July 2016 Connections

Connections news • ideas • events July 2016

Issue 4 Vol. 3

BE A BRIDGE

T

his edition of Connections invites us to reflect on leadership, particularly in the church. Leadership is a very elastic concept. It can refer to those who have been entrusted with uniting the church community around a plan for mission (in our tradition we look to wardens, vestries and clergy for this). But leadership is also about the authority that attaches itself to any member of the body who takes initiative and succeeds in getting other people on board with the plan.

There has always been a tension between these two kinds of leadership. From earliest times, the church struggled to balance the claims of duly authorized leadership with the presence of prophets and innovators who claimed independent authorization by the Holy Spirit. At its best, our own tradition honors both sources of leadership, inasmuch as

both are grounded in the one baptism in which we all share.

Thus, whether “official” or “unofficial,” authentic Christian leadership always unites the people of God by helping them to embrace their union with Christ in his death and resurrection.

Not everyone is called to be a leader, if we think of a leader as someone who goes ahead and blazes a trail that others may safely follow, or as someone who holds the community together so others may go about their ministry and business peacefully. But I don’t think we can identify good leaders or support them well if we have not tasted leadership ourselves.

Opportunities for leadership are more frequent than we might think. Leadership is about authority, and there is no greater authority in the church than the authority conferred in baptism. In baptism we are marked as Christ’s own forever, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to forgive sins and free people up to receive God’s love. Whenever we exercise this authority, we are exercising leadership in Christ’s name.

In fact, the church has never functioned or thrived without this kind of grassroots initiative. In practical terms, our authority as baptized persons plays out in making our relationship with Jesus part of our relationship with everyone we meet. This doesn’t mean proselyting the unchurched. But it does mean treating each conversation as an opportunity to offer kindness and hope in the face of fear or grief, and gentle correction in the face of prejudice or hatred. The relationships that are built in this way are the life-blood of the church, not as an institution to be buoyed by new pledges, but as a living body ministering Christ’s mercy to the world.

Jesus calls us to engage with our neighbors. This is not a theoretical proposition. Every local congregation has neighbors: other faith communities, neighborhood associations, town councils, the school system, the police, the trustees of the township, the prison, and so on. Our leadership as Episcopalians begins as we engage these potential partners in the name of Christ.

We are, in fact, at our best when we devote ourselves to connection with whatever is around us. Our tradition is grounded in the conviction that the church is public, open, and committed to the common good. However large or small we are, our future lies in fidelity to that conviction.

Such fidelity requires a willingness to lead, since relating to our neighbors takes initiative, and such initiatives are always trailblazing. I am thinking of some of our churches that have done “prayer walks” through their local neighborhoods, offer-

ing to pray with local residents and shopkeepers. They report great openness – people want us to connect with them if we don’t demand that they join up with us. But that’s all right, since the church is ultimately not about those who adhere to it as an institution, but about those who receive God’s mercy and pass it on. Our viability as an institution rests in our subordination and service to this non-institutional goal.

So, to return to the theme of leadership: how are we as baptized Christians to exercise leadership in an environment that is both institutional and non-institutional? I was recently in Wales, and came across this striking motto: Bin ben, bin bont: Be a leader, be a bridge. To be a leader is always to be a bridge, a connecter. That sums up the Christian notion of leadership. It’s all about the embrace of connection, however challenging that may be.

There are four basic questions each of us must answer, individually and as congregations, if we want to embrace connection: (1) Who are we? (2) Where are we? (3) Why are we? (4) What do we have?

The first question is about identity, both good and bad.

Without honesty about ourselves, we cannot repent our sins or rejoice in our gifts. The second question is about our neighborhood, however we define that. Our relation to our neighborhood is the key to renewed energy for mission. The third question is about God’s intention for us. How can we as individuals and as congregations bring the reign of God closer – or, as our Jewish brothers and sisters would say, how can we “repair the world”? The fourth question is about the assets, material, relational and spiritual that we already possess to get the job done. (Conversely, what stands in the way that we need to let go?)

