Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That there shall be a Special Commission on Missional Structure and Strategy, the composition of which shall be at the discretion of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies and the members of which shall be appointed jointly thereby not later than thirty days following the adjournment of this 77th General Convention. The Special Commission shall be charged with presenting a plan to the Church for reforming its structures, governance, administration, and staff to facilitate this Church’s faithful engagement of Christ’s mission to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and the acceptable year of the Lord (Lk. 4:18) in a way that maximizes
the resources available for that mission at all levels of this Church; and be it further
Resolved, That the Special Commission shall endeavor to issue its report and recommendations along with resolutions necessary to implement them, including proposed amendments to the Constitution and Canons of this Church, so that they might be considered by a special General Convention prior to the convening of the 78th General Convention in 2015, but in any event, not later than February 1, 2015; and be it further Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $100,000 for the implementation of this resolution.
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:
Ӣ Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
Ӣ Teach, baptize and nurture new believers
Ӣ Respond to human need by loving service
Ӣ Seek to transform unjust structures of society
”¢ Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth…..
The amended “restructuring” resolution = task force, NO special convention, and an increase in the budget for said task force from $100K to $400K.
Heh.
While I have no doubt the Holy Spirit (perhaps even the Trinity?) is urging the Episcopal Church to revision itself, I doubt very much anything that God is actually saying will be what anyone wants to hear.
That “resolved” clause sounds like something written by Woody Allen in the ’70s. 🙁
Kyrie eleison, [url=http://pastorzip.blogspot.com]Steven+[/url]
[url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/?s=GC2012]Prayers for GC[/url].
What does “reimagine” mean in this context? When did TEC first imagine itself?
This notion, not just the resolution, leads me to think of Homer Simpson who trenchantly celebrates: “To alcohol: the source of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”
If General Convention thinks it can “resolve” itself out of the pit it is in, they are — to mix metaphors — smoking some crazy stuff!