wfn.org | Episcopalians: Domestic Missionary Partnership meeting seeks to think outside the box

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

February 28, 2002

2002-049

Episcopalians: Domestic Missionary Partnership meeting seeks 
to think outside the box

by Dick Snyder 

(ENS) Participants got an idea that they would be attending an 
unusual church meeting when the annual gathering of the Domestic 
Missionary Partnership (DMP) got underway February 7 with the 
executive board members dressed in costumes from Star Trek.

They set the stage for the theme of the meeting, which was 
to think outside the box, explained the Rev. Robert Nelson 
of Nevada, secretary of the DMP.  We hope to stimulate thinking 
outside the norms, he added.

Workshops, speakers and even a tour of San Francisco Aquarium 
were held to reinforce the theme. 

A light bulb, used in a workshop as one of the items to spur 
discussion needs to be connected to work, observed Bishop 
William Gregg of Eastern Oregon.  Disconnectedness is not 
helpful to the mission of the church, he said.  Connectedness 
and relationship are essential.

When you think about being in a box, creation is a box, 
said Bishop Andrew Fairfield of North Dakota.  When were 
baptized, we are born into both the creation that God is good, 
and into the box too.  Our destiny is not in the box, he added.

The Rev. John Robertson, national church staff officer for 
Native American ministry, noted that it is possible for people 
to work their way out of one box, only to create another one.

Seeking solutionsA session led by the Rev. Scott Hayashi of 
Portola Valley, California, examined factors that hinder change 
within the church, including situational and organizational 
factors. Participants were urged to come up with small, concrete 
plans within their dioceses that can affect change now.  He 
noted that todays problems are the results of last years 
solutions.  And tomorrows problems will be the result of 
todays solutions.

Ensuing discussion led Fairfield to observe that what 
appears to be a small change to some people may appear major to 
others. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada noted that 
buy-in is essential. If (the change) comes top-down, it fails. 
Buy-in is critical.

The trip to the aquarium was designed to get delegates to 
visit creatures that live in a box, explained executive board 
member Mary Parsons of Alaska. Marianne Ell of North Dakota said 
she enjoyed getting away from the Mercy Center, site for the 
meeting, for the aquarium tour, to the real world. She added 
that she enjoyed listening to other dioceses sharing mission 
experiences.

In those presentations, Schori said that in her first message 
as diocesan bishop she challenged the Diocese of Nevada to 
mission.  She noted that there is a new congregation at 
Bullhead City, in Arizona close to the border with Nevada, and 
another being planned in Wendover, on the Nevada-Utah state 
line. All those dioceses are cooperating with the new churches.

Mission ventures

Eastern Oregon is working with the call program at Church 
Divinity School of the Pacific in review of the formation 
process and for on-line education opportunities, said Gregg.

Navajoland is working to develop a hogan seminary to 
provide training which blends Christian faith with Navajo 
traditions, said Bishop Steven Plummer of Navajoland.

North Dakota has also tried several mission ventures, including 
working with companion dioceses in other parts of the world.  
This was to give us experience in mission, and it was a 
wonderful experience, to reach out beyond North Dakota borders, 
said Fairfield. He said he also enjoyed being able to talk about 
concerns common to small dioceses.

Bishop Keith Whitmore of Eau Claire agreed.  One of his 
concerns is that all seminaries train people as though they 
will be in a big church, and the national church is saying the 
same thing.  We have to say something to the Episcopal Church 
because (preparing clergy to serve in a church of 250 members) 
is a deadly model. He said that small dioceses, and small 
churches-which abound in DMP dioceses-are sometimes made to 
feel second class.  There is no money for rural 
anything-renewal or growth,  he explained.

Members agreed to seek new diocesan members of DMP and, in 
the words of North Dakotas Ell: There is a lot of energy here. 
 We need the larger church to know that the rural church is 
alive and well.

In order to stimulate out of the box thinking, each diocese 
was awarded $2,002 to fund what Nelson called an innovative 
diocesan project-something fun, something really out there. 
Suggested ideas for the money included purchase of drums for all 
congregations for use in liturgy (Alaska); following up on a 
diocesan radio advertising campaign (Spokane); creating fun new 
liturgies to share with congregations at the diocesan 
convention (Nevada); and bringing people from around the 
reservation for a pilgrimage to the four sacred mountains 
(Navajoland).

In other business, delegates elected Mary OFarrell of 
Western Kansas to replace Chris Telfer of Eastern Oregon as 
comptroller.  Telfer, who had served as president and 
comptroller of the organization for 20 years, announced that she 
was retiring from DMP in order to devote time to other 
ministries within the Episcopal Church.  She was honored for her 
service to DMP.

Building bridgesDMP is the successor organization to 
Coalition 14, a group of generally small dioceses which banded 
together to divide financial allocations from the national 
church and to formulate a vision of mission and ministry 
strategy. Diocesan members of DMP are Alaska, Eastern Oregon, 
Eau Claire, El Camino Real, Idaho, Navajoland, Nevada, North 
Dakota, Utah and Western Kansas.  The Diocese of Spokane joined 
DMP and sent members to this years meeting.

Delegates approved grants from national church funds of 
$103,000 to Eastern Oregon, $55,000 to Western Kansas and 
$45,000 to Eau Claire.  Another $33,00 was allocated for 
meetings and $18,018 for the out of the box grants to each 
diocese.

DMP is getting more bang for the buck than most 
organizations in the Church, said Whitmore. He explained that 
the grants should not be considered as welfare by the church, 
but as helping to provide a bridge between where we are and 
where we are going.

Also approved were grants funded by the Diocese of Utah and 
administered by DMP.  Those grants were to provide racism 
training in Alaska for $8,000; aid for 40 of the Lost Boys of 
the Sudan now in North Dakota for $2,500; musical instruments 
for students in Nevada for $5,000; a spiritual development 
workshop in Western Kansas for $3,500; and $1,000 to help run 
the retreat center in the Diocese of Idaho.

The meeting was dedicated to the memory of Deacon Margaret 
Hardy of Navajoland, who was killed recently in an automobile 
accident.  She had served on the DMPs executive committee.

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--Dick Snyder is a freelance journalist and seminarian who has 
served as communicator for C-14 and DMP for 20 years.