Archbishop of Canturbury Rowan Williams Calls it Quits

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The Archbishop of Canterbury announced March 17, 2012 that he would step down at the end of 2012 and go back to academia as Master of Magdalene College in Cambridge, England.  The ABC has had a tough ride since he was appointed by former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002.

We rebellious Americans insisted upon being inclusive infuriating the traditional Africans who are anything but.  Williams tried to make peace in the Anglican Communion but succeeded only in exacerbating the problem by fuzzing up the boundaries of what an independent church may do and still be part of the Communion.  The Anglican Covenant solved none of the problems but has undermined the fundamental principles of the Communion itself with its meddling and two class membership.  No wonder it has met with unenthusiastic response and perhaps with Williams retirement the Covenant will also go back to academia.

At the ends of the process the appointment of an Archbishop of Canterbury is a political matter.  This is a hot potato Prime Minister Cameron probably also wishes would go away.  So expect a deliberate selection process designed to find the least worst outcome.

We wish Rowan Williams well in retirement.  He certainly is entitled to a little peace.

Related articles

• For a solid story on Rowan Williams tenure as ABC recommended to me by Ann Scott see http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/03/the-velvet-reformation/7292/

• Archbishop Of Canterbury Stepping Down The End of 2012 (lezgetreal.com)
• Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to stand down (queeringthechurch.com)
• Archbishop of Canterbury Resigns (the2012scenario.com)

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Anglican Covenant Rejected at DioCal Convention

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The 162nd Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of California rejected the Anglican Covenant by a wide margin October 23rd.  This was not a surprise since sentiment against the Covenant has run strong and deep since it was first unveiled.  But there was a holy and healthy peace about the decision and a sense of sadness that the debate had produced such acrimony across the Communion.

The Anglican Communion was formed as a freewill association of independent churches sharing the common faith foundation from the mother Anglican Church of England.  But America fought a revolution for its independence from England and has thrived for the past two centuries quite well on its own.  America democratized the church with the invention of the Standing Committee.

While the Episcopal Church of the US clearly wants to remain in communion with the other Anglican Communion members, we are not prepared to sacrifice our independence or subordinate ourselves to a Standing Committee other than our own.  Such a price is too high to pay—-and worse such a price is too high to even have the audacity to ask for.  So the logical answer is no thank you.

In a world full of intolerance, the message from the Diocese of California is clear and unmistakable: 

EVERYONE who loves God and seeks Christ is welcome at our table where we come together to find renewal, hope and unconditional love.

The resolution adopted will be forwarded to the Convention for the whole Episcopal Church of the US meeting in 2012.

Related articles

• TEC “unable to adopt Anglican Covenant” (kiwianglo.wordpress.com)
• The Episcopal Church Task Force cannot recommend the Anglican Covenant. (revdlesley.net)
• What’s Happening in the Anglican Communion? (frstephensmuts.wordpress.com)
• Michael Poon – An Eirenic Voice from the Global South? (kiwianglo.wordpress.com)
• Covenant clause ‘contrary to Anglican ecclesiology’ (kiwianglo.wordpress.com)
• More Anglican Covenant News (revdlesley.net)

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Anglican Covenant: Hobson ’s Choice or Sophie’s Choice?

Cranmer's 1552 BCP

At the Contra Costa Deanery meeting this week we had a useful presentation on the Anglican covenant and lively discussion around the tables about whether the Episcopal Church of the US should agree to the covenant.

I have written about the Anglican Covenant several times and you can find those posts in the category called “Church Politics” for that is exactly what this is pure and simple.

The decision we face is a Hobson’s Choice:

Do we want to be in “communion” with the other Anglican churches of the world so much that we are willing to give up the sovereignty of our national Episcopal Church of the US, subject our faith values and practices to the will of an international Anglican Communion Standing Committee and other bodies mostly made up of member provinces that have already told us we are sinners for our beliefs and our actions border on apostasy.

This is a little like turning over the authority of the US Congress to the UN General Assembly and hoping for the best.

We empathize with the problems of the African bishops and provinces facing the growth of Islam putting pressure on them to move their philosophy and rules of behavior closer to those of the Muslim majorities in their countries.

