PROVINCE VI: Synod delegates share stories of vitality, find strength in shared mission
Episcopal News Service. June 18, 2008 [061808-03]
Joe Bjordal, Correspondent for Episcopal Life Media in Provinces V and VI
Delegates from the eight dioceses of the Episcopal Church's Province VI gathered June 12-14 to share stories of vitality, both as a way to discover new strength for mission and to approach decision-making in a new way.
The Rt. Rev. Michael Smith, the host bishop, welcomed delegates to the Diocese of North Dakota and to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, where, he said, the Episcopal Church has had a ministry with Native Americans for nearly 150 years. The gathering was held at the Prairie Knights Lodge in Fort Yates, North Dakota.
Delegates were also welcomed by the Rev. Marianne Ell, rector of St. Peter's Church, Williston, North Dakota and president of Province VI. She explained that in recent years a significant amount of time at the annual synod gathering has been devoted to mission development and empowerment. Programs in recent years have focused on radical hospitality and spiritual transformation.
"I hope you have come this year ready to learn together again," she said.
Delegates to the 2008 synod came prepared to engage in The Authority of Generations, a process of storytelling and singing co-developed by the Very Rev. Ernesto Medina, dean for Urban Mission at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska, who served as a facilitator.
In materials published by the Episcopal Church, The Authority of Generations is described as "a viable option for congregational decision-making and program development, inclusive of all ages. While it was designed for replacing a congregational committee meeting, it can and has been used for vestry meetings as well as diocesan program groups. It engages the Holy Spirit and asks us simply to listen and respond."
Medina explained that the process is inter-generational. He said that it assumes an eight-year-old will have a voice equal to an elder, that elders of the community are the stewards of wisdom and that children and youth are the stewards of prophetic voice.
"It will be strange at first," said Medina, "because it break methods of holding church meetings and the way a meeting can reach a decision."
The experience was designed to have a direct influence on decisions facing the 2008 synod as well as serving as a model that delegates could use in their home dioceses and congregations.
The Authority of Generations is facilitated by two persons. "The Discerner of Song" is responsible for selection of a hymn or song to appropriately follow the telling of an individual story. "The Weaver" listens to the entire round of stories and, after prayer, summarizes them for the group at the conclusion of the process.
Medina served as The Discerner of Song. Lydia Kelsey, youth missioner for the Diocese of Iowa, served as The Weaver.
Sharing stories of vitality
Each diocese was asked to come to the gathering prepared to share a "story of vitality" and bring a symbol representing that story. The symbols would be placed on the altar for the duration of the meeting as visible reminders of how God is at work in vital mission.
Among them were:
Delegates from the Diocese of Wyoming shared a story of "new growth" that included successful progress in a $5 million capital campaign called "Wind and Wings," aimed at providing a variety of services for children and youth in Episcopal congregations and in communities and news for the formation of diocesan-wide teams addressing evangelism and development.
Wyoming presented a small, planted Dogwood tree, a symbol of new growth. The group sang "Now the green blade riseth."
Delegates from the Diocese of Colorado told a story of rebuilding after a difficult period following the actions of General Convention 2003, resulting in a significant loss of membership.
Colorado Bishop Rob O'Neill reported that 40 persons have recently graduated from an intensive, two-year training program called the Congregational Development Institute. As a result, he reported that now one quarter of the 115 congregations in the diocese are seriously engaged in training for evangelism and congregational development.
The Colorado story also included news that 20 congregations have or plan to expand their physical plants. The projects range from building a $30,000 cabin as lodging for visiting priests at Little Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Chapel in Crestone to a $4 million expansion project at Christ Church, Aspen.
Colorado presented a hammer. The group sang "Christ for the world we sing!"
On behalf of the Diocese of North Dakota, Rosa Wilson presented a photograph from her home congregation, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Fort Yates. It showed Native American priests, deacons, and acolytes in liturgical procession. She said it was symbolic of the increase in Native clergy leadership in the diocese under the leadership of Bishop Smith.
Shortly after his consecration in 2004, Smith established the North Dakota School of Ministry to train vocational deacons. One year ago, 18 deacons were consecrated, four of them to serve on the Standing Rock Reservation.
