Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Omnibus restructuring resolution passed

From Jim Naughton at Episcopal Cafe's, The Lead

The House of Deputies passed the resolution below and sent it to the House of Bishops. It passed unanimously, and following its passage the house sang "Sing a New Church Into Being, to the tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."

Resolved, the House of ________ concurring, That this General Convention believes the Holy Spirit is urging The Episcopal Church to reimagine itself, so that, grounded in our rich heritage and yet open to our creative future, we may more faithfully:
• Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
• Teach, baptize and nurture new believers

• Respond to human need by loving service

• Seek to transform unjust structures of society

• Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth;

and be it further

Resolved, That this General Convention establish a Task Force under the Joint Rules of Order, whose purpose shall be to present the 78th General Convention with a plan for reforming the Church’s structures, governance, and administration; and be it further

Resolved, That this Task Force shall be accountable directly to the General Convention, and independent of other governing structures, to maintain a high degree of autonomy; and be it further

Resolved, That the Task Force shall have as many as 24 members, appointed jointly by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies by September 30, 2012. 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; and be it further

Resolved, That, in order to be informed by the wisdom, expertise, and commitment of the whole body of the Church, the Task Force shall gather information and ideas from congregations, dioceses and provinces, and other interested individuals and organizations, including those not often heard from; engage other resources to provide information and guidance, and shall invite all these constituencies to be joined in prayer as they engage in this common work of discernment; and be it further

Resolved, That the Task Force shall convene a special gathering to receive responses to the proposed recommendations to be brought forward to the 78th General convention, and shall invite to this gathering from each diocese at least a bishop, a lay deputy, a clerical deputy, and one person under the age of 35. It may also include representatives of institutions and communities (e.g., religious orders, seminaries, intentional communities); and be it further

Resolved, That the Task Force shall report to the whole Church frequently, and shall make its final report and recommendations to the Church by November 2014, along with the resolutions necessary to implement them, including proposed amendments to the Constitution and Canons of the Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance consider adding $400,000 to the 2013-2015 triennial budget, to enable this Resolution to be implemented energetically and successfully, “…for surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Posted by Jim Naughton on July 10, 2012 6:12 PM | Permalink | Digg this

1 comment:

Lisa Fox said...

I was on the floor of the House of Deputies when this passed, and I was happy to vote for it. It was a moment of great exultation. As far as I can tell, this was the very first resolution in Indianapolis that had NOT A SINGLE "NO" VOTE!! That is newsworthy in itself. There was unbridled joy in the House of Deputies uniting all people across the wide spectrum of our church. The whole house broke out into applause, and our PHoD let us do so.

I hope I will have energy to blog about it later. But now, I just need to get out of my Indianapolis hotel room, grab some dinner, and rest up for tomorrow.

Hear this, Church: This was us acting in our best nature! With the approval of this resolution, the whole House of Deputies has said we are serious about restructuring the Church for mission and ministry.

We were all doing the "happy dance." Now we just need the House of Bishops to Concur so that it will happen. Pray for the House of Bishops.