We recognize that some bishops and provinces such as Mexico find themselves in the minority and signing onto the Anglican covenant brings them closer to the views expressed by the majority Roman Catholic Church.

The question is whether the Anglican Covenant is a Sophie’s Choice?

Sophie’s Choice in the movie was to choose which child to sacrifice and which to save.  By choosing one the other would die.  The question we face is whether the Anglican Covenant so corrupts the principles of the communion that it has the practical effect of undermining the very faith foundation of the Episcopal Church in the US and others.

In the US we already face a 40 year trend in declining participation among the mainline Protestant religions.  Will adding more controversy and division in the life of the church improve our attractiveness to the unchurched and underserved?

The Genius of the Book of Common Prayer

The answer to our problems lies in the history of the Anglican Church.  Just as at the time of the split with Rome, the church faced divisions and uncertainty.  The differences were healed by allowing the people of the church to pray over them and instead come together around Archbishop Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer which celebrated our oneness in the love of Christ, in the ritual of the Eucharist and in the Easter of our shared future.

Just as it was not necessary to resolve every difference in the time of Cranmer so it is not necessary to resolve our differences in such a win-lose way today.

For me the answer is simple.

We cannot be the Body of Christ in the Episcopal Church of the US if we abandon our independence, subject our values to a veto by a foreign church and leaders with different values, or abandon our faith tradition in the genius of the Book of Common Prayer.

We cannot be the Body of Christ for the people of God in our midst if we exclude and vilify those of difference instead of loving and welcoming them to the table where all who love God and seek Christ are welcome.

We cannot be the Body of Christ in America if we abandon the principles of independence, freedom of speech, religion, the press and association that are the foundation of our nation and the reason we broke away in our own revolution—an independent church able to call our own bishops, raise up our own priests and preach the Good News to any who walks through our doors to receive it.

If we abandon these things for the sake of being in communion with those who do not respect our rights, our faith values and our liberty then we will end up with buildings but no soul.

Just say no!

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What Characteristics Do We Seek in Our New Rector?

We trust our call process and search committee will bring us well qualified, honorable candidates but it is only by our prayers that we trust God will reveal to us the person who is best able to guide our faith journey ahead.

While we pray and listen I think God expects us to also help ourselves by being intentional and clear about our mission, core values and vision for what God is calling us to be as a faith community.

So here are my suggestion about the core values  we have as a parish and the characteristics we should look for in our new rector:

• Living into our Welcoming Tradition. We seek a rector who shares our enthusiasm for being a welcoming parish open to all comfortable with our inclusiveness and diversity. This is who we are as a parish.

• Welcome the Unchurched and Underserved. We recognize that as our community demographics change so must we to be open to seekers, to welcome the unchurched and underserved, to be an intergenerational family of faith that invests in our kids and celebrates our families across generations.

• Guide us in our Communion Life in the Church. We are part of the diocese of California, the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Communion and expect our rector to be a respected leader in the work of our church and encourage each of us to do so.  We want our new rector just as the last rector to seek and help us find the common ground and shared values that bring us together as a church family, even when we disagree.

• Transform Lives in Our Parish. We want our rector to love us, to care for us and be with us in times of happiness and joy as well as in times of sorrow, pain and need with a spirit of pastoral care that makes us feel embraced by the love in this family of faith.  We want a rector who will nurture and grow our network of ministry programs offering support, healing, service and companionship for those who need it to enable the community to serve our neighbors

• Invest in Our Kids Faith Foundation. We have a strong congregational commitment to investing in our kids’ faith foundation even as we struggle to find the resources and sustain the critical mass of participation given the many conflicting demands upon kids and family time.  We want St. Timothy’s to be a place where kids want to be, where they learn our faith values and see them practiced daily.  We strive to have a program and staff sufficient for our parish needs, but we also recognize that some of the best opportunities for our kids may be found by collaborative efforts across the Diocese, in inter-faith efforts across the community, and by mentoring and service opportunities that expose our kids to the life lessons and the satisfaction from helping others less fortunate.

• Make a Difference through Outreach. We have traditions of outreach and service as old as our parish that welcome the fresh eyes and new ideas of a new rector to guide our way forward. Through our pledges and the Fruits of the Harvest events we will continue to support local, national and global causes that make a difference in the lives of others.  But outreach is also an opportunity for a hands-on experience we will never forget so get us to roll up our sleeves and get involved.

