Province IV Synod photo album

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Prov IV - Day 2

Submitted by Andrea McKellar, St. Francis, Charleston

Thursday at Synod was a full day of business. We had the pleasure of having Presiding Bishop Michael Curry with us for a short while and then heard from the President of the House of Deputies Gay Jennings and Michael Barlowe, Executive Secretary of General Convention. Here are some highlights...
 
- There will be 848 Deputies in Austin, TX
- Find LOTS of information at generalconvention.org
- You can see the same information that deputies will see on their ipads at vbinder.net.
- The official hashtag for General Convention is #gc79
- All worship materials will be online. All of the worship services will be live-streamed so you can follow along from home!
- The 79th General Convention will be even more paperless than Salt Lake City. The cost of renting and using the ipads last time was less expensive than the copying costs in 2012!

One of the highlights for me was the Province IV Youth Ministry report. One of my roles with the diocese is as our Diocesan Youth Coordinator. I have had the honor of getting to know Helena Upshaw over the last 4 years. She is a strong leader at her church, in our diocese and province, and now at the denominational level! Helena was selected from a large number of youth to represent Province IV at General Convention as part of the Official Youth Presence. They have seat and voice on the floor of convention!

The General Convention Deputation of The Episcopal Church in South Carolina

Prov. IV Synod - Day 1

Submitted by The Very Rev. Wil Keith, Rector, Holy Cross Faith Memorial

For me at least, Kanuga has always been a place of consistency.  I grew up coming here, not to the summer camp, but for the annual conventions of the Diocese of Western North Carolina.  I was raised out of this diocese and would wander from cabin porch to cabin porch, reconnecting with folks, and later during seminary, shamelessly plugging my name to delegation after delegation, searching for a job.

But this year, I heard something new.  Rev. Michael Sullivan, who is the tenth president of Kanuga Camp and Conference Center, was the preacher at our opening Eucharist.  He used this platform to open our hearts and minds to the Gospel reading for the day and, quite frankly, said many things that needed to be said yet are not often heard. 

There was a clear challenge to embrace a new day in the Episcopal Church:  To prune away the fruitless vines in our governance and structure.  Declining numbers, committee meetings that accomplish little, and outdated models of ministry help us little and keep us from the work that is set before us.  As Rev. Sullivan put it: “there are people out there that would rather do yoga than come to church on Sunday morning.  They would rather get their Bikram in a 105 degree room, sweating their tails off, than come to church and listen to a bunch of people complaining about the air-conditioning.” 

Therefore, it is time for us to adapt.  We must be open to new ways of reaching people, streamlining our governance to free up resources to those engaged in active and life-changing ministry, and assessing our privilege honestly so that we can continue to be the best Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement we can be.

“I have searched through the Canons and Constitution of The Episcopal Church for the word, ‘love,’” Rev. Sullivan said.  “It’s not there…. I propose an amendment.”

Province IV Synod June 6-8

With General Convention just 1 month away, our Deputation is headed to Kanuga for the Province IV Synod meeting June 6-8. They'll be meeting with deputies and bishops from all over the southeastern United States, and spending some time with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and other Episcopal Church leaders.

Bishop Skip Adams already is at Kanuga for the Province IV House of Bishops meeting that began Monday. Province IV consists of our diocese and 19 others covering 9 southeastern states. Find a map here.

The schedule for deputies starts with social time, dinner and Holy Eucharist on Wednesday evening, followed by the first plenary session.

In addition to the Presiding Bishop's talk on Thursday, the deputies will worship together, vote in elections for provincial offices, and enjoy some of the beauty of the Episcopal conference center near Hendersonville, NC.

Also attending are the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies; Angela Daniels, President of Province IV, the Rev. Michael Barlowe, Executive Secretary of General Convention, and Mary Kate Wold, President and CEO of the Church Pension Group.

Deputies consider reports, resolutions as they prepare for GC79

Deputies gathered around the table at Good Shepherd, Summerville.

South Carolina's Deputies to the 79th General Convention met today to review topics and issues that will come before the House of Deputies when they convene in Austin, Texas in July.

