Voluntary Mission Society Discussed
Diocesan Press Service. June 28, 1974 [74192]
EVANSTON, Ill. -- With Canon John V. Taylor, General Secretary of England's Church Missionary Society, serving as resource person, an ad hoc group of Episcopalians, United Methodists and United Presbyterians USA, met in Evanston, Il., May 23-25, to explore new paths for the expression of Christian Mission.
Episcopalians attending were the Rev. David Cochran, Bishop-elect of Alaska; the Rev. James Harkins, Southern Ohio; the Rev. Walter Hannum, Alaska; the Rev. Fred Phinney, Chicago; the Rev. H. Boone Porter, Jr., Roanridge Conference Center, Kansas City, Mo.; the Rev. John Pyle, Chicago; the Rev. Murray Trelease, Milwaukee; the Rev. Samuel Van Culin, Executive Council staff, New York City; Miss Patricia Page, Cambridge, Mass., former missionary in Zambia; and Mrs. Jeannie Willis, New York City.
The group discussed the possibility of forming a voluntary Episcopal Church Missionary Society in which each member would be encouraged to engage more consciously in mission where he is, by increasing awareness of what is happening elsewhere in Christian mission.
The ad hoc group will collect data in their areas -- both interest and geographic -- and urge concerned groups to respond to how such a society might help the Church deepen its commitment to world mission.
The Rev. James Harkins, 830 Hedge Row Lane, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246, volunteered to be secretary/switchboard and will welcome correspondence from any groups interested in pursuing the possibilities of such a voluntary missionary society.