M002 Legislative Themes for the 81st General Convention

Proposed by

Diocese of California

Resolved, That the 174th Convention of the Diocese of California requests legislation on these themes as a Memorial to the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church for its consideration:

  • Racial Justice & Reconciliation: build on Beloved Community training to address micro-aggressions; support more racial equity in hiring, discernment processes, and racial justice ministries;
  • LGBTQ Advocacy: bear witness as Christians against anti-trans rhetoric and legislation impacting our trans and non-binary beloveds; affirming and supporting trans and non-binary youth and their families, both within our congregations and in the wider world;
  • Gender Justice: support efforts to address domestic violence and sexual harassment and exploitation, including in the Church; educate about gender bias and how it intersects with other biases, including those caused by racism, ageism, and classism; work to remove barriers to women’s health care, including reproductive care;
  • Ageism Justice: empower senior rights and equity in the ministries of the Church, calling for the creation of a task force on ageism; 
  • Climate Justice: advance climate solutions including environmentally sustainable practices, biodiversity, sustainable transportation and utilities infrastructure, and support of the Communion Forest;
  • Disability Justice: support and advocate for disabled members of the Church in all ways of participation in the Church and the Beloved Community as it helps understand ableism and the intersectionality of disability and other marginalized groups;
  • Economic Justice: support those engaged in this ministry and advocate for these initiatives;
  • Church Vitality: seek and support innovative ideas for being Church in changing times, including consideration of how we fund congregations and dioceses, best use of existing resources, defining and communicating the unique gifts of The Episcopal Church, cultivating intergenerational ministries that support the shifting configurations of families and contemporary challenges of family life, and engaging in the Church’s mission to love and serve others in both spiritual and practical ways;
  • Congregational Development: provide support and training to foster congregational vitality, redevelopment, church planting, evangelism, improved communications, financial sustainability and encourage spiritual development, health, and wellness;
  • Create New Pathways for Ministry Collaboration: foster and facilitate resource sharing and team ministries among congregations, neighboring dioceses, and provincially, with an emphasis on support for small congregations;
  • Funding the Church of the Future: invest in developing new ways to understand and cultivate the abundance of untapped resources in our congregations;
  • Lay Formation: cultivate future members through lay leadership development, and training of newly elected representatives;
  • Theological Education: engage with the changing landscape of theological education, specifically the role of congregations as sites of theological education and formation, both in collaboration with seminaries and in their own right;
  • Liturgy & Music: create a foundation for Prayer Book revision by passing the 2nd reading of Article X (Of The Book of Common Prayer) in the Constitution of the General Convention and requisite canonical changes, as a goal for the next convention;