The group met for more than 3 hours at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Summerville, either in person or by teleconference. Prior to the meeting, each deputy was assigned part of the "Blue Book" reports, which are filed every three years before General Convention and include reports from task forces, standing committees and other bodies, including proposed resolutions.

The deputies read these reports and resolutions, and then gathered today to take turns summarizing them for the rest of the deputation.

The Very Rev. Rick Lindsey, the chairman of South Carolina's deputation, also led discussions on how the deputies will organize their time at Austin, and at the Province IV Synod meeting in June. Deputies made plans to have daily meetings during General Convention. The Rev. Jean McGraw was named Chaplain to the deputation, and closed today's gathering with prayer.

Eight deputies and two alternate deputies plan to travel to Austin this summer. Their names, and their subject-area assignments, are listed below. The links will take you to the reports on the General Convention website, generalconvention.org. (The numbers in parentheses are the official committee numbers.)

Governance, Structure, Safeguarding & Title IV (3&4) – Carrington Wingard

Task Force to Study Provinces

Task Force to Update Sexual Misconduct Policies

Evangelism, Congregational & Diocesan Vitality (10 & 11) – Wil Keith             

 Advisory Group on Church Planting

Task Force for Latino-Hispanic Congregational Development and Sustainability

Task Force on Leveraging Social media for Evangelism

International – Cuba, World Mission, Social Justice (5,6, & 7) – Rick Lindsey

Task Force on the Episcopal Church in Cuba

US Social Justice and Care of Creation (8&20) – Pam Guess

Advisory Council on the Stewardship of Creation

Racial Justice and Reconciliation (9) – Lonnie Hamilton

Response to Racial Injustice (2015-C019)

Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music (12&13) – Jean McGraw

Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music

 Task Force on the Study of Marriage

Christian Formation, Ministry, and Discipleship (14 & 15) – Andrea McKellar

Committee to study the Relationship of the General Theological Seminary and the General Convention
Task Force on Clergy Leadership Formation in Small Congregations             

Task Force to Study Dual Call Couples

Church Pension, Stewardship, and Investing (17&18) – Jim Taylor               

Board of Trustees of the Church Pension Fund

Churchwide Leadership and Ecumenical Relationships (16&19)– Wilmot Merchant               

Task Force to Study Church Leadership and Compensation

Program, Budget & Finance (21) – Mark Szen               

Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance

Want to see all the resolutions submitted so far? Visit this page on the General Convention website. 

General Convention Official Youth Presence

Hello all! My name is Helena Upshaw and I was recently selected to serve on the 79th General Convention’s Official Youth Presence (OYP). I am a high school senior at Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston, and I have attended Grace Church Cathedral in Charleston ever since I was invited to the St. Nicholas Choirs. Besides musical worship, I have tried to become involved in every youth and service event offered at my church, diocese, and province. The most memorable events in my youth life include the Episcopal Youth Event 2017, where I was able to meet Episcopalians from all over the world, and Grace church’s annual charity cafe, Tea Room, with which I waitress, bus, and bake.

Meeting of the Deputation with the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings

The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings (center) with Bishop Adams
 and our General Convention deputation.

Today, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina's deputation to the 79th General Convention met at St. Thomas in North Charleston to prepare for this summer. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings led the group through the schedule, how to propose legislation, what topics to expect to discuss this year, and many other topics.

Draft Schedule for the 79th General Convention

It was a pleasure to have Gay back with us. She came for the investiture of the Rt. Rev. Charles vonRosenberg as our provisional bishop in January 2013 and then almost exactly 5 years ago, she was at St. Thomas in March 2013 to meet with lay and clergy leaders of our diocese for a resource day.

If you would like to see the resources that the group is using, please check out these links.
General Convention website
Orientation guide
Blue Book Reports
Virtual Binder

The group will next be meeting on April 16 to discuss legislation. If you have specific legislation that you care about, please let the deputies know! All of their names in the right hand column connect to their email addresses so you can contact them directly.

- Andrea McKellar, lay deputy