• We want our rector to be collegial and a good role model and leader for our staff. We don’t expect our rector to do everything, be everywhere by yourself in our complex and busy parish life, but meeting the needs of the congregation requires teamwork, planning and self-assessment of what works and what doesn’t.

• We want St. Timothy’s to continue to be a place that raises up people from the pews for Holy Orders, welcomes seminarians and interns, makes effective use of the deaconate and encourages lay leadership in the mission and ministry work of the church.

• We want a rector whose sermons leave us wanting more—-OK let’s settle for prayerful, sometimes edgy, truth telling life lessons that put the Gospel into context for our lives.  We get antsy if they are too long and bored if they aren’t pulling at our hearts or poking our conscious.  Speak to us from your heart and tell us the truths we need to hear.

• We want our rector to help us grow in our knowledge of the Gospel and its meaning in our faith journey through education, programs and ministry service opportunities that bring Good News to others.  We value the many support ministries in our parish and others across the Diocese that provide opportunities for personal spiritual growth and service.  Put us to work doing God’s work in our midst.

• We want a rector who can champion our goal of doubling average Sunday attendance and our pledge base over the next ten years. Achieving this goal will require new ideas and a willingness to experiment. We want to reach out in our community to the 85% of the population that does not belong to a faith community. We want to continue to be inclusive and diverse as a congregation.  We want to be attractive to seekers offering ministry, sustenance and support in our welcoming home to join us in finding Christ in our lives.  We want to be intergenerational.  We want St. Timothy’s to be vibrant hub of constant parish activity, service opportunities and renewal embraced by a variety of corporate worship styles and services to keep Christ central in our lives.

• Our new rector must be a good manager and leader of our parish corporation.  Good stewardship and prudent financial management are essential to our success.  We have good professional staff and advisors but the rector is expected to provide direction and look out for the best interests of the parish, its properties and facilities, investments and staff managing our resources prudently like every family budget.

Oh, I forgot thrifty, brave, clean  and does not cry when people yell at you!

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Episcopal Church News & Information Resources

Stop laughing and check out some of these useful news and information resources to keep current on church news events, controversies and developments close to home and around the Communion:

Pacific Church News. The journal of the Episcopal Church in Northern California. Subscribe to the online version and get it by email each time. This is a useful way for the search committee members to keep up on church issues across Dioceses.

DioBytes is the DioCAL version of St. Timothy’s 411.  You can also subscribe to it by email.  It posts all the current DioCal rector and priest vacancies and the status of their search processes. Archives of previous DioBytes are available at http://community.icontact.com/p/diobytes

Anglicans Online. An independent and progressive website for Anglicans worldwide with the most comprehensive links to numerous key websites of interest to Anglicans.

Episcopal News Service. Top Stories, Daily News and Features. See www.Episcopalian.org for current Church news.

The Book of Common Prayer as compiled by Charles Wohlers, with links to various on-line versions.

Anglican Church Timeline, from AD 44 through to the present.

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Maine to California Call Process Lessons

I have continued to ‘collect’ parish profiles that offer the search committee information, good examples and insight from the experience of other congregations.  This latest batch starts with your worst nightmare—a process nearly completed but the candidate backs out and the search process must start all over.  This is not an omen or warning just a reminder that sometimes “stuff happens” and we must be flexible and adapt.

This group of profiles also includes some from the Diocese of California where there are currently twelve open search processes looking for rectors.  Candidates who look at one will surely look at other opportunities in the Bay Area and while this is not a competition between parishes it reminds up that our “curb appeal” and first impression can make a powerful difference.

Here is my latest list of profile and parish examples to consider:

St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Camden, Maine.  This profile is insightful because after calling a new rector, the candidate changed his mind and they had to start over.  It took more than two years to finish their process.

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Saratoga, California.   This is an interesting case study and profile because St.Andrew’s has an Episcopal Day School that some at St. Timothy’s have dreamed of having.  The school has grown and almost seems larger than the church itself by becoming the focus of the parish.  The profile provides a sense of priorities and proportions.  See the rector search process timeline and click on the steps to get a sense of how arduous the discernment and call process is in a complex setting. The complete search process package used by St Andrews is one of the best I have found.

