By the Rev. Dixie Roberts Junk, deputy
I have to start out by saying “Wow! Just, Wow!”
Our first few days in Salt Lake City, leading up to the election of our new Presiding Bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Curry, last Saturday were a roller coaster of emotional highs – something I wasn’t fully prepared for.
To me, General Convention has the feel of a small community. There are, give or take, 820 persons in the House of Deputies, 175 or so in the House of Bishops, a large contingent of Episcopal Church Women (who also are meeting at this time), Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society staff, visitors, vendors, exhibitors and others.
We gather together daily for worship in a space with seating for more than 5,000 and share prayers, songs and laughter in the midst of our deliberations.
In the short time that we’ve been here we’ve had deputies become ill, a few go to the hospital, we’ve cheered the birth of a baby born to the wife of a deputy, and been saddened for another who had a parent die. Perhaps it is this intimacy, combined with the dynamic events in and of the world this past week, that has enhanced the joy I’ve felt celebrating with good friends and new friends as long wished-for dreams come true. As well, our collective hope for the future of the church, and God’s Kingdom, has become clearer, brighter and more focused from this common experience of General Convention.
I am spending my time here in Salt Lake primarily serving three roles. My main role is as a deputy for the Diocese of Kansas. The role of a deputy differs from that of a delegate at our Diocesan Convention, in that each deputy is elected to represent his or her community but is able to discern and vote as he or she sees fit. Delegates to Diocesan Convention are elected to represent the views of a community and vote as an extension of the collective interests of that community. The Kansas deputation meets to discuss many of the individual resolutions that will come before the House of Deputies, as well as the candidates that are up for various elections. However, each deputy votes individually on all resolutions according to his or her own conscience and judgment.
I’m also a member of the Evangelism and Communications Committee. Serving on this committee has been an exceptional experience. The Committee is made up of seven bishops, including Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry, and Scott Hayashi, Bishop of Utah, our host diocese for this General Convention. There are also roughly 15 deputies, lay and ordained, including Scott Gunn, the executive director of Forward Movement; two cathedral deans and wonderfully experienced lay and clergy folks from across the church with a variety of backgrounds. We had the privilege of both shepherding some significant resolutions and writing new resolutions to address evangelism and social media for the 21st century. The TREC Report and the Memorial to the Church challenged General Convention to fund evangelism initiatives extravagantly and to seek ways to urgently, boldly and creatively propel The Episcopal Church into the neighborhood, traveling lightly. Our committee took these instructions and this charge seriously. We spent long hours and extra sessions in sub-committees writing and crafting resolutions to assure that these recommendations for the church would not only pass but could be implemented with minimal delay to address this urgent need of the church. All resolutions from the committee can be found at http://www.generalconvention.org/gc/2015-resolutions?cid=592.
I especially would recommend reading the proposals outlined in resolutions A172, Leveraging Social Media for Jesus; A173, Energizing the Church: Gathering and Sharing for Evangelism; and B009, Conducting an Online Digital Evangelism Test.
The third primary role that I have been engaged in at General Convention is as an advocate for Latino/Hispanic ministry. This has included:
- attending events of interest to Latino/Hispanic ministry within the church and with allied groups;
- doing press interviews and video to be used to both promote Latino/Hispanic ministry and to encourage and inform folks doing this ministry about the importance of involvement in leadership at the diocesan and churchwide levels to access resources and influence decision makers (interview at https://soundcloud.com/deputynews/las-voces-latinas-en-la-convencion-general. I’m the one speaking English;
- preparing testimony for committee hearings and to use in defense of resolutions that provide funding in areas sustaining the work of Latino/Hispanic ministries; and
- standing to speak in the House of Deputies in support of resolutions.
One of the primary resolutions of interest to Latino/Hispanic ministry that we worked hard to defend and testify for is A086: Create Task Force for Latino-Hispanic Congregational Development and Sustainability. This resolution has passed the House of Deputies and can be found here: http://www.generalconvention.org/gc/2015-resolutions/A086/current_english_text. Final approval is pending the action of the House of Bishops.
Hospitality is one of the things the Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministry at the Episcopal Church Center, under the fine leadership of Anthony Guillen, does extremely well. I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy several evenings with delightful company, wonderful food, lively music dancing and the spirit of fiesta!
However, because this is General Convention, an evening out and a party is more than just a party. It also is an opportunity to network and share information about the resources and programs offered by the Episcopal Church Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministry:
- The Missioner’s Council of Advice;
- The New Camino Workshops, which are offered to dioceses interested in pursuing Latino/Hispanic ministry (these are two activities in which I participate);
- Latino/Hispanic Ministry’s social media presence, as well as, the excellent bilingual English/Spanish smartphone app, Latinos Episcopales. This is a user-friendly tool with significant information on Latino/Hispanic ministry resources and other details about the Episcopal Church. I highly recommend you download the app – it’s free and fully bilingual.
Finally, I want to again thank the Diocese of Kansas for entrusting me with this awesome responsibility to serve in this capacity. It has been an honor and a pleasure to do so. I look forward to sharing with you more in person. Peace and joy from Salt Lake City.
