Episcopal Press and News
General Convention Will Consider New Plan for Partnership in Missions
Episcopal News Service. June 6, 1997 [97-1796]
Nan Cobbey, Features Editor for Episcopal Life
(ENS) "Every Christian is called to be a missionary," according to the report to General Convention of the Standing Commission on World Mission.
Three years ago, when Executive Council proposed eliminating almost entirely the sending and supporting of overseas missionaries, General Convention refused to go along. "Absolutely not" was the message deputies and bishops sent as they restored money for overseas mission and missionaries. Then, challenged by a plethora of voluntary missionary societies, diocesan lobbyists, sending agencies and returned missionaries, convention increased the budget of the Standing Commission on World Mission and asked its members to develop new strategies for overseas mission.
"We took the mandate to heart," said the Rev. Ian Douglas, chair of the 15-member commission. What they came up with is a daring plan for sharing the responsibility for overseas missionaries and their work.
As described in resolution A204 laid out in the report, the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission would be "a network comprising the whole range of organizations engaged in global mission -- parishes, dioceses, provinces, existing and new voluntary missionary societies... and the Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Executive Council."
Members of the partnership would jointly determine mission policy and agenda, coordinate and publicize mission education across the church, promote new approaches and new ideas and provide recognition to those who have served overseas.
"It's tremendously exciting," said Douglas. "It heralds a new way of organizing and supporting the church... allows all different constituencies and agencies and organizations to come to the table as equal partners."
Previously, he said, "we had 'The National Church' and outsiders and never the twain shall meet," he said. The new concept is entirely different. "We articulate our theology," he said, that through baptism we are made participants in God's mission to restore all people to unity with each other and with God through Jesus Christ, "and everyone can find their place under that. We get progressive thinkers and traditionalists. We get conservatives and liberals. We get people who are concerned about evangelism and people who are concerned about social justice."
The partnership would also help correct problems that have long plagued missionaries and mission work: lack of recognition and meager participation. The report predicts the new strategy "will allow for a diversity of missionary approaches" and "renew and regenerate the life of the [church.]"
Participation in overseas work through the national church's Anglican and Global Affairs Office -- formerly World Mission -- is low. In March this year, the national church counted 22 salaried missionaries, 25 Volunteers for Mission (health insurance and training provided) and six who serve in "special" capacities, a far cry from the 1930s and 1940s when the national church supported 450 salaried missionaries, many with families.
But while the number of General Convention-supported missionaries has dwindled, the number sent by private voluntary organizations has grown. According to Douglas, the Episcopal Council for Global Mission (ECGM), the seven-year-old network of 40 different missionary societies that is philosophical and conceptual parent to the partnership proposal, supports nearly 200 short-term and long-term missionaries overseas.
To operate under the partnership will require a good deal of faith on the part of the various agencies for the simple reason that it will be expensive.
"It'll take trust," says Douglas, "trust from different agencies and organizations of the church to... let down our guards and put up our money."
Under the plan, the national church budget and the various voluntary agencies would jointly pay the bills of the partnership. The commission has proposed a 50-50 split of the costs --$135,000 annually. That would cover one full-time and one-part time staffer, office expenses, travel, consultations, coordination.
This is where the courage comes in. Many of the voluntary agencies operate on tight budgets already. Some fail to pay their dues to the ECGM. "It's going to be as hard for the voluntary societies to come up with the money as it will be for [General Convention's Joint Standing Committee on] Planning, Budget and Finance to find 67,500 new dollars every year for the next triennium," said Douglas.
"We do believe that we can come up with that much money. A lot of the societies and the organizations were willing to really dig deep and sacrificially give," said Douglas, who has served as convener of ECGM in the past.
Some have wondered whether the new partnership would duplicate the work of the Anglican and Global Relations Office at the Episcopal Church Center. "We are convinced it does not," says the report. The strategy "allows for the exploration of new missionary opportunities... [and] encourages additional giving to world mission." It also invites participation by "Episcopalians distrustful of existing structures."
One member of the commission, the Rev. William Wood, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Wichita, Kansas, does not approve of all details of the partnership proposal. He believes its goals can be achieved within present structures and objects to what he calls a radical shift in the role of the standing commission from "review, evaluate" to "implement program."
Wood's dissent is spelled out in the report: "It is not necessary. It diffuses our common mission strategy and funding processes. It distorts present mission structures... It is contrary to the spirit of the canons."
The dissent reflects the general concern of a number of members of the commission "and beyond," said Douglas. "The commission worked very hard to have the dissent included within our report because it appropriately reflects our conversation and process," he said. Nevertheless, the proposal will go before the convention and Douglas hopes to see it succeed.
"It could signal a new way for Episcopalians to come together across a lot of divisions that currently exist in order to be about God's work in the world," he said.
In other recommendations to General Convention, the standing commission:
- endorses a resolution from the Convocation of American Churches in Europe seeking resources and affirmation of its "new vision and mission outreach." The "new" work includes indigenous ministry in Florence by an Ecuadorian priest-couple, a refugee center in Rome for displaced Africans, a new Francophone ministry at the American Cathedral in Paris, fledgling congregations in Eastern Europe, a Commission on Ministry now training bilingual candidates for ministry and dialogue with the Church of England Diocese in Europe about a "harmonization of jurisdictions."
- supports the "expected petition" from the dioceses of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama to leave the Episcopal Church USA to join the Diocese of Costa Rica in a new autonomous province, but questions the proposed financial arrangements. The proposed covenant requests a 40-year annually decreasing commitment from the general program budget. "Such a long period seems contradictory of the region's desire for autonomy," according to the commission.
- requests the last Sunday of Epiphany be designated World Mission Sunday and that resources be developed and educational opportunities offered throughout the church.