[Episcopal News Service] Responding to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s call to “Follow the Way of Jesus,” deputies and bishops at the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting July 5-13 in Austin, Tex., acted on a record number of resolutions on key issues such as immigration, prayer book revision, Israel-Palestine and readmitting the Episcopal Church of Cuba as a diocese.
Convention also passed a $134-million budget that reflects for a further three years the presiding bishop’s priorities of evangelism, racial reconciliation and creation care.
Outside the legislative chambers, several events brought together bishops, deputies and visitors to mingle, socialize, pray, worship and advocate, with a public witness against gun violence and another outside an immigrant detention center challenging the actions of the U.S. government in its enforcement of immigration policies. A revival service at Austin’s Palmer Center on July 7 drew a crowd of more than 2,500 people who listened to Curry’s rousing sermon about how “God is love and gives life.”
And, in his opening sermon on July 5, Curry challenged every Episcopalian to embrace the “Way of Love: Practices for a Jesus-centered Life” as a way to help the church enter into a new era of spiritual growth.
Read Episcopal News Service's full General Convention wrap-up here.
Find the blog of the Diocese of Massachusetts deputation (pictured below, in Austin) here.
Courtesy photo