Dioceses commit to church growth, community building
Episcopal News Service. February 26, 2010 [022610-02]
Pat McCaughan
The dioceses of Arkansas and West Texas, meeting in their respective conventions Feb. 18-20, identified church growth and community building as priorities for the coming year. Meanwhile, the Diocese of Virginia reconvened its convention for one day Feb. 20 after its regularly scheduled Jan. 28-30 gathering was curtailed by the threat of a snow storm. A summary of those conventions follows.
Diocese of Arkansas
The Diocese of Arkansas held its 138th annual convention meeting Feb. 19-20 at St. Paul's Church in Fayetteville. The diocese did not respond to requests for information about their convention.
In a Feb. 25 weekly electronic message, Bishop Larry Benfield urged Episcopalians in the Little Rock-based diocese "to join in the work of being an outwardly focused church that looks to the person who stands outside our doors as the embodiment of Christ's own self. We have a mission to accomplish, and with God's help we will do so."
Benfield said that about 200 people had gathered for the convention and that business included elections of diocesan officers, approval of St. Michael's Church in Little Rock as a parish, "and, more importantly, to commit to becoming the church that God calls us to be -- a church that is hospitable and welcoming and sees the resurrected Christ in anyone standing at our doorsteps."
Throughout 2010, Benfield said he intends to focus on cultivating lay and ordained leadership in congregations, advancing communications, evangelizing and incorporating youth and young adults and targeting congregations in the Delta "to see if we can resurrect our own people so that we will then become focused on mission. We will not fix the Delta, but we will empower our churches for an outwardly focused mission. Twelve congregations all along the Mississippi River will be targeted this year.
"I also told the convention that I don't think that God called me as your bishop to preside over a declining church. We have a mission. Currently, less than 4,700 people attend an Episcopal church in Arkansas on a given Sunday. At the same time there are over a half million people in this state who rarely or never attend church. That's right, over a half million. Every last person in Arkansas wants to hear some good news, and we are the church that has good news to offer: God loves overcomes all the barriers that humans put up, and the Episcopal Church will be a tangible sign of that unconditional love."
The full text of Benfield's address is available here.
Diocese of West Texas
More community building, less business and fewer diocesan reports set the tone for the 106th annual Diocesan Council meeting of the Diocese of West Texas, held Feb. 18-20 at the AmericanBank Center in Corpus Christi.
Bishop Gary Lillibridge focused about 450 clergy and lay delegates on the council theme of "Bearing One Another's Burdens" and on covenants. His annual address included a biblical understanding of covenant and a discussion of the Anglican covenant. As a preview to a year of study of the Anglican covenant, delegates shared Bible study reflections, followed by three in-depth conversations, about covenant and compassion, companionship and communion.
About 110 youth participated in "Youth in Action," including a Friday night lock-in at Good Shepherd Church in Corpus Christi and a Saturday service project at nearby low-income complexes.
Council approved resolutions commending the Boy Scouts on their 100th anniversary and language changes in diocesan canons. The final budget adopted was $4.2 million, representing a slight increase from the $4.1 million budget approved in 2009. Guest speaker and educator Dr. Ruby Payne described ways faith communities can help eradicate poverty by "building human capacity."
"We have worked really hard at making our councils a time of spiritual growth, not just a time for business," said Marjorie George, diocesan communications officer. "We have substantial pre-council meetings in our seven different convocations to go over the budget. As a result, council finished the budget in 15 minutes.
"We are spending less and less time on business and more and more time on spiritual growth and community building. We have a couple of dynamite bishops who are young and energetic and that really helps."
West Texas Episcopalians were also invited to help support sending young people to camp as part of a three-year-old Council in Action (CIA) program. The program, begun in 2007, seeks to live out "in a small way the part of our mission that calls us to care for others in a material sense -- in the words of our 2010 theme, to "Bear one another's burdens," according to the diocesan website. Past CIA events have collected personal supplies for hurricane victims, provided underwear to the Salvation Army for their distribution, and collected schools supplies for underprivileged children.
The San Antonio-based Diocese of West Texas includes 30,000 Episcopalians in 90 congregations in 60 counties across 69,000 miles in south central Texas. Founded as the Missionary Diocese of Western Texas in 1874, originally part of the Diocese of Texas, the diocese was established in 1852. It became the Diocese of West Texas in 1904 as an independent diocese of the Episcopal Church.
Diocese of Virginia
The adjournment date for the Diocese of Virginia's 215th Annual Council took place on Feb. 20, after the first council meeting on Jan. 29 was curtailed by threat of snow. The first portion of the council meeting featured the celebration of the investiture of the Bishop Shannon S. Johnston as XIII bishop of Virginia and the adoption of a $4.89 million.
At the continuation of council, Bishop Suffragan David Colin Jones spoke to the importance of supporting those responsible for building up congregational missions and church plants. "The economic downturn has been a wake-up call" for diocesan missions and church planting efforts, Jones said. Strengthening existing congregations is one of the mission priorities that Johnston outlined in his pastoral address on Jan. 29. The others include multicultural and ethnic ministries; youth and young adult formation; evangelism and proclamation; and mission beyond ourselves.
The council heard an update from Buck Blanchard, director of mission and outreach, on Virginia's Trucks for Haiti campaign. To date, the diocese has raised $132,000 to buy pickup trucks for the Diocese of Haiti to bring relief supplies to outlying areas. The diocese also heard from the Rev. Lauren Stanley, appointed missionary to Haiti, and passed a resolution of support for the people of Haiti.
Other resolutions adopted by the council included authorizing the appointment of an assistant bishop; offering support for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem; commending diocesan bishops for their commitment to the Anglican Communion at General Convention; and affirming the Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation.
Council also adopted a resolution that makes recommendations for a more highly structured discussion on the theological perspectives on the issue of blessing same-gender relationships, noting that the consideration of any authorization for Virginia clergy to enter same-gender unions should be deferred until after consideration of this discussion process. A panel will be charged with recommending consistent standards to be written into diocesan canons so that, if services of blessing same-gender unions are authorized, Virginia clergy and lay people have a clearly understood and enforceable set of rules to guide the application of clergy discretion in providing pastoral care to same-gender couples seeking such blessings.
"This thorough and thoughtful resolution reflects the Diocese of Virginia's commitment to open conversation and discussion," said Henry D.W. Burt, secretary of the diocese. "The debate or, rather, the discussion on this matter was as thoughtful and considerate a debate as I have seen in 20 years in this diocese."