Mission Partnership Urges Move from Survival into Mission
Episcopal News Service. March 18, 1999 [99-025]
Dick Snyder, Free-lance writer and frequent contributor to Episcopal Life
(ENS) Explaining that they "are required to step out of ministry survival into mission," representatives from nine dioceses met during February at the annual meeting of Domestic Missionary Partnership (DMP).
The group was formed from the remaining dioceses which were in Coalition 14 when that organization dissolved three years ago. Its annual meeting was held February 4-7 at Burlingame, California.
Bishop Rustin Kimsey of Eastern Oregon, president of DMP, explained that "the health for us in wrestling with the missionary issue is that we are required to step out of ministry survival into mission in order to justify our existence within the Body of Christ."
"Our dioceses are missionary frontiers," he added.
Bishop Vernon Strickland of Western Kansas agreed, saying, "Every person is a missionary." He added, "Some of the best missionary minds in the Episcopal Church are in this organization."
Bishop Richard Shimpfky of El Camino Real said he was glad to hear of discussion of "establishment versus the mission model." He explained that many churches, and many dioceses, become enmeshed in "survival issues" rather than engaging in ministry. Some churches, he explained, remind him of enclaves. He added that his "real enthusiasm for the future is with Hispanic ministry."
He explained that people attending those churches "bring new people every Sunday."
"Building a mission spirituality for the future" was the theme for the meeting. It was presented in three segments: how missionary development of the past "informs our future;" mission and spirituality; and mission models for the next century.
The Rev. John Kater, a professor at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, used the life of Bishop Daniel Tuttle to describe the development of the church in the West, where many of the member dioceses of DMP are located. Tuttle was elected a "missionary bishop" by the House of Bishops in 1867 and served as first bishop of Montana and Utah. Kater concluded that Tuttle's "legacy is this: commitment and adventure go together."
The Rev. Patrick Bell of Eastern Oregon presented a model for evangelism. He explained that congregations in his area had adopted a mutual ministry, or total ministry model and now wanted to put that model into action "making disciples."
He said that an active effort to recruit new church members has begun in the three communities he serves in southeastern Oregon.
The Rev. Kevin Phillips of El Camino Real made a presentation about the covenant group process of ministry used in San Jose, Calif.
Kimsey explained that the presentation about spirituality and mission was prompted by a comment made by Margaret Hardy of Navajo land during a planning meeting. "She said, 'When the good (Anglo missionary priests in Navajoland) left us to go elsewhere, it was as though they took our spirit with them, and we would have to start over.'"
Kimsey continued, "We decided we needed to rediscover the word 'missionary' and how we can live into being the kind of missionary who honors Christ and honors people like Margaret Hardy by equipping them to know their wisdom and act on it."
Bishop Andrew Fairfield of North Dakota said he found value in the meeting being relatively small, with about 40 in attendance. "We can really discuss issues thoroughly, with people with whom we may disagree on other issues. But here we talk about practical issues, and the theology of Total Ministry, and there is general agreement on that."
Strickland said that most all the dioceses attending are small in membership and lacking in financial resources. "We are all in the same boat. There is more strengthening and supporting here than any other meeting that I attend."
Most of the member dioceses have programs of mutual ministry, or total ministry.
That means "the community of the church finding its authority and power not in a clerical hierarchy but within the whole people of God. Developing a communal spirituality is a neglected pathway to this empowerment," said Kimsey.
Delegates learned several dioceses are cooperating with neighboring dioceses in the development of churches near state, or diocesan borders.
Bishop Stewart Zabriskie of Nevada reported on the development of the "Colorado River ministry" in partnership with Arizona at Bullhead City, and at Needles in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
Fairfield told of St. John's in Moorhead, Minnesota. which has decided to affiliate with North Dakota because of its geographical separation from other churches in Minnesota, and its proximity to Fargo.
Strickland said that churches in his diocese are working in cooperation with the Diocese of Oklahoma and Nebraska in regional ministries. He was elected president-elect of the group, and will succeed Kimsey next year. The group also allocated $250,000 of national church funds among the three financially aided dioceses: Eastern Oregon, Western Kansas and Idaho.
Other member dioceses are North Dakota, Nevada, Utah, Alaska, Navajoland, and El Camino Real.
Member dioceses will have an opportunity to apply for a grant funded by an award of $20,000 from the Diocese of Utah to DMP for new mission projects.
The organization also welcomed the Rev. Ben Helmer, recently appointed interim Officer for Rural and Small Community Ministry at the Episcopal Church Center. Helmer said the office would work in partnership with the dioceses.