Assisting Bishop David Joslin convened more than 700 delegates to the Diocese of New Jersey convention March 9-10 at an Eatontown hotel.

A celebration set to bagpipes of the acceptance of St. Martin's, Lumberton, as an incorporated parish was one of the things that set a tone for a convention filled with what Bishop Joslin emphasized in his address as a "new visioning" process. Noting the amount of energy he sees in the diocese, he said that "we shall make a new kind of church for a new time" based on the model of a servant church, one which gives to others as much as it spends on itself. In line with that, it was announced that Bishop Joslin had taken more than $30,000 in gifts from the diocese to quake-ravaged El Salvador in his recent visit to New Jersey's companion diocese.

Plenary sessions, too, were filled with celebrations. Funds to appoint diocesan youth coordination were increased after a keynote address by the Rev. Christopher King, youth coordinator in the Diocese of New York, and a presentation by the youth of the diocese. Preaching at the Saturday Eucharist on the Feast of St. Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop Roy Riley of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of New Jersey articulated the new unity brought about by the recent Called to Common Mission agreement between the two churches and the "aching love" and unity that we are reminded of by the Paraclete, "the one who embraces us in unity."

The Saturday morning ECW breakfast speaker was Fredrica Harris Thompsett, Mary Wolfe Professor of Historical Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School. At her presentation, "Courageous Incarnation: New Directions in Women's Leadership," attendees heard about the importance of the integration of mentoring, looking outward and working with a circular model of leadership.

This theme was taken up in the plenary session later in the day by outgoing standing committee president, the Rev. Peter Stimpson, when he said that committee was committed to an atmosphere where its "...voice will call for..." the voice of the people of the diocese "...to be heard."

(The Rev.) Christina Wible