An exciting time to be an Episcopalian, Presiding Bishop tells lay group
Episcopal News Service. May 15, 2007 [051507-02]
Neva Rae Fox, Communication specialist for the Episcopal Church
This is one of the most exciting times in history to be an Episcopalian and an Anglican, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said during a May 9 presentation to the Church Club of New York, a 120-year-old layperson's group.
"The Communion is moving, in what some people see as seismic kinds of ways, but it's moving. It's not a dead and dormant thing," she said to applause.
A multimedia presentation of the Presiding Bishop's speech is available here.
While many tell her she has a "challenging job," Jefferts Schori answered: "I don't think that's a bad thing. I think we are meant to be challenged in the varieties of work and ministry in which we are engaged. If we're not challenged, we're likely bored, and that's not healthy for anyone."
The mission of the church remains a key topic for Jefferts Schori. "I see and I hear about people engaged in mission. The fact that the General Convention last summer adopted a set of mission priorities headed by justice and peace work, framed around the Millennium Development Goals, says that this church understands what it means to be Christian."
She spoke about the effectiveness and wide-reaching arms of the recent TEAM conference -- Towards Effective Anglican Mission -- held in Boksburg, South Africa, which drew more than 400 Anglicans from 33 of the 38 Anglican provinces to review the Communion's response to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and build partnerships.
"The folks in Boxburg didn't spend any time talking at all about conflict. They talked about mission," she said. "The Anglican Communion is alive and well -- very well -- in those partnerships between dioceses and congregations."
The Presiding Bishop did not shy away from discussing current conflicts in the church. "The reality is that congregations in which a sizable number of members have voted to leave the Episcopal Church constitute one-half of one percent of the congregations of this church. They are very vocal and they've got a lot of media attention."
She continued, "What has not gotten media attention are the faithful witness and mission work that is going on all over this church. When your neighbors and friends ask you -- O isn't it awful in the Episcopal Church -- I want you to tell them about something wonderful that's going on in the Episcopal Church because there is a great deal of it."
She countered news reports about the church: "Much of what people in this church and outside of this church think, is guided by headlines. Headlines focus on a very small part of what's going on in this church and in the communion. I am happy to tell you that almost everywhere I go, I see signs of enormous health and vitality in congregations and dioceses. I don't see people moping."
Jefferts Schori acknowledged that all mainline denominations have been reduced in their representation in the general population, "but Episcopalians have done better than others," she said. "Even though most Americans say that they pray regularly, only 21 percent of Americans are in worship services on an average weekend. That is very different than 50 years ago"
"Our challenge," she stated, "is to retain the children we produce and to reach to new populations in this country and the vast population of the unchurched to whom we are a highly attractive alternative."
She recalled a meeting with a priest planning a new church in Virginia who sits in Starbucks with a sign on his table "Tell me your stories about God."
"He doesn't sit behind the red door and expect people to come to him," she said. "He's out there in the mission field. It's a very different way of engaging. "
Jefferts Schori added, "It will take some stretching for us to include new ethnic groups -- to speak Spanish, to welcome Chinese, or folks from Eastern Europe who come with different traditions. This can be a promised land for everybody. That's the promise God gives to the world. Our job is to invite people in and let us be invited in."
She encouraged people to follow Jesus. "I don't have the sense that Jesus walked about telling people to worship me; he said 'follow me.'"
The Presiding Bishop also commended the seminaries for their collaboration. "I have been absolutely delighted to recognize that the deans of the seminaries are talking to each other, beginning to strategize together, seeing that they have common challenges and common opportunities."