Our Episopal Default Future is a Racket We Should Divest

From The Bishop of Texas-

So lets go back and think a bit about our Episcopal Church (or any denomination thinking about how to structure itself, judicatory, or congregation for that matter). This summer our Episcopal Church will meet in convention and ponder how to structure itself for mission.  It will ask the same questions it has been asking for two decades, and they are similar to all denominational churches in our time. In particular our church structure has spent enormous amounts of time and energy pondering what the future looks like - TREC. Now that TREC has returned with their version what structure could be the population of general convention is thinking - "no". There are other groups offering similar ideas as TREC. There are groups trying to amplify the work of all these people to convince the general-convention-going deputies that they need to vote positively to restructure the church.

But the deputies have not spent a lot of time on this. They have not spent three years reading and studying things, listening to consultants, dreaming about mission, and then attempting to build consensus in a wildly diverse group of people around common future scenarios of a mission church. This isn't to place a value on the lack of this work, but it is to point out that the deputy will vote based upon how the church occurs to them. And here is the rub.

More here-

http://texasbishop.blogspot.com/2015/05/our-episopal-default-future-is-racket.html

Task Force for Re-Imagining the Episcopal Church provides report

From ENS-

The Task Force for Re-Imagining the Episcopal Church (TREC) met July 12-13 at the Maritime Institute of Technology in Linthicum, Maryland. The following is a report on their work.

The Task Force for Re-Imagining the Episcopal Church

Background, challenge, and learning

Since our initial meeting in February, we have been working in smaller groups to

1) ensure that all of our members have a common understanding of our current structures, governance and administration;

2) research both successful and unsuccessful attempts at large-scale change in other Christian traditions, in our own history as The Episcopal Church, and in other kinds of organizations, and consult with individuals who helped lead those efforts;

3) develop a common understanding  of the central marks of Episcopal identity from the vast work that has already been done in that area; and

4) establish the building blocks for a broad churchwide engagement process that we believe will be a critical piece of our work. We heard reports from each of these smaller working groups. Two of the groups offered written reports, and those are available on our website or here

Our greatest challenge so far has been developing a common understanding of the proper scope of our mandate. We are very conscious of the extraordinary energy and consensus demonstrated by the 77th General Convention about the need for bold and large-scale change in our church. Our work thus far has consisted of vigorous and Spirit-filled conversations about the best ways The Episcopal Church might begin to effect the kind of change that was called for and needed, and what specific areas in our common life are most in need of the kind of reform that convention called for.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/07/16/task-force-for-re-imagining-the-episcopal-church-provides-report/

Structure task force gathers for first time

From ENS-

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, Feb. 14 each gave the church’s Task Force on Structure their own sense of the work facing the 26-member group.

Their remarks came on the first day of the task force’s initial meeting being held Feb. 14-16 at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Maryland.

“Your task is to bring all of your creativity, strategizing, thought and prayer to the work of suggesting how we might better support and undergird and challenge the life and work of this Church and to do it with as one person says, ‘sheer holy boldness,’” Jefferts Schori said.

The presiding bishop said church members are currently directing their attention to four areas. The first are the issues around identity, she said, such as “who are we, what we are for.” The second is mission, which she said is “a primary response to the question of identity.” Sustainability in mission is the third area and includes the question of how all parts of the church can grow to be self-supporting. The final focus of attention is organizing and structuring for mission.

Jefferts Schori noted that the group is expected to report to the church in late 2014, “with the hope that our next General Convention will take up your proposals.”

“Change and reform are not waiting until then, however,” she said, adding that the group charged with shaping the next General Convention “has already begun to look at how we might work more effectively.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/02/14/structure-task-force-gathers-for-first-time/

Task force on church structure plans first meeting

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Task Force on Structure will conduct its inaugural meeting February 14-16 at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Maryland.

The opening prayers and remarks from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings on Feb.14 at 3:00 p.m., as well as a review of the group’s mandate, are open sessions, according to a media advisory here.

