Almost 2 Years As A Nomad

After our 2012 Diocesan Convention, “Living Our Baptism”, I accepted a call to join a group seeking God’s mission-oriented future for the Diocese of Olympia. It was called “Outside Church Walls.” It has been meeting once a month since December 2012 in the Seattle area that is not within our church walls.

In my professional life I worked several years as a marine industry consultant working in the Middle East and Korea, so I did have some idea of working outside of normal U.S. working atmosphere and conditions, absorbing a little bit of nomadic life.

Our task has been to work with Bishop Greg trying to come up with ideas that would make our Diocese of Olympia and the 100 Episcopal Churches within, more involved to carry out our God given charge, as individuals and congregations into our communities, the Mission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

To say the least, it has been an interesting adventure that has allowed me to visit many locations in the Puget Sound area that I never would have been to other- wise. I have met some wonderful people and organizations that are, in different ways, carrying out God’s Mission on a regular basis. I’ve gotten to work with and know 13 members of our Diocese, both Lay and Priests, that I can say have worked hard, prayed hard, anguished about how to live into our Baptismal Vows, and carry out the Lord’s will in the Diocese of Olympia.

I felt good about the surveys we did in our congregations, communities, and the interviews with community leaders that led to our forum and program at the 2013 Diocesan Convention. Our forum with the Community Interview Packet was filled to overflowing on Saturday morning, but the follow-ups with individual congregations after Convention did not create the enthusiasm we had hoped with the exceptions of a few congregations.

Yes, we were disappointed, but felt we should carry on with sharing information from many other Dioceses’ and congregations across the Episcopal and Anglican Churches across, not just the U.S., but around the World.

“Outside Church Walls” will be bringing the ideas and concerns of the past two years to the 104th Convention of the Diocese of Olympia in November 2014.

Our August meeting was held at “Seattle Tilth”, Rainier Valley site, in a garden setting. We were served a fantastic meal by Elders from East African immigrant communities who work the gardens with the Lord’s help...very powerful.

It was at this meeting that we tried to summarize the defining themes over our time together.

1. A powerful personal faith that drove our presence in our world and church.
2. A compelling purpose (a clear why?) growing out of that faith.
3. A meaningful action that comes from 1 & 2.
4. Leadership and accountability from Lay, Clergy and Congregations that will provide the dynamic for 1,2,& 3.

Yes, OCW was a bit Nomadic in our wandering! We argued, disagreed both passionately and faithfully, always in a Grace filled and faithful time. We prayed a lot for each other and for the Lord’s will to be done.

I was reminded of our “Deacon’s Poverty Resolution” passed at the 2012 Convention. Not to eliminate it, but to make sure that any programs in our churches would consider poverty in our communities and actions...What Would Jesus Do? That was on every agenda of our meetings and might be one of the vehicals between congregations and communities that will make a difference in carrying out our Lord’s work, both inside and outside our Church walls. Amen



Chuck

Managing Decline and a New Opportunity for Growth

"This Episcopal Church is in the throes of creative ferment, yearning to find a new congruence that will discover emerging life in new soil, and refreshed growth in the plantings of former years."

Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori

1. I've been thinking about two facts:The Episcopal Church in Western Washington is in numerical decline; and,
2. There is a demographic tidal wave headed our way.

I see opportunities in both.

With respect to the decline, this means that there are fewer Episcopalians with each passing year even though the general population is increasing faster than ever. But our land and buildings aren't shrinking. So, if we're smart about this, we can put our land and buildings to the best productive economic use to maximize income. That will enable us to have a disproportionate influence on society notwithstanding our small size. Note, maximize income. That does not mean selling out. I think selling property is not only unwise, short-sighted, and poor stewardship, but it may even be a breach of fiduciary duty. Buildings and land are assets, cash is not

But how can we determine what that best productive use is? Ask the market.

Here's an example. The Diocese owns several acres of land just north of Bellingham. Currently, there are several discussions I'm aware of about how to use it. A farm to grow food for the hungry? Apartments for the homeless? Assisted living for the aged? What has so far been missing from these conversations is the fact that the property is located in one of the fastest growing areas of Whatcom County. While I am merely using this piece of property as an example because I'm familiar with it, the best use may be a long-term sophisticated commercial real estate lease. That would generate the most revenue, which could then be used to buy more food than we could grow ourselves, to rent more apartments for the homeless, or to build a bigger assisted living facility. Or maybe we should just use the proceeds to provide grants to organizations or people who do those things best while the church focuses on proclaiming the Kingdom of God, which is what we do best. I'm not saying that's necessarily the answer, but I do believe stewardship requires is to be economically efficient with our property. At the very least, a church building sitting empty and unused 6 days a week is a stewardship "fail."

