Go here for some information about him released by the diocese as part of the process.
Go here for some information about him released by the diocese as part of the process.
Rev Barher had a very successful tenure at Christ church in Warwick, NY. His skills will be tested in the Dio of NE. In 2009, only 10 of its 56 churches had Plate & Pledge of more than $150K. And 23 of its churches had ASA of 20 or less. A merger is no option given there is only one diocese in the State. Closing small churches and concentrating your talents and treasure of building up other churches appears to be the only viable choice. And not a pleasant one for a new bishop. Statmann
My father was born and raised on a Nebraska farm and educated as an electrical engineer at the the University of Nebraska. My youngest son and many of my family still live in Nebraska.
Having established my ‘bona fides’ regarding Nebraska, I feel that I must say that although Nebraskans are a tolerant people, they are also a people who value and adhere to their traditional values. The Roman Catholic Church in Nebraska has and does give ample witness to this fact.
So, if this new bishop of the Episcopalian Diocese of Nebraska wishes to revitalize and grow his diocese, then he had better pay close attention to “…the Faith once given…” and pay close attention to that Faith or he will witness and lead a further atrophication of the Anglican Faith in Nebraska.
I used to live outside Warwick, NY and I do believe that unless you’re in the RC or Orthodox churches, that area of the state and country is not exactly a bastion of “traditional values”.
Good luck to the new bishop and Nebraska. We’ll see…
I was ordained in Nebraska by the now retiring bishop. I am now resident in a different diocese because I read the writing on the wall. I wish them well, but I fear in has become yet another liberal whitebread diocese.
I agree with AnglicanFirst. Nebraskans are not renowned for liberalism in any shade or domain. I wish the new Bishop-elect well, but if what he said in the walkabout interview (available on the Diocesan search website) is any indication, I think he is going to have to have a severe learning curve if he is going to make any growth strides in the state.
I know nothing of Nebraska, other than football. That being said, it seems odd to me, in the most negative sense, that on a question on stewardship this fellow says he only gives 5% of his income ’cause paying for college education consumes the other 5%. Sounds like the bishop just established a ceiling on giving and gave outs for those who choose to go under 5% to pay for cell phone bills, or new TVs, or self-care vacations, . . .
Nebraska is the middle of the Believer Belt, with most counties showing over 50% adherents in the Valpo maps, and some 15 counties showing over 75%. Catholics account for a third of adherents, and ELCA, LCMS, and UMC account for another third, with the remainder spread out pretty uniformly. Nebraska is where the Methodist heartland meets the Lutheran zone and the midwest Catholic territory.
Nebraska is also prone to statistical flukes because many of the counties away from the rivers are extremely low in population. If you look at the map for Episcopalians, for example, you’ll see that one county lights up as particularly dense in Anglicans. Grant County, however, only has 747 residents; that dark hue is produced by a single parish with a membership of about sixty and an ASA around twelve. The next county south, Arthur County, reads out as over 50% Southern Baptist, which makes it a conspicuous anomaly on the map; but here again we’re talking a small population (444 residents) so it only takes a congregation or two to account for this. Of course all of this is exacerbated by the depopulation of the plains: Grant Co. is about 50% of its 1920 peak, and Arthur Co. has declined by nearly 70%! There are fewer parishes than counties, and while Cherry County does have a parish (in Valentine), the county is bigger than Connecticut.