Episcopal Press and News
International Partners Will Join Episcopal Church in Examination of Its Mission
Episcopal News Service. December 3, 1992 [92245]
Anglican and ecumenical representatives will visit dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church in late January and then gather in Chicago, February 6-9, 1993, for the second Partners in Mission Consultation (PIM2). Observations from the participants will be used in long-range planning at the Executive Council meeting, February 9-12.
Representatives from South Africa, the Philippines, Brazil, England, Canada, New Zealand, Jerusalem and the West Indies will fan out to 19 dioceses, accompanied by members of the Executive Council. Discussion during the grassroots visits will center on "the most important issues inministry and mission for the Episcopal Church today," areas in which God is "calling for the transformation of the Episcopal Church and society today," and some concrete suggestions for changes that "could improve and strengthen the relationships of the Episcopal Church with local, regional, national, international and ecumenical partners."
The PIM concept emerged from a 1973 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. While mission belongs primarily to the local church, the worldwide church participates in that mission because of "mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of Christ."
The PIM process calls on national Anglican churches to draw upon their mutuality in discussing goals and problems and searching for creative ways to respond to issues and develop a strategy. "Each province has the responsibility and authority to set its own mission priorities," observed the Rev. Patrick Mauney, executive for the Episcopal Church's Partnerships Office. "But since we are all doing one mission -- God's mission -- we help that by coming together and talking about how we can best carry that out."
"These people are consultants -- they are coming to observe the Episcopal Church, and we are going to ask them to comment," said the Rev. Lloyd Casson of New York, a member of the Executive Council and the planning committee for the PIM Consultation. "Sometimes you need someone from the outside to see what you can't from within," observed Anne Conners, the coordinator for PIM2.
The first PIM Consultation was held in 1977, and it focused on work at the diocesan level. The Executive Council is expecting to use insights from this consultation to help in meeting its responsibilities for program and budget between General Conventions of the church.
Mauney said that the dialogue with other churches, sharing ideas on how to respond to the issues of the day, "will have a great effect on how we do things in the United States." As a concrete example, he said that the dioceses in the western United States that form Province VIII began to look farther west, to the Pacific Basin, as they defined their mission following the original consultation.