Venture "Momentum" Described to Council
Episcopal News Service. December 21, 1978 [78361]
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The 41-member Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, meeting here Dec. 12-14, heard of the "splendid momentum" of the Venture in Mission program as many of the diocesan campaigns are about to get under way.
The Rt. Rev. Christoph Keller, Bishop of Arkansas and a leader in the Venture renewal/fund raising program, spoke of the "enthusiasm all over the Church."
Officially approved by the 1976 General Convention -- though the plan had been under discussion since at least 1970 -- the Venture program's purpose is "to rally the spiritual and temporal resources which will enable the whole Church to commit itself to a new life of mission, growth, and service."
Bishop Keller reported that to date 89 of the 93 dioceses in the U. S. Church are in some stage of Venture in Mission commitment, from preliminary planning to completed campaigns. He said that $96 million in campaign goals is "conservatively in sight already," of which two-thirds will support diocesan projects and one-thiHe said that the Venture project "has taken an entirely different direction from what was originally contemplated." Rather than being one national campaign, it has become so many diocesan campaigns in support of projects both within and without the particular jurisdictions. "The Church at large has taken charge of it and that's good," he said.rd beyond the local scene.
He said the development of the style from a national-centered campaign to diocesan-centered campaigns had enabled the dioceses to set the priorities.
He reported that the Venture campaigns in the dioceses will be in three stages: 36 completed by June 30, 1979 for $61 million ($40 million to dioceses, $21 million to the national projects); 28 campaigns between July 1, 1979 and June 30, 1980, for $17 million ($13 million to dioceses, $4 million to the national effort); and 24 campaigns after June 30, 1980 until 1982, for $18 million ($13 million for diocesan goals, $5 million for national).
Bishop Keller pointed out that there are two consequences which have to be faced as a result of the shift from national to diocesan emphases. He said that the present list of diocesan programs "is short of out yonder projects," that most are close at home within their own dioceses. Also, he said, the present diocesan style of the campaign does not have many undesignated funds, which, he said, "is a weakness. Opportunities close at hand get priority at the expense of those which are seen from a distance."
Much of Bishop Keller's report had been shared the previous day with 150 persons who attended an all-day Venture meeting at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis. The occasion was the meeting of the Committee of 200, a group of Church leaders and Venture patrons. Executive Council members and others were also invited.
The Committee of 200 meeting opened with an address by the Rt. Rev. Alexander D. Stewart, Bishop of Western Massachusetts, who called Venture in Mission "a risk-taking adventure."
He spoke about the "worthy heritage" of Episcopalians. But, he said, "perhaps in the early 1960's we began to minimize missionary work at home and abroad. We became concerned primarily with our own survival and maintenance. We lost the spirit, the joy, the spark of mission."
He said "the church always seems to wither and shrink when it becomes concerned with its own well being. "
He said that "God grants to the Episcopal Church another chance, through Venture in Mission, to redeem our unconcern with growth, our timidity in mission, our missed opportunities yesterday, by undertaking an exciting adventure today and tomorrow ministering in His name to the troubled spots in the world."
Other speakers at the Committee of 200 meeting were Paul N. Howell, Houston, Tex., National General Chairman of Venture; Mrs. C. C. Chinnis, Chairman, Venture Cabinet; K. Wade Bennett, Arlington, Tex., Chairman of Diocesan Campaigns; Harold T. Treash, President of Ward, Dreshman and Reinhardt; Hiram W. Neuwoehner, Jr., Chairman of Venture's Publicity and Interpretation Committee; Miss Olivia de Havilland, member of the Venture Cabinet; and Dr. Charles R. Lawrence, President of the House of Deputies of the General Convention.
The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, spoke and celebrated the Eucharist, using Rite III.
The Executive Council at its session decided not to set a national Venture goal at this time, but did add to the Mission Opportunities list a number of projects totalling about $4 million, leaving $3 million in the contingency section for future opportunities.
The following address was given by the Rt. Rev. Alexander D. Stewart, Bishop of Western Massachusetts, at the meeting of the Committee of 200 of the Episcopal Church's Venture in Mission program, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri, December 12, 1978.
