Foundation Looks To Future
Episcopal News Service. June 22, 1989 [89116]
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (DPS, June 22) -- "Excellence in Ministry" was on the agenda when The Episcopal Church Foundation, entering its fortieth year, held its annual board meeting in Minneapolis on May 5 and made far-reaching decisions that will shape the future work of the organization. One of the most significant acts of the board was the election of Peter Megargee Brown as foundation president, replacing David Emery Gile.
A member of the foundation's board since 1963, Brown -- who is a New York attorney, author, and former federal prosecutor -- originally worked with the organization's founder, Presiding Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill, in expanding the scope of charitable work within the Church.
"'Excellence in Ministry'," Brown stated after his election, "will be our growing edge in 1989 and, I anticipate, for years to come."
The foundation's "Excellence in Ministry" initiative, based on a major study of Episcopal clergy conducted for the foundation by the Alban and Grubb Institutes in 1988, is a national process that is expected to develop strong resources to undergird the work of Episcopal clergy. It will be presented to the House of Bishops when it meets in Philadelphia in September. The research demonstrated that the Church is undergoing a major transformation in its understanding of the ordained ministry. More resources -- personal, professional, and financial, the report suggests -- are needed for more effective ministry; a clearer understanding of the Episcopal Church must be articulated and celebrated; and the work of the laity must be lifted up and strengthened.
In 1988, the foundation committed itself to marshaling financial and programmatic resources to strengthen ordained people and in so doing to help the whole people of God to strong and prophetic leadership. The process has already begun to involve the whole Church at diocesan and regional levels and is expected to continue over a span of some years.
At the May board meeting, the foundation selected ten project proposals for 1989 that are to receive, in total, $96,400. The selections reflected strongly the foundation's commitment to "Excellence in Ministry."
The top grant of $37,500 went to the Board for Church Deployment of the Episcopal Church. The purpose of the grant is to assess the effectiveness of current deployment practices for clergy and to make recommendations that will address the needs of the Church and its leadership in the 1990s and beyond.
"The board is attempting to be responsive to dramatic changes in the nature of congregations and in the role of the Church's ordained leadership," said Matthew Chew of Scottsdale, Arizona, chair of the Deployment Review Committee.
The award, which was given on a matching-grant basis, will help the committee to explore deployment practices in fifteen dioceses, study policies used in other denominations, and survey a variety of clergy, laity, bishops, and deployment officers.
Another grant that will strengthen the ministry of the Church was given to the Diocese of Colorado. In partnership with three other dioceses, Colorado will sponsor a year-long project designed to spotlight and affirm the role of administrative assistants in parishes.
"The time has come to raise the prominence of this position in order that the people in such positions be stimulated, encouraged, and given opportunities for focusing training, and that clergy be alerted to the possibilities in making creative use of such assistants," said project leaders. "It is a job that will, under the circumstances, continue to become more common and more important to effective parish management over the years ahead."
Educational projects, particularly those that focus on young adults and seminarians, also received substantial foundation support. One such project is the Christian Leadership Program, sponsored by the Episcopal Church at Yale.
"The Episcopal Church, at the national, diocesan, and chaplaincy levels, must recover a viable commitment to ministry in higher education," said the Rev. Dorsey W.M. McConnell. "The premise of this project is that the intellectual life of the university is not to be treasured as an end in itself, but as a beginning in the life of God."
In short, the project promises "to introduce a new, more Bible- and worship-centered model for all denominational ministries to study and adapt."
The foundation also funded a program of the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center. Through the program, Episcopal seminarians will be given more opportunities to prepare for rural and small-town parish ministry. Training for seminarians takes place during June and July at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, and includes field experiences in seven surrounding rural counties.
Students in the program will have their choice of specializing in one of four areas: small church training, black church training, rural agricultural preparation, and training for the development of community skills. It is estimated that some 50 percent of graduating seniors receive their first call to rural congregations.
Other foundation grants went to the Diocese of Milwaukee; the Task Force for Ministry in Higher Education; the Association of Episcopal Colleges; the Episcopal Evangelism Foundation; the Office of Pastoral Development; and Seabury-Western Theological School
The foundation has two clear priorities: to fund programs that strengthen the Episcopal Church and to make possible those endeavors that might otherwise go undone. In recent years, grants have also provided seed money for innovative ventures, particularly in the areas of leadership development and training for laity and clergy.
Grant applications will be considered next at the October board meeting of the foundation. The applicaiton deadline is August 1. For more informaiton, contact William G. Andersen, Jr., of The Episcopal Church Foundation at (212) 697-2858.
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