2. WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH?
The Episcopal Church is structured to operate at
4 primary levels:
1) Churchwide – General Conventions and the CCABS that
function for and across the entire Church
2) Regionally – Provinces and their
Synods, Councils, Committees, and Networks
3) Smaller Regions – Dioceses and all their structures
4) Congregations – Vestries, and committees and groups
3. ALL • General Convention
VOICES • Provincial Synods
AT • Diocesan
EVERY Conventions/Councils
LEVEL • Diocesan Standing
Committees
• Vestries/Bishop’s
Committees
4. UNITARY Through The Constitution &
FORM Canons, General Convention
OF decides:
GOVERNANCE • What decisions will be made
at each level of the Church
• What bodies or offices make
which decisions
• How decisions will be made
in each body
• Or, delegation of some
decisions to other levels of
the Church
5. C
O Because the Church
functions across a vast
M geographic area (the
P U.S. & 16 countries)
L and because nearly all
E decisions are made
involving all voices in
X democratic
I processes, the
T Episcopal Church’s
Y structure is complex.
6. WHAT The mission of the
IS THE Church is to restore all
MISSION people to unity with
OF THE God and each other in
CHURCH? Christ.
(BCP)
7. HOW The Church pursues its
DOES mission as it prays and
THE worships, proclaims
CHURCH the Gospel, and
PURSUE promotes justice,
ITS peace, and love.
MISSION?
(BCP)
8. STRUCTURE & MISSION
Structure – The way people in community
choose to order their life together including
governing documents, the distribution of
authority, and decision-making.
Structure enables the Church to carry
out God’s mission in the world.
10. EXECUTIVE During this triennium,
COUNCIL
& the Executive Council and
JOINT STANDING other General Convention
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNANCE & committees and
ADMINISTRATION commissions have devoted
FOR MISSION
(GAM) time to governance and
mission and identifying
possible new or revised
structures that will further
God's mission in this time
of rapid change.
11. GAM-009 CONSULTATION
MAY 30-31, 2011
• Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church
• Presiding Bishop
• President of the House of Deputies
• Chairs & Vice Chairs of the Joint Standing Committees of
Executive Council
• Budgetary Funding Task Force
• Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget & Finance
• Standing Commission on Constitution & Canons
• House of Deputies Committee on State of the Church
• Joint Standing Committee on Planning & Arrangements
• Executive Council Committee on Strategic Planning
12. STANDING • TEC governance structure is a
representative, unitary
COMMISSION ON government with General
THE STRUCTURE Convention
OF THE • TEC structure is multi-
CHURCH: layered, complex, & needs
regular assessment
ASSUMPTIONS • Structure should embody our
& VALUES values
• Creative tension between
institutional stability & fluidity
for mission
• All voices heard
• Innovation needed at every level
• Structural flexibility
• Commitment to increasing
diversity in the Church’s
governance
13. ELEVEN • Endorse the Principle of
RESOLUTIONS Subsidiarity
FROM SCSC • Schedule & Fund the General
RESULTING Convention for 10 Days
FROM THE • Establish Financial Assistance Fund
GAM-009 for Deputies
CONSULTATION • Reduce the Frequency of HOB
Interim Meetings
• Reduce Barriers to Participation in
Church Leadership & Governance
• SCSC Coordinate Church Reform &
Structuring
14. STRUCTURAL • Lower the Diocesan “Asking” to
REFORM leave more money in dioceses for
mission
AT THE
77TH • Change the diocesan “asking” to
an assessment with consequences
GENERAL
for non-payment or underpayment
CONVENTION
• Frequency and duration of General
Convention
• Reform the process by which the
General Convention budget is
created
• Reduce the number of CCABS (14)
and streamline what they do
15. STRUCTURAL • Diocesan effectiveness
REFORM
• Combine/reunify dioceses
AT THE
77TH • Special Commission to
GENERAL meet during the 2013-
CONVENTION 2015 Triennium
• Special Convention to
address findings of a
Special Commission
16. CORPORATE
HEADQUARTERS at
815 SECOND AVENUE
STRUCTURAL
REFORM
AT THE
77TH GENERAL
CONVENTION
17. WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THE
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS?
DEBT SERVICE
$8,700,000
FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT $6,443,156
OFFSET BY
RENTAL INCOME ($4,050,000)
NET COST $11,093,156
18. AN
APPROACH Technical Fixes &
TO Adaptive Challenges
RESOLUTIONS
ASSIGNED
TO THE
LEGISLATIVE
COMMITTEE
ON
STRUCTURE
19. O God of unchangeable power and eternal light:
look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful
and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your
providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation;
let the whole world see and know that things which were
being cast down are being raised up, and things which
had grown old are being made new, and that all things
are being brought to their perfection by him through
whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our
Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer
Hinweis der Redaktion
My name is Gay Jennings. I am a clerical deputy from the Diocese of Ohio and this will be my eighth General Convention as a deputy. I am the chair of the House of Deputies Legislative Committee on Structure. I am just completing a 6-year term on Executive Council and I served as the Chair of Executive Council’s Joint Standing Committee on Governance and Administration for Mission.So who knew Structure would be the hot ticket at General Convention?