Wilson thanked Smith and Canon Missioner John Floberg for their leadership, and the deacons "for their hard work which has brought back memories of my childhood when there was strong native clergy leadership."
"Whenever I see Native deacons and priests in procession I feel spiritually uplifted," she said.
The group sang "Lord, you give the great commission."
The Rev. Neysa Ellgren, a General Convention deputy from the Diocese of Minnesota, told the story of the influx of Hmong refugees into the Church of the Holy Apostles, Saint Paul. She reported that nearly 700 "Hmong faithful" have joined the congregation and that 550 persons now regularly attend Sunday worship.
She said that new Episcopalians, former Roman Catholics, wanted to be in a church where priests could marry, where women could pursue ordination, where they could retain some of their own culture and worship in their native language.
Minnesota Bishop James Jelinek recalled a service in November, 2005 at St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis where nearly 200 Hmong were confirmed or received. He said he was moved when at the recent diocesan convention he saw a photograph of that service displayed next to a photograph of Minnesota's first bishop, Henry Benjamin Whipple, baptizing and confirming Dakota Sioux Indians in 1862.
"The similarities are obvious," he said. "This is the kind of hospitality we have offered for 150 years."
Minnesota presented a copy of portions of the Book of Common Prayer translated into Hmong as a symbol of its story and reported that a recent grant from the United Thank Offering and the Bishop White Prayer Book Society, totaling $40,000, will pay for additional translation and binding of Hmong Prayer Books for use at Holy Apostles and around the Anglican Communion.
The group sang "Like the murmur of the dove's song…Holy Spirit come."
Allowing the Spirit to Work
Ellgren said typically congregations are not allowed enough time to tell their stories and really get to know each other.
"Usually when we are in a business meeting, it's all about business," she said. "This process allows for people to share what is near and dear to their hearts; how God is at work in their lives. It is a time of understanding and collegiality as we move toward decision making."
"This process acknowledges the Spirit in our midst and uses the Spirit to make informed decisions about next steps in our journey of faith as a community."
Linda Fleming, of St. Paul's Church, Dixon, Wyoming, said The Authority of Generations was "an inspirational experience."
"It seems like I have so much that I can take back to my congregation and my diocese," she said.
Medina said that in telling our stories to each other "we are able to get past that typical right-left tension that we often experience in the church and we are able to move into an understanding of the sacredness and the abundance of God."
An appeal to Executive Council
During its annual business meeting, delegates passed a resolution offered by Bishop Smith calling on the Episcopal Church to restore funding to Native American ministries that was cut in a recent budget reduction.
The motion read:
Resolved, that this 2008 Synod Province VI, meeting on the Standing Rock Reservation of North Dakota, request the Program, Budget and Finance Committee of the General Convention, to increase by 15% the base budget support awarded at General Convention 2006 to each of the four "aided dioceses" for ministry with Native peoples.
Be it further resolved, that the Executive Council's Budget Committee include this request in their budgeting process leading to the next Triennial Budget of the General Convention 2009.
Smith explained that the Episcopal Church has more than 400 years of commitment to ministry among Native People, especially among the dioceses of Province VI. Two of these dioceses, South Dakota and North Dakota, are among four which receive base budget support through General Convention for their work with Native Americans. The other two "aided dioceses" are Alaska and Navajoland.
"These dioceses are unable to fulfill their ministries due to a lack of internal resources and insufficient funding from The Episcopal Church," he said.
He further explained that factoring for inflation and budget readjustments that have occurred between General Conventions, there has been a drop in financial resources of more than 35% since 1990.
This has meant choices of having congregational leadership doing more with less or doing away with certain ministries and initiatives. With the present inflationary cycle, even a 15% increase is not likely to make up for added transportation costs in serving these largely rural communities.
"This has meant choices of having congregational leadership doing more with less or doing away with certain ministries and initiatives," Smith said.
"With the present inflationary cycle, even a 15% increase is not likely to make up for added transportation costs in serving these largely rural communities."
The motion passed unanimously.
Delegates passed a related resolution calling for the immediate transmission of the budget request to members of the Executive Council, who were meeting concurrently in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The resolution was sent via email to Province VI representatives and Executive Council members Terry Roberts and the Rev. Tim Anderson, as well as to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson.
