Develop younger lay and ordained leaders with an emphasis on reaching younger generations of unchurched people. In the 10 years since Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold announced this as a priority, the average age of seminarians has risen by nearly 10 years. We clearly need to do a better job of identifying and developing younger leaders who have hearts to reach their generations for Christ and for the Episcopal Church. A key tool would be to create a Mission Training Center for these leaders and recruit our most successful, innovative, and creative leaders to provide the training.
Start new congregations using proven innovative methods to reach newer and younger communities for the Church.New church planting continues to be the singularly most proven method for reaching the unchurched in North America. If we could learn from other churches how to move away from our Episcopal obsession with buildings, property, and parochial boundaries, we could liberate those new leaders to seek the lost ”” or those lost to the Church. The Church of England is doing very creative work in this area through Fresh Expressions, much of which can be translated into the North American scene.
Intentionally identify 10 to 20 percent of congregations that demonstrate a readiness for revitalization and give them the leadership and tools to accomplish this.The key word here is readiness….
Read the article. Nowhere did I see mentioned sharing the life transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ as the basis for expanding the gathering of believers. Hmmm … didn’t see the word “Jesus” anywhere. So, a laundry list for revitalizing a bowling league, but no real understanding of how the Holy Spirit blows where and when it will.
oh the irony of raising Frank Griswold and the decade of evangelism (or whatever they called it), then proceeding to bang out a list of suggestions quite similar to what the Griz came up with 10 years ago. They say the definition of insanity is….
Kevin is speaking in code. TEc will not understand Jesus-speak.
As the Germans say “Es ist zum lachen”
One could replace “Episcopal Church” with “Acme Widgets” and it would fit perfectly. Of course, we would guess from the name that Acme makes widgets. What is the product of the Episcopal Church?
You guys beat me to it even though it was obvious. All of the solutions were Christ-less. I am confident these firefighters will be unable to put out the fire…
Kevin Martin is a faithful priest who has done more for the cause of Jesus Christ in the Episcopal Church over the last 35+ years than many realize. It is therefore sad to see this faithful man, a friend of many years, being ridiculed in this immature way.
Kevin’s article is focused on one particular topic: strategy. That some perceive there to be inadequate mention of the substance of the faith that is behind that strategy demonstrates a plodding woodenness of mind, or perhaps a determination to misunderstand what he is saying — for no other reason than that he continues to be an Episcopalian.
There seems to be this obtuse notion these days that there must be a formulaic wait of mentioning the name of Jesus to demonstrate your credentials. If you are to sound, faithful, orthodox, or whatever other label you want other people to see you wearing, then every time you talk or write it is necessary to tip people off that you are OK by mentioning the name of Jesus in a particular way.
Strategic conversation, which Dean Martin’s article is, is about how the faith is effectively delivered not what the substance of the faith is. It is one slice of a much larger pie. God bless Kevin for being willing to do the strategic thinking necessary to advance the Kingdom in what is today a very difficult corner of God’s vineyard.
I ask a question out of genuine curiosity and interest: can anybody point to research, statistics or other indications of the success or otherwise of the Fresh Expressions initiative mentioned in the article?
TT There is some information about Fresh Expressions in a paper submitted to Synod here in February. It sounds as if they have identified as a problem keeping track of and reporting back of the use of Fresh Expressions in dioceses.
Bishop Graham Cray also reported to Synod on progress on FE in a session on 11th February, but I have been unable to find a copy of his report and the audio of it on the CofE site does not work.
So it is difficult to know how FE is doing. It looks as if the figures are not collected in any meaningful way yet, and perhaps no one really knows. However whenever CofE statistics are published, the Church always bleats that they do not give a full expression of attendance because they do not include FE. But of course if you don’t collect the statistics properly, you can’t include them. It is all very wooly … as usual.
I have emailed my colleague, Dave Male, who is one of the leaders of Fresh Expressions for any data that is available.
Rev. Martin is correct, we need a strategy, but after watching the events the past nine years since I’ve been ordained, it won’t happen. TEC is a church that likes to miss opportunities. The the biggest tragedy of the bishop’s election in the diocese of Los Angeles was the clergy not voting for Vasquez. Here you had a faithful, Latino priest, in charge of a multicultural congregation, and you find out that he’s not good enough to a bishop because he’s a vicar. Contrast that to Rome who appointed a dynamic Latino from San Antonio TX to become the next Archbishop of Los Angeles. TEC is losing the battle for hearts and minds and it doesn’t care.
