Comments on: Conference Wrap-Up

By: MJ Haskew

MJ Haskew — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 03:40:24 +0000

I am from the southwest and grew up Baptist. The Episcopal Church became my church as a young adult. I was confirmed at 24 yrs. old. I was married in the Episcopal Church and my new husband had a conversion experience a week after we were married. My husband and I became a part of the charismatic movement with other Episcopalians, Catholics, and members of other denominations. We had wonderful Bible teaching over the years. Our children were baptized in our church. The Anglican faith made so much sense to me. Over the years, it seemed that ECUSA moved with societal changes. My family left the Episcopal church so my children would be involved in sound teaching, choir, and other activities. After, an accident I joined an Anglican church. There were a lot of people like me that felt out of place in the Episcopal Church. My husband and I moved to a smaller city 11 years ago. I joined the Episcopal church in our new city. There was a wonderful priest and some great people in the church. I was volunteering for a political candidate in 2014. I mentioned it to the priest who said she would never vote for my political party affiliation. Her outburst surprised me, but we were able to talk it over. Ther were sisters in the church who whispered to me that we were members of the same political party that I belonged to. Things were changing in the Episcopal church. I left the church in the Fall of 2015. I moved 10/2015 to another city. After the Nov. 2016 election, the priest of my former church gave her angry personal opinion of the Pres-elect on Facebook. One of the sisters, I mentioned earlier, replied on Facebook to the priest that she was hurt and angry. There were a lot of opinions expressed between church members on FB. I got involved and sent my former priest a personal message about expressing her personal opinion publicly. I said angry things but apologized later. This last election seemed to have caused a lot of chaos. Even my former personal physician, who was always so careful about what he said has become very opinionated, politically active, and angry. I will always be an Anglican, but not an Episcopalian. I pray that all the anger and hurt will be healed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By: Scott Gunn

Scott Gunn — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 20:36:53 +0000

Dear Mr. White,

Thank you for your comment. I think what most of our speakers were saying is that evangelism only for the sake of church growth is a gimmick that is not true evangelism. True evangelism is sharing the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. This will inevitably result in church growth, but the focus is on the evangelion, not on the institution.

There was lots of talk about church growth — both numbers and depth — at the conference. Check out the workshops page and some of the resources there. I especially commend the excellent Invite Welcome Connect program created by Mary Parmer (http://www.invitewelcomeconnect.com).

Hopefully we’ll have another one of these conferences, and I hope you can attend to see the ways in which lots of Episcopalians are eager for their church to grow as we all cultivate our gifts of sharing the Good News.

Peace,
Scott Gunn+

By: Jack White

Jack White — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 03:50:40 +0000

Mr. Gunn,

[Ed note: The contents of the post were written by Frank Logue, who was quoting others who spoke at the conference.]

You said in this posting what I heard time and again during the conference, namely, that evangelism is not about growing our churches. If that is so, who will help our churches grow, and when?

We all know growth is needed if the Episcopal Church is to survive as a viable institution. Just visit the parishes in our rural area of Southwestern Virginia. They are losing members and, as a group, lack any clear sense of direction on how to rebuild themselves as health, viable contributors to the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.

It struck me during the conference that the people I heard saying, in effect, that our parishes don’t matter that much — were themselves, as a group, on the staffs of dioceses and perhaps the national church which are supported by payments from these shrinking and sometimes dying local churches. In short, the speakers are pretty much isolated from what is happening in the local churches, at least those I know and deal with.

OK, I wholeheartedly agree this. not a numbers game. Doubling our membership is not a desirable goal if we don’t change how we think of ourselves and our mission to this fragile world. In that, the PB has it righ, and I strongly support what he is trying to do in reorienting our thinking.

Yet I heard conference speakers talking as if bringing the Gospel of Jesus to people we meet on the street, and leaving them there, was an acceptable goal. One said whether these people ever come to a church, much less an Episcopal church, does not matter — so long as they come to know Jesus.

Back to my original question: Who will tell our parishes how they can grow and become healthy enough to meet the challenges posed at this conference? And when will this happen? Sadly, it did not happen in Dallas.

Peace+

Jack White
St. Thomas Church
Diocese of Southwestern Virginia
Abingdon VA
276-619-3831
jackwhite@whitelawoffice.com