Episcopal Life Online Newslink August 28, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - CHICAGO: Five bishop nominees announced * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SOUTHERN OHIO: Pilgrims study pollution, solutions in Athens * WORLD REPORT - CENTRAL AFRICA: Bishop Mwamba looks to 'breakthrough' on homosexuality row * MISSION - World mission conference to spotlight companion relationships with 'Everyone, Everywhere' * OPINION - Speaking the truth -- with love
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
CHICAGO: Five bishop nominees announced
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_89518_ENG_HTM.htm
SOUTHERN OHIO: Pilgrims study pollution, solutions in Athens http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_89496_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
CENTRAL AFRICA: Bishop Mwamba looks to 'breakthrough' on homosexuality row http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_89528_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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MISSION
World mission conference to spotlight companion relationships with 'Everyone, Everywhere'
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians active in global mission work will gather June 5-8, 2008, at the Maritime Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, for the church-wide world mission conference, Everyone, Everywhere. The conference is for individuals, parishes, dioceses, and mission groups committed to building and maintaining companion relationships with people around the world. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to celebrate existing relationships and nurture new ones, meet with others who have common interests and experiences in specific regions or mission topics, share personal mission stories, and learn how to engage in more effective world mission.
"It is an important and opportune time for the Episcopal Church to focus on the global mission of the Church," says the Rev. Jim Lemler, director of mission for the Episcopal Church. "There are many relationships and partnerships for global mission. There is a strong vision for service in the global context. We build on a rich heritage and experience of mission throughout the world. Now is the time to envision that mission in new ways recognizing the potential that exists for our future."
To find out more about Everyone, Everywhere, visit http://www.everyone08.org or contact Mary Brennan at mbrennan@episcopalchurch.org or 212-716-6223.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_89531_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
Speaking the truth -- with love
By Ken Howard
[Episcopal Life] Reading yet another story about schism in Episcopal Church ("More U.S. Episcopalians Look Abroad Amid Rift -- Overseas Prelates Lead 200 to 250 Congregations," June 17, 2007), I found myself growing a little bored with the topic. While we all know that divisions exist and that some congregations have seceded or are planning to, it gets tiresome after a while seeing the same tired old story repeated for the umpteenth time.
There seems to be a generally accepted storyline that runs something like this: Conservatives vs. Liberals. Traditionalists vs. Revisionists. Conservative congregations growing. Too-liberal Episcopal Church shrinking. Unfortunately, the storyline does not fairly portray the reality. Yet sheer repetition has given it an aura of "truthiness."
Take the title of the article for example. The term "rift," coupled with the estimate of 200-250 departing churches, makes it seem that a congregational exodus of seismic proportions is underway. Yet compared with the more than 7,500 congregations that make up the Episcopal Church nationwide, even that number barely registers as a tremor. But the article's estimate is much too high. To date, only a majority of members of 45 Episcopal congregations (less than 1%) have voted to leave the denomination (the higher figure quoted by the article includes congregations that were never a part of the Episcopal Church.) Compare this to the more than 1,200 Southern Baptist congregations that left their denomination to form the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship after the Southern Baptist Convention was taken over by its ultraconservative wing. Similar migrations of liberal and moderate parishioners have occurred from Episcopal congregations that have grown more conservative. But trends like these that don't fit the popular presumptions seem to fly under the reporting radar. There are some significant shifts going on in the Church at present, but the realignment runs in both directions.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_89519_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm