Home

Plans for General Convention in Indianapolis

Results of 2012 General Convention

Results of 2009 General Convention

Economic Justice How-To Manual

Economic Justice Education Units

Newsletter

ENEJ Awards

Events

Support ENEJ

ENEJ Donation Form

Advocacy

Globalization

ENEJ Leadership

Publications

Other Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Is There Peace and Justice in 2020?

To whom does the church belong? What is church even for? These are the bigger questions underlying the caution voiced by progressive Episcopal organizations as the 20/20 movement gathers steam leading to General Convention 2003. Church growth—doubling the average attendance in the Episcopal Church by 2020—for its own sake cannot be enough if the first questions are not answered. So I am delighted that the Urban Caucus will be focusing on 20/20 and questions related to mission at its national assembly early next year.

The first thing to know about 20/20 is that it is a movement in evolution. Whatever impressions formed two years ago may not be on target today as the circle of people participating has widened.

What is 20/20 today? It is the reorientation and re-engagement of the Episcopal Church on all levels for mission in the 21st century. Our prayer book says the mission of the church is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” Another way to say that is that we the church are called to transform the world to the Reign of God, the beloved community—knowing of course, that we are not messiahs but workers, “profetas de un futuro que no es nuestro,” as Oscar Romero tells us.

What 20/20 asks of every congregation and institution in the church is—how, in this time, in this multicultural, multifaith and diverse world, can we proclaim the Gospel of Christ Jesus that has set our own hearts on fire? How can we enact Christ’s beloved community in our neighborhoods and cities and throughout our terribly broken and warring planet?

There is no single answer to these questions. But we are convinced that evangelism and social concern must be matched together; they are two sides of the same coin of outward-focused mission. So, to name a tiny example, we are proposing that any national matching funds raised for new churches must support infrastructure or programs that can serve the wider community in some way as well as the new congregation.

Another conviction is the sense that we should each be prepared to share our own faith story and how it connects with how we live our lives, as a key part of discipleship.

Another common conviction in 20/20, shared across political lines, is that all congregations and institutions will need to address the following major shifts of the 21st century:

• Our world is now radically multicultural.
• We are surrounded by a large portion of two generations that has been raised outside the Church, outside any religious tradition. We are calling for greater investment in college ministry and youth programs in all provinces of the Church, and also for inter-cultural internship programs for youth that can help form vocation for all kinds of mission.
• Finally, I assert that there is a major place at the table for peace and justice concerns in thinking about 20/20. If the point is to focus outward on all levels, how can we fail to see the inequities and alienations of the world that continue to deepen? Even those of us who carry privilege with us face the social dislocations of a transient and demanding world that bases success on things that do not ultimately matter. Part of proclaiming the Gospel is to act in our communities and the world to restore and to heal and also to advocate for that beloved community when we shall all be free at last. One of our hopes for 20/20 is that—not underestimating the degree of difference and debate in the Episcopal Church today—we might teach each other across some of the lines of division about how to bring all these pieces of mission together.

This is a summary. The full text of Sarah Lawton’s thoughtful article is available online at www.episcopalurbancaucus.org

Copyright © 2004 - 2013, Episcopal Network for Economic Justice.
This page last updated on Saturday, July 6, 2013 1:38 PM