Chairman Ryan Russell called the meeting to order at 11 a.m. with the following members present: Jim Searls, Curtis Brown, Paul White, Bishop Trimble, Laura Witkowski, Lonnie Chaffin and Gail Burgess.
The purpose of the meeting was to review what we will be discussing with the College of Bishops next Wednesday morning. We have been requested to help in preparing and presenting three two-hour sessions on White Supremacy, LGBTQIA+ and Regionalism and Contextualism at North Central Jurisdictional Conference later this year.
Most jurisdictions would like to meet in July in order to elect new Bishops. The Philippines have asked the Judicial Council to rule on the legality of their conference holding elections prior to the General Conference. A decision on whether the General Conference can be held in August-September will be made soon.
We discussed ways to determine how the NCJ budget incorporates antiracism and healing. Lonnie provided a report on 2021 spending, noting that all conferences had paid, with no money spent on Episcopacy Committee or Mission Council meetings in 2021 thus helping to cover the cost of the Virtual NCJ Delegate Gathering. Less was spent on grants than set aside, also. Funds are designated for NACOS, NCJVIM, MMDC and Campus Ministry.
— We need to revisit the new process for dealing with grant applications. Has it discouraged some groups from applying for funds? Will the caucuses be reconstituted? Is reduced spending due to the pandemic or changes we have made?
-What is the timeline for our NCJ Conference? Will it be in November or is there a possibility it will be earlier? (This will help us to determine our timeline in preparing for it.) Money in reserves is there to cover 2022 and 2024 jurisdictional Conferences. Bishop Trimble shared that there was no charge for the rooms we had reserved in Fort Wayne. Currently we have their Convention Center booked for November 2022.
-Can the Jurisdictional CORR help us as we evaluate and prepare for the session on Anti-Racism? Do all conferences have anti-racism task forces- and are the same as CORR, or separate? Could Bishops provide names of persons from their Anti-Racism Task Forces to meet together? Perhaps they can provide structure and offer specific outcomes we need to look for. Do we need to have a coach to help connect all the conferences? Perhaps money can be extended to conferences as they are planning anti-racism retreats or studies.
-How can we divide the work to be done? Who will be taking the lead?
Ryan is sending the ZOOM link to everyone for the meeting next Wednesday.
Gail B, Secretary
