Reflections on the Stakeholders Retreat
So yesterday, Saturday May 20th, I attended, with many members of Gethsemane, the Stakeholders Retreat that was hosted by the Bishop’s Commission for Metro Mission Strategy. It was a challenging day that had good conversation and difficult moments of honest looks at who we are and who we are not.
The following are my own reflections:
The day spent at Breck School was difficult, it was joyous too, in some aspects, but I walked away from the meeting not sure what to think about the time spent discussing the future of the Episcopal Church in MN. The following is based on my experience primarily in the small group I was part of and a little bit from the large group discussions and presentations. On one hand, I felt as if the BCMMS wanted to make sure that we all knew we were part of dying institution, they wanted to drill it into our head, then pound it into our head, and then mash it into our head, and then add a little extra oomph for good measure to be sure we understood that we are part of dying institution. It was kind of frustrating because I understand and live our predicament. At Gethsemane I have come up against this tremendous challenge in a major way, we must start finding a way to connect with people who are not connected with Church (43% of people in the Metro have no religious affiliation) AND we must start finding ways to make our theology, our muddiness, our middle way: “we don’t have the answers for you” more attractive. (Fundamentalist and Conservative churches tend to have a black and white theology and are very large)
So, we focused on the unhealthy system of the Diocese of Minnesota, and in my opinion pointed our fingers at the wrong place. I am coming to believe that the unhealth of the system of the Diocese of MN, has little to do with the Bishop’s Office and much more to do with our so called healthy and strong congregations who are unwilling to work together for change. Now, they may work together in some outreach projects, they may work together in mission trips or other aspects of ministry, they may even throw money at other congregations who are struggling, but when it comes to putting time, money and resources (read people) together to look at making the Diocese stronger, the heads retract into the shells and everyone becomes insular. The unhealth lies in the inability of congregations, healthy and strong congregations, to work together to make the whole stronger. Again, that is my opinion.
I am unsure what will come out of the conversations that follow this meeting within the BCMMS. I am unclear what direction we will go, my understanding of the BCMMS was that they would bring some direction and clarity to this topic, but it seems to only have promoted a sense of a lack of vision for the future and squarely placed the blame on someone else’s shoulders. There seems to be an unwillingness to take a stand and declare a direction that this Diocese needs to go to improve health. Instead this retreat seemed to muddy the waters and make things feel even more stuck, but added a sense of urgency that brings the anxiety of the system up a few notches and will cause great frustration in the near future. I hope we can find ways to continue this dialogue and broaden its scope so that we can take a more honest look at how to succeed while discerning our future and moving to act at the same time.
Some people also called for better leadership, and I want to ask if the leadership from our Bishop that brought the revitalization of Gethsemane to being is the kind of leadership we need as we move forward. Bishop Jelinek created a vision for mission in Downtown Minneapolis, spread the word, and then pushed his plan through for Gethsemane. Bishop Jelinek stood up, made a declaration, discerned and took action. His leadership caused great angst in the Diocesan system. I believe the leadership that the Bishop exhibited in moving the Gethsemane Plan forward is the same kind of leadership we need from the BCMMS. They have our full support; they have our attention; they have an exciting and important opportunity before them, now the BCMMS, in partnership with other congregations and members of the Diocese must lead us into our future. It would be a shame to hold on to the need to know more, there is little that makes a system fall further from health than more information. The people at Gethsemane are ready to move and act, I believe the urgency expressed at the retreat revealed many more people willing and ready to act. This is an exciting and glorious opportunity for change and transformation, I hope to all hopes that we will not miss it.
Be Well!
A+
The following are my own reflections:
The day spent at Breck School was difficult, it was joyous too, in some aspects, but I walked away from the meeting not sure what to think about the time spent discussing the future of the Episcopal Church in MN. The following is based on my experience primarily in the small group I was part of and a little bit from the large group discussions and presentations. On one hand, I felt as if the BCMMS wanted to make sure that we all knew we were part of dying institution, they wanted to drill it into our head, then pound it into our head, and then mash it into our head, and then add a little extra oomph for good measure to be sure we understood that we are part of dying institution. It was kind of frustrating because I understand and live our predicament. At Gethsemane I have come up against this tremendous challenge in a major way, we must start finding a way to connect with people who are not connected with Church (43% of people in the Metro have no religious affiliation) AND we must start finding ways to make our theology, our muddiness, our middle way: “we don’t have the answers for you” more attractive. (Fundamentalist and Conservative churches tend to have a black and white theology and are very large)
So, we focused on the unhealthy system of the Diocese of Minnesota, and in my opinion pointed our fingers at the wrong place. I am coming to believe that the unhealth of the system of the Diocese of MN, has little to do with the Bishop’s Office and much more to do with our so called healthy and strong congregations who are unwilling to work together for change. Now, they may work together in some outreach projects, they may work together in mission trips or other aspects of ministry, they may even throw money at other congregations who are struggling, but when it comes to putting time, money and resources (read people) together to look at making the Diocese stronger, the heads retract into the shells and everyone becomes insular. The unhealth lies in the inability of congregations, healthy and strong congregations, to work together to make the whole stronger. Again, that is my opinion.
I am unsure what will come out of the conversations that follow this meeting within the BCMMS. I am unclear what direction we will go, my understanding of the BCMMS was that they would bring some direction and clarity to this topic, but it seems to only have promoted a sense of a lack of vision for the future and squarely placed the blame on someone else’s shoulders. There seems to be an unwillingness to take a stand and declare a direction that this Diocese needs to go to improve health. Instead this retreat seemed to muddy the waters and make things feel even more stuck, but added a sense of urgency that brings the anxiety of the system up a few notches and will cause great frustration in the near future. I hope we can find ways to continue this dialogue and broaden its scope so that we can take a more honest look at how to succeed while discerning our future and moving to act at the same time.
Some people also called for better leadership, and I want to ask if the leadership from our Bishop that brought the revitalization of Gethsemane to being is the kind of leadership we need as we move forward. Bishop Jelinek created a vision for mission in Downtown Minneapolis, spread the word, and then pushed his plan through for Gethsemane. Bishop Jelinek stood up, made a declaration, discerned and took action. His leadership caused great angst in the Diocesan system. I believe the leadership that the Bishop exhibited in moving the Gethsemane Plan forward is the same kind of leadership we need from the BCMMS. They have our full support; they have our attention; they have an exciting and important opportunity before them, now the BCMMS, in partnership with other congregations and members of the Diocese must lead us into our future. It would be a shame to hold on to the need to know more, there is little that makes a system fall further from health than more information. The people at Gethsemane are ready to move and act, I believe the urgency expressed at the retreat revealed many more people willing and ready to act. This is an exciting and glorious opportunity for change and transformation, I hope to all hopes that we will not miss it.
Be Well!
A+
Comments
We need to stay positive, and embrace the challenge!
Sunburned
Thanks for your comment, you are right, the hot topic is the issue of gay marriage and inclusin of the GLBT community in the Church and the some people are definitely using that work done in 2003 as evidence of a shrinking and dying Church. But I bleiev eit has a whole lot more to do with relevance and being present to peolle where they are at.
I hope that our convention deals with the issues of the shrinking Church and has some healthy and pointed cnversations about our future, alas I am a bit worried as my wife, there right now blocks away from you, is being treated poorly becasue she has a child. There is much work to b done that has little do with whether or not we welcome the GLBT community into our church.