Mission statements have become a byproduct of parish and diocesan life. Regrettably many are produced after much hard work and discernment and then after a year or so are relegated to the status of an afterthought. When mission is prescribed by what is left in the parish’s operating budget after all other fixed costs are met, it too often bears little resemblance to the priorities identified in the original mission statement.

Today the Diocese of Washington, its parishes and our nation are being buffeted by rapid demographic, cultural, economic and social changes. We are still feeling the impact of a financial crisis fueled by greed. Our nation’s unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent. Giving to parishes and the diocese has dropped, and in turn giving to the Episcopal Church has declined so that at last year’s General Convention, the national church’s budget was slashed by $30 million over the next three years.

Church folks, vestries, dioceses and their bishops are now facing the very serious question: How will we as a local, regional and global church be able to do ministry well given current financial constraints?

Questions are surfacing such as: How much longer can we continue to do the mission of the Gospel and live well into our mission statements using the ‘full time priest in a full time parish’ ministry model? Should smaller, financially struggling churches merge with more financially stable larger ones? and How do we define what it means to be a healthy parish?

Paying for a full time priest is becoming a significant challenge to many parishes. In some cases this consumes as much as 80 or 90 percent of the parish’s total operating budget. After paying salaries and recurring expenses such as utilities, insurance and building maintenance, there is often little money left for engaging in the mission of the parish as defined by its mission statement. For such parishes, their mission is essentially to survive from year to year with very little attention paid to anything else.

It is time for parishes, dioceses and the Episcopal Church to have some direct and probably uncomfortable conversations about what it will take be a mission-driven church in the 21st century. Do we really need more professionally trained clergy who depend on full time employment, more programs and more church buildings? Or do we need fewer clergy, fewer churches and a more creative and courageous understanding of how to do the mission of the Gospel?

The Diocese of Washington is like many in the Episcopal Church. Giving – from parishioners to the parish, from parishes to the diocese, and from the diocese to the national church, has remained relatively stable for the last 10 years and has not really kept up with inflation. It is becoming harder and harder to place full-time clergy, and in some cases even a half-time priest is difficult to sustain. Could we be seeing the day when most parish churches will be led by non-stipendiary priests?

In January I shared with our Diocesan Convention the problem of defining success by measuring dollars and cents and parochial reports. This business model works for rock concert promoters and professional sports franchises but not for churches. Measuring on an annual basis the success or failure of a parish or diocese and whether it is living well into its mission statement or not ought to be the new model.

Today, I believe we are living into a new Pentecost for the 21st century. Acts 2:1 tells of the experience of the early Christian community: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues as of fire appeared among them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages; as the Spirit gave them ability.”

The story from Acts describes many languages as a sign of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And in the Diocese of Washington we are reliving this experience, with many people coming to us from diverse cultures, speaking many different languages.

Are we growing? Yes, we are. Our growth is rapid and spectacular. It is in the mission, outreach and pastoral care that we as a diocese are currently providing for our brothers and sisters from Central and South America and the Caribbean Basin and our seven Spanish-speaking worshipping communities. It is in our outreach and pastoral care of those from West Africa who speak Igbo and Krio.

The rapid growth of these communities has been nothing less than astounding. Our diocese boasts one of the six fastest-growing Latino ministries in the Episcopal Church. And that growth is expected to continue. A new Pentecost for the 21st century is now upon us. And it is much like the first, when those blessed by the Holy Spirit spoke in many tongues.

In the past when such rapid growth occurred, the diocese and its parishes would celebrate and incubate that growth. In our diocesan history larger parishes became the mothers of mission, lending their financial resources and their missionary zeal to establish new congregations. Because of financial pressures, the diocese may no longer be able to sustain these emerging worshipping communities after June 2011. Where is the passion and will to find the financial resources to support these growing churches? The diocese, with the support of the diocesan council, has been generous with its limited resources to elevate and support this new growth. But our congregations with some means must also now embrace and support this new missionary endeavor.

We  must look beyond our current status as a diocese that is holding its own during challenging financial times. And in the faith that comes to us through Christ’s resurrection, we must find a way to fully include a new community of people who bring deep faith, dynamism and new life to our diocese and to the Episcopal Church.
We have to do more than just say “How wonderful it all is” and rise up and embrace these communities. We must seek additional resources to sustain this growth, because it is a gift from God. And it needs the financial and emotional support of our existing congregations.

Can parishes that have some resources once again become the “mothers of mission?” Is there a person or parish out there who sees that new resources are needed to support this mission, and are they willing to take the lead?

Are we resigned as a diocese to continue using old models of celebrating and supporting church growth while ignoring new possibilities of a rapidly growing Latino ministry?

God provides the church with possibilities. We as the church must reach out and grasp those possibilities with courage. And by faith make God’s possibilities human realities.

Are we as a diocese ready to embrace a new Pentecost for the 21st century?