As for the wave of the future, it's what marketers call Generation Z, people born since 1995. People under 19 years old are the single largest demographic group in the US, over quarter of the population. This group has some identifiable characteristics and attitudes that ought to be of interest to the church:

• They may in some ways be more receptive to tradition than Millenials, Generation X, and the Baby Boom. My instincts tell me that Generation Z wants nothing to do with how the Baby Boom expresses itself; Boomers have been "in power" for way too long. For example, Generation Z doesn't relate to any comparison-- even by way of contrast-- to "the 1960's" or the "19 anythings", for that matter.
• 26% of them are volunteering.
• 25% of them live in poverty.
• 30% of them are putting off graduating from High School. Why?
• They worry about the economy and the environment, blaming previous generations [that's us, folks] for trashing both. Sam Torvend has been saying this for years.
• 26% of them would need to fly to visit most of their social network "friends." I infer that this means a lack of authentic physical community locally.
• 25% of them have left Facebook so far in 2014.

I have a hunch that traditional (i.e. pre-Baby Boom) church may be a big hit with them. It is no accident that many students seem to prefer the traditional language of the Lord's Prayer, a choral mass, etc. to the more casual approaches of the Baby Boom. We see this in the popularity of Taizé in Bellingham, Anglo-Catholic High Mass at St. Paul's in Queen Anne, and Compline at the Cathedral. The demographics of Generation Z indicate that reacting to decline by trying to articulate a Baby Boomer "relevance" is actually likely to aggravate the situation. And this includes the Boomer, Gen X, and Millenneal tendency to exhaust the church over an endless series of essentially external media-driven secular "issues." The opportunity for growth may very well be in the more traditional expressions of the Episcopal faith, actively promoted using the science of marketing communications.

And guess what the Episcopal Church does extraordinarily well? Tradition.

If we keep our heads economically and play to (and communicate) our strengths, I see a tremendous opportunity for growth.

Here's a fascinating marketing presentation on the characteristics of Generation Z: http://www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17


Brad

Out of Fuel

Back in June, I posted about the I-SEE3 Spacecraft which had recently drawn quite close to Earth. I felt somehow that this 1970's era spacecraft symbolized the church. The spacecraft had been sent a signal to shutdown, but never did. Like the church, it remained irrelevant for many years but still fully functioning.

I thought I would post an update on the I-SEE 3 Mission as it certainly didn't turn out as I expected. Shortly after my post, the team in control of the spacecraft attempted a series of 11 maneuvers to put it into a new orbit between the Earth and the Sun.Only a couple of maneuvers were successful before the thrusters started to sputter.

For a week I sat on the edge of the seat, hoping for some good news, checking their blog several times a day. There could have been several things that had gone wrong, anything from a clog in the fuel lines to a busted valve.

It hadn't crossed my mind that I-SEE3 would be out of fuel. Although I'm only an outside observer with no experience in interplanetary science, I thought that I-SEE3 was a sure thing.

On July 24th, the Reboot Project started commanding the spacecraft to shutdown any systems that didn't do science. While the original intended mission isn't a possibility any longer, the scientific instruments on board are still functioning and relaying information back about solar activity. For the first time in 30+ years, I-SEE3 is again doing science and reporting it back to earth for any all all to hear. During our most recent solar flare, people were listening as I-SEE3 reported what was going on.

My initial reaction was that ISEE-3 was dead, unusable, spent. And to be sure, the fuel and propulsion system is. It's still hard to remind myself that this is not the case for the whole spacecraft.

In our work exploring our to revitalize the church, I think we have came to similar conclusions about the Episcopal Church. While parts of us are still vital and relevant, other parts are well out of fuel.

We're at a crossroads: do we attempt to revitalize ourselves to go on more missions or should we die and let die in the hope of Resurrection?


I hope you will join us at Diocesan Convention November 7-8 to hear what we think about this question and more.


Robert

Argue

At our most recent Outside Church Walls meeting we prayed for one member’s granddaughter and her babies who had entered labor too early, and we prayed for another member’s mother, struggling with illness. We further settled in with a group reflection.

And then we argued – passionately and faithfully. It was tense at times, with several wanting to speak at once. As we broke for lunch the most fervent found each other in the next room, not to push their cases one last time but to acknowledge common ground despite their differences.

