Showing 88 results

Authority record
Corporate body

Episcopal Service for Youth

  • Corporate body
  • 1909-1976

The Episcopal Service for Youth was formed in 1911 as The Church Mission of Help (CMH). Its original purpose was to promote family life by assisting unwed mothers to remain with their families and make it possible for them to take care of their children for at least the first two years. The scope of its case work grew through the 1920s to include preventative care for at-risk children. By 1930, it had not only expanded its scope, but also added 13 more societies to its mission field.

The Episcopal Church continued to support CMH, but in the face of declining diocesan funding, the General Convention cut its appropriation by half in 1934. As a result, the bylaws of the organization were radically amended along with a substantial reduction in staff. In 1945, after much discussion, the name of the organization was changed to The Episcopal Service for Youth to better reflect its purpose and better appeal to the young people whom it served. In 1960, much of the society's work was assumed by the Department of Christian Social Relations. The Episcopal Service for Youth continued primarily as a scholarship organization until its dissolution in 1976.

Episcopal Women’s History Project (EWHP)

  • Corporate body
  • 1980-

Founded in 1980 as an independent national organization of Episcopal women, the Episcopal Women's History Project has played an important role in recovering and documenting the lives of women who have made outstanding contributions to The Episcopal Church. The Project aims to raise awareness about the historic place of women in the Church and their ethnic, racial, regional, and class diversity. Since its formation, the group has produced historical resources, conducted oral history interviews, published a newsletter, distributed grants, and supported and encouraged research and scholarship related to the historical role of women in The Episcopal Church.

Executive Council

  • Corporate body
  • 1964-

Organized in 1964, the Executive Council is the chief oversight body for implementing the programs and corporate business of The Episcopal Church in matters affecting its domestic and foreign mission, its ecumenical relationships, and its place in civil society. The Executive Council is the direct successor body to the National Council (1919-1963) and inherits the role held by the Board of Missions of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (1835-1918). The Executive Council marks the consolidation of authority for the implementation of national and international work of the Council under the single executive office of the Presiding Bishop. Membership is composed of individuals elected by General Convention, Provincial Synods, and ex-offico members.

Executive Office of the General Convention

  • Corporate body
  • 1970-

The Executive Office of the General Convention (GCO) is one of the three offices of The Episcopal Church. The others are the Office of the Presiding Bishop and the Office of the President of the House of Deputies.

The GCO administers the governance of the Church in a variety of ways, including organizing and overseeing the triennial General Convention, supporting the activities of the various interim bodies of the General Convention, participating in official meetings of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, generating the Church’s annual Parochial Report, and promoting the ministry of the ecumenical, inter-religious, and inter-Anglican bodies of the Church.

In addition, the GCO supports the Executive Officer in their role as corporate Secretary of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, Secretary of the Executive Council, and Registrar of the General Convention.

Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School

  • Corporate body
  • 1895-1939

Founded in 1895 by white and black community leaders, Fort Valley High and Industrial School was transferred to the control of The Episcopal Church in 1918 and was later renamed Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School (Fort Valley, Georgia), which operated as a two-year junior college. In 1939 Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School and the State Teachers and Agricultural College were combined by the State of Georgia to become part of the state’s university system.

Fort Valley was no longer expressly administered by the American Church Institute (ACI) after 1939 but the vast majority of its institutional appropriations continued to derive from ACI through at least 1959 and perhaps until the dissolution of ACI in 1967. The Dioceses of Atlanta and Georgia also contributed support to the college. In 1949 the school was designated as Georgia’s land-grant institution for African Americans. In 1966 a four-year liberal arts public college continued as Fort Valley State University.

Forward Movement

  • Corporate body
  • 1934-

In the midst of the Great Depression, the Joint Commission on the Forward Movement was established in 1934 by General Convention with the charge to point the Church “forward.” The Movement sponsored conferences, meetings, and training programs for leaders along with Bible study and prayer groups under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. Henry Wise Hobson. Forward Movement’s first publications appeared in 1935, including the first issues of Forward Day by Day, a daily devotional guide. In 1940, the General Convention adopted the program elements of Forward Movement as its unifying theme under the slogan of “Forward in Service.” The Joint Commission ceased to exist in 1940, although the publications effort continued in Cincinnati under Bishop Hobson and an Executive Committee.

Although Forward Movement Publications is authorized each triennium by the General Convention with the Presiding Bishop as its chair, the agency is self-funded and does not draw on the budget of The Episcopal Church. Forward Movement specializes in the publication of devotional tracts and spiritual guides, although its range of materials expanded after 1986 with the closing of Seabury Press, which was the national Church’s publishing house. Forward Movement has also published key ecumenical documents affecting The Episcopal Church as well as other works of historical and biographical importance.