I’ll take your word that “Kevin Martin is a faithful priest who has done more for the cause of Jesus Christ in the Episcopal Church over the last 35+ years than many realize.” I never said he wasn’t. What this article is about is technique, gimmick and strategy. There is no sense of what or how Christ undergirds these strategy.
For years sin, salvation, and many orthodox teachings were assumed to be true because they were repeated every week and clearly outlined in the BCP. However, it’s become clear that what was assumed was eventually forgotten or worse, ignored, by many. Unless TEC re-focuses itself back to the cross it will be walking in the wrong direction with whatever strategy it chooses.
Perhaps we ought to look at churches that are growing. For starters check out http://www.thechurchofthecross.net.
#7 Dr. Kew , I looked up Kevin Martin’s church, St. Matthew’s Cathedral of DioDallas, (http://www.episcopalcathedral.org/) of which he is dean. It does indeed seem to be a believing, orthodox Christian church where Jesus Christ is lifted up as Lord and that teaches and encourages Bible study, discipleship and Christian service. I wish his growth efforts much deserved success.
It is precisely the actual Christianity practiced at St. Matthew’s that will make Dean Martin’s voice a whisper in a hurricane to the national Episcopal leadership. Surely you cannot have forgotten already your experience in the US and even in DioTN and Sewanee dealing with intransigent revisionist Episcopal clergy. Surely you can also understand the skepticism and cynicsm when first, the very name “Episcopal” is attached to any kind of evangelism or church growth, second, the disaster and double-talking Frank Griswold (remember the emergency Primates Meeting after which he consecrated +Robinson regardless) is held up as the inspiration for this new idea, along with the Decade of Evangelism with its inverse results, and third, the burr under your skin and other commenters’ (for different reasons) of the complete absence of the content of the Gospel (the usual tacit revisionist redefinition could just as easily be intended by the text) and reason for the existence of any Christian church, namely Jesus Christ Himself.
It seems to me the burden of proof of sincerity and earned respect is on [i]anything[/i] that has the name “Episcopal” associated with it in any way. Perhaps it is you (as much as your well-earned respect makes it painful to say this) who are out of line in lecturing and name-calling skeptics as being immature ridiculers, ploddingly wooden-minded (sounds like a classic revisionist dismissive put-down), and determined to misunderstand.
In the actual text of the article there is far less than “inadequate mention of the substance of the faith”. There is [i]no mention of it whatsoever[/i]. Perhaps that is Dean Kevin Martin’s “strategy” to get anyone at 815 2nd Avenue to listen for longer than five seconds? Lots of luck!
[blockquote] If you’re trying to rescue a struggling institution, whether it is General Motors, Dell or Freemasonry, it’s wise to identify what factors will turn the crisis around. [/blockquote]
I think the comparison would be more apt if when you bought a Dell computer you received a box that looked like a computer, but when you opened it up, instead of a motherboard and other components, you found bundles of hand-written poetry decrying the need for computers and the necessity of computing.
As far as I can tell, 815 won’t devote genuine, sustained attention or effort to anything truly worthwhile.
Worse than that, 815 has repeatedly demonstrated an absolute and unyielding determination to ignore any pockets of success.
As an example, see SC under +Salmon: it was one of two (I think) dioceses to grow every year for 18 years; it was the one and only diocese that grew faster than the population around it; and I believe he also ordained more clergy under 40 than any other bishop.
And does anyone at 815 make any effort to reach out to him? Why, of course not! They don’t even listen when [i]he[/i] tries to reach out to [i]them[/i].
RichardKew,
It seems unfair to label earlier comments as “immature”, when their main focus has been to point out Martin+’s failure to refer to the spiritual dimension in his article. I note your comment: “Kevin’s article is focused on one particular topic: strategy”, but surely no-one has disputed that? Rather, they are querying why, in his focus on strategy, our Lord and his work and his Holy Spirit do not get a mention.
My other concern with his article is that it seems to overlook the most relevant and obvious factors:
1. “In the 10 years since Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold announced this as a priority, the average age of seminarians has risen by nearly 10 years.”
Fair comment, but surely this is a symptom? The article does not discuss the cause.
