By 2015, few parishes with a membership of less than 250 will be economically viable if present ministry models continue. These include the expectation that almost every congregation, whatever its size, has to have a full-time, seminary-trained priest. But it is increasingly money - or more precisely the lack of it - that determines future congregational lifestyles.

In frighteningly more settings, the priest's salary, pension and other benefits, the increasing cost of maintaining buildings, and diocesan assessments leave no financial resources for evangelism, formation, parish programming, outreach or any other facet of healthy congregational life. Preserving the status quo becomes the dominant passion, with survival as its goal. The obsession is now the maintenance of "church," and any notion of mission to which Christ has called us is as good as buried.

This is not just true of parishes. The same scenario is beginning to play itself out in smaller, unendowed dioceses. In certain situations, a modest crisis could drive the diocese into liquidation, forcing upon it unpalatable options. Once again the dynamic is money. The call of God is submerged beneath the will to survive. Whether we are talking about congregations or dioceses, if things don't change, the circumstances in many places are only going to get worse as we enter the new millennium.

To date we have done little to address this. Only a radically different approach will suffice if we are to move beyond the present dilemma. The imperative is to proclaim Christ in word and deed. Rather than tinkering with present structures and institutions so they work for another few years, we should be applying creativity and imagination to fulfilling that goal. At its heart this process is theological, with profound practical implications for everything from the episcopate to the humblest rural mission.

In light of this, it is essential that the bishop's job description be rewritten, the seminaries be re-engineered to train a different kind of clergy, and that every resource we can muster be focused on equipping "all the saints" for the work of ministry. The church is trapped by the inflexibility of old models. A fermentation is taking place in our midst, and old wineskins can no longer contain it. Our preoccupation with maintenance is tantamount to a death wish, inhibiting the forward movement of the gospel.

If local congregations, both large and small, are to be reinvigorated for mission, three areas need to be addressed. The first is episcope, or the ministry of the bishop. Second, we need to reassess the function of priests and, third, that of deacons. Meanwhile, we should be working out how this will reshape the ministry of all the baptized.

Bishops are in a predicament. The expectations now laid upon them are inappropriate. Theological and existential realities are almost constantly in tension with each other. Work has begun in various forums to address this issue, but it needs to be given higher priority. It is essential that we shift our understanding of the bishop's role from that of CEO of a "religious business" to that of chief evangelist, teacher and pastor. There is much we can learn from episcopal patterns in other areas of the Anglican Communion.

When mission becomes the over-arching priority of a congregation or local network of parishes, substantial structural change is bound to take place. This in turn reallocates the way in which we use our precious resources. All this means that clergy will be used in a variety of ways, necessitating the recruitment of personnel to be trained to work with the exciting uncertainty of emerging models.

Changing patterns raise enormous issues which need immediate attention. For example, the serious consideration of training and using "local priests" in more imaginative ways than our present Canon 9 allows; the continued re-evaluation of diaconal service; by asking what the eucharistic community is, and whether lay celebration is appropriate in missionary situations while seriously considering the need for order in the church.

All the above is dependent upon the recognition that mission is the work of all the believing baptized, and therefore it is essential every resource possible, human and financial, be focused on enabling the laity in their ministry. The tendency has been to "allow" the laity to pick up the odds and ends of ministry that the ordained do not want. In tomorrow's world, we are staring disaster in the face if we continue this pattern, rather than enabling lay persons to be full participants in the whole ministry of the church.

If such policies are implemented, ours will be a very different church by 2015. Now is the time to explore a variety of approaches which break the old mold. It is vital that a new breed of risk-takers comes to the fore supported by national, diocesan and local resources. Alongside the radical restructuring necessary at a national level, the time is here to identify and slaughter a whole procession of diocesan and parochial sacred cows. This is not change for change's sake, but because they stand in the way of Christ's mission and the advance of God's kingdom.

As money is used in other ways, we suspect it will not be easy for priests conditioned to rely solely on the church for their livelihood and the Church Pension Fund for retirement to be prepared to seek alternative sources of income. If we refuse to take up the challenges and merely sustain present ministry patterns, this will happen anyway, while cycles of decline and blame keep us spiraling downward.

Here are two tough questions: 1. By 2015, many of our generation could well have gone to glory. What does your congregation offer 20 somethings, Generation Xers, and even more their children as they crowd our nurseries and schools during their formative first 10 years? 2. Have you sought to understand their spiritual needs and where they are coming from? Failure to address these questions means we join America's mainline churches whose average age is 50 something and climbing, and condemn ourselves to fade into the sunset struggling to maintain the status quo.

If we continue to walk this path and allow money to dictate the agenda, all our worst fears will be realized. However, if we are prepared to take calculated risks and make some of the necessary radical changes, a new day could very well be dawning. It's not the money - it's the mission, stupid! o

The Rt. Rev. Roger White is the Bishop of Milwaukee. The Rev. Richard Kew is coordinator of the Russian Ministry Network. Ideas and comments may be sent to the authors at 2015, P.O. Box 92936, Milwaukee, WI 53202.