General Convention passed some major legislation dealing with evangelism and church planting.
Evangelism and church growth
The Convention charged the Standing Commission on
Domestic Mission and Evangelism with initiating "a
national consultation on methods and strategies
identify best practices to reverse the decline in
mainline denominations," and making recommendations to
the 76th General Convention on ways to reverse that
decline in all denominations.
The Convention heard testimony that campus ministry is
an important base for church growth. Resolution A041
supports campus ministry in a number of ways,
including allowing such ministries to become mission
congregations of their dioceses.
Resolution A037 is specifically directed at the 20/20
goals and calls on each bishop to cast a vision for
his or her diocese; calls on all orders of ministry to
speak about what God is doing in their lives; invite
others to worship, and seeks to identify and develop
practical resources for personal and congregational
evangelism through the Church Center staff. More
importantly, it is to be published in all
congregational and diocesan media.
A church planting initiative (A042) includes
provisions for a major gifts campaign, which would be
the first since "Venture in Mission" 25 years ago.
Another resolution (A043) encourages dioceses to
identify "priority opportunities and estimate costs"
for new congregations to fulfill 2020 goals. It
includes a feasibility study for a capital funds drive
to help build these new churches.
Above: from Episcopal News Service
Episcopal News Service
Monday, June 12, 2006
General Convention news website launched
[ENS] In-depth coverage of the Episcopal Church's 75th General
Convention, meeting in Columbus, Ohio, from June 13-21, will be provided
by the Episcopal News Service
Episcopal News Service
Monday, June 12, 2006
General Convention news website launched
[ENS] In-depth coverage of the Episcopal Church's 75th General
Convention, meeting in Columbus, Ohio, from June 13-21, will be provided
by the Episcopal News Service and can be accessed online at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc2006news.
Daily newslinks and articles can also be received via email. For details
about how to subscribe to Episcopal News Service, visit
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_11458_ENG_HTM.htm.
The Convention Daily newspaper will be published each day and the
Convention Nightly newscast will be broadcast each evening throughout
Convention.
Video, audio streams and podcasts of each newscast and a .pdf of each
newspaper will be available beginning June 13 at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc2006news.
As well, translations into Spanish of Convention news are offered on the
General Convention news website at http://www.iglesiaepiscopal.org.
Information and resources for news media are also included on the
General Convention news website.
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The Sabbatical Grants for Pastoral Leaders Program, administered by the Louisville Institute, awards grants to pastors and other religious leaders in the U.S. and Canada seeking time for study, reflection, retreat, and rest for the renewal of their vocations.
The program will award up to sixty grants for eight-week ($10,000) and twelve-week ($15,000) sabbaticals. Recipients must be released from all pastoral duties during the entire grant period. The program is open to Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy, church staff members, denominational and diocesan staff, and others employed full-time in recognized positions of pastoral leadership, ordained and lay. The application deadline is September 15, 2006. Visit the web site listed below for more information.
http://www.louisville-institute.org/secondary/SGPLdetail.asp