GC2009: General Convention Dumps Evangelism Resolution

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org

7/13/2009

At GC2000 in Denver, The Episcopal Church passed a resolution urging the church to double its baptized membership by 2020.

Following the doomed 1990's 'Decade of Evangelism' , things went from bad to worse with the consecration of Gene Robinson to the episcopacy in 2003. TEC has been steadily going downhill ever since. In 2007 alone it lost more than 50,000 active Episcopalians.

When setting up the 2020 Vision for the church in 2000, objections were raised to the setting of a numerical target goal at that time. However, the number was set at doubling membership by 2020 because other deputies argued that the lack of such a goal was what "doomed" the Decade of Evangelism, which began with great fanfare in 1990 and actually saw a decline in the number of Episcopalians for most of its ten-year span.

Now at GC2009 once again General Convention was called upon to Affirm Christ in a Multi-Faith and Non-Faith society (C069). The resolution was brought to the floor by the Rev.Peter Cook Ph.D, clergy deputy for Western Louisiana. Without so much as a by-your-leave the House of Deputies voted to accept the Evangelism Committee's recommendation to discharge the resolution submitted by the deputies from Western Louisiana.

It was a sad blow for Cook, a British-born evangelical and a priest for nearly 25 years in TEC. He told VOL that if the Church of England House of Bishops could pass in February 2009 a similar resolution affirming the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a multi-faith world, then why couldn't the Episcopal Church do the same?

The Evangelism Committee objected strongly to the resolution and said they thought it was the language of proselytism and exclusivism, and they objected to any talk of Christianity superceding Judaism. " I was blown away," Cook told VOL, "It made absolutely no sense."

Cook said his bishop, Bruce McPherson, was "very comfortable" with the resolution, he being one a handful of remaining orthodox bishops in The Episcopal Church.

When he rose to speak in the House of Deputies, Cook said he wanted to put TEC on the same page as the Church of England, who in February's 2009 General Synod asked their House of Bishops to report back on "their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain's multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none."

Cook went on: "The U.S. is fast becoming what Britain admittedly now is, a society of many failed faiths and of none. We need resolution C069. We need to get US bishops on the same page as their English counterparts.

"We live in a spiritually hungry and needy world. I, and many here, ought to feel most embarrassed if we cannot address this resolution and were to accept the Evangelism Committee's recommendation to discharge it out-of-hand. Many former Episcopalians and Anglicans around the world are fast coming to the conclusion that the future of Anglicanism in the US lies not with TEC but the newly formed province of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). The 20/20 vision of doubling the membership of TEC by 2020 is already an abysmal failure.

"If the Episcopal Church is not to continue to be a declining member of the Body of Christ, it needs to take seriously resolutions on evangelism such as C069. It needs to start thinking "outside of its own box." It needs to ask the hard questions of truthfulness the Archbishop of Canterbury put to us last week. Why do we keep on coming every three years to General Convention? Speaking personally, it is so that I might better understand how, as an Episcopalian, I can preach more gracefully and more intelligently the good news of Christ crucified.

"If the English House of Bishops can seek to address how better to 'Affirm Christ in a multi-faith society', why do we think that the House of Bishops of TEC is incapable of doing the same? I urge you to reject the recommendation that we discharge resolution C069."

Debate was then cut off and the HOD voted overwhelmingly to reject any discussion on C069. In view of all that has happened, and continues to happen at this General Convention even more Episcopalians, and even more Anglicans throughout the wider Communion, will indeed conclude that the future of Anglicanism in North America lies with the newly formed Anglican Church of North America.

END