More than 115 bishops of The Episcopal Church will gather for the House of Bishops spring retreat meeting March 19 ”“ 24 in Camp Allen, Texas.
The theme of the gathering will be The Church for the 21st Century and, as such, discussions will focus on opportunities and challenges to today’s ministry along with pioneering topics and forward-thinking proposals.
“Our spring gathering will focus specifically on both the nature of episcopacy and on the evangelistic challenges/opportunities presented by the emergent church movement,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote to the bishops.
Well-known authors and lecturers Diana Butler-Bass and Phyllis Tickle along with others will lead discussions about the fast-growing Emergent Church movement. Other discussions will focus on the groundbreaking Around One Table report and the Anglican Covenant.
Emergent church? Once again, TEC is a shining light in Christian theology… A tail light riding into battle 10 years too late.
They could have phoned this one in. What is the purpose of meeting? The party line was trumpeted at the last Convention and the OurLoudGLBTQMisunderstood run the show. The only thing emerging in most of TEC is confusion, cold seats, cobwebs, and lawsuits.
What a lovely invitation that will only be heard by the smallest most unreliable niche of the general population.
Comedy night at Camp Allen–“the bishops will renew their vows”.
I would love to see the list of Bishop that are actually attending
The only positive thing that could come from this would be mass resignation due to gross dereliction of duty.
—“the bishops will renew their vows .and then volunteer to paint a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic like Powell of SW.VA.
I suspect an item on the hidden agenda is a push for votes for Glasspool.
#3… that’s the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.
Great question…Free eats…free air miles? All could be done over the internet at a fraction of the cost.
The meeting may also turn into the Deposition of Bishop Lawrence after all when 2 or 3 Episcopalians are gathered together that is a majority according to Chancellor Beers.
Intercessor
Well, on the bright side, the bishops could’ve been exposed to a presenter much worse than Phyllis Tickle. She’s at least fairly moderate, as liberals go.
But just think, if +Mark Lawrence is there, as I assume he will be, then there could be all sorts of “interesting” dynamics. I mean with the upcoming SC diocesan council taking place just after the HoB meeting breaks up, and the PB’s apparent attempt to harrass or remove him… I hope the CP bishops manage to hang together, so they don’t end up hanging separately.
David Handy+
Does anyone else think that this is the likely venue for the announcement that Mary Glasspool has attained the requisite number of consents from the House of Bishops?
Oh, Goody! Perhaps they’ll be as effective as the other Camp Allen bishops. One can only hope. Or, maybe, just maybe, they’ll be as effective as Wimberly Windsor bishops (retired). One can only hope.
What have Diana Butler Bass and Phyllis Tickle done for the church? Does every diocesan meeting have to include them?
My guess is that the TEC bishops will second the recommendation of the Canadian House of Bishops and Council of General Synod (see story posted on T19 a bit later today) that the North American churches take no action on the Anglican Covenant until after a “period of deep reflection” of indefinite duration.
“The Bishops will renew their vows”…renew their vows to what…
I guess Brian MacLaren wasn’t available.
Brian MacLaren, Diana Booth Bass…pretty much the same thing. They go around and find counterexamples to the overwhelming decline in liberal denominations and then conclude that the TEClub or PCUSA or whatever can continue on their same disastrous course and that liberal churches really can grow!
“Spring retreat,” well I guess that sounds better than “Spring offensive.”
Diana Butler Bass is the pseudoscholar who writes books about thriving churches with 25 ASA who are thriving because they’re happy about having 25 ASA.
Ho-Hum…
Bishop Lawrence will be there. Please keep him in your prayers.
Why is Bishop Lawrence going? I thought SC had decided to withdraw from those portions of TEC that no longer subcribed to orthodox Christianity. That might not be the exact terminology the diocese used to describe its plan, but that is the tenor of what was meant at least as I understood it.
#21 That’s what I thought too.