Quite unwittingly one day a young father put his finger on the pulse-beat of Christianity. His little boy asked, "Daddy, why don't we go to church more often?" The answer came back, "Because, son, we have troubles enough at home." I daresay that father did not have in mind the same thing that I do when he gave that answer. 5 et he was right, absolutely right in associating the church with trouble. For the genius of Christianity is that it concerns itself with the troubles of the world. Even as the Master indicated, "I come not to be ministered unto but to minister." So from apostolic days the church has been concerned with trouble. The early Christians shocked the pagan world by taking into their homes the orphans, the aged, the widoThrough the ages the Church became known as "the mother of charities," establishing hospitals, homes, schools. Suddenly stricken overseas; rushed to the hospital. Where might you be taken? In Tokyo to St. Luke's; in Dacca, Bangladesh, to Holy Family Hospital; in Manila to St. Luke's, in Lambarene to Albert Schweitzer's clinic; in Liberia to the Holy Cross Medical Mission; and in New York City you might wake up at St. Luke's or Presbyterian Medical Center or St. Vincent's in the Village. Even the first mental hospital, called an insane asylum -- was established by a religious order, named The House of Bethlehem -- from which we derived the word "bedlam." Public school education initiated in England by a priest named John Wesley, and in America, not yet a United States, in a congregational parsonage in Massachusetts. Over 80 percent of the colleges in this land prior to 1960 founded by religious bodies. St. Paul's, Voorhees, and St. Augustine's established by this church to educate talented black Americans long before it was "the thing to do." 'res, the genius of Christianity is that it has always been concerned with trouble. The Episcopal Church likewise has been concerned with ministry to those in need. So today we Venture in Mission to the troubled spots of our planet, some nearby, others far away.ws, the handicapped.
Venture in Mission is a mind-boggling concept.
How do you describe a risk-taking journey?
How do you convince a church that has been standing still in membership and finances to take a quantum leap forward?
How do you implant a sense of mission when it has been vague or absent?
How do you convince Episcopalians to invest their hearts and their pocketbooks in projects in the United States and overseas?
Once you think it through, the Opportunities for Mission become exciting, electrifying.
Not only do you think about what it might do for the recipient, you become even more convinced that it will breathe new life into the givers.
Say, didn't some guy have that idea long years ago when he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive. "
I wonder if he is the one who is behind this whole risk-taking adventure?
Dare We Venture with Him in Mission? It is risky! Through the ages God's people have always been on a journey, always marching, guided in the Old Testament by a pillar of fire by night, a cloud by day, singing in the Civil War "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, His truth is marching on...."
Through the ages the Church leading God's people from slavery and bondage into the glorious liberty of the children to God. Yet, having to spend at least half of the time and energy that could have been used for the progress of mankind and the relief of trouble convincing the skeptics and the fearful as Moses had to do, indeed as Bishop Allin must do.
What if Abraham had waited until he had a perfect blueprint for his Venture in Mission? What if St. Paul had to wait for General Convention approval before he could take up a collection for the needy brothers and sisters or establish another missionary outpost?
Thanks be to God they went forth in trust, as Christian pioneers have through the ages, undaunted by the critics, saying with Nehemiah to the sidewalk superintendents, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down."
We will not be put off because someone once made a mistake in a missionary venture.
We will not hesitate because in the 1960's our methodology did not match our motive.
We will not allow doctrinal disagreement to inhibit missionary movement anymore than it did after the Council of Nicea or Chalcedon.
We will not allow the adoption of new liturgical styles to prevent committed Christians from Venturing forth in Mission anymore than it did after the Reformation or the Revolutionary War when the Church in this land adopted a new Prayer Book.
So today we are called to journey in mission, less hazardous physically than our predecessors but equally a risk-taking adventure. Success is not guaranteed. It never is in a mighty adventure. Yet we will not be fainthearted. We will not worry whether we can make it. Why? Because the same person who gave us the great commission, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel..." also gave us the great assurance, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. "
Always there have been disciples willing to venture forth in His name, willing to establish a beachhead for the later penetration and proclamation of the Gospel: Peter to Rome, Philip to Ethiopia, Thomas to India, Columba to Iona, Augustine to Canterbury, Patrick to Ireland, Anskar to Scandinavia, Loyola to China, Carey to India, Paterson to Melanesia, Chase and Kemper to the midwest, Brent to the Phillippines, Gordon to Alaska, Mother Teresa to Calcutta.
