Following the Bishop’s Charge to Synod in October 2020, a governance review of diocesan committees is now underway.
A key element of synodical governance in the Diocese of Ottawa is the existence of various standing committees of Diocesan Council. These committees have responsibility for important aspects of mission. The currently operating standing committees are the Property and Finance Community, the Outreach Committee, the Parish Ministry Committee, the Audit Committee, the Community Ministries Committee and the Governance Committee. The work of many of these committees is, in turn, delegated to various subcommittees or other groups with responsibility for more focussed aspects of diocesan governance.
In his Charge to Synod, Bishop Parker noted that parts of the Diocese’s committee structure are no longer suited to supporting key strategic priorities. To address this concern, the Bishop announced that he would soon be asking Diocesan Council to launch a governance review of the Diocese’s committee structure. “As the world around us changes”, he wrote, “we need to build our capacity to educate and equip ourselves to engage in proactive, Christ-like ways, often in partnership with others.”
In November 2020, Diocesan Council instructed the Governance Committee to undertake a review – to be completed by June 2021 – with particular attention to the Diocese’s committee structure as it relates to supporting and achieving the Diocese’s third and fourth strategic priorities concerning engagement with the world and lifelong formation, worship and hospitality.
Under the joint leadership of the Rev. Stephen Silverthorne and Ann Chaplin, Secretaries of Synod and co-chairs of the Governance Committee, the governance review will have two aims.
The first purpose of the review is to support existing committees in their work by providing committee members with an opportunity to affirm or to renew the work of their committees, or to propose reforms, including substantial changes, that would benefit each committee’s ability to achieve its mandate.
The second purpose of the review is to ensure that all Diocesan initiatives, present and future, find a place within our committee structure, so that they can receive the support and oversight they need as the Diocese moves forward on its strategic priorities.
Members of the Governance Committee have already begun reaching out to committee chairs as part of the review initiative. Over the next few weeks, Governance Committee members will complete their consultations with committee members other stakeholders, aiming to submit their report to Diocesan Council in June.
Christ Church, Bells Corners — Deanery of West Ottawa