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Ministry Council Meets in Dominica

Episcopal News Service. April 2, 1987 [87075]

SANTO DOMINGO (DPS, April 2) -- The Council for the Development of Ministry of the Episcopal Church Center met here March 18-20, in a setting geared to help members realize that their vision of ministry in the past had often excluded the Church outside the Continental U.S.

In summing up the meeting, the Chairman, Bishop John Ashby of the Diocese of Western Kansas, stated the value of Council meetings outside those 48 states: "The Church is broader than Western Kansas."

The Council was formed by General Convention to create a structure and to provide services to deal with matters of ministry in the Episcopal Church. The Council assists in the coordination of agencies dealing with ministry concerns in the Church and works with bishops and diocesan commissions on ministry. The reason for meeting in the Dominican Republic was so that the Council could gain firsthand information and enter into conversations on ministry development with the dioceses of the Province IX. Prior to the meeting, representatives of commissions on ministry from dioceses of Province IX met with the field officer for the Council, the Rev. John T. Docker. The meeting was coordinated by Province IX representative the Rev. Ashton Brooks.

The Council members visited the Center for Theological Studies and talked with members of the Commission of the dioceses of the Dominican Republic and chairmen of Commissions from Columbia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and El Salvador. Through this dialogue, the chairmen were able to gain personal knowledge of the work and organization of the Council. Issues discussed were theological education for the Province and ways that the dioceses of the region can work together to share knowledge with regard to ministry as the Church moves to the 21st century.

The members of the Council learned that there has been no Spanish translation of the Canons of the Episcopal Church since 1976. As a result of this meeting, the Council for the Development of Ministry will work with the Province to provide such a translation. Other items on the agenda included providing information and resources on the ministry of the laity for diocesan commissions on ministry; revision of the Ministry Canons (Title III); discussion on the theology of ministry; work on concerns of recruitment for the ordained ministry; strengthening the support system for seminarians and selection, training and support of indigenous clergy for small, isolated, remote communities, new missionary opportunities or other special conditions (Canon 11).

The Council is composed of representatives from each of the nine provinces, providing liaison relationships with diocesan commissions on ministry and the following agencies: The Standing Commission of the Education for Mission and Ministry Unit of the Executive Council; the Board for Church Deployment; the Church Pension Fund; the House of Bishops Committee on Ministry; the House of Bishops Committee on Pastoral Development; the Standing Commission on the Church in Small Communities; the Standing Commission on Metropolitan Areas. In dialogue with the Council are the Total Ministry Task Force and the National Network of Episcopal Clergy Associations.