#GC78 #GC78Latino
I have to start out by saying “Wow! Just, Wow!”
Our first few days in Salt Lake City, leading up to the election of our new Presiding Bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Curry, last Saturday were a roller coaster of emotional highs – something I wasn’t fully prepared for.
To me, General Convention has the feel of a small community. There are, give or take, 820 persons in the House of Deputies, 175 or so in the House of Bishops, a large contingent of Episcopal Church Women (who also are meeting at this time), Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society staff, visitors, vendors, exhibitors and others.
We gather together daily for worship in a space with seating for more than 5,000 and share prayers, songs and laughter in the midst of our deliberations.
In the short time that we’ve been here we’ve had deputies become ill, a few go to the hospital, we’ve cheered the birth of a baby born to the wife of a deputy, and been saddened for another who had a parent die. Perhaps it is this intimacy, combined with the dynamic events in and of the world this past week, that has enhanced the joy I’ve felt celebrating with good friends and new friends as long wished-for dreams come true. As well, our collective hope for the future of the church, and God’s Kingdom, has become clearer, brighter and more focused from this common experience of General Convention.
I am spending my time here in Salt Lake primarily serving three roles. My main role is as a deputy for the Diocese of Kansas. The role of a deputy differs from that of a delegate at our Diocesan Convention, in that each deputy is elected to represent his or her community but is able to discern and vote as he or she sees fit. Delegates to Diocesan Convention are elected to represent the views of a community and vote as an extension of the collective interests of that community. The Kansas deputation meets to discuss many of the individual resolutions that will come before the House of Deputies, as well as the candidates that are up for various elections. However, each deputy votes individually on all resolutions according to his or her own conscience and judgment.
I’m also a member of the Evangelism and Communications Committee. Serving on this committee has been an exceptional experience. The Committee is made up of seven bishops, including Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry, and Scott Hayashi, Bishop of Utah, our host diocese for this General Convention. There are also roughly 15 deputies, lay and ordained, including Scott Gunn, the executive director of Forward Movement; two cathedral deans and wonderfully experienced lay and clergy folks from across the church with a variety of backgrounds. We had the privilege of both shepherding some significant resolutions and writing new resolutions to address evangelism and social media for the 21st century. The TREC Report and the Memorial to the Church challenged General Convention to fund evangelism initiatives extravagantly and to seek ways to urgently, boldly and creatively propel The Episcopal Church into the neighborhood, traveling lightly. Our committee took these instructions and this charge seriously. We spent long hours and extra sessions in sub-committees writing and crafting resolutions to assure that these recommendations for the church would not only pass but could be implemented with minimal delay to address this urgent need of the church. All resolutions from the committee can be found at http://www.generalconvention.org/gc/2015-resolutions?cid=592.
I especially would recommend reading the proposals outlined in resolutions A172, Leveraging Social Media for Jesus; A173, Energizing the Church: Gathering and Sharing for Evangelism; and B009, Conducting an Online Digital Evangelism Test.
The third primary role that I have been engaged in at General Convention is as an advocate for Latino/Hispanic ministry. This has included:
- attending events of interest to Latino/Hispanic ministry within the church and with allied groups;
- doing press interviews and video to be used to both promote Latino/Hispanic ministry and to encourage and inform folks doing this ministry about the importance of involvement in leadership at the diocesan and churchwide levels to access resources and influence decision makers (interview at https://soundcloud.com/deputynews/las-voces-latinas-en-la-convencion-general. I’m the one speaking English;
- preparing testimony for committee hearings and to use in defense of resolutions that provide funding in areas sustaining the work of Latino/Hispanic ministries; and
- standing to speak in the House of Deputies in support of resolutions.
One of the primary resolutions of interest to Latino/Hispanic ministry that we worked hard to defend and testify for is A086: Create Task Force for Latino-Hispanic Congregational Development and Sustainability. This resolution has passed the House of Deputies and can be found here: http://www.generalconvention.org/gc/2015-resolutions/A086/current_english_text. Final approval is pending the action of the House of Bishops.
Hospitality is one of the things the Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministry at the Episcopal Church Center, under the fine leadership of Anthony Guillen, does extremely well. I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy several evenings with delightful company, wonderful food, lively music dancing and the spirit of fiesta!
However, because this is General Convention, an evening out and a party is more than just a party. It also is an opportunity to network and share information about the resources and programs offered by the Episcopal Church Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministry:
- The Missioner’s Council of Advice;
- The New Camino Workshops, which are offered to dioceses interested in pursuing Latino/Hispanic ministry (these are two activities in which I participate);
- Latino/Hispanic Ministry’s social media presence, as well as, the excellent bilingual English/Spanish smartphone app, Latinos Episcopales. This is a user-friendly tool with significant information on Latino/Hispanic ministry resources and other details about the Episcopal Church. I highly recommend you download the app – it’s free and fully bilingual.
Finally, I want to again thank the Diocese of Kansas for entrusting me with this awesome responsibility to serve in this capacity. It has been an honor and a pleasure to do so. I look forward to sharing with you more in person. Peace and joy from Salt Lake City.
#GC78 #GC78Latino