Executive Council Gets Training on Communication Skills

Executive Council members meeting in Albuquerque June 13-15 will receive an introduction to the public-narrative process that will be used as a leadership tool at General Convention next year. A portion of the council will be part of a group of about 65 people that will receive further training in the public-narrative process at the conclusion of the council meeting on June 16.

The project is being conducted in response to Resolution D043 from the 75th General Convention in 2006, which called for “a participatory, vision-focused dialogue on the mission of the church” at the 76th General Convention.

“The Episcopal Church isn’t good at stating its own identity,” Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, told Episcopal News Service. “The people in The Episcopal Church don’t have a common language to talk about who we are in The Episcopal Church and what we are called to do because of who we are.”

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Episcopal Church (TEC)

7 comments on “Executive Council Gets Training on Communication Skills

  1. Katherine says:

    [blockquote]Marshall Ganz, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, is a consultant to General Convention’s Joint Standing Commission on Planning and Arrangements. He described public narrative as the art of using stories to translate values into action.[/blockquote]Another manipulation technique. Will they also use Indaba groups? Good Lord, deliver thy people.

  2. Cathy_Lou says:

    Seems to be a matter of priorities – Cuts to ministry in Navajoland and Alaska versus paying consultants to teach “public narratives” and funding lawyers via cross-country litigation.

    Marshall Ganz, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, is a consultant to General Convention’s Joint Standing Commission on Planning and Arrangements.

    Also, training 65 leaders in p.n. brings to mind other timeless persuasive methods. 😉

  3. Choir Stall says:

    PR spin. Things must be getting desperate when you have to kick so many butts into line.

  4. midwestnorwegian says:

    “public narrative process” – who invents these idiotic phrases??? What a load.

  5. Laura R. says:

    [blockquote] “The Episcopal Church isn’t good at stating its own identity,” Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, told Episcopal News Service. “The people in The Episcopal Church don’t have a common language to talk about who we are in The Episcopal Church and what we are called to do because of who we are.”[/blockquote]

    No surprise. If the sheep stray too far from the Shepherd, they forget who they are and Whose they are and have to go to Harvard to try to learn how to communicate what they think they are, to a lot of people who aren’t going to be very interested.

  6. Albany* says:

    “The Episcopal Church isn’t good at stating its own identity,” Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, told Episcopal News Service.”

    An “identity” requires inherent, substantive integrity which is why TEC has none. By the way, Bonnie, what is the interplay between “identity” and “diversity.” Just a philosophical question. I suspect you want a coherent identity precisely because you seek an end to diversity — at least theologically.

  7. Little Cabbage says:

    Anyone paying attention well knows Exec Comm’s ‘identity’: rabidly liberal, anti-Scripture, pro-homosexual behavior, and admirers of Spong & Co style ‘theology’. They can ‘state’ whatever they want, they’re still not a Christian body!