True leadership begins in asking these questions seriously and courageously, and then building bridges that link our strengths (and perhaps also our needs) to what surrounds us.

Bin ben, bin bont.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal is the Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact him at tbreidenthal@diosohio.org.

To be a leader is always to be a bridge.

3

LIGHT IS LIGHT? I

n 2014, the Nobel Prize in physics went to three Japanese physicists for creating blue LED light. Their successful invention happened in 1989. Some in our pop culture laughed and ridiculed the invention of a blue LED light being something worthy of a Nobel Prize. Was this just an example of science working in an ivory tower vacuum?

The thing about blue LED light is that we had red and green LED diodes for a long time but nobody seemed to be able to create blue. Then, after much long and hard work, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura did what no one else had been able to do. They found a way to create blue LED. What’s the big deal about blue LED light you might ask? Just this – without blue LED light, you can’t make white LED light. You see, white light is made up of a combination of red, green AND blue light. And quite frankly, white LED light has changed everything; from energy efficient home lighting to the way we light our Christmas trees. White LED light is bright, energy efficient, cool to the touch and extremely reliable.

I think of the flashlights I had as a kid.

They took a small incandescent light bulb and really large batteries. One of my dad’s flashlights would always go out and required a couple of hits with the side of my hand before it would go back on. It cast a yellowish light that only illuminated for what seemed like a few feet in front of me. (By the way, I still have that flashlight and I keep it in the pantry next to my high tech emergency LED flashlights for nostalgia’s sake. I smile every time I see it.)

Our new LED flashlights take less energy and give off a bright white beam that seems to go on forever, penetrating the darkest night.

Christianity has always been about light.

“God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5 NRSV). Sometimes I think that our modern world is so full of light pollution that we don’t always fully understand the power of the light and dark analogies.

There is a tour in Mammoth Cave that goes down deep into the caves. The ranger asks everyone to stand still and remain quiet. The ranger then turns off the lights and you find yourself in as close to absolute darkness as you’ll ever experience. Only by the movement of your eyelids do you know if your eyes are open or closed. You move your hand toward your face to see how close your hand has to get before you see it but it’s so dark that you never see it. Instead, you’ll just hit yourself in the face. True darkness is haunting, disturbing, and even lonely. If the ranger doesn’t turn the lights back on soon enough, some will start to panic.

We are called to shine our light into a dark world. Even though, metaphorically we might say light is light, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura showed us a way to shine light more efficiently. I wonder what would happen if the church would discover or create our own elusive blue LED light? I wonder if there are ways to shine more brightly and more efficiently than we currently do? Are we are still using my dad’s old flashlight when the world needs a brighter, better spectrum light to see us through the glare of our troubled world?

David Dreisbach serves as Director of Communications for the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact him at ddreisbach@diosohio.org.

Models of leadership The vacant lot that will become the Woodland Park Community Garden

A

leader is defined by BusinessDictionary.com as A person or thing that holds a dominant or superior position within its field, and is able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others.

I prefer the definition found in Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary: 1. Someone or something that leads others: such as someone who guides other people or 2. A powerful person who controls or influences what other people do: a person who leads a group, organization, country, etc.

Guidance and influence sound so much friendlier than dominance, superiority and control, and yet, all of them fundamentally contribute to the ability to get people to do things that are beyond themselves. Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something

you want to get done because he wants to do it.” I would add that if you want to get someone to want to do what you want done, caring and guidance will probably get you a lot further than dominance and control.

We have leaders among us who have demonstrated that caring guidance well into their golden years. The Diocese of Southern Ohio recognizes the leadership and ministry of our elder members yearly with inductions into the Society of St. Simeon and St. Anna. The Society was created by the Affirmative Aging Commission in the mid-1990s as a way to recognize, honor and celebrate the wisdom, experience, maturity and achievements of older persons in our faith communities.

