Can the Episcopal Church double its size by the year 2020? This is the question posed by the ambitious resolution at General Convention in Denver called "202, A Clear Vision." My answer is an emphatic yes.

What makes me so convinced of this? For the past seven years I have served as the congregational development officer of one of the fastest-growing dioceses in our church, the Diocese of Texas.

I know first hand the results of a clear vision, a cohesive strategy, commitment to leadership development and congregational transformation. We made our theme song "From Maintenance to Mission." Our drive has been to abandon the familiar methods of Christendom and to transform ourselves into a missionary community with a passion to reach the seeker, younger, secular, culturally diverse, unchurched and de-churched of our society.

In addition, for the past several years, I have worked with a growing, diverse coalition of diocesan leaders who share this passion and work. I have seen this transformation in large and small dioceses. I have seen it in a long-declining diocese that has reversed years of organizational failure. For the past two years Texas and four other dioceses have been hosts to the Clear Vision Conference for diocesan and national leaders. Representatives of more than 50 dioceses have come to learn from one another, to catch the vision and to share resources. I am convinced that by God's grace we can turn around our 35-year history of decline and move toward the challenging vision that 2020 provides.

Believing that we can double our size, do I think that we will do this? My answer is that this depends on several important "ifs." I would like to share these with you for the sake of extending the 2020 challenge and some of its implications. We can double our size:

1. If we understand clearly what to double. Most people talk about doubling our membership. Making doubling our membership by 2020 a goal would be a major strategic error. The reason? Our present definition of membership is phrased in a Christendom model. At a typical Episcopal congregation, somewhere between 35 and 40 percent of our members are in church on an average Sunday. Why would we ever aim at doubling the non-active, seldom-supporting, functionally inactive people in our church? In addition, our membership nationwide is found in a high proportion of congregations with fewer than 150 people per Sunday. These congregations often consume more than 80 percent of their budgets on maintenance of the buildings and the presence of a full-time, seminary-trained ordained leader. This professionally dominated and pastoral model is precisely what has failed us. What then should be our goal? We should aim at doubling our active, participating, committed disciples.

The best numerical measurement for this is average Sunday attendance. With a stated baptismal membership of 2.4 million, what is our average attendance nationally as a church? No one knows. Consequently, as a part of our vision to double, we need a systematic analysis of our present situation. Add to this average attendance number a count of congregational size. How many of our 8,000 or so congregations have 1 to 50 people present per Sunday, 50 to 100, and so forth? And while we are studying this information, the most significant discovery we can make is to identify the 100 fastest-growing congregations whose average attendance exceeds 150 in a Sunday. These are our cutting edge, new paradigm, outreaching, missionary congregations. Do they have anything in common? What can they teach us?

What would a double in our attendance by 2020 mean? In five years, the Diocese of Texas raised its average attendance from about 23,000 people to more than 31,000 people. The most dramatic result of this growth has been to double the disposable income of our congregations. Pragmatically, this has led to the fastest-growing period of outreach ministry development in our 150-year history.

2. If we create a systematic plan for congregational revitalization coordinated with an aggressive church-planting strategy aimed at reaching the migrating and new immigrant populations in the U.S. This means that the exclusive and often racist practice of only ministering to our own which pervades the present maintenance culture of our church must end. In our diocese, we have learned that making a diverse evangelism strategy our goal is our most dramatic way to fight racism and embrace diversity.

Church revitalization may be a diocesan work, but church planting cannot be left to the regional body. Many of the fastest-growing communities of America are located in small dioceses. For example, Las Vegas is near the top of fast-growing cities in this country. However, to expect a small diocese with mostly small congregations to respond aggressively to this challenge is institutional suicide. We need to raise funds, buy land, and develop congregations at the cutting edge of the migration. It will take all of us working together to do this.

3. If we have a clear, repeated message from our national leadership that this work is essential for the church. The strength of 2020 so far has been its grassroots origins, but at some point it will have to infect the church's leadership. This must include the Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council and the House of Bishops. Presently, there is little evidence that growth is a priority for these groups. During last year's General Convention, domestic mission was never a topic for general discussion and was never mentioned in any of the daily worship services. Only the chaplain of the House of Deputies made any consistent reference to this topic.

4. If we can de-emphasize the divisive social issues that continue to polarize the church and sap our institutional will and vitality. This will be the hardest obstacle for us to overcome. For many years now we have created an organizational culture that seems addicted to controversy. We have many in the church who see winning as their highest priority. We continue to make regulations, legislation and canons the focal point for corporate activity. We continue to act out of our Christendom model believing that the primary function of national life is regulations. Further, I believe this will be hard to change because the emotional energy spent in these issues serves as part of our institutional denial in the face of social and cultural massive change.

The 2020 plan offers our church a hopeful future. It will take a concentrated, coordinated and committed effort to change our present trends. It will take vision, but it will also take a willingness of our present leaders to surrender individual agendas for the well being of the whole. Can we double our size and recapture organizational viability? I believe the answer is yes. Whether we will do it will be a judgment on the ability of our present leadership to respond to the missionary challenge before us.

The Rev. Canon Kevin E. Martin is congregational development officer for the Diocese of Texas.