Care with the Blue: A Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil

The report from the Brazil Covenant Committee is short and so may be easy to overlook. However, it should note be missed. Some context might help.

Summary of the Report
The Episcopal Church of Brazil was a part of TEC for eighty years until the country became independent in 1964. There was not a good separation as the Episcopal Church of Brazil became independent of TEC, leading to a sense of isolation and struggle in church. In the late eighties, work began in earnest to rebuild the relationship, leading to the establishment of a covenanted relationship in the early nineties. (You can read the Covenant online here). The goal of the covenant was to create a structure wherein each church would support the other through programmatic efforts, companion diocese relationships, and a mission fund.

In 2006, the Covenant was renewed through an Executive Council resolution which moved the bilateral committee from the original covenant to the status of a Bilateral Standing Committee that would meet once every eighteen months, alternating between provinces, to further the work of the Covenant.

In their Blue Book report, the Committee notes they had significant challenges and didn't even connect with their counterparts in Brazil until late in the triennium. There was also turnover on both sides. However, in the summer of 2017 they had a video conference and are looking forward to building better avenues of communications.

Reactions to the Report
This is a good example of a place where a significant conversation needs to take place about the 1992 Covenant and the 2006 creation of a Bilateral Standing Committee. The whole reason this Covenant and Committee were created was because of a sense of isolation and a relationship that had dissipated significantly.

Here we are, roughly twenty-five years later, and it might appear that we are close to being back at square one because the report on the work is that there was little communication and (one would assume) the Church in Brazil is rather isolated from TEC.

The question is whether this current state of affairs is because of the growth that has taken place over the past twenty-five years, rendering the Covenant and Committee now unnecessary or whether one or both sides have not fully lived up to the goals of the Covenant. If the Brazilian Church is still feeling isolated and in need of help, then the lack of work during this past triennium is disappointing (and somewhat embarrassing). However, if the Brazilian Church is doing well, then maybe it is time to let the Covenant and the Committee dissolve so that a new relationship can be formed that more adequately expresses God's calling to our two provinces in this time.

I truly don't know the answer to the question—but it does seem, from the report, that either EC or GC should work to figure this thing out.

Note: You can click here for a list of all Blue Book Reports & Resolutions that have thus far been reviewed.