Diocesan gatherings take stock, look to future
Episcopal News Service. March 5, 2010 [030510-04]
Heather E. Cook, Mary Jane Cherry and Kay Collier-McLaughlin, Diocesan Communicators
Four Episcopal Church dioceses met in annual conventions during the Feb. 25-27 weekend, spending their time making policy and considering the future of the church.
A partial summary of those conventions follows.
Diocese of Easton
"See, I Am Making All Things New" was the theme for Easton's 142nd convention Feb. 26-27 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, Maryland.
Speaker and author Phyllis Tickle and the Rev. Robert Honeychurch, Episcopal Church officer for congregational vitality, spoke about the emerging and emergent church and how to respond effectively to changes in the church and culture. Musician Ana Hernández led convention goers in singing throughout the two days.
In preparation for Tickle's presentation, Bishop James Shand encouraged diocesan members to read her book, "The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why, " and offered a seven-week study guide which included YouTube videos.
Among the resolutions passed were ones designating the First Sunday in Lent as Episcopal Relief & Development Sunday, and asking General Convention deputies to report to the diocesan convention on resolutions passed by General Convention and to assist in the implementation of any resolutions that are subsequently referred to the diocese.
Eucharist was held at round tables, with no prayer books or service bulletins. As Shand presided at the head table, priests at each table performed the manual acts over the bread and wine, and the consecrated elements were shared around each table. The offering was designated for Episcopal Relief & Development and its recovery work in Haiti.
In his convention address, Shand asked the assembly to consider four questions: What is the best of the past that can be taken into the future? What needs to be discarded? What do we not even see that is right in front of our noses? What new things can be created, in cooperation with the leading of the Spirit?
Noting that the Episcopal Church has been planted in Maryland since the 17th century, Shand said, "We Episcopalians have been at this a long time in this part of God's vineyard. We have a great deal of faithful ministry to look back on.
"We are good at looking back, maybe too good. It's easy to get stuck in this safe place of looking back; it's familiar territory, it's known, there aren't a lot of risks involved. But if that's the way we're facing most of the time, either out of fear or sentimentality or nostalgia, the day may come when we no longer have much to say to younger generations who are seeking answers."
When Shand remarked that, in his eighth year as bishop, "I ain't done yet; we have miles to go before I quit, we have baptismal promises to keep, and we have new things that God is going to share with us," the assembly broke out in applause.
Diocese of Kentucky
The 182nd convention, held Feb. 26-27 at Grace Episcopal Church, Paducah, approved a $1.5 million budget, adopted a host of resolutions and heard from a panel of young adult Episcopalians who cherish their church and want more from it.
Retiring in September, Bishop Ted Gulick focused his annual address on the convention's theme "Generation to Generation." He organized a "Generation to Generation Dialogue" session so that, he suggested, those entrusted with electing a new bishop in June could hear from 20-something "Millennials" and their predecessors, the "Gen-Xers."
Four priests and three lay people participated in the discussion. Gulick asked them to share their views about their Episcopal identity, church tradition and practices, and their vision for the Episcopal Church. The deputies and clergy heard what young adults like about their church, what frustrates them and what they would like to see it do differently. An audio recording of the session is available here.
According to the panelists' accounts, a picture emerged of the millennial generation as relational and traditional. They typically want to be personally invited to participate in an activity or organization, panelists said. If they do show up at the church door, "welcome them and give them something to do," advised the Rev. Canon Amy Coultas, a Gen-Xer who is the youth and young adults missioner at Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville.
The panelists said they like Episcopal tradition. Repeatedly, they mentioned the Book of Common Prayer and the common worship that connects Episcopalians with Anglican churches around the world and across centuries. The Rev. Mitch Bojarski, the new vicar at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Campbellsville, noted his concern that Episcopalians, seeing the growth of nondenominational churches, are abandoning traditional Episcopal worship practices as a response to the pressure of declining membership.
