speakers’ presentations in each of the
communities where they live. The small group meetings can be accomplished at little or no cost by using
Zoom.
Part two of the program will be the face-to-face meetings originally planned, when it is safe to hold such a
conference. We anticipate a need to scale back the budget for this to accommodate the tech costs for the
web conferencing. What we learn during the small group meetings, however, will help us to focus on the
areas of greatest concerns for our participants."
Province VIII – Play, Pray & Sparkle (St. John’s Episcopal Church, Indio, CA), $34,000.00
"Our mission has not changed; methods to accomplish it and vehicles to facilitate results, have."
'Play, Pray & Sparkle!' will teach children and youth the Gospel, and help them experience the love of
Christ by taking them on a musical journey through the Liturgical Calendar Year."
"Effective educators are resilient and resourceful. With a little brainstorming, our team has adapted new
teaching strategies to replace physical classrooms and re-designed our project’s performance goals based
on technology and the most stringent compliance with COVID-19 safety. Almost everyone yearns for a
return to "the norm," however, we believe the advantages from implementing technology present
awesome and sustainable possibilities."
