With Election of Bishop, Church's Newest Diocese Reaches for a New Vision
Episcopal News Service. March 27, 1996 [96-1425]
Steve Waring, Communications Director for the Diocese of Eastern Michigan
(ENS) The newest diocese of the Episcopal Church passed another milestone with the election of its first bishop, March 16.
The Rev. Edwin M. Leidel, Jr., rector of St. Christopher's in Roseville, Minnesota, was elected bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Michigan with a pledge to help the fledgling diocese find its own way.
"I would rather be a catalyst to the community," Leidel said. "The vision comes out of the community."
Launched in January 1995 when it split off from the Diocese of Michigan, Eastern Michigan has taken the opportunity of a fresh start to explore new models of structure and ministry.
"We wanted to build our structure from the ground up," said the Rev. Chuck Curtis, rector of St. Alban's, Bay City, and a member of the committee that created the new diocesan structures. "Second, we wanted to give more power to the laity. Third, we wanted to spread authority throughout all levels of the community."
Planners sought a decentralized model, one that would allow for a greater celebration of diversity by allowing more local involvement in decisions about funding for program and ministry.
Some doubters did not believe a geographical region with such a wide diversity of beliefs could come to consensus on anything, especially a form of government. Eastern Michigan contains people holding just about every theological position in the Episcopal Church, said John Coppage, diocesan administrator.
But "we're a diocese that is willing to risk change," observed the Rev. Elizabeth Morris Downie of St. Jude's, Fenton, in her sermon at the diocese's first convention last October. "We're not a diocese that's committed to business as usual. We're reaching for a vision."
Even the first convention itself reflected that openness to a different model as the Rev. J. Thomas Downs, host rector, told delegates to expect a gathering that would be "more in common with a family reunion than a stockholder's annual meeting." He noted that "it has long been a dream of many of us to have a diocese that was less institutional and more familial. According to this new vision, the congregation itself becomes the focus of ministry and the diocese a source of pastoral caring and practical assistance."
The diocese's diversity must be the basis for unity, rather than disunity, Downie stressed. "We are also joined to all those other folk who have been baptized into Christ whether or not we happen to agree," she said. "Living into our unity requires one major change of perspective and then countless disciplined words and actions."
To help maintain unity within the decentralized structure, the diocese has adopted four "convocations" to group its 56 congregations into smaller units. "I have heard some lament that with emphasis on convocations we are creating four dioceses," said Standing Committee President Jack Carlsen. "That could possibly become a problem sometime in the future. For now, however, substituting four active convocations for 56 independent principalities is a giant ecclesiastical step forward."
As part of the vision for decentralized ministry, Leidel endorsed a diocesan goal to have each congregation served by one priest and one deacon. At the moment, only 10 congregations match that pattern.