The 79th General Convention

Did you know that our Episcopal Church is made up of dioceses in 18 different countries?

I hadn't. This is just one bit of information I learned this month while at General Convention. As a first time delegate to General Convention, I was amazed and overwhelmed and inspired by the breadth and depth and diversity of the Episcopal Church at General Convention. Granted, the Episcopal Church is not perfect, and there were some long dry meetings. However I learned so much about how the church works on the international level and about good work going on throughout the Church.

Every three years, delegates, bishops, youth, alternates, vendors, and more gather together at General Convention to help guide and govern the Church for the next three years. We lift each other up in prayer, celebrate good work, mourn losses and injustices, and work together to move forward along the way Jesus calls us.

This year at General Convention, some big news headlines were about revision of the Book of Common Prayer, the Presiding Bishop's call to the Way of Love, Immigration reform with the visit to the Hutto Residential Center, sexual harassment in the Church, and further opening up the Church to the diversity of human beings throughout the world. This September, Sunday the 30th, we will be having an Adult Formation class about General Convention and some of the resolutions and changes which came out of this summer's grand meeting. I hope you will join me that day in conversation about the work of the Church today.

Find more information about General Convention at: generalconvention.org.