Every year Bishop Powell makes an address to the Annual Diocesan Council gathered at Roanoke, and provides the text of his address to be read or made available in all the parishes of the diocese. On this day, in addition to the regular sermon preached at Trinity, we offer the Bishop's Address for your reflection.
The theme for this Council is “To every thing there is a season.” It has been a good year in all its seasons. The diocese is in a good place. The ordinariness of life as a bishop continues to be life-giving, especially the weekly rhythm of the visitations with the Eucharists, baptisms, and confirmations, punctuated by special events like ordinations and Annual Council.
Thank you for the mini-sabbatical last winter and spring, which gave me time to work on writing down some of my “stock sermons” and Bible stories in Oregon on the beautiful and restful Siuslaw River. The few weeks also allowed me to spend Holy Week and Easter in the Diocese of Bradford, drinking from the water of faith in that most beautiful and faith-filled Christian Community.
Throughout The Episcopal Church, and among virtually all denominations, the time span from 2000 to 2010 was a most difficult one in terms of membership and Sunday attendance. Our diocese did not escape this trend. Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) figures show an average loss of 2% a year during that decade. The surprise was that our loss was not nearly as great as the majority of other dioceses in our Province or in The Episcopal Church as a whole, an amazing steadiness in the face of declining population in towns throughout most of our diocese.
The good news is that this decade is starting out to be much better, much stronger. The most recent report available shows a remarkable 3.4% increase in our church attendance from 2010 to 2011. Well done, Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
Numbers are not everything, and churches have to attract new members just to stay even to replace those who relocate or die or just move on. As a diocese, some years we go down a little, some years we stay the same, and from time to time we have a year of growth. This pattern is heroic when considered against the backdrop of the vast cultural and generational changes of the past fifty years. Some of our towns are literally disappearing as populations shift. A year of growth, even if it is just one, is a reminder of the promise that, in the end, God will win.
Moving beyond figures, as this is my last Council address I continue to reflect on these past sixteen years as your bishop. I have remained constant and faithful to my conviction that life in Christ and ministry in Christ begins with baptism. Baptism has been the theme of my episcopate, beginning with my ordination and consecration in Burruss Auditorium October 26, 1996. The cross at that ordination and consecration (which hangs behind me today) has a shell on it to remind us of our baptisms. The themes of many of our Councils have been taken from the promises we make at baptism. The workshops at Council are shaped around the promises of the Baptismal Covenant.
For sixteen years I have held up the value of healthy and wholesome clergy, lay leaders, and congregations; healthy and wholesome so that we may carry out the promises we make at baptism and serve the world in the name of the risen Christ.
Seamlessness is another value I continue to uphold, in particular the seamlessness of youngest to oldest; life together in Christ from birth, through baptism, through confirmation, and through lives lived in faith, until we are called Home. I have noticed references to seamless ministry seeping into our common language in the diocese.
And, of course, prayer. There is no such thing as a Christian alone, there is no such thing as a congregation alone; we are all baptized into the body of Christ, and we uphold each other in our lives in Christ with prayer. One of the great surprises to me upon becoming your bishop was the awareness that I am prayed for at every Eucharist in this diocese. It is a humbling and uplifting experience.
We have had a number of additions to our life together these past sixteen years, programs that used to be new but are now part of the landscape:
Spring and Fall Clergy Days to strengthen the community of clergy.
Clergy and Spouses Lenten Quiet Days to strengthen our spiritual lives, and a morning before Council meeting to strengthen fellowship and our ministries together.
Wardens’ Days and Treasurers’ Days to enhance the ministry of wardens and treasurers and to build community among our parish leaders.
Deacons to insure and enable us to carry out the promises we make at baptism to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to strive for justice and peace among all people. Vocational deacons as a separate and equal order in this diocese began with two deacons who came to us from other dioceses. Adding to that, eight new deacons have been locally formed and ordained, and two more are in the process.
The Legacy Society to fund future ministry in our congregations, in the diocese, and in our institutions is now well established.
We have strengthened and deepened the formation program for persons locally trained for the priesthood, and access for those bound for seminary was opened up to young adults. Over half of those entering three-year residential seminary formation from this diocese are under age thirty.
Annual Council is the icon, the lens, and the vessel where these values and goals have all come together. Council is family reunion, business, worship, celebration, singing, and Christian leadership, and spiritual formation all wrapped into one great package. We added Children at Council from our youngest through grade five. We have greatly expanded Youth at Council for those in sixth grade through high school. We added Saturday at Council workshops. There is a modest and growing presence of young adults and college students at Council, growing out of Youth at Council. We have the finest Annual Council or Convention in The Episcopal Church.
Likewise, we have the finest diocesan youth program in The Episcopal Church. To the already existing program here sixteen years ago we made the youth minister position full-time and hired top-flight professionals to lead it. Over the years we added Spring and Fall Youth Events, then Mass on the Mountain; and most recently Happening was brought into the diocese. Much of this work was accomplished due to the creation of a vibrant Youth Ministry Team and the offering of training and support directly to local congregations. You can be proud of youth work in The Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
There are growing edges and challenges facing us. Changing demographics means a growing Latino/Hispanic presence in our midst. We have the teeniest, tiniest, mustard-seed-size Latino/Hispanic ministry beginning in the diocese. We need to nurture that seed. God is giving us a gift by sending Hispanic and Latino people to live among us. We believe passionately in the motto “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.” May these newcomers among us experience that love and that welcome. With God’s help we can do it.
I mentioned young adults earlier. In addition to those bonded to the church through the youth programs, young adults have had their faith nourished through the Canterbury programs at our colleges and universities. Let us continue to welcome them among us as the church of today while they are in their twenties. We can do it.
Networking and new models of ministry have been hallmarks of the diocese from our earliest days, clear back to the deaconesses, to the yoking and clustering of congregations, to clergy teams, total ministry teams, and areas of cooperation in ministry. Much of this creative approach comes from a history of what we have now termed a “household of congregations.” The Search and Nominating Committee for the new bishop noted in the diocesan profile that we are a family-sized diocese with much of which to be proud.
We are now in the midst of preparing for a new season in our diocese. As the Fifth Bishop of Southwestern Virginia I look forward to helping to elect, ordain, and consecrate the Sixth Bishop of Southwestern Virginia. The members of the Search and Nominating Committee and the Transition Committee have worked prayerfully and hard. They have reported to us how enthusiastic and inspired all of the candidates are by the life and vitality of this diocese. You have five fine men and women to choose among. I trust that, with God’s help, we will choose wisely and prayerfully.
Now, my final words of advice. Do not forget:
- Pray. Before, during, and after all that you do, pray.
- Build on your strengths and celebrate the victories.
- In all things give thanks to God.
- Know that ministry begins with baptism, and the vows we make at baptism form the outline of our life.
- Remember that we are all in this boat together. When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. When one part of the body rejoices, we all rejoice.
- Fear not. Be not afraid. For God loves you more than you can ask or even begin to imagine. And, I have peeked at the end of The Good Book. God wins. God will prevail.
Amen.
