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Members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) gathered together online at 11:30 a.m. EDT via Zoom conference. 

Agenda:

  • Opening Remarks
  • New General Secretary
  • Opening Prayer
  • Bible Study
  • Dismantling Racism
  • Indigenous Ministries and ACIP
  • Election—General Synod Planning Committee
  • Governance Working Group
  • Key Messages

Members moved back into their smaller groups from Bible study to write key messages to the Anglican Church of Canada coming out of CoGS:

    • Archbishop Mark has “significant hope” for Indigenous Ministries and ACIP.
    • Indigenous church is showing the way forward.
    • Dismanting Racism working group formed. Share that mandate with the church. We are expanding our work.
    • Appointment of Alan Perry as the new general secretary
    • Thanks to Michael Thompson and Ann Bourke for their service to the church.
    • More from the primate’s report and what she is doing during COVID.
    • Update on the impact of COVID-19 in Indigenous communities and their response.
    • Governance Working Group presentation: important work that we need to ponder and wade through the details, weigh the pros and cons, as these changes will impact future decision-making. More information could be shared with wider church.
    • Election of General Synod Planning Committee members
    • Did Bible study over Zoom. Quote from Bible study: “You don’t serve God for the honour of it —you just do it!”
    • Kudos to primate and national Indigenous Anglican archbishop for all the amazing things emerging from the Indigenous communities which are full of hope and hopefulness—not just for the Indigenous church but for the whole church.
    • We continue to wrestle with the work of the church in spite of the pandemic, although we do so with the limitations of working at a distance.
    • CoGS meeting more frequently may be a blessing and may be something we need to continue beyond the crisis. Not an either/or but a both/and. It allows the members of CoGS to connect with the work more often.
  • General Secretary’s Report
  • Thanksgiving for Departing Members
  • Primate’s Closing Remarks
  • Closing Prayer

Read detailed highlights from the meeting here