“A deputy is a person who is elected by their diocese to vote their own mind when they are at General Convention,” explained Bonnie Anderson, Chair of the Diocese of Michigan deputation. “They are elected by their diocese because their diocese trusts them to attend all the General Convention legislative sessions, to research and understand the legislation that they are voting on, to engage in prayer and worship about their decisions and the decisions that they are going to make, to talk to other people in an exploratory way about the decisions that are going to be made, and to pray for the intervention of the Holy Spirit.”

“That's the job of a deputy, and then to make the very best vote after doing that,” added Anderson, “and to go back to their diocese and tell their diocese how they voted and why.”

“A deputy is not expected to come up with a list of how they're supposed to vote on legislation because that completely rules out the role of the Holy Spirit, the fact that someone's mind could be changed with discussion and prayer and learning. If you come with a pre-conceived notion of how you are going to vote on something, it preempts your prayer, it preempts the work of the Holy Spirit, it preempts your dialogue with other people and it preempts other information you might gain,” concluded Anderson.