The Committee on the State of the Church. It's an impressive-sounding title, isn't it? Its members, you would think, ought to have a good handle on where the Episcopal Church is and how it stands as the 21st century gets underway. So I was anxious to read its report when my copy of The Blue Book of the 73rd General Convention arrived recently. The committee didn't let me down.

In its 25-page report, the 14-person committee, which reports to the House of Deputies of General Convention, touches on a variety of topics of contemporary interest. The Lambeth Conference, the Decade of Evangelism, racism, communication and membership are among the topics these folks addressed in their triennial report.

"The recent Lambeth Conference presents an immediate test of our ability to maintain unity of Spirit and the bonds of peace, while struggling in discernment over issues on which we are not of one mind," the report states. While noting "The Episcopal Church is bound by the indelible nature of the Christian family to listen to what is being said by our brothers and sisters in Christ," the committee also adds, "we have a responsibility to state our understandings with as much openness and integrity as possible. We have an equal responsibility to listen to the understandings of others with courage and generosity."

The committee is not blind to the church's tensions and differing opinions but acknowledges "what we have in common is more important than our differences."

"The community to which we are called is not one of unanimity but rather one of continuing conversation," the committee continues, sounding very much like Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold. The report mentions that the church has debated many issues through the centuries. "The tensions we experience in those debates may be signs of faithfulness rather than failure."

Two full pages of the report are devoted to the Decade of Evangelism, a topic addressed elsewhere in The Blue Book in the report of the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism. The State of the Church Committee is brutally honest in addressing the decade:

"The Decade of Evangelism caught the Episcopal Church flat footed. We did not begin this decade from the same foundation as other branches of the Anglican Communion. Without a recent history of being evangelized ourselves, evangelism was an alien concept for many of us." Unfortunately, it still is, although the report fails to admit that.

In a fascinating section, the report mentions that the decade became "one more battleground in the conflict between different theological camps," identifying one as "Incarnation" Christians, "emphasizing the goodness of God, God's love for creation, and God's affirmation of humanity by becoming one of us." The other "camp" is termed "Atonement" Christians, "emphasizing the sinfulness of humanity and Christ's saving action by his death on the cross."

State of the Church says the difference between these two emphases does not need to be resolved because each "has a piece of the truth that is supported by scripture and important to the fullness of the gospel." While most Episcopalians would affirm both of these perspectives, the report admits that "those who would proclaim the gospel by word and those who would proclaim it by deed have not cooperated as well as they might."

The committee concludes its report with resolutions that would:

l Conduct a full census of the church's entire membership by 2005;

l Require anti-racism training for the lay and ordained leadership of the church;

l Establish an Episcopal Service Corps to provide opportunities for volunteer service;

l Conduct a study of the role of confirmation and its relation to evangelism, adult membership and other matters.

Most of the Episcopal Church won't get to see the report of the Committee on the State of the Church, which is too bad. If you're not going to General Convention, borrow The Blue Book from some friendly convention deputy. You'll have a better idea of the state of the church.

David Kalvelage, executive editor