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[Back to index of May articles] The diocese and parishes must work as one By Bishop John Bryson Chane Someone recently asked me if I had a vision for the Diocese of Washington that I hoped could be lived into and realized during my episcopacy. The question is a good one, and it is rooted in a concern as old as Christianity itself. In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul writes; "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." When I addressed the Diocesan Convention following my election as the eighth Bishop of Washington, I took as my theme a Scriptural verse that sounds a similar them: "That we all may be one." This has been for me the focus of my work and ministry among you, especially during these times of great challenges and changes within the life of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. I will not let go of it! By the time this May issue of the Washington Window is in your hands, regional meetings with diocesan staff, clergy, wardens and other parish leaders will have started in order to gain, through each region, a snapshot of each congregation's current life and missional journey within the diocese. The purpose of our time together is to assess our strengths and weaknesses as we seek to do the mission of Christ within our regions and through their various congregations. The work we will do also will involve the new, emerging leadership of our Regional Conveners. As a diocese we cannot develop a mission strategy or multiple strategies focusing on church growth, outreach and possible new congregational starts, nor can we revitalize present congregational ministries in key locations until we have honestly evaluated the health and vitality of existing congregations. To some the information might be unnerving. To others it may reaffirm a congregation's sense of who they are, and affirm their strong sense of active mission and outreach. The time of simply being individual, vaguely related congregations within the life of the Diocese of Washington is over. We must change the way we work with and care for one another. This is critical for the formation of any overall diocesan mission strategy and must be accomplished if we are to move forward to do the ministry of Christ in a diocese that is one of the most diverse by race, culture, geography and national focus of any within the Episcopal Church. It is my hope that our work together will begin to answer the often unspoken and hard question: Do we really want to work together and share our resources, our strengths and, yes, our weaknesses with one another? Do we really want to get beyond a congregational mentality that has for too long now crippled the mission of the larger Episcopal Church and in fact our very own diocese? How badly do we really need one another? If we understand the diocese to be the body, and the parishes to be its integral parts, can we in some way begin to engage the words and theology of Paul in ways that honor Christ and make the Lord of Life come alive for many who are seeking salvation, new life and a sense of purpose beyond the challenges of daily living? Working together, can we really make a difference in peoples lives, and bring them to know the gifts of Christ unconditional love and salvation in a very complex diocese, overrun by secularism and too often unresourced to meet the needs of all God's people?" I remember a person from the diocese once asked me; "What has the diocese ever done for my parish?" My answer was; "What has your parish ever done to assist and grow its own ministry beyond its own Sunday congregational life? Has it ever considered working cooperatively and sharing its life with other congregations serving the same Lord in the same general geographical area? The diocese is not and should not be 'corporate headquarters;' it must be the body that connects all of its parts (parishes) together to do the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we must want to belong to one another." "That we all may be one" will continue to be recited as part of my daily prayers with the undying faith that in Christ we will all start praying the same phrase and then doing something about it. [Back to index of May articles]
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