Clear Vision Draws Diverse Group of Church Leaders with Vision to Grow the Church
Episcopal News Service. November 30, 2001 [2001-340]
Thomas Blanton, Assistant Editor of the Texas Episcopalian, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Texas
(ENS) More than 300 representatives from 38 dioceses, including 24 bishops and delegations from Panama and Tanzania attended the fourth annual Clear Vision of One Church conference at Camp Allen, Texas, November 18-20.
"People are coming to understand that vision is imperative for significant church growth," said Bishop Claude E. Payne of the Diocese of Texas, who originated the conference in 1998. "We are called to transform lives through the Holy Spirit and that is why we must turn the church from a maintenance mindset to being mission focused. These conferences are helping us do that."
In the last several years, dioceses across the country have implemented vision plans with encouraging results and General Convention passed an initiative called 20/20, A Clear Vision, seeking to double the size of the Episcopal Church in the United States by the year 2020. The conferences were planned to help initiate, support and enhance these efforts.
The Clear Vision conference is now cosponsored by the dioceses of Texas, Maryland, San Diego, Tennessee and Virginia and offers a variety of workshops and programs aimed at reaching youth, planting churches and training leadership.
"This is what the General Convention should look like," said Bertram N. Herlong, bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee. "[This conference] is always very helpful."
Cultural context
Duncan M. Gray III, bishop coadjutor for the Diocese of Mississippi, commented that most people don't understand how to evaluate mission in a cultural context, and that the conference, "especially Bishop Payne's presentation on vision," was accommodating in that perspective.
According to Katherine Jefferts-Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada and a first-time attendee, the conference offered a chance to share creative methods of achieving growth. "I think some seeds were planted about how to broaden the way we do things," she said. "Nevada has always known how to help rural congregations persist, but we have no experience in urban ministry."
The Rev. Mike Wyckoff, rector of Christ Church, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was looking for effective strategies for growth. "We began looking at new ways to plant churches at the diocesan council level, and we decided to follow it up," he said, explaining why he and his eight-member delegation made the trek to Texas. "It really is a group effort."
While many representatives attended to learn how to increase congregations or membership within their diocese, others wanted to learn how to successfully handle the changes that come with church growth. Sr. Mary Elizabeth from the Community of St. Mary's, the first official religious community in the Episcopal Church, wanted to help prepare her order for a joint venture with the Diocese of Albany.
"Over the next three years, we are joining with [Albany] to form a spiritual life center," she said. "We're going from a maintenance to a missionary style, and it's a major and radical change. I came to learn how to liven what we do as a community."
Missionary stance
Delegates from all dioceses praised the conference and the resources they could now take home.
"I've learned the importance of having a missionary stance that is owned by and permeated [throughout] the diocese," said George Silides, a resident of Alaska. Silides said he heard about the conference through word of mouth.
Bishop Julio Murray from the Diocese of Panama has already implemented a vision in his diocese. Murray attended the conference for the first time last year and returned with members of his staff to make sure his diocese was on track with its own missionary stance. "Sometimes when you're caught up in different surprises, you need reassurance," he said. "We're here by faith."
At a wrap-up breakfast on the last day of the conference, bishops gathered to discuss the concepts of mission and church planting. According to Bishop David Jones from the Diocese of Virginia, "It's impossible to raise seven-figure gifts without an eight-figure vision, and that vision comes from God." He added that he has been astounded at the sources of gifts for new churches in his diocese. Virginia is launching four new churches this month.