AED Board - 2022 Election
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Lay Candidate
Phyllis B. Jones
Diocese: New Jersey Present Employment: COO, Diocese of NJ Current Ministries: Support of numerous gospel justice ministries through our Episcopal Community Services and congregations Current Church Assignment: Diocese of NJ; also member of St. Matthew's Church, Pennington Previous Positions: CFO - Jet Set Sports; CPA in public practice Education: BS in Commerce, Rider University; formerly CPA licensed in NJ Prior Board Experience: Prior member of AED Board; UrbanPromise Ministries; UrbanPromise International; numerous diocesan boards Skill sets: Accounting, non-profit, finance and governance, organizing Question #1
How do you envision contributing to the AED Board? What are your special talents and gifts? I look forward to continuing to offer the gifts God has given me to assist the AED Board in understanding, analyzing and explaining financial reports and developing sound, innovative and responsive financial strategies to resource AED’s mission. As we continue to expand and deepen our partnership with The Fund for the Diaconate and clarify our own missional identity, I believe financial transparency and the resulting confidence and trust it engenders will be essential components in living into the future to which God calls us. Question #2 What is your vision for the future of the Association for Episcopal Deacons? Here in the Diocese of New Jersey, we are blessed with a vital and vibrant community of deacons who assist us as disciples of Jesus Christ in living into God’s mission of reconciliation in countless ways. Not only do they engage in the important, more traditional roles of “setting the table” at the altar and connecting our congregations with our communities, they also assist us as part of clergy teams in affiliating congregations under shared clergy leadership and by supporting our smaller congregations through transitions challenges. In those expanded roles, we compensate them on a par with the package we would offer a priest serving in the same circumstances. We would not be able to sustain our support and resourcing of the 136 congregations in our diocese without them. But beyond that, their involvement in all these ways is transformational for the congregations, their communities and our deacons alike. My vision for AED is for the organization to assist in expanding the role of deacons in dioceses across The Episcopal Church in similar ways, appropriate to their context. I believe that the expansion and deepening of the role of deacons has special relevance in how God calls us forward in today’s context as we seek to maintain and strengthen our Episcopal presence in communities crying out for God’s love and reconciliation. |