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| APCI Assembly attendees from St. Paul's Cathedral |
Report from the
APCI Assembly as given at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday June 21, 2015
by Cathy Shether
I attended the APCI Assembly as part of the team from St.
Paul’s. This was the first for me. I was elected as an alternate and when I was
called to attend a week before the May 1-3 meeting, I really didn’t know what
it was all about. I received and read
all the pre-reading materials, but I was still a bit apprehensive, but I went
trusting and praying I would learn what it was all about and what my role as a
delegate was.
Here is part of what I learned. The assembly is a gathering of the parishes
of the central interior that happens every 2 years and in many ways it is like
any general meeting:
- Previous minutes are reviewed and adopted
- Reports of the work of committees are received and accepted
- Resolutions are discussed and voted on (there were 7)
- There were interesting guest speakers
- Election of delegates to other meetings were held (Provincial Synod, General Synod and APCI Coordination Council)
Different from a secular general meeting, there was worship
including the introduction of a new music resource for small communities – a
sing-a-long video featuring among others Gordon Light. Our final worship service was held at the
Valemont Church and we filled it to capacity!
At assembly, I met people from many of the parishes in
APCI. I enjoyed chatting with them at
coffee breaks, going for walks together at lunch, hearing about the unique
problems and programs of their parish and working with them during our working
session on “Ministry Need for the Future”.
There was lots of serious thinking about serious issues, but
there was also lots of laughter and fun.
On Saturday evening following a delicious dinner prepared by the local
parish, there was entertainment by a local band and we danced and rejoiced.
I still have more to learn about APCI and the cathedral’s
role in it. This was a good experience for me and I would encourage you to
consider being a delegate at the next meeting to be held in 2017 at Merritt and
Shulus.
Now Melissa will tell you about some of the important
resolutions passed and interesting guest speakers.
APCI Assembly Report to St. Paul's Cathedral: June 21, 2015
By: Melissa Green
It is rather timely that information and sharing from the
Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) Assembly is being shared this
morning on the National Aboriginal Day. The First Nations People of APCI had,
and will continue to have, a strong presence at the Assembly.
First, some history: APCI was formed in 2001 after the
Diocese of Cariboo ceased operations. The closing of the Diocese of Cariboo was
done as an entry into a process of reconciliation with the First Nations
Peoples over the residential school situation. APCI came into being as a
movement of “birth from death” into new life and into a “new creation” from
what was before. We left the diocesan “status” behind and became an independent
entity under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province
of BC and Yukon. This meant changes:
- No more synods but an assembly to govern the work of APCI
- No elections of a Bishop but a nomination by the APCI people of a Suffragan Bishop to the Metropolitan which would then require an election by the Province.
- No canons but the development of polices and practices
And these changes that we got used to meant some flexibility
around who we were… the people of APCI made a number of important decisions in
the midst of this shift, including:
- making a commitment to our First Nations brothers and sisters by placing the needs and considerations of our indigenous members first, followed by the needs and considerations of the non-indigenous parishes and finally the administrative needs and functions of the ecclesiastical province.
- Indigenous members of APCI have 15 delegate seats, with voice and vote, in addition to those already held by delegates from parishes at Assembly. Our parishes send the same number of delegates, it’s not based on the number of parishioners on the parish roll. And each parish can send two youth delegates!
Some major motions from the Assembly came from this reality
of our story and life together.
Becoming a Territory
A resolution was unanimously passed asking the
Ecclesiastical province to recognize APCI as a territory with the right to
elect its own bishop. This would give APCI the autonomy of a diocese without
taking on the structure of a diocese.
The term “territory” was appealing for a number of reasons…
we heard from our Indigenous family that the word ‘church’ or ‘Anglican church’
still today has an affect on the survivors of the residential schools. It is
believed that the term “territory” would carry less baggage than “diocese”. And
Archbishop John Privett reminded us that within the provincial canons there is
a provision for dioceses, regions, or territories, and so he said, “in some
ways it’s going to fit in well”.