What is the structure of our Church?The “structure” or “governance” or “polity” of an organization establishes how the people in that community have chosen to order their life together: the rules, bodies, governing documents (canons, bylaws, rules of order), distribution of authority, and means of decision-making that are used to carry out the organization’s mission in the world.The Episcopal Church is a hierarchical Church meaning that there are several levels in the Church and generally speaking, the” higher” levels have authority to make many decisions regarding matters at the “lower” levels of the Church. Specifically , the General Convention is the ultimate authority in the Episcopal Church in terms of governance. General Convention sets the structure and rules for the Church.As seen in this slide, the structure of the Episcopal Church operates on 4 primary levels: churchwide, provincial, diocesan, congregational.
The Episcopal Church is democratic in its governance and that is reflected throughout our structure.General Convention is a bicameral legislative body in which all orders of ministry are indispensable.General Convention: HOB (bishops) and HOD (laity and clergy).Provincial Synods: Bishops from each diocese in the Province and Lay and Clergy from every diocese in the Province.Diocesan Conventions: Bishop(s) of the Diocese, Clergy canonically resident in the Diocese, and Lay representatives from every congregation.In Congregations, the Vestry, the governing body, consists of the Rector and lay members elected by the congregation.
The Episcopal Church is a unitary form of governance meaning that the General Convention is the ultimate authority. Through the Constitution & Canons, which can only be adopted or change by General Convention, General Convention decides how and by whom decisions are made.For example, the Canons set out a detailed process for the recruitment, discernment, selection and formation of clergy, but the implementation of that process is delegated to each Diocese through its Commission on Ministry, Standing Committee, and Bishop.
Our structure is complex which is reasonable given the vast geographic area of the Episcopal Church. Democratically-based structures involving many voices are necessarily more complex.
The Catechism defines the mission of the Church as the restoration of all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.
The Church pursues its mission (or God’s mission) as it prays, worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace and love.
There seems to have arisen in some quarters a false dichotomy between mission and governance/structure.Mission = GoodStructure = BadIt’s not an either/or. It is always a both/and.
I believe the passionate conversations about structure are about our identity as a Church, our vision during an incredibly rapid time of change, and how to be about God’s mission in a transitional time.Many of us have opinions about what a renewed structure would look like.I encourage bishops and deputies to pray and think about a renewed structure. What should stay the same? What must change?
The conversation about structural change and reform has been going on for some time.Executive Council’s Joint Standing Committee on Governance and Administration for Mission determined that at least 8 entities were discussing structural change and reform during this triennium.Because the canonical mandate of the Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church includes studying and making recommendations concerning the structure of the General Convention and of the Episcopal Church, GAM proposed, and the Executive Council adopted a resolution directing the Standing commission on the structure of the Church to coordinate a consultation about structural change in the governance of the church. The invitees for this face-to-face meeting were specified in the resolution and includedmembers of bodies that are charged with, or were known to be, working on resolutions for the 77th General Convention that address structural change.
This is the list of the participants at the Gam-009 Consultation in May of 2011.
In its Blue Book Report, the Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church listed underlying assumptions and values that influenced the commission’s report to the 77th General Convention arising out of the GAM-009 Consultation.
As a result of the GAM-009 Consultation, SCSC (Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church) is proposing eleven resolutions on structural reform.A100 calls for SCSC to coordinate church reform and structuring during the next triennium. Some believe that SCSC is not equipped to carry out its canonical mandate. It is important to remembers that the membership configuration of SCSC is3 bishops, 3 clergy, 6 laity,and half the members will be new appointees. They also have the ability to identify and call in consultants. So for instance, SCSC could ask the presiding officers to appoint consultants to work with them or they could ask Executive Council, or appoint consultants themselves. SCSC has the knowledge of the current structure and have themselves made suggestions for restructuring.
There are a number of additional resolutions coming before General Convention submitted by bishops, deputies, dioceses or provinces. This slide lists some of the topics of resolutions to come before General Convention.
There are a number of additional resolutions coming before General Convention submitted by bishops, deputies, dioceses or provinces. This slide lists more topics of resolutions to come before General Convention.
Another significant question to come before General Convention is what should be done with our corporate headquarters at 815 Second Avenue in New York.There appears to be renewed energy to consider relocation. I am aware of a couple of resolutions that will be filed regarding the corporate headquarters.
As with many structure question, there are financial ramifications in keeping things the same, and there are financial ramifications in changing things.Will the budget drive the structure?Or will a renewed structure drive the budget?
A conceptual framework to approach the structure resolutions comes from the work of Ron Heifetz, co-founder of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University. He speaks of technical fixes and adaptive challenges.Technical Fix – A technical fix is something we know how to fix. We have the capacity and the knowledge to do so, and we can do it now.Adaptive Challenge – An adaptive challenge is much larger than a technical fix, and signifies that we do not have the answers or ability yet to adapt to the challenge(s) before us. Meeting adaptive challenges requires greater expertise than we currently have, and calls for research, exploration, discernment, and wide consultation.There are videos on the PHOD website that help in understanding this conceptual framework.