wfn.org | Episcopalians: Conference urges participants to 'make Christ known'

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

May 16, 2002

2002-122

Episcopalians: Conference urges participants to 'make Christ 
known'

by Kenneth Arnold

(ENS) "Our God tends to be too small--too private, too personal, 
a God we can control, program, buy," warned Dr. Fredrica Harris 
Thompsett of Episcopal Divinity School in her opening address at 
an April conference on stewardship and evangelism in 
Massachusetts. "We've commodified God," placing an all-knowing, 
all-powerful, all loving God beyond our control, she said. 

Thompsett argued that "we are stewards and evangelists of 
God's care for the world, not only of our personal salvation. 
The entire created order is to be redeemed." She said that "we 
are ordinary people loved by an extraordinary God" and that the 
work of the church is done together in common prayer and 
partnership with God.

In his plenary address the second day, Bishop Gordon Scruton 
of Western Massachusetts stressed the importance of being a 
community that knows Christ in order to make Christ known. In 
exploring the theme, "How to talk about Jesus without losing 
your friends," he said that our talk comes from the love of 
Christ and our gratitude for that love. Therefore, he said, we 
need to love to tell the story.

Scruton reminded the 320 participants from the seven dioceses 
in Province One that God communicates to the broken world 
through us. The problem, he pointed out, is that we resist our 
role. That resistance is even part of our Episcopalian culture, 
a culture that has driven out our understanding of the faith we 
have been given. Therefore we should "enter a recovery program 
from addiction to culture" through prayer and by spending time 
with those who are willing to talk about Jesus. We need a 
Sinners Anonymous group where people can come together to tell 
their stories, as they do in other recovery programs, he said.

Movement of the Spirit

The third plenary session featured four representatives from 
the congregational ministry team at the Episcopal Church Center 
in New York--Terry Parsons (stewardship and development), Ben 
Helmer (rural and small congregations), Dan Caballero (Hispanic 
ministries), and Charles Fulton (congregational development). 
Each offered brief descriptions of the New Vision Congregation, 
suggesting that the church should be open to the movement of the 
Spirit.

They said that the new church understands how to give money 
and time and talent; that it knows the neighborhood; that it 
lives its vocation through stewardship, acknowledging that all 
things come from God; and that the new church is in relationship 
with those it serves. 

Yet they pointed out that the church of the moment seems to 
lack the diversity it will need to survive. Fulton said that the 
average age of Episcopalians is 57.9 while, in the general 
population, it is 36.4. He said that the Episcopal Church "is 
dying in experience and caution."

"We need to dare to rearrange the furniture," said Helmer, 
"including the physical and emotional." Yet someone pointed out 
that small congregations are often unable to respond to the 
needs of a diverse population and that moving the furniture is 
not always possible in communities where church members depend 
on the kind of stability that a traditional setting offers. The 
constant in our life together is Jesus, not the furniture, added 
Fulton.

Mission-driven budget

Parsons said that the budget is a way to demonstrate how we 
use our resources to do God's work. The budget should not be 
used to impose limits on God's grace, she added. A 
mission-driven budget involves the whole congregation in making 
critical decisions and determines how a congregation confronts 
the culture. If Gospel-based discipleship is a basic part of 
each event in the life of the parish, if Jesus is explicitly 
always invited to the table, then members of the congregation 
can begin to see themselves as followers of Jesus and not 
followers of an institution, she concluded.

A number of workshops offered participants an opportunity to 
work together in small groups on topics of practical concern. 
They included advice on how to reshape a congregation for 
mission, new church starts, stewardship as conversion not 
fundraising, legacy stewardship as a way of transforming the 
lives of others in future generations, profiles of what makes 
congregations thrive, and developing lay ministry.

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--Ken Arnold is director of communications for the Diocese of 
Massachusetts.