Tag Archives: General Convention

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The first General Convention of the Episcopal Church was held in 1785, 230 years ago. The 78th GC will start next week in Salt Lake City. I was elected in 2014 to join the GC Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR). Despite being a lifelong Episcopalian, I have never been to General Convention before: I am looking forward to going!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I am an annual delegate and roadie for the ECR diocesan convention, usually held in Salinas, California. Last year, I felt called to volunteer two weeks of my time to attend the 78th GC.   Since 2010 when I started four years of Education for Ministry studies, I have become more aware of the larger church outside of my own diocese. I want see how GC works, connect with like-minded folks in my church outside of Central California, and contribute my understanding and experience to the GC discussions as I can.

Most of the discussions this past year among the ECR Deputation members have been about the serious issues to be considered by this legislative body that meets every three years, especially:

• Restructuring Church governance to enhance mission and ministry (TREC)
• Marriage equality
• Care of creation and social justice
• Election of the next Presiding Bishop to a 9 year term

We have diligently studied and summarized the reports of the 22 Legislative Committees (I wrote the summary on “Social Justice and International Policy”):

However, from the number of invitations I have gotten in recent months to dinners and receptions, I have learned that GC is not just a legislative body, it is also a meeting place for far flung associations, schools, and church interest groups to connect with alumni, supporters, and potential participants. So far, I have accepted invitations to attend our own ECR diocesan dinner, the University of the South dinner, and the reception for Education for Ministry (for which I am an Accredited Mentor). I am sure I will participate in other events as well.

In addition to invitations from organizations to which I have a direct connection, I have received a wide variety of emails about GC events and upcoming discussions.  Here are two – one serious and one humorous – that caught my eye:

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Any convention that can accommodate both the Lent Madness sillies as well as serious theological lobbyists is going to be very interesting indeed.

19 June 2015:
This blog post is also available on the RealEpiscopal.Org ECR diocesan website. Rev. Tom Sramek Jr. and I are the diocesan bloggers for GC 78.

I am looking forward to attending General Convention (“GC”) next month in Salt Lake City, Utah. The deputation members from our Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real (stretching from the Silicon Valley to San Luis Obispo on California’s central coast) and our Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves have been preparing for this two-week-long event for a long time, some since the last GC three years ago. Rev. Tom Sramek (Co-Rector, Good Samaritan Episcopal Church, San Jose) and I (parishioner at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Saratoga) have been asked to serve as lead social media communicators, to keep the diocese informed. This is the first in a series of blog posts which will continue for several months.

There will be several major discussions at GC, the election of a new Presiding Bishop to a 9 year term being foremost. Another topic almost as important as the election goes by the acronym TREC – for the “Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church“.

At the 2012 GC, the Task Force was charged to create a plan for reforming the Church’s structures, governance, and administration. Bishop Mary was a member of the Task Force. TREC’s charter and other documents are on their web site.  TREC was discussed in a church-wide meeting held in the National Cathedral in Washington DC in October 2014, including a video broadcast for those who could not join in person.

About 2,000 people participated in 2012-2014 TREC discussions, plus about 4,000 who participated in-person or remotely in the meeting at National Cathedral. The 74-page TREC Final Report was published in December 2014. The urgency of this work was well expressed by the Task Force on p.6 of that report:

“We believe that to adapt to today’s needs and to strengthen its ability to serve God’s mission as Luke described, The Episcopal Church must address how we “do the work we have been given to do” at every level—congregational, diocesan, and Church-wide. We believe that the Church must reconsider many of its current practices around congregational and diocesan collaboration, congregational and leadership development, clergy formation, Church Pension Fund incentives and initiatives, and the use of our sacred buildings.  … we believe the Church needs to address these issues directly and immediately, and the legislative process is the primary means by which we as The Episcopal Church endorse and fund our communal priorities and directions. The “perfecting” of resolutions is a process shared by members of the Church who are General Convention, bishops, priests, deacons, and lay people from around the whole Church. We recognize that what TREC presents is only one of the steps in this Church-wide conversation and process. And so we put forth three resolutions for General Convention that, if embraced as critical issues and adopted for further action, will engage the Church at every level in faithful and constructive conversation and planning.

We believe this work is at the heart of the reimagination to which we have been called as a task force…”

The Task Force put forth three resolutions for consideration at GC next month (the full text of each is in the TREC Final Report):

1. A001: Restructure for Spiritual Encounter – more: p.7 and following
2. A002: Reimagine Dioceses, Bishops, and General Convention – more: p.8 and following
3. A003: Restructure Assets in Service of God’s Mission in the Future – more: p.10 and following

These are major shifts proposed for how the Church will do its work in the world going forward. Between 25 June – 3 July 2015, GC will discuss its own restructuring – including the possibility of merging the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies in a unicameral model. The TREC resolutions have already proven to be controversial, generating passionate and thoughtful discussion as well as prayerful consideration. The GC next month will surely be energetic and very interesting indeed!

Photo Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

[18 June 2015 – corrections: changed “delegation” to “deputation” and 10-year-term to 9-year-term]