St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church, Livermore, California.  St. Bart’s in also in the midst of a rector call process and has named the Rev Debra Low-Skinner as Interim Rector.  Their parish web site has a useful status update on that call process available to the congregation.

St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church, San Francisco. The Rector at St. Mary the Virgin departs in January 2011 and they will begin the same search for a new rector as St. Timothy’s.  These two parishes share many similarities and concerns and for the search committees there will surely be opportunities to compare notes, share resources, and build a stronger future working relationship with this parish. I have included their home page link above but here is nothing yet posted on it about their call process.

St. Stephen’s Belvedere Episcopal Church, Tiburon.  St. Stephen’s is one of the twelve parishes in the Diocese of California searching for a new Rector.  This means a lot of candidates will be looking at the Bay Area opportunities.  The parishes range in size from small to the largest in St. Timothy’s and St. Mary the Virgin.

Christ Episcopal Church, Sausalito, California.  If you have never visited this small, quaint church it really is worth the ferry ride to Sausalito.  Christ Church is also involved in a rector call process and the Rev Amanda Rutherford May is the Interim Rector.  This parish has developed a simple, yet heartfelt Rector Profile Letter to describe who they are and what they seek in a new rector preferring to let their location speak for itself.

Lessons Learned

• God already knows who the next Rector of St. Timothy’s will be. The job of the search committee is to get the congregation to discern prayerfully, openly, and transparently build a consensus around what it seeks to be in the service of Christ.  The search process is 80% discernment (who are we, what do we believe, how do we tell our story, how do we live our story day by day?) and 20% execution (get discernment process right so we develop a consensus, prepare a parish profile congregation supports, define the call criteria and job specification to be clear what we seek, invite candidates, screen candidates against call criteria, narrow the field to finalists, visit and pray, make the call.) Sounds easy, right?  It is if we let God guide us along the way and re-learn the lessons of loving one another as He loved us.

• Do it Right so you don’t have to do it Over.  Remember the 80/20 Rule.  Someone once told me finding a new rector is like painting your house 80% of the work is preparation. This is why I worry about artificially imposed deadlines (bring us finalists by year end 2011), because God does not work that way.

• There is not a competition between the parishes for rector candidates. But candidates who look at DioBytes to screen Bay Area clergy opportunities will certainly check all of them out.  Here there is a perception competition to put the best face on the parish and make it attractive to the best candidates.  To call this a marketing campaign seems crass, but candidates will quickly get a sense of whether the congregation ‘has its act together’ and is ready to call a new rector.

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Forgetaboutit Rowan, We’re Not buying It

The conservative leaders of the Anglican Communion rejected the proposed Anglican Covenant issuing the following statement:

Oxford Statement

November 24, 2010

Oxford Statement of the Primates’ Council
November 2010 AD

Introduction

The leaders of the GAFCON movement are keenly aware of the crises of conscience that are pressing some people to shift their membership and ministry from the Anglican Church.

While we are greatly sympathetic that there are many areas of crisis that assault conscience, once again, we would offer that the theological clarity of the Jerusalem Declaration offers a solid foundation on which to engage with other Anglicans in the pursuit of Gospel mission.

Being able to link with those who not only form the majority of Anglicans in the world, but also those who affirm Biblical theological foundations of what Anglicans have always believed and practiced can provide concrete relationships and meaningful partnerships that are of more substance than the structures that have shown themselves to be flawed or compromised.

GAFCON provides a way to share Biblical Anglicanism that is in concert with what Anglicans have always believed, taught, and practiced.

We believe that Anglicanism has a great deal to offer in the pursuit of reaching the world for Christ. While we wish those who are departing the Anglican Church well, we do not believe that it is necessary to depart from what Anglicans have always believed to remain faithful. At the same time, we understand that some structures have become so compromised that some have been pressed by conscience to separate from their national structures – such as in North America.

We are glad that GAFCON exists and provides links to remain Anglican when people have been unable, for conscience, to remain in their Province.

In England (as well as other areas), we invite people to re-affirm what we have always believed in Anglicanism by adopting the Jerusalem Declaration as a statement of their own faith and join with us in partnership in working to win the world to Christ. It is with that perspective that the leaders of GAFCON met recently in Oxford and they share their thoughts from that gathering in the attached document.

