Executive Council Asks and Answers, 'Why Have a National Church?'
Episcopal News Service. November 8, 1991 [91209]
What is the special ministry of the Episcopal Church's national Executive Council, and how does it effectively implement the actions of the General Convention in the life of the church? In the midst of incorporating 19 new members, these two questions itched beneath the surface at the meeting of the 38-member council, October 31-November 4 in New York City.
"This Executive Council has the possibility of refocusing how we have done things in the past, and how we will do them more effectively in the future," said Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning in a press conversation after the meeting. "We need to affirm that the function of the national church's ministry is to deliver services to the congregations and dioceses."
Browning suggested that the church was undergoing a "re-envisioning of what the institutional church is all about," and asking some hard questions. "I think that the [recent restructuring] process at the Episcopal Church Center is only a beginning," he added, "and I think that one of the most important things to come out of our planning process will be a clearer answer to the' question, 'What is uniquely the ministry of the national church?"'
The Executive Council is a snapshot of the church, a small parish of the entire nation, in which a whole spectrum of ethnic, geographical, and theological perspectives are represented. Bonds of affection among members seem to hold disparate opinions together, allowing the council to be a laboratory for testing how local and national visions support and challenge each other.
As the council approved a string of resolutions to implement General Convention policy in the life of the church, it began to suggest how the local and national church are interdependent.
The council accepted, for example, a proposal to support a second "Partners in Mission" consultation. According to the plan, 18 international Anglican dioceses and ecumenical partners will join the council for a consultation in February 1993 to inform the long-range planning process of the council.
"The consultation will place us in the wider context of the universal church as we do our own planning," said the Rev. Patrick Mauney, executive for partnerships at the Episcopal Church Center. "Our planning should not be done in an insular fashion," he said. Mauney contended that the previous consultation, held in 1977, "built new international relationships," and gave birth to a whole new awareness of global mission for its participants.
In another action affirming the life of the church beyond national boundaries, the council approved a resolution to send "greetings and assurances of its prayers and support for the bishop, clergy, and people of the Diocese of Haiti in this uncertain period in their nation's history."
In its effort to extend the compassion of the local church, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief unveiled plans to give Episcopalians a new means to support for the fund. The council approved a resolution establishing "The Society of the Anchor" as a major source of funding for the PB's fund, and affirmed plans to hold a major celebration for 50 years of service by the fund in May 1992.
In sketching the fundraising strategy, the Rev. Bill Caradine of the fund said that there are already pledges of more than $1 million in connection with the celebration -- including 85 persons who would give or raise $10,000 -- and that the fund would press forward toward a goal of $10 million in annual gifts. "Our initial reality test shows that Episcopalians are looking for this way to serve the church," Caradine said.
During the season when most Episcopal parishes are in the midst of stewardship campaigns, the council adopted several stockholder resolutions that address the national church's own stewardship. Four resolutions requested that companies in which the church holds stock apply the so-called "Valdezprinciples," a set of guidelines for environmentally responsible business practices,
Two resolutions called upon companies to phase out their involvement in nuclear weapons production. Two other resolutions requested that companies make reasonable efforts to include women and ethnic minorities on boards of directors. One resolution requested that AT&T extend its current divestment of business in South Africa to NCR, a computer manufacturing company recently acquired by AT&T.
In another area where the council sought to lead the wider church, it adopted a policy defining sexual harassment and sexual assault, and proposed a mechanism for victims to seek redress. The policy will be reviewed by legal counsel and then, if no changes are made, will be distributed through the church. It would cover all meetings of the council and other interim bodies who meet in its name. In her introduction of the proposal, Marge Christie of the Commission on the Status of Women said that the policy would show that "Episcopalians can make a difference in this world...."
Treasurer Ellen Cooke reported that "financial restraint" during the last 18 months would lead to a balanced budget for 1991, although she could not make any comment about the 1992 budget until the next council meeting. Cooke said that no diocese had informed her that it would not meet its 1991 pledges.
Cooke also reported that the first distribution of funds to ethnic minority students or institutions from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Legacy Scholarship Fund would be made by the end of the year.
In small groups and plenary sessions, the council's planning committee prodded members to abandon preconceived notions and ask bold questions as the church responds to new challenges. Where are the opportunities to reform the church's structure? What old assumptions impede the church's ability to move into the future? Is the church willing and able to change?
Several members suggested, for example, that the decision-making process of the church needs radical revision. Others insisted that the church isn't going to change unless it continues to empower the laity.
Council members expressed a great deal of interest in what Browning called "decentralization" in his address from the chair at the beginning of the meeting. "A major piece of the ministry of a national church, of a presiding bishop, of an executive council is to inspire and empower individual Christians to carry out their ministry in faith, where they are, and in the knowledge that they are not alone," Browning said. "In this triennium we must think in creative new ways about how our ministry as a church can be carried out at the congregational, diocesan, and provincial level."
Yet, Browning criticized those who believe that withholding funds from the national church is an appropriate way to register disagreement with actions of the General Convention. "This... is not what the church is all about; it is not what good stewardship is all about; it is not what living together in a faith community is about," Browning said. "I hope and pray that those who have considered such a response will have second thoughts."