For 12 years, the Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting, Bishop of Iowa, has maintained his office in Mills House, an elaborate brick mansion located in an exclusive residential section of Des Moines. The estate was donated to the diocese in 1953 by a wealthy and eccentric family of Episcopalians.

Beginning in April, just a few months after inauguration of the historic agreement between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Bishop Epting will change titles and office locations when he becomes deputy director for ecumenical relations for the Episcopal Church. He will be the first bishop to occupy that office.

Bishop Epting grew up in Florida, in a Baptist family that drifted out of regular church attendance. When he was about 12, a neighbor invited his family to attend All Saints' Episcopal Church in Winter Park. Betty Wolf, a member of the parish, said All Saints' at that time was known for its Christian education and inclusive approach to Anglo-Catholicism, convictions Bishop Epting carried over into his ordained ministry. His embrace of ecumenism is relatively new, however.

His conversion to the power of ecumenical unity was sudden and literally a matter of life and death: Bishop Epting and representatives from a number of other dioceses and faiths teamed up to defeat re-instatement of capital punishment in Iowa, not once, but four separate times. The relationships established during those campaigns have created a strong spirit. "It's changing the state," he said.

Bishop Epting said he is excited to bring his leadership style to his new position. Other bishops who know him regard Bishop Epting as a collaborative leader, someone with mostly centrist positions and drawn toward spiritual discernment and prayer.

Early on in his episcopacy, Bishop Epting said he concluded that certain issues just don't lend themselves to voting and he has focused on moving diocesan leadership away from the idea that, as he puts it, the mind of Christ can be revealed by a 51 percent majority.

Ever since his wife, Pamela, died about two years ago, his length of time as diocesan has left him feeling restless. One problem is that there aren't many places one can go in the Episcopal Church from bishop, and, at age 54, Bishop Epting is still a relatively young man.

Despite good credentials (he has served as an Executive Council liaison to the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations since 1994 and was due to become chair this year) and a passion for the topic, Bishop Epting said he was genuinely surprised when the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop, offered him the position of ecumenical officer.

If he was surprised, he was also eager to get behind the controls and see if the new agreement can fly. In many respects, he is taking over at an opportune time.

"Whether it's church starts or sharing clergy we can do it better together, Bishop Epting said. "Up until now we've had to concentrate on administration and theology. I think as we begin to focus on mission, we're only getting to the exciting part now."

He is optimistic that the proposed exception rule, under which ELCA members could reject on theological grounds the concept of ordination by bishops within the apostolic succession, will not prove a hindrance to progress.

"First of all there is very little that (the Episcopal Church) can do about it one way or the other," he said. "There will probably be some non-compliance. If it is rare, then the whole thing will probably be little more than a bump in the road. If it is widespread, that will be more problematic. It will mean that we really are not in full communion. I really don't think that will happen, however."

Any substantial changes approved by the ELCA at its General Assembly in August will have to be reconciled by the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee, a consultative body of mutual support on which Bishop Epting will be one of seven Episcopal representatives.

The idea of exceptions reminded Bishop Epting and a number of other Episcopalians of the conscience clause which the Episcopal Church included about 25 years ago when it regularized the ordination of women.

"We've cited that as an example of probably not the best approach," he said. "We do think it's a bad idea to change what we've both already agreed to. Having said that, we do recognize that some (Lutherans) have problems with the historic episcopate. The House of Bishops has made it clear, however, that clergy (who seek exceptions) won't be transferable. The main thing is to try and remain in unity."

During the time Bishop Epting has served on the ecumenical relations committee, the majority of the group's time has been devoted to finalizing the agreement with the ELCA. With that work completed, he said it might be a good time to reach out to people of other religious bodies, such as Orthodox believers as well as practitioners of Islam and Judaism.

"I think there might be some opportunities for us to work together in the Middle East, for example," he said. "It would be hard to imagine anything as major as (the agreement with the ELCA) anytime soon, but it's hard to say. The Episcopal Church is like a leavening influence."

Steve Waring