2. “New church planting continues to be the singularly most proven method for reaching the unchurched in North America. If we could learn from other churches how to move away from our Episcopal obsession with buildings, property, and parochial boundaries, we could liberate those new leaders to seek the lost — or those lost to the Church. The Church of England is doing very creative work in this area …”
Actually, there is another group even closer to home for Martin+ that is already doing this – ACNA. It has had successes and failures, but the important point is that it is an Anglican denomination engaged in church planting in North America, and experimenting with a very flexible approach to boundaries. Surely the *American* experience of ACNA is far more relevant to TEC’s situation than anything being done by the English churches?
3. “Not all declining congregations are truly ready for revitalization, but some are. Research in congregations shows us the marks of these communities. Once identified, they can receive the resources they need to make a substantial turnaround. …”
Isn’t the real problem for TEC that over the past decade, its congregations that are most ready for revitalisation also tend to be those most likely to leave for ACNA? And of those that don’t leave, many maintain a protest against the leadership of TEC by withholding part or all of their contributions?
I don’t disagree with Martin+’s focus on the churches “that are ready for revitalisation”, but surely the analysis needs to be carried that step further – since it is mainly this group that has lost confidence in the TEC leadership, doesn’t that mean that the most effective way to revitalise TEC would be a major revamp of the leadership of TEC?
The problem with blogs is that those who comment either do so anonymously or without the daily responsibiity of leading a parish, or
maintaining it, or growing it. Kevin Martin is a faithful priest who leads a large and faithful congregation, speaks with wisdom, and Christian faith. He is a priest with continuing and heavy duties. Richard Kew is a priest who has made great sacrifices for his fearless ministry and proclamation. I wish I could measure up to either of them.
My hope for the church is that we will stop bickering about
impossible issues and get on to caring for God’s Good News
and God’s people.
Robert Dedmon
Dean, St. Paul’s
Episcopal Diocese of Quincy
Robert Dedmon at #18,
If by this you mean that Martin+’s article is beyond criticism simply because he is a parish priest, I have to disagree.
I am sure Martin+ is a very good parish priest, but that is not the issue – he chose to step beyond being a parish priest and write an article for widespread publication (as he was entitled to do). It was a very topical article. His readers are equally entitled to ask searching questions about his points.
In fact, I would have thought Martin+ would be happy with such a result – presumably his reason for writing the article was to stimulate analysis and debate.
I have been incredibly busy the last couple of days, so only now am I able to get back to this blog and I have several responses:
1. Thank you Bob Dedmon for your kind words. I am not sure that they are deserved — but I will take the compliment!
2. I promised to find out more about Fresh Expressions and statistics. Fresh Expressions do not have particularly good statistics at this point, evidence seems to primarily be anecdotal. However, they are doing some tracking of some congregations and ministries. I have fed into their network as a result of this blog conversation the tremendous need there is for figures as an element of providing support for the case of experimentation that they are making. While I see some good Fresh Expressions things in England, I have some very real questions that F.E. has yet to answer.
3. What I see reflected on Titus these days is a bitter anger aimed at the Episcopal Church and those of us who continue to be part of it. It is the guilt-by-association argument that seems to be used that if we are Episcopalians then surely we are bound to be badly tainted in some way, and the tone of some of the critiques of Dean Martin is that they wonder about the veracity of his faith, not because they know who he is or his track record, but because he is the Dean of an Episcopal cathedral.
If the label ‘Episcopal’ is on something then it provides a good excuse to pick it over because it is bound to be at fault. Just as Israel in the time of King Ahab, there are many in the Episcopal Church who have not bowed the knee… The echoes of the Donatist schism and its outcomes in North Africa are too loud to be missed, and it is cleared we have yet to learn those lessons.
Like Dean Martin, I continue to be a priest of the Episcopal Church not because I love and adore all the things that are done in the name of our church, but because my biblical ecclesiology warns me against dividing the church, and that divisions once made take a long time (if ever) to heal. I have many friends who think differently and have made different decisions. I hope that I continue to respect them, and I certainly continue to pray for them. I wish the response from some who have followed this path out of the Episcopal Church was a little more gracious and a little less judgmental.
4. I agree with Dean Dedmon, I wish those who speak up on blogs did not hide behind pseudonyms. It is very easy to attack with impunity if you are hiding behind another name, whereas revealing your identity makes a reasoned conversation much more likely.
Well said, Fr. Kew — especially #3. (And please forgive my pseudonym. I have my reasons — which, if you like, I would be happy to explain privately.)