Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, kicked off the denomination's General Convention by calling for participants to reach out to one another despite differences and reach compromises in an effort to use the use their diverse gifts for the denomination's mission.

"Link up with somebody from another part of the theological spectrum – this big tent is the dwelling place of the holy, and we will never be who we were created to be if we only work with the fingers of the right hand or the left," she said on Wednesday at the denomination's gathering taking place in Indianapolis, IN through July 12.

Rev. Schori also called on participants to overcome wounds and grudges.

"Search out those you have wounded or who have wounded you – seek them out and let the grudges go – there isn't much life in hanging on to them," she added.

"If this convention is The Episcopal Church's family reunion, then go find somebody who represents the outlaw side of the family for you and spend a few minutes learning your relative's story. You might promise to pray for each other through the coming days. Perhaps you can find time for a cup of coffee or a meal together. That kind of reconciling work will have a greater effect on our readiness for mission than any legislation we may pass here."

The Reverend also alluded to work of the General Convention, that would make changes to the church's structure.

"Re-forming and re-imagining ourselves for mission in a changed world is the most important task we have before us," she said. "We need a responsive set of structures, more connected at all levels of the church, and better able to tap the gifts of all parts of the body."

She said it was the convention's job "to make common cause for the sake of God's mission."

"This is in part a political task," she said. "Politics is not a dirty word – it refers to the art of living together in community, and it applies to Christ's body as much as it does to the various nations in which this Church is present."

"Our task is to gather the various parts of this body of Christ, together with any partners who share our values, for the work of building societies that look more like the reign of God," she added. "That takes compromise, for we will never all agree on the proper route or method for getting there. We live in the awkward yet lively tension between what is and what will eventually come to be, in God's good time. We aren't going to find perfection at this Convention, but we can prayerfully work at discerning a way forward that will let us gather our common gifts to work toward that dream of the reign of God.