Read other IRD articles covering the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church here.
Evangelism has been an increasingly high-profile topic of discussion, if not action, in the Episcopal Church as membership in the denomination continues to gradually age and numerically decrease.
Attendance figures released by the church reveal that its decline has accelerated since 2003, assisted by departures from conservatives. At the beginning of General Convention, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori disclosed that the church had lost a net 19,000 members the previous year, the equivalent of an entire large diocese.
Episcopal leaders have been attempting to showcase their efforts to increase evangelism through a new Hispanic church initiative and through some of the language that they have employed. At the same time, they have adopted a budget for the upcoming triennium that eliminates much of the funding previously set aside for evangelism and missions.
“This is a very difficult day,” Pan Adams-McCaslin, chair of the Program, Budget and Finance Committee said in a statement. “For the committee and for me personally, the decisions are heart-wrenching and emotional. As a Church of mission and ministry this is even more difficult because we work for a higher calling.”
Thursday’s theme at General Convention is “Evangelism, Expanding Our Community.” Emergent Church leader and special guest Brian McLaren (author ofA Generous Orthodoxy) will be giving the sermon at today’s worship service in the Anaheim convention center.
Veteran writer Cheryl Wetzel of The Anglican Voice commented today that, of the five General Conventions she has covered, the Anaheim meeting has had more bishops referencing Jesus Christ than any previous convention.
At the same time, deputies have discharged a resolution affirming the Lordship of Christ and the new church budget has further slashed missions and evangelism funding for the coming three years.
“Discharging a resolution does not mean it is not important or not the work of the church,” said Bishop Jim Mathes of the Diocese of San Diego on the Lordship of Jesus Christ resolution.
“This [economic] crisis gives us an opportunity to look at things in new ways,” said Mathes, defending budget cuts at a Thursday morning press conference. The Southern California bishop said that in the past, evangelism has not been based on the economy, but on relationships and sharing with others in the world. Deputies also emphasized that a lack of funding at the national level did not mean the rest of the church was not evangelizing.
“Evangelism at the diocesan level may be at an all time high,” said Deputy Ernie Bennett of the Diocese of Central Florida.
“I really believe that the matter of Evangelism is best rooted at the congregational level – not dependent upon the national church’s budget, but upon what we can do at the congregational level,” said Deputy Emily Morales of the Diocese of Puerto Rico.
Deputies at General Convention have not demonstrated a similar belief in subsidiarity on other matters, clearing over 60 resolutions on political issues alone in the National and International concerns committee.
Some deputies, including Deputy Lowell Grisham of Arkansas, have also expressed the belief that more inclusive ordination policies towards practicing homosexual persons will lead to an increase in membership from younger persons.
The age of the average Episcopalian has steadily increased over the past three decades, overlapping the same time period that the Episcopal Church has adopted increasingly gay-affirming policies. When asked when they expected the pattern to reverse, deputies declined to speculate, saying that they did not have a crystal ball to foretell the future. However, they did offer anecdotal evidence.
“There is a significant group of youth from our diocese,” said Mathes, specifically mentioning a 17-year-old deputy. “He’s very fired up on what he sees. Youth are charged at what they see [at General Convention]. They see the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the Episcopal Church and how it affects things. They get that in a way that we do not.”
“They are looking for a credible church that speaks truth to how things are,” said Mathes, adding that it was important to “speak truth to who Jesus is.”
“I think they would be excited beyond belief,” said Bennett, referring to the response of his two sons to a sermon at General Convention about what the Episcopal Church is about.
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