Benjamin Hart, a student at Murray State University and peer minister in the campus ministry of St. John's Episcopal Church in Murray, said that he appreciates the way Episcopalians engage scripture in Christian formation classes such as Education for Ministry, where hard questions are welcome and easy answers not given.
The Rev. Matt Bradley, rector of St. John's, said that churches "are not developing their members into disciples… They have them looking to the clergy for answers, to provide programs, to start ministries. The impetus should come from the laity."
The convention passed eight resolutions that are similar to General Convention resolutions (their numbers given after each description) adopted last summer. The resolutions involve restricting bottled water, energy and water conservation (A045); the Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation (A083); recommitment to anti-racism (A142); establishing a Sunday during Lent as Episcopal Relief & Development Sunday (A178); supporting equitable education for children (B025); "The 80-Cent Solution" campaign to support world missionaries (D051) and tithing as a minimum standard of giving (D055).
Convention also reaffirmed its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals campaign as a mission priority through 2015.
Another resolution supported health care coverage for all (C071), but delegates rejected part of the proposal that would have echoed General Convention Resolution D048's call for single-payer universal-care coverage.
Looking ahead to the 2012 General Convention, the diocesan convention established April 16 as a day of local commemoration for Sister Emily Cooper and "all forgotten children" and resolved to seek their inclusion in "Holy Women, Holy Men" (formerly "Lesser Feasts and Fasts"). Cooper was an Episcopal deaconess appointed in 1880 to head the new Home of the Innocents, a Louisville home for neglected, unwanted, sick and abused children founded by the diocese that is still serving the community.
The budget adopted was $1,516,863, about $21,000 higher than the 2009 budget. Congregational pledging increased three percent, making up for the three percent decline in pledges last year.
Diocese of Lexington
The theme of Lexington's 114th annual convention, held Feb. 25-27 at Marriott Griffin Gate Resort, Lexington, Kentucky, was "Respecting the Dignity of Every Human Being."
The convention opened with a solemn choral evensong at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington in celebration of the Black History Month, which included traditional African American music and music composed especially for the theme of convention by Organist/Choirmaster John Linker.
The convention's closing service, held at Christ Church Cathedral, was a joint service with the First African Baptist Church to honor Rev. London Ferrill, the first pastor of that church, who with the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, first bishop of Kentucky and rector of Christ Church, ministered to the victims and families of the 1833 cholera epidemic.
In his convention address, Bishop Stacy F. Sauls told the gathering that fundamental diversity in creation is the intention of God. Seeking diversity, he said, goes to the heart of catholicity as a church, and the heart of what it means to be Christian as people seek to respond to God by respecting the dignity of every human being.
The complete text of Sauls' address is here.
Sauls also:
- announced plans for a "freedom tour" for young people, black and white, to make a pilgrimage to the sites of struggle for racial justice in Kentucky and hear firsthand from the people who lived through the events of those days;
- announced plans for a conference on inclusion;
- expressed support for the ministry of small churches in the diocese and the wider church through the creation and ongoing work of a Network for Pastoral Leadership and Congregational Development and a Consortium for Small Church Ministry;
- challenged the diocese to develop nurturing new communities of faith in the coming year, particularly to populations in which people would otherwise be lonely -- such as nursing homes, with Latinos, with those with special needs;
- challenged the diocese to continue to enlarge its ministries with Haiti, in South Africa and Kenya.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached at the Convention Eucharist and the Evensong. She was also the presider and preacher on Feb. 27 at St. John's Church in Versailles, which has rebuilt its congregation after a number of congregants were led out of the church six years ago, and at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington. She met over breakfasts with clergy and members of the Network for Pastoral Leadership and Congregational Development and Consortium for Small Churches, and with clergy spouses.
The presiding bishop's sermon for African-American History Month is here.
Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast
Limited information was available about the diocese's 39th annual convention held on Feb. 26. A short description of the gathering, with photos, is available here.