The General Convention, the Episcopal Church and St. James’ Church
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church is hard at work listening, praying and deliberating for the good of the church and the world in Salt Lake City right now, and I thought it might be worth talking a bit about how the Episcopal Church is governed, how the convention works, and what they have been considering at this session.
When the American Colonies separated themselves from Britain with the Declaration of Independence and won that Independence in the Revolutionary War, it created a number of complications for the congregations that had been part of the Church of England that didn’t exist for other denominations. Because these American churches had been a part of an established church (that is to say the official church of the government that ruled them) When that government’s authority was removed, the churches had no outside governance at all. And because the English Church had refused, throughout the Colonial Era, to allow any local bishops for the colonies, there wasn’t any vestige of church hierarchy in the new nation. There weren’t even enough priests, because, without any bishops, priests had to be ordained in England and then persuaded to venture or return to America.
So when the leaders of those congregations, both lay and ordained, met to solve the problem, there was a great divergence of opinion. There were some who wanted to remain missionary churches of the Church of England, but they were actually a small minority. Many more wanted the congregations to be independent and self-governing. But the majority wanted a new hierarchy in the Church with a distinctly American stamp to it.
So the leaders of the church, many of whom had just finished writing the U.S. Constitution in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, met across the street in Philadelphia’s Old First Church and created the constitution of a new church born from the old.
The new church would still have bishops (that’s what Episcopal Church means – a church with bishops) but they would be elected, not appointed. And the doctrine of the church would be decided not by the bishops under the rule of an archbishop, but by a representative body that would meet every three years. Originally that body was unicameral, because the church had only just persuaded a group of bishops from Scotland to consecrate American candidates elected by a few of the new dioceses (each of which comprised an entire state).
Soon, though, there were enough Bishops to have a functioning bicameral governing body, now called the Church’s General Convention. The Bishops acted as one house, whose function, back then was to ratify or reject the decisions of the other house, the House of Deputies, made up of priests and laymen (women couldn’t serve back then).
The workings of this convention closely resemble the workings of the U.S. congress, with committees that review and amend proposed resolutions, which, if they survive the committee process, are then referred to one of the houses for passage, and then, if adopted, sent to the other house for concurrence.
But that is not the only place that American ideals of representative democracy have shaped the Episcopal Church. As you know, the Vestries of congregations elect their own priests (subject to approval by their bishop). And matters of theology and worship and diocesan governance are all settled by elected representatives of congregations and dioceses.
Many other Protestant denominations have followed our example in democratic governance, but with significant differences in the role or existence of bishops.The current, 78th General Convention has had a number of matters before it this year that will have a strong effect on the future of the church. The one that matters the most is probably the election of Michael Curry, bishop of North Carolina, to be the next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The Presiding Bishop does not rule the Episcopal Church the way the Pope rules Catholicism, or even the way the Archbishop of Canterbury has authority over the Church of England. Our Presiding Bishop is considered “first among equals” in the House of Bishops, and has many leadership responsibilities both spiritually and managerially for the national church, but the Presiding Bishop is under the authority of the General Convention, and not the other way around.
Michael Curry will become the first African-American Presiding Bishop in the church, following in the footsteps of Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to hold the highest office in any Anglican Church. Bishop Curry is an inspiring preacher, an able administrator, a gifted teacher, a leader of great charisma and genuine humility, and a visionary about the church and its role in furthering the reign of God in the world. We are truly blessed by the Holy Spirit to have two such extraordinary Presiding Bishops in a row.
Other important matters before the General Convention include amending the Canons and the Church’s official liturgy to remove any barriers to the marriage of same-sex couples in the church, and a large number of resolutions to restructure the national church to make it both more effective and less expensive to do the work to which the church is called. These resolutions include reducing the number of standing commissions of the church from fourteen to two, halving the size of the Executive Council of the national Church, relocating the national Church’s headquarters from Manhattan to someplace less expensive, reshaping the General Convention as a unicameral body, and making some changes to the authority of the Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council. These structural resolutions are the source of much more contention and far closer votes than the changes to the marriage rites and canons, which passed both houses by wide margins.
The budget of the national church for the next three years is also approved at the General Convention. This is always a difficult process. Everyone knows that the budget will be an expression of the priorities of the church, and many people want to affect those priorities and how they are funded, but the canons make the review process for changes to the budget complicated and time-consuming so there is usually much discussion but little adjustment of the proposed budget. One budget item being considered separately this year is whether to use some of the National Church’s endowment money to support dioceses in the planting of new churches.
If you have ever been to a General Convention (and everyone is welcome), you will know that although the business of the church seems dry and dreary in its particulars, the actual process of debating and deciding is surprisingly Spirit-filled, and most people come away from a General Convention filled with a sense of hope and wonder about the church and the possibilities that God is laying out before us. In that, there is a similarity to our own process of calling a new rector, which has been filled with meticulous and often tiring work, but has opened many spaces through which the Spirit of God has been obviously present to this community.
May it always be so.
Blessings,
Bill Doggett+