Episcopal Church Governance

  • Governed by a bicameral General Convention, which meets every three years, and by an elected Executive Council, which will customarily meet nine times during interim years.
  • The General Convention consists of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.
  • The House of Bishops is composed of every bishop with jurisdiction, bishop coadjutor, suffragan bishop, retired bishop, bishop elected to an office created by General Convention, and every bishop who has resigned because of missionary strategy. (As of August, 2008, about 51% of bishops in The Episcopal Church were active bishops and about 49% were retired.) All members of the House of Bishops have seat and voice in the House of Bishops. There are about 300 bishops in the House of Bishops.
  • The House of Deputies is composed of up to four lay and four clerical deputies from each of the dioceses. It has more than 800 members.
  • Concurrence of each house is required for passage of legislation.
  • Between General Conventions, the Convention’s work is carried out by interim bodies: Committees, Commissions, Agencies and Boards, commonly called CCABs. The areas of interest of CCABs range from domestic issues to international activities, liturgical topics to social justice issues, and more …