On June 14, Council of General Synod (CoGS) approved the terms of reference for the Anglican Church of Canada’s new National Youth Council (NYC), designed to provide a mechanism for youth to participate meaningfully in church governance, discernment and mission. CoGS also extended the term of the task force that created the terms of reference, allowing it to design an application process for selecting NYC members and a committee to review those applications.
In a presentation to CoGS, task force chair Paige Keller reminded CoGS of a theme that has pervaded young Anglicans’ message since the task force’s conception. “Throughout this process, we have been guided by a shared belief that young people are not simply the future of the church, but are part of its present and have gifts, perspectives, and leadership to offer now,” she said.
Keller, a youth member of CoGS from the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, said she and the task force “hope that this work reflects an ongoing commitment to creating space for young people to participate more fully in the life, leadership and discernment of our church.”
The terms of reference say the NYC is intended to strengthen connections between diocesan youth ministries, ensure youth can weigh in on strategic and theological decisions the church makes and “address the gap between national governance structures and lived youth experience across diverse contexts in Canada.”
The NYC’s mandate includes providing youth perspectives to CoGS, to serve as a national forum on all matters concerning church life and witness; identifying issues, concerns and opportunities that affect youth in diverse contexts; and advocating for the meaningful inclusion and participation of youth in the life, governance and mission of the church.
The terms specify that the NYC will serve in an entirely advisory manner, not as an autonomous body in governance decisions. It is required to present summaries of its work to CoGS annually.
The council’s 14-member roster will serve two-year terms and meet three times a year, Noah Skinner, lay member of CoGS from the ecclesiastical province of Ontario and another member of the task force, told CoGS.
Eligible candidates will be 16 to 25 years old at the time of their appointment. Membership will aim to reflect geographic diversity, “Indigenous, Black, PoC [people of colour] and other communities” and “a diversity of age, gender and lived experience,” the terms say. The terms of reference also specify the NYC must have two Indigenous members appointed by the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, as well as non-voting liaisons from CoGS and the Office of General Synod.
No further criteria for applications have been released at this time. Applications will be reviewed and approved by a committee of five CoGS members; to avoid conflict of interest, this committee must not include anyone who applies to the NYC.
Members will be replaced on a staggered basis, with seven members’ terms ending each year and the other seven remaining to ensure the NYC retains continuity in its work. “That way, we ensure there’s always a transfer of knowledge, a retention of information among the other seven members,” Skinner said.
The first set of 14 members would be split into seven members serving terms of two years and seven members serving terms of three years to begin building that memory, he said. A pair of co-chairs will lead the NYC, he added—a position that will require one year’s experience on the NYC to ensure co-chairs are well-versed in its work and functioning.
Zach Groves, lay member of CoGS from the ecclesiastical province of B.C. and Yukon and another task force member, said the terms of reference are intended to be a living document, open to revisions and additions. He said the current task force asked for their mandate to be extended only until the launch of the application process so he and other members could formally apply without conflicts of interest.
During the presentation, Henry Thiessen, youth member of CoGS for the ecclesiastical province of Northern Lights, asked what measures had been put in place to ensure diversity of thought and belief in addition to the other criteria.
“That’s something we spent a lot of time working through,” Groves said. It’s part of the reason a committee of CoGS members will review the applications with an eye to diversity, he added. At the same time, he said, the task force did not want to put specific structures on what that diversity entails to avoid tokenizing individuals.
The task force’s next steps are to create a year-round application portal through anglican.ca, set up an official email address for youth council communications and see that the application process takes place in a timely manner, Groves said.