The Most Rev. Gregory J. Venables, GAFCON Chair
The Statement

1. The GAFCON/FCA Primates’ Council met in Oxford from October 4th through October 7th, 2010. We gathered as Bishops in Council and as the elected leaders of provinces and national churches of the Anglican Communion representing more than forty million Anglicans. We know that many of our people confront a fallen world where sin abounds; the economy is troubled and resources are scarce; disasters loom and governments often seem impotent and helpless and yet even in the midst of all these things “our hope is in the Name of the Lord” and we are filled with hope and vision.

2. We are thankful for God’s hand in establishing GAFCON and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. We rejoice in God’s guidance from the Scriptures, the gift of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and the provision of a godly fellowship to sustain us. In this context we have met in Oxford, a city that has seen many critical events in Anglican history, and are grateful for the men and women who have given their lives to protect the faith that has given us eternal life.

3. We believe that we are now entering a new era for the Anglican Communion. New ways of living out our common life are emerging as old structures are proven to be ineffective in confronting the challenges of living in a pluralistic global community. We rejoice in the call of the Jerusalem Declaration for a renewed commitment to the authority of scripture and the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sadly the rejection of these historic anchors to our faith has brought us to a crisis in the life of the Communion.

4. As we have made clear in numerous communiqués and meetings those who have abandoned the historic teaching of the Church have torn the fabric of our life together at its deepest level. We have made repeated attempts to bring repentance and restoration and yet these efforts have been rejected. We grieve for those who have walked apart and earnestly pray for them and the people under their care.

5. For the sake of Christ and of His Gospel we can no longer maintain the illusion of normalcy and so we join with other Primates from the Global South in declaring that we will not be present at the next Primates’ meeting to be held in Ireland. And while we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate.

6. We also acknowledge with appreciation the address to the Nicean Society meeting in Lambeth Palace on September 9th of His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. We welcome his call to all churches of the Anglican Communion to step back from the abyss of heresy and reclaim the revealed truth that is at the heart of our historic understanding of Christian faith and moral order. We share with him the conviction that failure to do so will endanger our common witness and many important ecumenical dialogues but we would also point out that there are many within the Anglican Communion who have not ‘bowed the knee’ to secular liberalism and who are determined to stay true to the ‘faith once delivered to the saints’ whatever the cost.

7. The Primates Council, as bishops of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, wish to affirm the reality of human sin and divine judgment, the only way of salvation from sin through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, the sufficiency and clarity of Holy Scripture as the revelation of God’s will, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit as he brings new birth and holiness of life.

8. As many people in the nations where we serve experience new economic challenges, we affirm that the Church has been entrusted with the task of holding before all people the truth of the gospel of the kingdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ, the key to human well-being and the hope of creation.  While we know well the scourge of poverty and the despair it produces, we call on our churches to remember this unique calling and not be seduced by those who would argue that economic development is our only goal. The destiny of humanity is not limited to this present world but to live the resurrection life in the new heavens and new earth.

9. We are, however, determined to lead our churches away from unhealthy economic dependency and to teach our people the importance of becoming effective stewards of their own resources. We must reclaim a vision of financial self-sufficiency. We are grateful for reports of several initiatives that are building capacity for economic growth in our various provinces and commit ourselves to making this an essential dimension of our continuing work. We also believe that a vital part of our witness is the integrity of our marriages and families and our care for the most vulnerable among us, our children. We welcome recent initiatives to encourage the ministry of women in leadership by CAPA – the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa.

10. We are also grateful for the recent conference sponsored by CAPA in Entebbe, Uganda, where we witnessed the growing strength of the Anglican Churches in Africa and their commitment to wholistic mission. We believe that GAFCON/FCA must expand its ministry through the inclusion of other Anglican provinces that share our faith conviction and love for the Communion. We also applaud the efforts of the Global South Provinces to find common ground and opportunities for common mission. We are committed to doing all that we can to strengthen our common witness.

11. We remain convinced that the unique character of GAFCON/FCA with its diversity of cultures and its embrace of the Jerusalem Declaration as a common theological confession is a vital contribution to the future of the global Anglican Communion. We are persuaded that we must offer new initiatives to more effectively respond to the crises that confront us all. We must strengthen our communication capabilities and we are also looking to build partnerships with other denominational churches that share our faith convictions.

