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General Convention - Day 1

I arrived this afternoon in downtown Indianapolis, site of our 77th General Convention with things well underway. Some legislative committees have already met and concluded their business, having only a few resolutions to consider before handing them off to the houses for their deliberations.

One committee, Communications, has approved two resolutions that highlight the importance of communications in the mission, ministry and evangelism of our congregations and dioceses. One challenges every congregation to have an "effective, dynamic and current website by 2015" (A025). Another recognizes communications as a ministry, calling for a "trained communicator" in every diocese" (A024). As a diocese we have already embraced both of these resolutions in the work being undertaken by Nina Nicholson and her committee. Score one for our team!

Unfortunately, the Committee on Small Churches had one resolution to consider, a call to strengthen small congregations. In a church where more than two-thirds of our churches have an Average Sunday Attendance of less than 100, when will we begin to "walk the talk" that will lead to re-imagining and re-incarnating God's mission in these places -- urban, rural, ex-urban?

Much has been said already and undoubtedly more will be heard here about The Episcopal Church embracing the Anglican 5 Marks of Mission: 1. Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; 2. Teach, baptize and nurture new believers; 3. Respond to human need by loving service; 4. Seek to transform unjust structures of society; and 5. Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. The Presiding Bishop has even presented her own version of the national church's budget based on the Five Marks, and it appears that the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget & Finance will adopt a template for the proposed budget that incorporates the spirit of the Five Marks. But again, do we have the resolve and the commitment to do more than just "talk the talk"? Many of us recall the Church's past well-intentioned efforts that came to naught. Recall, the Decade of Evangelism, the 0.7% International Outreach Initiative, or Venture in Mission. There is a sense of "deja vu all over again" as Yogi Berra used to say.

The remaining seven days will be a time for profound listening to what the Spirit is truly saying as well as an insistence upon discerning God's mission rather than insisting on our own.

Comments

Thanks for the update, Canon! Maybe the Small Church community needs to do an Acts 8 type meet up one evening and brainstorm what the Five Marks of Mission looks like for micro to small churches? Maybe drafting folks from some of the other committees whose work impinges on small churches (e.g. SCLM)? And as an example of what might be done by a network of small churches take a look at Full Homely Divinity (http://www.fullhomelydivinity.org)....

Newark is lucky to have Nina Nicholson. Wish we had her where I serve now.

Scot, thank you for your kind words. I'm lucky to have a solid, professional team for the Church Website Project: Randy Johnson, John Rollins, Jan Paxton, Christian Paolino and Steven Boston.

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