It felt like a faithful, grace-full time. We worked from prayer and connection, allowing us to remain centered on God, to see light in the midst of the heat. Because of our conflict in the morning (not despite of, but because of), we spent good time in the afternoon reaching clarity on work we’ve been doing for some time.

None of us holds a lock on God’s truth, so much larger than any one of us – or even all of us together – can comprehend. It’s important for us to push each other, to assert and to listen, so that together we can more closely approximate the mind of God.

We live in a fractured culture, fragmenting into ever-smaller groups, each insisting on conformity to its micro-ideology. One gift we can offer is the model of advocating passionately while still listening respectfully, then coming together over what we can hold in common.

Greg

Church and Religion Not On Their Radar Screens

I spent most of last Thursday afternoon and early evening in the Collins Library at the University of Puget Sound with the sixty artist books that had been chosen for the juried exhibit “Book Power Redux”. It was a power-filled time that I spent slowly and carefully reading the messages being expressed by artists who had created Artist Books addressing the realities of our social and political world for which they feel passion. (Disclaimer: My granddaughter, Sarah Mallory, was one of the sixty participants whose art book was among those was in the exhibit.)

The art books, all creatively crafted to express their particular message, filled me with a wide ranging mix of feelings. Their books called to my attention in deep and multi-dimensional ways these artists’ messages to us about race, diversity, gender, bullying, guns and gun violence, poverty, civil war, rape, affluence and family – and other social and political issues.

What was NOT on the radar screen as the focus of any of the 60 art books was church and religion. Every one of the art books was chock-full of spirit and passion about issues we, inside church walls, at least express some concern.

Savior, hear our prayer.

I wasn’t attending the exhibit as a reporter but as an interested visitor. Yet, I think I would have received a truthful and direct response from each of the artists present to these questions:

+ Why are you passionate about the issue you have creatively crafted into an art story to call our attention to care about this issue?
+ What are you doing to be actively involved with the issue about which you are hoping to raise our awareness?
+ How do you hope to be making a positive difference in how you and we (the we of the world) respond to this concern?

I challenge us, inside church walls, to be able to answer these questions as they relate to us and our Christian faith.

+ Why are you passionate about being a Christian?
+ What are you doing to be actively involved with with your life centered in Christian faith?
+ How do you hope to be making a positive difference as a Christian in action?

(Disclaimer: I am an admittedly proud grandmother of one of the exhibit participants.) I’m attaching granddaughter Sarah’s art book “Rise” as one example of the art books in this thought-provoking exhibit. Sarah’s book “Rise” calls our attention to the reality that 744 minors died from gun violence in the United States during 2013. Do we care? Why? 

Spirit and passion are highly expressive in all the art books created by these sixty artists. Where is our spirit and passion highly expressive within the life of the Church? Why isn’t church and religion a passionate political and social issue to be the focus of an art book? On whose radar screen is it a passionate issue?

Again, I ask, “Why are you passionate about being a Christian?” We are challenged to answer that question. Think about it.

The exhibit Book Power Redux will be “up” until 10/15 in the UPS Collins Library, main floor and just to the left of the main doors.

Go see it!


MaryAnn

The Empty Pew Where She Once Sat

I truly wish my blog today had a happy ending. I’ve tried my level best to think of something else to write about, but there is something weighing on my heart today that is begging me to write about it.

Today I had the privilege of meeting a young woman for coffee. I had met her awhile back when she was a student at Evergreen. She had grown up Evangelical and left Christianity behind for Buddhism. Why had she left Christianity? She chose to leave Christianity while attending high school and falling in love with science; particularly environmental science. Her church did not have space for a person of science or a woman who challenged the idea of women being inferior to men. So she left.

While attending college, she took a class where she came into contact with other religious traditions and discovered Buddhism. She loved the silence and the practice deeply but felt that something was missing for her. Somehow she missed Jesus.

When I met her, she was just about finishing up her senior year and was on her way out of state to attend graduate school. She began to come to the Episcopal Church and fell in love. She fell in love with the mystery she told me. She loved the ancient practice, and that science was embraced by our tradition. She loved that women could be leaders. 

I helped her figure out the Episcopal church in her new city. So here we were some time later with her coming into town to visit her family. Naturally, one of my first questions was how was her new church working out for her.

She hesitated and looked away. I encouraged her to be honest with me.

