The Consultation has been helping move the Church forward for thirty-five years. Founded in 1985, it is a collaboration of progressive organizations (not individual members) within The Episcopal Church working to reveal God’s love for all people and to proclaim God’s promise of an abundant life. As a network of organizations, we facilitate social justice work both within and outside the church. Our mission stems from our commitment to live in and through Jesus Christ, in whom all things came into being (Jn 1:3). Through the witness of the Incarnate Christ, we are called to participate in God’s love and redeeming action for the world. Christ proclaimed the divine promise of God’s basileia (reign), where justice is poured out so that all may have abundant life. We are called to be a transformative people and to manifest God’s basileia, seeing glimpses now, and knowing that its fullness is yet to come. This sets the scope of our work to all matters of justice—economic, political, social, and racial—pertaining to human existence and fullness of life for all creation.

 

As Jesus Christ came to bring good news to the poor and to let the oppressed go free (Lk 4:18-19), we embrace a preferential option with and for those who live at the margins of society. This calls us toward a stance of solidarity with and among those who have been excluded from church and society because of their race, ethnic origin, economic status, sex, ability, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, ordination status, and/or immigration status. We carry within our organizations the institutional memory of many justice movements as well as current struggles and are committed to sharing wisdom and learnings across generations. Together, our collective wisdom will continue to shape our work for justice now and into the future.

 

Jesus Christ calls us to bring food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, care for the ill, and welcome to the stranger (Mt 25: 35-36). We come together as member organizations, across lines of identity and embodiment, to be a transformative people in and through God. Together, we counter the forces of the world that would isolate us or pit us against one another. Together, we build and strengthen our effort to enact God’s justice in the church and the world. 

 

Connected in Christ through Baptism and shaped through our Baptismal Covenant (see BCP 304-5), the mission of the consultation is solidified through mutual support and common cause. Historically, we have worked through the triennial General Conventions to bring our work to the wider church. This venue of shared governance continues to be an important focus for our work even as we seek new ways to partner with others and advocate for justice in the 21st century.