With a focus on strengthening and enhancing the services and resources to The Episcopal Church, Bishop Stacy F. Sauls, Chief Operating Officer, has announced the creation of a new Department of Public Engagement and Mission Communication intended to enhance the role of communication in furthering the mission of The Episcopal Church.
“We are creating a new department intended to bring the work of mission and communication closer together to serve our common purpose, furthering mission at all levels of The Episcopal Church, which is the origin and reason for our existence as an organization,” Bishop Sauls explained in his November 21 announcement.
The new department, Public Engagement and Mission Communication, combines a section of the Mission Department together with the Communication Department.
“This will allow us to further engage God’s mission, proclaim good news, and especially, serve the poor and the oppressed through whom we have a particular opportunity to meet Jesus,” Bishop Sauls noted.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bishop Sauls appointed Alex Baumgarten, Episcopal Church Director of Government Relations/Justice and Advocacy Ministries, to direct the new Department of Public Engagement and Mission Communication.
The new department will include four teams: (1) Communication, led by Anne Rudig, Director of Communication; (2) Public Affairs, under the direction of Public Affairs Officer Neva Rae Fox; (3) Justice and Advocacy Ministries, which will continue to be supervised by Baumgarten; and (4) Episcopal News Service, which will also report to Baumgarten.
“Our aim in creating a single Department of Public Engagement and Mission Communication is to bring maximum cohesion and effectiveness to our efforts to facilitate a dialogue within the Church and between the Church and the world about how we strive together to build the Kingdom of God,” Bishop Sauls concluded.
The reconfiguration took effect immediately.
For more information contact Bishop Sauls, or Baumgarten.