I take away from General Convention a variety of impressions, and I suspect that I will be trying to sort them out for some time to come. One of these, frankly, is the sense that an inordinate amount of time and attention was focused on the matter of human sexuality. In this regard, the press had a feeding frenzy – beyond anything I have experienced at previous General Conventions – and we were captured by all the attention. As a result, the impression “back home” may well be that all we considered was sex. That certainly is not the truth.

Another lens through which to consider the work of General Convention might be our church priorities, as indicated by our national budget. Obviously, that topic does not command our attention to the extent the former one does, nor are we captured so emotionally by it. Nevertheless, the way we spend our money has a great deal to do with who we believe we are called to be as we follow Jesus Christ. I served on the Committee on Program, Budget and Finance during this General Convention, and so I was immersed in budgetary matters. Our ministries and mission as a church are far-reaching, even if our ability to pay for them is not as extensive as our vision. Executive Council and PB&F recommended a list of priorities as we developed the budget, and General Convention approved of them. The priorities for allocating funds of the Episcopal Church during the next three years are these:

• Young Adults and Youth
• Reconciliation and Evangelism
• Congregational Transformation
• Justice and Peace
• Partnerships for Mission Outside of the U.S.

• canonical obligations, including funding for the presiding bishop, his office and General Convention – 19 percent.
• corporate responsibilities, providing for the administrative support of the offices of the Domestic and Foreign Mission Society (our “national church”) – 17 percent.
• program/mission section, involving our work of mission and ministry for the church – 63 percent.

On the other hand, the program section – where our priorities lie – will increase by $930,000. Our work on the budget at General Convention really did show true efforts at enabling the priorities of our church.

I commend your attention, therefore, to this more mundane – but probably more important – indication of our faith and commitment from General Convention.

• From the bishop ... for July/August 2003
• Go to General Convention round-up story