It had not worked out well. By her third Sunday there, someone had finally said hello to her. By her fifth week, she was asked to join the Vestry (the church board).

The place felt desperate.

She declined to join the church board but instead got involved with the Altar Guild. I thought it would be spiritual she told me. I thought we would hav silence and learning about the traditions behind all of those beautiful things. Instead, I was scolded for not knowing how to iron and our meetings were bitch sessions about how much the guild hated the Rector and how none of us knew what we were doing.

She stayed close to a year but in the end chose to leave. When I asked her to sum up her experience there, the word she used was superficial.

She’s left and is beginning to explore other churches. She wants to find a place to truly practice her Christianity.

I know this young lady to be a person of incredible maturity for her age. I know her to be someone who can persevere and is an incredible leader. She is working on her masters in marine biology and wants to devote her life to conservation of our oceans. She sees it as her ministry.

She is passionate about this fragile earth our island home and all things green. She loved the language of Eucharistic Prayer C in the Book of Common Prayer. It was a conversion moment for her the first time she prayed that prayer. She was amazed when I told her about our current Presiding Bishop. She scoured the internet looking for videos of talks and sermons given by our PB. She would desperately like to be an Episcopal Christian but sadly, the only Episcopal Church in her area is not open to her gifts.

She wanted to start a Centering Prayer Group but no one else wanted to join her. She joined the Earth Ministry group but when she started talking about things beyond ride your Bike to Church Sunday and Prayers of the People that mention the environment, the group became uneasy. They were not sure about forums on climate change and ocean acidity. They certainly not open to the idea of asking the church to divest stock funds from big oil companies. She loved to join a Bible Study or a book club or other small group but the only one available to her is during the day when she is at school.

The next closest Episcopal Church was not any better and neither one even seemed to notice when she left.

And so another one walks out the door. The pew is empty—did anyone notice?

I wanted to tell her it would be different if she lived in our diocese here in Western Washington. I will say there are many bright spots in our region—there are places that are thriving and vital, place doing amazing ministry. Many places however are struggling; mired down in complex situations from their past or too afraid to embrace new ways of being for their future. We are so afraid of failure that we hold on to the old rut we are stuck in hoping for different results. And so we decline.

I left my coffee date feeling a bit sad. Another young person squandered and lost.

I wonder when will we wake up and stop being complacent about the ones leaving church?

There you are, beloved readers. No neat endings or pleasantries; just an empty pew.

George

Questions About Structure and People

We recently met at Seattle Tilth. We sat outside in a circle in the August sunshine surrounded by refugee recent immigrants who were working together to farm some 5 acres in the Rainier Beach area.

Our conversation ranged back and forth between two major poles: structure and people. I left that meeting wondering if our structures still make sense. R.C. pointed out that structures have inherent limitations. That promoted me to wonder if our existing structures help the diocese select and support the best people to both proclaim the Gospel and to implement it. Or in terms of Pauline biology, does our body need to evolve to thrive in our changed cultural environment?

We broadly agreed on the need to encourage "entrepreneurial" leadership (with the caveat that many of us disliked the term because the church is not a business). Our existing structures move slowly. For example, it takes a minimum of 18 months for discernment for Postulancy, followed by 3 years of seminary in order to become a priest. That's close to 5 years at a minimum; a substantial percentage of one's life, depending on one's age. Everyone agrees that we should select people deliberately, but is the current structure the best way to do that? Will an entrepreneurial, risk-taking person with new ideas want to sit still for 5 years before getting started or will he or she seek out a more nimble organization? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

As church membership has declined, our governing bodies have remained the same. Should our vestries, conventions, and councils shrink proportionately?

How should we best use our land and buildings to implement the Kingdom of God?

Most importantly, can lay people articulate what the Kingdom of God even is? This seems to me to be the greatest challenge we face. What exactly is the Good News and what is the relevance of the mythology we all take for granted to people unfamiliar with it?

I don't know what the answers are, but I think we should consider these and other questions about the intersection of people, structure, and faith.


***
The Great Unplugged Blackout is over. Once I submit this article, I'm going to log onto my social media. I have missed connections with friends, really more of "seeing them on the radar" than anything else. Apparently, I also missed something about Ice Buckets (?) that everyone in the world knows about but me. I don't think I'm going back to using social media with the same frequency I did before, though. Social media to me also leads to a lot of frantic spinning of wheels to keep up with things that aren't that important. I do agree with Bishop Greg, that what is a problem for one person can be a lifeline for someone else.


Brad