Being defined as a territory allows us to continue to honour
those the Anglican Church has hurt in the past by our corporate activities. It
invites us to intentionally continue to journey together on the path of healing
and reconciliation. It would allow us to have greater independence over the day
to day affairs of APCI but not jump back
into the category and story of the diocesan structure and our history that took
place within that structure. “Territory” defines a geographic area… which is
what we currently are as the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior, this
will allow greater independence over the governance and decisions.
This motion goes to provincial synod this fall where it will
be voted on by the community gathered.
Election of a Bishop
Connected to this, members of the Assembly voted in favour
of electing future bishops of APCI independently and that those bishops engage
in ministry here in APCI would function independently: without direct oversight
by the Metropolitan of the Province (as is our current structure) We would have
our own nomination and election processes
which would be in line with the Provincial Synod canons.
APCI has lived since its creation without a clear picture of
the jurisdictions of the Suffragan Bishop and that of the Metropolitan. More
and more the people and parishes of APCI have seen the elected Suffragan Bishop
as “our bishop” and after the confusion around the election of Bishop Barbara
steps were taken for further exploration of electing our own bishop and
functioning independently.
Ministry
We engaged in and asked questions around ministry and our
ministry work together.
We asked questions like:
- How will we support and uphold our smaller congregations and their leadership?
- How will we ensure sacramental ministry for those who do not live within the major centers of the Central Interior?
- How does our parish work collaboratively today?
- How might our parish continue in collaborative ministry more intentionally in the future?
We had conversations around adopting principles of collaborative
ministry… ministry that grounds ministry leadership in baptism and affirms and
encourages the gifts of all. Ministry that moves from being centred around one person to
a team of leaders who all bring their gifts and vocation to the table.
The Assembly approved a motion to support the funding of a
position in APCI that will help us to ask the questions and seek guidance and
direction in the answers.
Closing
APCI Assembly is of course much more than the motions and
business. It’s about community, about relationships, about sharing experiences
we have as individual disciples called into ministry and as congregations
called to gather and worship and be in the world together.
We celebrated the ongoing partnership with our sister
diocese, The Diocese of Montreal. We sent Bishop Barry best wishes on his
upcoming retirement and now celebrate with the diocese on the election of their
new bishop, Mary Irwin-Gibson.
We heard about the good work of the Anglican Foundation and
were graced by their presence and stories of ministry work in the world. We are
one of the only regions/dioceses where every parish has a membership with the
Anglican Foundation!
Mary and Gordon Dove championed the Assembly Prayer Vigil
which invited people from across APCI and beyond to join the vigil and sign up
for any of the 50 hours of the Assembly. And so the Assembly was “prayed
through”… we were held in prayer from the time our travel to Assembly started
until we arrived home: and we, as delegates, felt that care and love. It was
wonderful to welcome Mark Perrin from the national Anglican Fellowship of
Prayer to the Assembly and hear from him about the work of that part of our
Anglican Church.
It was exciting to hear in Bishop Barbara’s address that
Sandra and Tom Sugden will be installed as Canons as recognition for their many
years of dedicated service that they have shared so very faithfully with APCI.
We continue to be grateful for our own Dwight Oatway who
serves APCI as the Financial Officer. He is a steady hand in all aspects of the
life of APCI and beyond and oversees all day-to-day financial operations.
Dwight gives over and above and I know how much this means to our Bishop and we
too need to not forget the service Dwight provides to our community of APCI.
Elections took place for Coordinating Council, Provincial
Synod and General Synod: gatherings locally, provincially and nationally to
engage in the work of ministry in those areas and make governance decisions. From
the Cathedral delegates two elections to General Synod took place: Dale Drozda
as our youth delegate and myself as a lay delegate.
The people and community of Valemount welcomed us with open
and generous arms… they supported us, welcomed us, fed us, entertained us and
make our work possible by covering all of the logistical details of our stay.
We listened to our First Nations elders speak, we listened
to our young people speak, and we listened to one another. We listened
intently, we shared in silence and we celebrated in applause.
I close with Bishop Barbara’s closing words from her
address, “Journeying into a new creation will call on all our gifts and talents
to embrace the future, trusting with faith and courage in the guidance of the
Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is working within us, amongst us and is drawing
us forward to engage in God’s mission and ministry in the Central Interior as a
new creation – God’s dream for us as God’s faithful family in the Central
Interior.”
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