Those who have gone before us in the sign of faith and now rest from their labours will not be content with lip service. They demand action. You know, I know, perfectly well that the pages of history from the foot of the cross of Calvary to the steps of your parish altar are stained with the blood of men and women who gave all that they had and all that they were so that you and I might have the precious heritage of the Gospel. Men and women grow great in response to challenge. That is the lesson of history. Look and see greatness passing by. Look! See the shadow of Janani Luwum of Uganda, Archbishop and Martyr, 1977. You see greatness passing by. He did not bypass trouble. Look at your own parish doorstep. See that dedicated sexton, that godly parish visitor, that concerned teacher. Know that greatness is passing by. When future generations look, will they say as your casket goes down the aisle, "There is greatness passing by. There is a person who in Jesus' name applied the healing balm of gilead to the troubled spots of this world."
As Christians we have a worthy heritage, men and women who ventured in mission in centuries past. As Episcopalians we can remember thoughtful church folk who joyfully and sacrificially gave from small and meager salaries to establish the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Episcopal Church and initiated mission projects and programs.
But somewhere, perhaps in the early 1960's we began to minimize missionary work at home and abroad. We became concerned primarily with our own survival and maintenance. We lost the spirit, the joy, the spark of mission. Oh, there were occasional attempts here or there, but we ceased reading about mission, seeing films, even having a Sunday service folder in our church that emphasized "mission." It is therefore surprising that in the same identical period when we minimized or lost our keen interest in missions that we lost well over one-half million communicants, that our church schools decreased markedly, that our overseas personnel became less than 25 percent of what it had been, and our national budget remained the same for 11 years while the dollar became 50 cents.
Whenever the church has looked to a distant horizon it has grown and prospered. And the church always seems to wither and shrink when it becomes concerned with its own well being. Christ's people will respond if we "tell them the old story of Jesus and His love" and the needs of God's people. No wonder my predecessor, Bishop Appleton Lawrence used to tell a struggling mission unable to pay its bills, about to close its doors, "The first thing to do is to take up a collection for missions." He knew that the parish that lives to itself will die by itself; and the parish or church body that gives generously to others will strangely find its own fuel tanks full. Likewise with our national church.
There are timid church folk whose hearts are fainting for fear. They wonder Do I Have to Share in Venture in Mission?
Of course not! It is your privilege to discount those passages in scripture that tell you to Venture forth in His name.
Do I Have to Venture in Mission?
Of course not! You do not have to participate in the greatest missionary opportunity of your mature adult life as a churchman. You do not have to dig down deeply in your pocket and share with others in thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus Christ, or in response to God's blessings.
Do I Have to Be Concerned With Trouble? I Have Enough at Home!
Of course not! As long as you are sure he is not referring to you when he says, "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of one of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me."
Do I Have to Share in Venture in Mission?
Of course not! As long as you truly believe that the time isn't right, as long as you can honestly claim you are too poor to share with others, as long as you know your excuses are genuine and not a coward's cop-out, then you don't have to share.
God is always giving us a second chance and because of his graciousness even a third and fourth. So God grants to the Episcopal Church another chance, through Venture in Mission, to redeem our unconcern with growth, our timidity in mission, our missed opportunities yesterday, by undertaking an exciting adventure today and tomorrow ministering in His name to the troubled spots in the world.
Sometimes new Christians or young Christians may realize our Opportunities For Mission more readily than battle-scarred veterans. The talented young mother who made these attractive posters had just about covered the rug with her samples when she noticed that eight-year-old daughter Jennifer was also busily engaged. Jennifer had also decided to be a free lance artist. In her childish print she had come up with a poster that no ad agency or professional could ever conceive. With the childlike simplicity which Jesus perceived, her poster read simply, Do You Love Jesus? Then Venture in Mission!
Jesus never asked us to do a job without showing us how, without providing an example. Your Lord and mine was a practical man. He showed the disciples how to become fishers of men, not with talk but by action....
He sent out the seventy -- two by two -- in His name.... and they returned with joy.... even the devils were subject unto them....
When they thought they were out of loaves and fishes... He provided.
When the wine was exhausted... He provided.
When they were out of hope... He provided.
That was His business. .. showing that the impossible was possible... that with God's blessing added, miracles can happen, that ordinary people could undertake extra-ordinary journeys.
And a few people believe Him then.
Through the ages a few million more have come to believe Him, to trust Him. Some of us still do....
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