A099 Research Capacity for The Episcopal Church
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring,
That The Episcopal Church establish and fund significant professional research expertise and capacity to collect, aggregate, analyze, and publish data to support and bring insight, facts and understanding to the work of the General Convention, the Executive Council and all commissions, committees, boards and task forces of the church; and be it further
Resolved, That The Episcopal Church prioritize developing data expertise and capacity to advance adaptive change processes, including experimentation and evaluation, that can invigorate the church’s participation in God’s mission in the 21st century; and be it further
Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $450,000 for the implementation of this resolution.
Explanation
During its work in this triennium, the House of Deputies State of the Church Committee, charged with being “an energetic think tank and incubator for adaptive thinking, innovative ideas, and fresh approaches to the church’s leadership, organizational thinking, and common life,” found itself limited by the Episcopal Church’s lack of meaningful capacity to collect and analyze data in a coordinated way. Other interim bodies also struggled to formulate and conduct research, and at times, many overlapping surveys were put in the field by disparate committees with no way to coordinate. In order for the Episcopal Church to be the body of Christ in a world that badly needs our witness, we must have professional research expertise capacity that can help us reclaim and reinvent the church.