wfn.org | Clear Vision draws diverse group of church leaders with vision to grow the church

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2001-340

Clear Vision draws diverse group of church leaders with vision to grow the church

by Thomas Blanton

     (ENS) More than 300 representatives from 38 dioceses, including 24 bishops 
and delegations from Panama and Tanzania attended the fourth annual Clear Vision 
of One Church conference at Camp Allen, Texas, November 18-20. 

     "People are coming to understand that vision is imperative for significant 
church growth," said Bishop Claude E. Payne of the Diocese of Texas, who 
originated the conference in 1998. "We are called to transform lives through the 
Holy Spirit and that is why we must turn the church from a maintenance mindset to 
being mission focused. These conferences are helping us do that."

     In the last several years, dioceses across the country have implemented 
vision plans with encouraging results and General Convention passed an initiative 
called 20/20, A Clear Vision, seeking to double the size of the Episcopal Church 
in the United States by the year 2020. The conferences were planned to help 
initiate, support and enhance these efforts. 

     The Clear Vision conference is now cosponsored by the dioceses of Texas, 
Maryland, San Diego, Tennessee and Virginia and offers a variety of workshops and 
programs aimed at reaching youth, planting churches and training leadership. 

     "This is what the General Convention should look like," said Bertram N. 
Herlong, bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee. "[This conference] is always very 
helpful." 

Cultural context

     Duncan M. Gray III, bishop coadjutor for the Diocese of Mississippi, 
commented that most people don't understand how to evaluate mission in a cultural 
context, and that the conference, "especially Bishop Payne's presentation on 
vision," was accommodating in that perspective.

     According to Katherine Jefferts-Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada and 
a first-time attendee, the conference offered a chance to share creative methods 
of achieving growth. "I think some seeds were planted about how to broaden the 
way we do things," she said. "Nevada has always known how to help rural 
congregations persist, but we have no experience in urban ministry." 

     The Rev. Mike Wyckoff, rector of Christ Church, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was 
looking for effective strategies for growth. "We began looking at new ways to 
plant churches at the diocesan council level, and we decided to follow it up," he 
said, explaining why he and his eight-member delegation made the trek to Texas. 
"It really is a group effort."

     While many representatives attended to learn how to increase congregations 
or membership within their diocese, others wanted to learn how to successfully 
handle the changes that come with church growth. Sr. Mary Elizabeth from the 
Community of St. Mary's, the first official religious community in the Episcopal 
Church, wanted to help prepare her order for a joint venture with the Diocese of 
Albany.

     "Over the next three years, we are joining with [Albany] to form a spiritual 
life center," she said. "We're going from a maintenance to a missionary style, 
and it's a major and radical change. I came to learn how to liven what we do as a 
community."

Missionary stance

     Delegates from all dioceses praised the conference and the resources they 
could now take home. 

     "I've learned the importance of having a missionary stance that is owned by 
and permeated [throughout] the diocese," said George Silides, a resident of 
Alaska. Silides said he heard about the conference through word of mouth.

     Bishop Julio Murray from the Diocese of Panama has already implemented a 
vision in his diocese. Murray attended the conference for the first time last 
year and returned with members of his staff to make sure his diocese was on track 
with its own missionary stance. "Sometimes when you're caught up in different 
surprises, you need reassurance," he said. "We're here by faith."

     At a wrap-up breakfast on the last day of the conference, bishops gathered 
to discuss the concepts of mission and church planting. According to Bishop David 
Jones from the Diocese of Virginia, "It's impossible to raise seven-figure gifts 
without an eight-figure vision, and that vision comes from God." He added that he 
has been astounded at the sources of gifts for new churches in his diocese. 
Virginia is launching four new churches this month.

--Thomas Blanton is assistant editor of the Texas Episcopalian, the official 
newspaper of the Diocese of Texas.