The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
[6] The treasurer formulates the budget of the Episcopal Church, receives and disburses all money collected under the authority of the convention, and with the approval of the Presiding Bishop invests surplus funds.
Canon Michael Barlowe is the Secretary of the House of Deputies, having been appointed upon the retirement of his predecessor, the Rev.
[10] He supervises the secretary, treasurer, and manager of the General Convention and heads the executive office of the General Convention which coordinates the work of the committees, commissions, boards, and agencies (CCAB's).
Task forces may vary in their size, membership, and duration depending on the General Convention resolution that orders their formation.
[13] Each standing commission consists of five bishops, five priests or deacons, and ten laypersons.
The Presiding Bishop also appoints a staff member to assist each commission in its work.
There had been no Anglican dioceses or bishops in the Thirteen Colonies before the Revolution, thus when the American congregations were separated from the Church of England, "the chain which held them together [was] broken".
In 1782, William White, the father of the Episcopal Church, wrote in his pamphlet The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered, "it would seem, that their future continuance can be provided for only by voluntary associations for union and good government".
[19] White, a disciple of John Locke, believed that the church, like the state, should be a democracy.
He proposed that congregations in each state should unite to form an annual convention (as opposed to a "convocation" or "synod", terms which denote a body called together by a bishop) of clergy and lay representatives of the congregations.
[21] It is often said that the Constitutions of the United States and the Episcopal Church were written by the same people.
While this is not true, both were written around the same time in Philadelphia by people who knew each other and who sought to "replace hierarchical rule with egalitarian, democratic government".