The remainder of that day, the next two days’ proceedings and small-group discussions are private. The closing worship on Saturday is open.

The task force plans to issue a statement following the conclusion of the meeting, the advisory said.
The task force was called for via Resolution C095, approved at the July meeting of General Convention.

Resolution C095 calls for a 24-member task force charged with presenting a plan to the next General Convention in 2015 “for reforming the church’s structures, governance, and administration.” According to the resolution “the membership of the task force shall reflect the diversity of the church, and shall include some persons with critical distance from the church’s institutional leadership.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/02/11/task-force-on-church-structure-plans-first-meeting/

Special task force members named for church structural reform

From ENS-

 Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have announced the 24 members of the special Task Force for Church Structural Reform.

Approved at the July General Convention 2012, Resolution C095 calls for development of a 24-member task force charged with presenting a plan to the next General Convention in 2015 “for reforming the Church’s structures, governance, and administration.”

“We are delighted at the collection of gifts that have been offered for this work, and overjoyed at the constellation assembled in this task force,” commented Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori. “We pray that God’s creative spirit will be unleashed in the midst of this work to move us into God’s future with excitement, openness, and commitment to the opportunities before us.”

“Please join us in praying for the members of the task force as they begin their work,” said President Jennings. “The Episcopal Church must restructure faithfully and thoughtfully to bring us closer to the heart of God and those we are called to serve. May the Holy Spirit lead the task force toward a new vision of our beloved church.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/12/05/special-task-force-members-named-for-church-structural-reform/

Presiding officers to appoint structure committee on or about Dec. 1

From ENS-

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Gay Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, said Oct. 17 that they expect to announce on or about Dec. 1 the names of the members who will make up a special task force to re-imagine the workings of the Episcopal Church in the 21st century.

General Convention called in July (via Resolution C095 for a group to research and present to the next meeting of convention in 2015 “a plan for reforming the church’s structures, governance, and administration.”

The task force will gather ideas from all levels of the church about possible reforms to its structures, governance and administration. Its work will culminate in a special gathering of people from every diocese to hear what recommendations the task force plans to make to the 78th meeting of General Convention. Its final report is due by November 2014.

Resolution C095 called for the presiding bishop and the president of the House of Deputies to appoint the task force, which can include as many as 24 people, by Sept. 30. However, the statement noted that more than 450 people were nominated for those seats and Jennings said Oct. 15 during the first day of the Episcopal Church Executive Council’s four day meeting here that the two of them have been working their way through those nominations since Jefferts Schori returned in early October from sabbatical.

More here-

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3781727046490408959#editor/target=post;postID=6333519163839858272

Restructuring discussions continue after House of Bishops meeting

From ENS

The on-going conversations about whether and how to restructure the Episcopal Church got a boost this week when the Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls, a member of the House of Bishops who is also the church's chief operating officer, presented his fellow bishops with what he called a way of testing the "grassroots support" for such change.

On Sept. 23, the PowerPoint of Sauls' presentation and the model of a resolution that diocesan conventions could submit to General Convention were made available online here. The Spanish version of the resolution is available here. Sauls' transcription of the notes he used to narrate the PowerPoint presentation is here.
Sauls told Episcopal News Service during a Sept. 22 interview that what he offered "was in no way intended to be a proposal or resolution or even a suggestion, particularly. It was more that these are the ways that we might could go about doing something." Sauls added that his presentation "didn't begin to be the sum total of ideas" that have been and are being discussed elsewhere in the church.

"This is not a bishop-imposed [initiative]; this is testing to see if there's a grassroots support for this kind of thing," Sauls said.

A range of reactions has greeted his presentation made Sept. 20 to the House of Bishops meeting in Quito, Ecuador. Some people have commented on the broad outlines of his suggestions while others have focused on his decision to make such a presentation to the bishops.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_129916_ENG_HTM.htm