General Convention

What is General Convention?

General Convention is the national legislative body of the Episcopal Church. The General Convention sets policy for our denomination, including in worship, discipline, mission, finance, and vision. It consists of a House of Bishops, which includes all active and retired bishops, and a House of Deputies, which includes four lay persons and four clergy from each diocese, each area mission, and the Convocation of the American Churches in Europe. The Convention typically meets every three years. The Houses meet and act separately, and both must concur to adopt legislation. The General Convention alone has authority to amend the Prayer Book and the church’s Constitution, to amend the canons (laws) of the church, and to determine the program and budget of the General Convention and the programs it authorizes. The General Convention also elects twenty of the forty members of the Executive Council, which administers policy and program between the triennial meetings of the General Convention.

Nominations for Deputies to 82nd General Convention

The time has come for the Diocese of East Carolina to elect its deputies and alternate deputies for The 82nd General Convention, to take place in Phoenix, Arizona in the summer of 2027. The Canons of our Diocese provide for this election to take place at our Annual Convention in the year before General Convention, which would be this coming November. However General Convention has rules requiring deputies and alternates to have been elected no later than one year before the start of General Convention, which means we cannot wait that long! Our thanks to the Rev. Paul Canady for having brought this discrepancy to our attention.

The election of deputies and alternates will therefore need to be completed by members of our Executive Council, who have the authority to do so between meetings of our Diocesan Convention. We are, therefore, soliciting nominations from across the Diocese of East Carolina, to be submitted by midnight on Monday, April 13, 2026. The election will take place during the meeting of the Executive Council on Thursday, April 16th, during our annual retreat at Trinity Center.

Click here to learn more about and submit nominations.

Deputation of the Diocese of East Carolina to the 81st General Convention

The deputation from our diocese consisted of lay and clergy delegates who were elected at our 140th Annual Diocesan Convention in February 2023. As representatives of our diocese, they worked in the House of Deputies at the legislation and governance business on the schedule. Of course, our diocese is represented in the House of Bishops by Bishop Skirving. The 81st General Convention took place June 23 – 28, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. To see all of the reporting from our bishop, deputies, and communicator, see this page.

Our deputies were as follows:

Clergy:

• • Paul Canady (Christ Church, New Bern)

• • Tammy Lee (St. Paul’s, Beaufort)

• • Robert M. Alves (St. John’s, Fayetteville

• • Caleb Lee (St. Paul’s, Wilmington)

Clergy Alternates:

• • Richard G. Elliott (St. Andrew’s on the Sound, Wilmington)

• • Anne Abdy (Holy Cross, Wilmington)

• • Tess Judge (All Saints, Southern Shores)

• • Hannah Hutchens (St. Paul’s, Greenville)

• • Joan Geiszler-Ludlum (Church of the Servant, Wilmington)

• • Tom Tully (St. James, Wilmington)

• • Barbara Crumbacker (St. Mary’s, Kinston)

• • Karen Phillips Smith (St. Paul’s, Wilmington)

Reporting from General Convention 81 (2024)

Reporting from General Convention 80 (2022)