12. Specifically, we are planning a leadership conference in the latter part of 2011 that will focus on the need to “Contend for the Faith in the Public Square.” We are also beginning preparations for an international gathering of Primates, Bishops, Clergy and Lay leaders in 2012, provisionally designated “GAFCON 2”. To support all of this we have approved the expansion of the Secretariat.

13. Finally, we acknowledge that it is only by God’s grace that we can accomplish any of this and so we call on all those that acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord to join us in prayer for our world and for the raising up of many initiatives that will bring the redeeming and transforming love of God to all those in need.

14. To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

The Primates Council:

The Most Rev’d Gregory Venables, GAFCON/FCA Chair
The Most Rev’d Justice Akrofi, Archbishop, Anglican Province of West Africa
The Most Rev’d Robert Duncan, Archbishop, Anglican Church in North America
The Most Rev ‘d Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Rwanda
The Most Rev’d Valentino Mokiwa, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Tanzania
The Most Rev’d Nicholas Okoh, Archbishop, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Most Rev’d Henry Orombi Archbishop, Church of Uganda
The Most Rev’d Eliud Wabukala, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya

The Most Rev’d Peter Jensen, Archbishop, Diocese of Sydney, Secretary

Download statement as PDF document

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COE General Synod Endorses Anglican Covenant

Each of the three houses of the Church of England General Synod recommended the draft “Act of Synod” keeping alive the Anglican Covenant recommended by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and sending it on to the Dioceses for consideration.  The bishops voted 39-0, with 1 abstention; the clergy voted 145-32 with 11 abstentions; and the laity voted 147-25 with 8 abstentions.

The proposed resolution is a set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion despite the many differences in views over sexuality, the role of women and the authority of the Bible among the independent national churches which make up the Communion.

The proposed Covenant will come back to the Synod in 2012 for approval, but that action was small comfort for Archbishop Williams who saw his fellow primates reject the proposal at a separate Primates’ Council session in Oxford.  Nonetheless Williams urged the Synod to keep moving forward:

“The drift of the covenant has been towards … ways with which we can, in some sense, act in coherence together for the sake of God’s mission,” he said. “I hear and partly understand the anxieties about legislating family relations [but] I do want to resist very strongly that the covenant creates a central authority.”

The Primates stuck to their more conservative traditional views and were clearly in no mood for compromise calling the covenant “fatally flawed”:

“While we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned, we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate,”  according to the statement from leaders of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the GAFCON movement. The statement was endorsed by archbishops from West Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Australia and Anglican Church of North America, a breakaway group of Dioceses from the US Episcopal Church that have sought supervision instead from this more conservative group of bishops.

Even worse, despite the fact that the Covenant signers would pledge to “respect the constitutional autonomy of all of the churches of the Anglican Communion,” a liberal group on the other side of most of the issues in contention also rejected the proposed covenant as an inappropriate intrusion in the independence of the national churches. “It would … make the Church of England subject to an outside power for the first time since Henry VIII,” said a statement by the Inclusive Church.

Do you see where this idea is going?

Speaking at the opening of the General Synod, Archbishop Williams said the covenant “offers the possibility of a voluntary promise to consult,” but he conceded that disagreement may continue and break the communion apart. “Now the risk and reality of such rupture is already there, make no mistake. The question is whether we are able to make an intelligent decision about how we deal with it.”

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Getting THERE from HERE, DioCal Youth Consultation

Adaptation and Sustainability in Ministry with Young People

Saturday, December 4, 2010
Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Diocesan ordinations follow at 3 p.m.)
Place: Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., San Francisco, CA 94108
Cost: $15, which includes lunch (scholarships available)

Click here to register!

If you are committed to ministry with young people within the Diocese of California, and if you would like to make your hopes and dreams for these ministries known in conversation with others who share your passion, then plan to attend this Ember Day conversation on the morning of Ordination Day. Learn from practitioners in ministry with young people, hear from young Episcopalians themselves, and connect with other stakeholders — youth leaders, parents, and camp and college chaplains — as we chart a contemporary course for getting from childhood to young adulthood with a robust faith in God.