At the New Mexico meeting, the Church Center's four mission center directors agree to restore roughly $73,000 to the 2008 budget to the church's Domestic Partnership block grant program which aids the Navajoland Area Mission, the dioceses of Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the Indigenous Theological Training Institute.
The reduction was made in the revised 2008 Episcopal Church budget, approved by Council at its February meeting, which included reductions to several programs. The restored money will come from a $340,000 fund that Executive Council allocated in February to the center directors from the Episcopal Church's short-term reserves to help cushion the impact of the 2008 reductions.
In other business, delegates to the 2008 Province VI Synod:
- Elected Helen Barron (Colorado) as a lay representative and the Rev. Roy Walworth (Wyoming) as a clergy representative to the Provincial Council;
- Passed an annual budget for 2009 of $60,269;
- Heard a report on the reorganization of the Episcopal Church Center from Canon Margaret Larom, Program Officer for International Justice and Peacemaking and official staff liaison to Province VI;
- Made minor changes to the Ordinances of the Province;
- Heard reports from various provincial networks, including the newly-formed Global Mission Network, which held its first meeting by web conference on May 12;
- Honored Provincial Coordinator Ellen Bruckner with the presentation of Star Quilt handmade by women of the Standing Rock Reservation; and
- Received news that congregations and organizations in Province VI received five United Thank Offering Grants in 2008:
- Colorado -- St. George Community Meals Program - $4,889
- Iowa -- St. Andrew's Church, Waverly - $14,000
- Minnesota -- Holy Apostles Church, St. Paul - $30,000
- North Dakota -- Church of St. John the Divine, Moorhead - $35,000
- Wyoming -- Dubois Youth Activities, Inc. (St. Thomas Church) - $24,000
Grateful to gather on the Standing Rock
During the synod's closing plenary session on June 14, delegates expressed gratitude for the hospitality extended by the people of the Standing Rock Reservation and for the strength and empowerment they received simply by gathering together.
Rosa Wilson, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, thanked delegates for coming to her homeland and experiencing some Native American culture.
"I think you can see that we are all praying to the same God, who created us all," she said.
The three-day event included a service of Holy Eucharist, with Native drumming and smudging, that celebrated the legacy of Enmegahbowh, the first Native American priest in the Episcopal Church. In his sermon at the service, the Rev. Terry Star, one of North Dakota's newest deacons serving on the Standing Rock Reservation, said that because of the influence of Enmegahbowh in his life, he felt a call to dedicate his ordained ministry -- just one year old -- to justice and reconciliation.
On June 13, the entire synod delegation traveled to Cannon Ball, North Dakota, where they were guests of the youth group of St. James' Episcopal Church for dinner and attended a community Pow Wow.
David Bailley, of Gethsemane Cathedral, Fargo, North Dakota, said he always comes away from synod gatherings appreciating the camaraderie, learning about other people's ministries and "making new friends in a wonderful, wonderful Christian family."
"It's really important to come together to hear stories and share passions and gifts," said Lydia Kelsey, adding that the synod had been a wonderful opportunity and a help to her own formation in lay ministry.
"I leave these events, whether it's the faith formation network meeting or the synod, feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, inspired and I have a lot of hope and a lot of pride in the church," she said.
Bronwyn Clark Skov, canon missioner for the Diocese of Minnesota, said that the synod was an opportunity to have collegial support, to exchange ideas, and to pray with people in similar ministries.
"It's always a great time of learning and sharing and I'm really thankful to be here," she said.
President Marianne Ell sent the delegates on their way by saying that "we should never be surprised what God might do in our midst."
"When God's people gather, we gather on holy ground," she said. "We have gathered on holy ground here and the fruit of our work together has been powerful."
The dioceses and bishops of Province VI are:
- Colorado: The Rt. Rev. Rob O'Neill
- Iowa: The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe
- Minnesota: The Rt. Rev. James Jelinek
- Montana: The Rt. Rev. Franklin Brookhart
- Nebraska: The Rt. Rev. Joe Burnett
- North Dakota: The Rt. Rev. Michael Smith
- South Dakota: The Rt. Rev. Creighton Robertson
- Wyoming: The Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell