Resolved, That a Council on Ministry be established as follows:
I. Purpose: In the period prior to the next meeting of the General Convention,
A. To study the total needs and trends of ministry within this Church and to determine what components are needed for a comprehensive support system for that ministry;
B. To co-ordinate the efforts and objectives with regard to Ministry of the following agencies:
The Board for Clergy Deployment
The Board for Theological Education
The Church Pension Fund
The General Board of Examining Chaplains
The House of Bishops' Committee on Pastoral Development
The Program Group on Lay Ministries of the Executive Council
The Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church;
C. To continue to seek appropriate financial support to strengthen the ministry of this Church;
D. In co-operation with the Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church, to propose to the next General Convention a national instrumentality by which a comprehensive support system may be established;
E. And, at the same time, to propose methods by which national, diocesan, and local instrumentalities can be integrated and supported.
II. Accountability:
In the interim period this Council shall report regularly to all meetings of the Executive Council and the House of Bishops.
III. Membership:
The Council shall consist of the Chairman or his designate of each participating agency, and one staff person (with voice but not vote) from each agency.
In addition, there shall be one member from the elected membership of the Executive Council, the Chairman of the Conference of Deans of Accredited Episcopal Seminaries, and one person representing the Commission on Ministry of a Diocese in each of the nine Provinces. A Chairman shall be elected from among the membership of the Council.
The selection process should reflect a need for balance representing the total
membership of the Church.
IV. Staff
A co-ordinator familiar with issues in ministry in the Episcopal Church and skilled in planning shall be appointed by the Presiding Bishop and shall be accountable to him.