Gailor Industrial School

  • Corporate body
  • 1905-unknown

Gailor Industrial School (Mason, Tennessee) was founded in 1905 by the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Gailor III, Bishop of Tennessee, and first became affiliated with the American Church Institute (ACI) in 1921. The school was originally named in part for the donor, Rev. Charles A. Hoffman of New York, and then renamed Gailor Industrial School in honor of Bishop Gailor after his death in 1935.

Gailor Industrial School developed into a four-year high school for girls and boys, including boarders. Fire completely destroyed the school in 1945 but it was rebuilt and continued to function. ACI appears to have discontinued funding the school in 1949. The year the school closed is not known.

General Board of Religious Education

  • Corporate body
  • 1910-1919

The General Board of Religious Education was canonically established in 1910 by General Convention to unify and develop religious education across the Church. Initially, the Board was meant to work on increasing Christian education at the primary and secondary levels, with particular emphasis on Sunday Schools. Membership consisted of the Presiding Bishop as ex officio President, along with seven bishops, seven clerical members, and seven lay members, all appointed triennially by the presiding officers of their respective Houses. In addition to these 22 members, each of the eight Missionary Departments was to organize a Sunday School Convention, at which it would elect two delegates who would also be members of the General Board.

In 1913 the canon was amended, reducing the number of representatives from each Missionary Department to one. General Convention also introduced the system of Provinces in that year, and accordingly the “Sunday School Conventions of the Missionary Departments” were renamed as the “Provincial Boards of Religious Education.” Spurred by a decline in postulants for clerical orders, the scope of the work quickly widened, including a new emphasis on campus ministries and theological seminaries. The Board organized its efforts under four new departments, which it reported on to General Convention in 1916: Parochial Education, Secondary Education, Collegiate Education, and Theological Education.

The General Board of Religious Education became the Department of Religious Education in 1919, when General Convention voted to replace the Board of Missions with the Presiding Bishop and National Council.

General Field Services

  • Corporate body
  • 1965-1968

The General Field Services unit was established in 1965 as one of the five divisions of the Department of Christian Education. It acted as a consultation service to Episcopal dioceses, missionary districts, and other Church organizations, offering guidance regarding educational programs, training opportunities, and instructional materials. It also participated in educational research and development projects. The unit was discontinued in 1968 at the time of the total reorganization of the Executive Council and subsequent operational changes. In its four years of existence, its administrators were the Rev. Edward T. Atkins (1965-1966) and the Rev. Stanley Plattenburg (1967-1968).

Girls Friendly Society

  • Corporate body
  • 1875-

The Girls' Friendly Society (GFS) was founded in England in 1875 as the Church’s response to the needs of girls who had left their homes behind to work in factories and mills, or as domestic servants. Recognizing the same needs in the United States and using the GFS as a model, Elizabeth Mason Edson founded the first Girls' Friendly Society in America (GFSA) branch at St. Ann's Church in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1877. Upon formation of the Massachusetts diocesan organization in 1879, a center for national activities was established.

In 1886 the Central Organization of the GFSA was formed, a constitution was adopted in 1893, and the GFSA was officially incorporated in 1895, at which time they also began making systematic reports to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church.

During the late 1800s, the GFSA established homes and centers for young working women and provided employment and housing assistance to immigrant women arriving in America. Between 1900 and 1920, they sought protective legislation for girls, worked for labor reform, and provided a number of war-related services. By 1914 there were over 46,000 members in 745 branches with 34 diocesan organizations.

Around 1929, GFSA reincorporated and changed its name to the Girls’ Friendly Society of the United States of America (GFS-USA). Ensuing years of activity included work with refugees and conferences on women in industry. In the 1950s, the GFS-USA opened its national office in New York City, became an official observer to the United Nations, and joined the newly created Girls’ Friendly Society World Council.

By 1964, after falling short of its fundraising goals, the GFS-USA began to make heavy cutbacks in programs at the national level. These reductions continued into 1966 when the GFS-USA decided to incorporate its mission with that of The Episcopal Church. As a result, in 1967, the Department of Christian Education of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church took over responsibility for the national programs run by the GFS-USA. The diocesan and branch organizations continued to operate as before, but after the closing of the national office, many of them did not survive.

In the early 1980s, the GFS-USA reestablished its operation on a national level, however membership continued to decline. As of 2023, the GFS-USA oversees the few remaining local branches and is a member of GFS World.

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