Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, have announced their appointments to the Standing Commissions of General Convention, as well as other bodies that help shape the policies and practices of the Episcopal Church.
The Presiding Bishop’s list of appointments is here.
The President of the House of Deputies appointments can be found by visiting this page on the website of the General Convention, and clicking on either Deputies Committees, Joint Standing Committees or Standing Commissions. Newly appointed members of the Standing Commissions are those whose terms end in 2018.
Appointments to the task force that will consider ways to restructure the Episcopal Church will be announced later this month.
A release about the appointments on the House of Deputies new website says:
President of the House of Deputies Gay Clark Jennings has announced the appointments of 142 lay and clergy leaders to standing commissions and joint standing committees of General Convention and committees of the House of Deputies.
Thirty percent of the newly appointed leaders are age 40 and under, and nearly half—47%—are age 50 and under. While the median age of all Episcopalians in 2010 was 57, the median age of these appointees is 52. Rosters of newly appointed bodies are available on the General Convention website.
“Thanks to many younger Episcopalians who volunteered to serve, the councils of the church will have much better representation from Gen X and Millennial leaders in the coming years,” Jennings said. “We need to devote more energy and attention to cultivating younger leaders. We also need to identify and reduce the barriers that keep younger people from seeking positions of church leadership.”
Jennings said she will appoint a study committee of the House of Deputies to focus on young leadership in October.
Twenty-eight percent of the new appointees are people of color. “The leadership of the church needs to look more like the kingdom of God and less like a parish directory of the 1950s,” Jennings said. “This group of new leaders will help ensure that the church’s recent progress in diversity continues.”
The groups recently appointed include Jennings’ council of advice, which, for the first time in memory, will include a bishop [the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe of Northwest Pennsylvania.]
Episcopal News Service’s story on the appointments is here.