September 20, 2013
Dear Deputies:
As you may remember, the Taskforce for Reimagining The Episcopal Church (TREC) was created by Resolution C095 of the 77th General Convention in July of 2012. Its dual mandate is to (a) reimagine The Episcopal Church and (b) present a plan to the 78th General Convention for reforming the Church’s structures, governance, and administration “to facilitate this church’s faithful engagement of Christ’s mission…in a way that maximizes the resources available for that mission at all levels of the church.”
As two deputies who are members of TREC, we are writing to update you on TREC’s work and ask for your comments, ideas and support in our upcoming churchwide engagement process. Today two bishops who are members of TREC–Bishop Andy Doyle and Bishop Sean Rowe–are providing a similar update to the House of Bishops at its meeting in Nashville.
Identity and Vision: Comments Requested
TREC believes that the Holy Spirit has led The Episcopal Church to a unique moment in our history, one in which we have an extraordinary opportunity to reform our structures and systems in order to participate better in God’s mission and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom in a rapidly changing domestic and global context.
TREC began by discerning a set of principles to our work and by engaging the broader church, and we have tapped into significant research and writing on this topic to inform our thinking on the following questions:
■ Who are we as Episcopalians? What is our particular identity?
■ How is Episcopal identity being expressed and renewed in the context of the 21st century?
■ How has our churchwide organization evolved, and does the current paradigm best support our identity and calling in today’s context?
■ What do we need from a churchwide organization today and going forward?
In our discussions, it has become clear that any proposal for structural reforms must be grounded in a clear understanding of Episcopal identity and in a clearly articulated vision of what churchwide structures are for–how they best support the church in its work of engaging God’s mission.
A TREC working group, with the consensus of the entire task force, has completed a working draft of a paper titled “Initial Working Report on Identity and Vision,” which is available on our website. We encourage you to share your comments with us by visiting the TREC Website and/or the TREC Facebook page. The Identity and Vision paper is a living document, and we will regularly update and develop it through our discussions with fellow Episcopalians in the coming months. Our hope is that this paper, as well as the conversations that continue to shape it, will ultimately inform the specific proposals for reform that TREC will submit to the 78th General Convention.
On our Facebook page, we have posted a July 16, 2013 summary of our July meetings. We also commend the Episcopal News Service July 25 story about our work.
A TREC work group has been diligently developing proposals to change the structure and processes of TEC governance in keeping with the themes of the “Initial Working Report on Identity and Vision.” These areas of church governance include General Convention and the legislative process; Executive Council; the interim committees, commissions, agencies and boards known as CCABs; and the corporate and administrative structures of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and of the Episcopal Church Center.
Engagement Process: Coming Soon
To inform the Church of TREC’s work to date and to facilitate TREC being informed by all voices in the Church at all levels, we are now poised to launch a church-wide engagement process. TREC has developed an “Engagement Kit” that will be available in early October to facilitate engagement in small, medium and large groups, in person and online. We expect that the engagement process will go viral, and plan that all engagement input and learnings will flow to TREC for discernment and reflection and will inform further and refined proposals consistent with the TREC mandates.
The theme of the engagement kit is “What can you imagine for The Episcopal Church?” The kit will present simple, thought- and prayer-provoking guides for engagement. The House of Bishops will spend time at its meetings this week doing a version of the engagement process.
Members of TREC (including us, our fellow deputy Judith Conley, and recent deputies the Rev. Craig Loya and the Rev. Marianne Ell) encourage each of you to pursue engagement on whatever level you find works the best for you and your congregation/diocese/province. When TREC rolls out the kit in early October, you will see training materials for group engagements and for interviews. We expect, too, that you will find creative ways of expanding the engagement process as you see fit in your own Church context. Please remember to follow up with TREC so that what you learn in this process can be digested and shared with the whole Church.
Those familiar with the full text of Resolution C095 may notice that TREC has not announced the in-person, churchwide consultation described in the resolution. This is driven by the cost of such an engagement (estimated to be at least $300,000), and the fact that the entire triennial budget for TREC is $200,000. TREC is exploring fund-raising with a churchwide consultation in mind.
Our goal is to continue to share as much of our thinking and working process as we can. Ultimately, any effective and faithful proposal for structural change in the church must involve as many voices as possible in the discernment. As your colleagues in the House of Deputies, we are grateful to you for your ongoing engagement with our work.
We are grateful for the honor of serving on this task force and look forward to hearing from all of you as we work together to re-imagine our Church.
Faithfully,
The Rev. Jennifer Adams Thomas A. Little
Diocese of Western Michigan Diocese of Vermont
Members, Task Force for Reimagining The Episcopal Church (TREC)
