As the Episcopal Church gets ready for General Convention later this year, we find ourselves at something of an inflection point. Not only will be electing a new Presiding Bishop, but this General Convention will also be wrestling with the work of the TREC, the Task Force for Re-imagining the Episcopal Church. At the last GC in 2012, there was a palpable sense that we need significant and fundamental changes in how we organize and manage ourselves for Christ’s mission in today’s world.
Well, we aren’t alone in seeking to address how we might be and do church. The Church of England, in a somewhat different process is wrestling with many of the same issues and beginning to take tentative steps in what may be a new direction.
The progressive group, Modern Church has a new post on their site where they look at some of these changes in direction and wonder where they might lead them if there might be other paths available?
From the post by Ian Duffield
And now there’s an episcopal push to re-brand the Church of England—as struggling businesses do.
The Archbishop’s Presidential Address at February’s Synod tried to neutralise concern by describing the proposals as only a ‘means to an end’, but we know that inappropriate means are counter-productive; after all, to use a hammer when you need a screwdriver is to make matters worse.
Modern Church and members of congregations should be concerned about these proposals. Concerns relate to four aspects:
Presumptions;
Process;
Plans;
Purpose.
As we begin our own process of discernment and change, there might be words of wisdom here.
posted by Jon White