A popular speaker, retreat leader and workshop presenter on the topics of spirituality, prayer, and teen faith formation, Jenifer Gamber has been involved in Christian formation since she began teaching Sunday school as a teenager. She is the author of two widely-read books about the Episcopal Church: My Faith, My Life for teenagers and Your Faith, Your Life for adults. Her Web site, www.myfaithmylife.org, offers a wealth of resources for adults who work with youth. She is the Vice-President of the National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors, has an active ministry leading confirmation and baptism preparation at her home church, the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA, and is a Companion of the Holy Cross.

Gather your whole ministry team for inspiration and celebration. Plan to stay for the ordination service, which will begin at 3 p.m.

Click here to register!

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Welcome All to Worship

When we listen to the people in our congregation at St. Timothy Episcopal Church Danville, California tell us why they belong to this congregation there is a common theme that is often spoken emotionally and from the heart.  It has been a hallmark of this faith community since its founding.

What is this secret sauce that has exerting so much flavor and depth to our parish growth?

The Virginia Woy Effect. Those who have been around for a while might call it the ‘Virginia Woy Effect’ named for the woman who more than another other person has been responsible for welcoming people at our front door the first day they visit and make sure that they feel at home in this place of worship no matter what their faith tradition, and that they feel as welcome in our faith family as the prodigal son was lost and then found by a father who never stopped loving him.  Today this ministry involves many other people at St. Timothy’s but Virginia Woy’s influence and example of how to make people feel “at home” in a new place has been multiplied a score of times in their care of our visitors.

Because so many of our congregation have experienced this sense of welcome and feel at home the broad consensus of the parish in our 20/20 survey and discernment process is clear—keep that welcoming tradition alive!

Our Clergy is There for Us When we Need them Most. Pastoral care is an important part of every priest’s job.  That is true here at St. Timothy’s as elsewhere.  In Steven Strane and now Kathy Trapani as our Interim Rector we know they would be there when we needed it most just a phone call away, or often even without a phone call being needed.  This sense of pastoral care and a parish community willing and able to rally around us in times of need reinforce the sense of “home” at St. Timothy’s we seek to retain and nurture.

Inclusive—-and we REALLY mean it! When we say at St. Timothy’s that everyone who loves God and seeks Christ is welcome at our table we want everyone to know we really mean it, live it, practice it consistently.  As the Episcopal Church has grown and evolved and confronted the ghosts surrounding inclusiveness, St. Timothy’s has faced those same challenges.  Our commitment to being a welcoming parish open to all meant to us just that—all means all.  So we struggled through the challenges of accepting women as priests and then gay and lesbian faithful as priests, and then the election of bishops and the struggles with the Anglican Communion.  Through it all we didn’t find it necessary to march in protests because as a congregation we felt the Holy Spirit was guiding us and protecting us with His simple message ‘do unto others as you would do unto me’ and so we did—and so we are one congregation with open arms to all who love God and seek Christ in their lives and we gather around one table where we all find renewal, sustenance and hope.

Welcome Home!

How you can get involved in the 20/20 Vision Next Steps?

Beyond preserving our welcoming and inclusive traditions, St. Timothy’s is embarked on a 20/20 Vision Goal set by the Vestry to investigate ways to open our doors to the unchurched and underserved in our parish community service area.  Beyond waiting for people to come to us, we seek to develop mission and ministry programs to reach out and welcome others to join us.

 

The Vestry goal is to double the congregation pledge base by 2020.

 

Meeting this goal means offering a wide range of worship experiences to meet the needs of a growing and diverse congregation from traditional to ‘edgy’.  It means taking the church out into the community to introduce ourselves and inform others about our mission and ministry programs.  And it means when we are successful in getting new people to ‘try us out’ we must make them feel welcome the first time, every time.

This is our big challenge:  Risk the unknown of reaching out to others. We believe God is with us and so we feel confident that our message of renewal, sustenance and hope will be well received but it requires going to ‘galaxies far away’ from our comfort zone as well as meeting the changing needs of our own congregational family to define the mission and ministry work of the church in ways that satisfy the hunger in us all to know Christ more dearly in our daily lives and be part of a welcoming, inclusive, loving and sustaining faith family where every time we cross the threshold we are greeted the same way:

Welcome Home!

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