The Rev. Gay C. Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, has announced appointments of committee leaders for the next General Convention.
“This group of deputy leaders is the youngest and most diverse ever to serve at General Convention,” she wrote in a letter to deputies dated Nov. 29 and publicized through the House of Deputies newsletter.
She added:
Forty-five percent are under the age of 50, 18% are people of color, and at least 15% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This House of Deputies will be the first in history to be majority female, and 52% of our legislative committee leaders will be women.
Together, these 98 leaders will guide our consideration of creative and hope-filled proposals related to the three priorities established by the last General Convention: racial justice and reconciliation, evangelism and church planting, and environmental stewardship and care of creation. The committees they lead will guide us in making challenging decisions about how to fund our hopes for vastly increased mission and ministry and how to follow where God is leading us. I am inspired by their dedication and grateful to them for agreeing to serve.
Now that we have our roster of officers, I’m turning my attention to appointing members to deputy legislative committees. I am grateful to everyone who filled out the survey about committee preferences over the summer; your responses are all recorded in an enormous spreadsheet, and I am planning to write to you again after the New Year with complete membership rosters for each deputy legislative committee.
In making committee assignments, I am considering your preferences, ministry experience, experience at previous General Conventions, and service on a committee, commission, agency, board or task force during this triennium. I am also seeking to make legislative committees reflect the diversity of the church we strive to be.
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Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
