The Acts of Convention

House of Deputies

The House of Deputies Committee on Formation and Discipleship presented its Report #7 on Resolution A096 (Task Force on Equipping a Church Grounded in Justice as Christian Ministry) and moved adoption with amendment.

Original Text of Resolution:

(A096)

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring,

That the 81st General Convention direct the appointment of  a new task force be created for a term of six years or two triennia, to carry on and deepen the work begun by the Task Force on Imagining a Church Grounded in Social Justice as Ministry (Mandate A078- of the 80th general Convention) with a diverse group to include 2 bishops, 2 priests, 2 deacons, and 10 laypersons, and recommend the appointment of some members from the previous A078 Task Force in order to maintain some continuity. The new Task Force can begin immediately to address the work enumerated below and report to the 83rd General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the work of the newly created task force include the following in order to

a) consider what the church must look like if we put our vocation to love our neighbor and to be repairers of the breach at the center of our work;

b) continue the work of the previous task force in reaching out to local, diocesan, and churchwide groups that are doing social justice and racial reconciliation work focused on systemic change, in order to understand what resources and gifts we already have in this work and where the gaps are;

c) work with churchwide staff to support the creation of a digital hub to connect to and provide a one-stop place for church members to reach existing justice resources;

d) develop an experiential model for listening to and documenting the experiences of justice workers at our local levels; and

e) liaise with relevant interim bodies on consideration of these questions and how to address the institutional barriers to change in the church;

f) be charged with making recommendations to the 83rd General Convention for specific ways that the Church can equip and train local leaders to do justice work and coordinate networks of justice work across our provinces and churchwide;

And be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention requests the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance to consider a budget allocation (excluding meeting expense already in GCO budget) of $40,000 to primarily address the development of a digital hub including accessibility, training, and maintenance for the implementation of this resolution.

Committee Amendment:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring,

That the 81st General Convention commend the work of the Task Force on Imagining a Church Grounded in Social Justice as Ministry and direct the appointment of a successor new task force to be created for a term of six years or two triennia, to carry on and deepen the work begun by the Task Force on Imagining a Church Grounded in Social Justice as Ministry (Mandate A078 of the 80th general Convention) with a diverse group to include 2 bishops, 2 priests, 2 deacons, and 10 laypersons, and recommend the appointment of some members from the previous A078 Task Force in order to maintain some continuity. The new Task Force can begin immediately to address the work enumerated below and report to the 83rd General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the work of the newly created task force include the following in order to

a) consider what the church must look like if when our work is grounded in the Gospel and we put our vocation to love God and our neighbor and to be repairers of the breach at the center of our work;

b) continue the work of the previous task force in reaching out to local, diocesan, and churchwide groups that are doing social justice and racial reconciliation work focused on systemic change, in order to understand what resources and gifts we already have in this work and where the gaps are;

c) work with churchwide staff to support the creation of a digital Online Formation hub to connect to and provide a one-stop place for church members to reach existing justice formation resources, including justice resources;

d) develop an experiential model for listening to and documenting the experiences of justice workers at our local levels; and

e) liaise with relevant interim bodies on consideration of these questions and how to address the institutional barriers to change in the church;

f) be charged with making recommendations to the 83rd General Convention for specific ways that the Church can equip and train local leaders to do justice work that is grounded in the Gospel and coordinate networks of justice work across our provinces and churchwide;

And be it further

Resolved, That because the funding for the task force is allocated elsewhere, no budget allocation is requested for this work. the General Convention requests the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance to consider a budget allocation (excluding meeting expense already in GCO budget) of $40,000 to primarily address the development of a digital hub including accessibility, training, and maintenance for the implementation of this resolution.

A voice vote was taken on Resolution A096.

Motion carried

Resolution adopted with amendment

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #266)