General Convention theme calls us forward in mission
by the Right Reverent Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo
June 2006

The theme of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Columbus, Ohio from June 13-21, 2006 is Come and Grow. This theme calls us forward in mission, and it is my hope that we are a church eager and willing to follow that call.

In preparation for Convention, there is much reading to do, and I try to do that work in the context of prayerful discernment. I do believe that we reach our decisions at General Convention under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and that the church is at its best in this kind of decision making when it is centered in prayer. Prayer and worship are integral to the life of General Convention. We have daily Eucharist with Bible study, and both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops punctuate their sessions with prayer. I invite the people of the Diocese of Vermont to join in prayer for the work of General Convention and for the ministry of our diocesan deputation as we join those from other dioceses in giving direction and leadership for our church.

The work of Convention is focused around a significant amount of legislation that is brought before the House of Deputies and House of Bishops after consideration by legislative committees. I am the bishop co-chair of the Committee on the Church in Small Communities. Other members of our deputation are assigned to various other committees. A piece of legislation (resolution) must pass in both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops in order to be an action of General Convention.

We also adopt the triennial budget of the Episcopal Church that will support the mission direction of our church for the next three years. At this General Convention, the House of Bishops will elect a new Presiding Bishop for the Episcopal Church and ask the House of Deputies to confirm that election. We will also seek to address concerns about our relationship with the other churches of the Anglican Communion, as well as disagreements within the Episcopal Church with regard to issues of human sexuality, the authority and interpretation of scripture, as well as the authority of bishops and our organizational structures.

Along with other members of our deputation, I have been making my way through the “Blue Book”—actually the cover is green this year to reflect the Convention theme of Come and Grow. The “Blue Book” is the pre-Convention report from the various committees, commissions and boards that carry out the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church between Conventions. This 459 page document also contains many of the resolutions we will consider during the course of our time in Columbus. It is by no means light reading, but it is a worthwhile exercise to help get a sense of the breadth and vitality that is the mission of the Episcopal Church.

I am not one who thinks of the Church’s mission solely, or even principally, in terms of statistics, but the report from the Committee on the State of the Church offered some encouraging news about our life in Vermont that I thought might interest you. Over the last five years for which data is available (2000-2004), the Episcopal Church in Vermont has remained stable in terms of membership and average Sunday attendance and has grown in terms of our Communicants in Good Standing and in our financial giving.

When we compare ourselves to the other domestic dioceses of the Episcopal Church and to the New England region the overall picture is positive. For example, plate and pledge income in Vermont is up 15.1% for the period, as compared to 11.8% for the domestic dioceses of the Episcopal Church and 14.5% for New England. Our Communicants in Good Standing increased 4.3% during the period compared with an average decrease of 2.3% for all the domestic dioceses and a decrease of 2.9% for the New England region. Our average Sunday attendance and active membership numbers decreased only slightly by .03% and .05% respectively, in contrast with the overall trend among the domestic dioceses which experienced an average decrease of 7.1% and 3.5% respectively in those same categories. During this five year period, average Sunday attendance in New England decreased by 8.9%, and active membership decreased by 5.9%. Granted, none of these numbers is a cause for excessive celebration—and there is much work for us to do in the areas of church growth, evangelism and stewardship—but I was heartened to see that we were at least bucking some of the trends being experienced throughout the Episcopal Church.

General Convention also considers many resolutions that will help inform the work of our Office of Government Relations in Washington, DC, as they seek to influence public policy decisions and legislation on our behalf. If you are not already a member of the Episcopal Public Policy Network, I would encourage you to join. You can register by calling 1-800-228-0515 or visiting www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn. They send out regular alerts about upcoming legislation, and responding in action or with an email or call to a member of our congressional delegation is a good way to exercise the promise of the Baptismal Covenant to “work for justice and peace among all people.”

Your Vermont deputation has been preparing for General Convention by meeting together, by holding forums around the diocese, and by reading the “Blue Book” and the volumes of other material and correspondence that is directed to us. They go as “deputies,” not delegates. We all go not with instructions from the diocese to vote one way or another, but with open hearts and minds so that we can prayerfully listen to others and to the Holy Spirit as we cast our votes. You might also be interested to know that deputies cannot abstain but must vote on every issue.

All in all, General Convention is a remarkable, albeit tiring experience. In addition to the legislative work, there are hundreds of displays calling attention to the myriad of ministries going on within the Episcopal Church. There are special programs throughout the time of General Convention, as well as relationships to renew and new ones to discover. You can follow the work of General Convention through the General Convention Web site. A link is also available though our diocesan Web site, www.dioceseofvermont.org. The Episcopal News Service is another good source for information.

When your deputation returns, we will do our best to share our experience with you. Please do keep us and the work of Convention in your prayers, both during Convention and in these days leading up to our time in Columbus.

Faithfully,
+ Thomas