Reflections upon congregational development

The past couple of weeks have been busy times for my Canons (Charles Robinson, Ed Tracy & Lynn Farlin) and for me as we have been very focused upon our efforts to do congregational development.  As you may be able to tell, congregational development and congregational recasting has been and will be one of my highest priorities during my tenure as your bishop.

We took two road-trips to meet in person with congregation members and leaders to discuss their concerns and to challenge them to new possibilities.  Our first visit was to Trinity Church in South Hill two weeks ago, and then this past week we went up to Onancock on the Eastern Shore to meet with lay and ordained leaders.  Both of these gatherings were full of conversations about our Christian identity and how our perception of that identity will or will not provide us with an array of opportunities to move into the future. 

Our basic message has been that if we are overly focused upon our past we risk falling into the trap of creating for ourselves an impossible goal.  That impossible, and I might add unachievable, goal is the recreation of the past.  It is all well and good to remember how fifty years ago the Reverend so-and-so was the one who so splendidly brought us together and built our congregation.  Yet, if we try to recreate that environment fifty years later, in all likelihood we will be spinning our wheels as we chase after our often all-too-rosy memory of those halcyon days of old when all was right with the world and the church was the primary institution within almost all communities.  Our society and culture has changed and continues to change at a very rapid rate.  The time has come for us to recast ourselves as a new spiritual entity within our cities, towns and villages. 

As one person said near the conclusion of our nearly three-hour discussion on the Eastern Shore last week, “I never realized how many good and new possibilities there are today for us to be Christian.”  I could not have said it better.  The opportunities are there.  Now the challenge is for us to recast who we are so we can seize those opportunities.  The only question that remains is to wonder if we are ready for that challenge?

+Jay