Simeon and Anna are two individuals noted in the story of the presentation of Jesus at the Temple in the Gospel of Luke, who in addition to being described as devout and righteous were also described as old. Not quite Methuselah old, but pretContinued on next page

ty old – Simeon clocking in at over 200 years old, and Anna somewhere around 105. Simeon, also called Simeon the God-Receiver, had been visited by the Holy Spirit and told that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

And so for many years, with patience and faithful determination Simeon waited and watched and remained observant and open to receive that word. Anna the Prophetess was a widow who had lived and worshipped in the Temple and prophesied about the coming of Jesus for eighty-something years.

Even at their advanced ages, Simeon and Anna were great models of leadership in their communities, but with very different styles – Simeon modeling leadership by showing the importance of waiting and listening for the Holy Spirit even in adversity, while Anna modeled it by guiding and preparing the community for the arrival of the Savior.

Twelve new members of the Society of St. Simeon and St. Anna were honored at a luncheon at the Procter Center following their induction on April 27. On the following pages, meet these leaders and learn a little about how they have modeled loving, caring, leadership for many years in their

RHODA AND SPENCER ALLEN, TRINITY, COLUMBUS

Described as a true “team,” Rhoda and Spencer Allen, communicants of Trinity Church, Capitol Square, Columbus, for some 12 years, complement one another in obvious and subtle ways. He is expansive, provocative, original, and boldly familiar with strangers to the congregation; she is calming, gracious, other-directed and warm to all. Both have served terms on Trinity’s vestry; Rhoda is the current Junior Warden. Rhoda has been director of the Altar Guild for some seven years and assists in Trinity’s wedding ministry. Her careful attention to detail and order is complemented by her respect for every human being who comes through the doors. Rhoda also works closely with the Parish Life Ministry Team, and she and Spencer have participated in Columbus’ faithbased community organization known as B.R.E.A.D. Spencer is an active and energetic participant in the Adult Formation classes on Sunday mornings, and his comments and stories enliven every discussion. He encourages fellow parishioners to step outside their comfort zones and talk to people they might ordinarily avoid. His example of personal assistance to people in need, just through his own goodness, inspires others to do more.

communities by waiting, watching, guiding, preparing, and sometimes even taking control. I think we would all do well to follow in their footsteps.

Connections editor Julie Murray serves as Associate Director of Communications for the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Contact her at jmurray@ diosohio.org.

The Society of St. Simeon and St. Anna was created in mid-1990s as a way to honor the leadership of the elders in our community. The first members were inducted in 1995.

Each year, congregations can nominate any person who is at least 60 years of age and an Episcopalian for 15 or more years. You can learn more about the Society of St. Simeon and St. Anna or how to nominate an individual for induction at http://diosohio.org/congregations-2/generational-ministry/ affirmative-aging/

HAZEL BOETTCHER, ST. LUKE’S, MARIETTA

Hazel Boettcher first encountered St. Luke’s Church and the Episcopal Church as a newly arrived student from New Jersey at Marietta College in the 1960s, and has remained an active member ever since. She currently serves as Treasurer of the parish. During the past fifty-odd years Hazel has served on almost every board and service project of the parish. She has been a member of the vestry, Senior Warden, a member of the ECW and its president (as well as treasurer). She also has taken an active role in the social outreach of the parish (e. g. our Free Community meal and Holy Moly reading program).

For many years, Hazel served as Postmaster of the Reno office of the USPS, so she knows and is known by a great many community leaders. She has served for several years as both a state and national officer for the retired Postmasters association. Hazel also has given much time and expertise in the service of community organizations in the Marietta area, especially the Red Cross. She has accomplished all this while rearing five children and attending to several grandchildren.

CAROL CISLER, ST. LUKE’S, MARIETTA

A native of Marietta, Carol Cisler arrived at St. Luke’s in 2001 as a result of a “Take a Friend to Church” Sunday. Three months after her arrival she was asked to chair the Fellowship Committee. Since then she has filled almost every position in the parish. Carol has served as a member of the vestry for several terms and as Senior Warden. She has been a faithful member of the Altar Guild, Outreach Committee, and ECW (as president and as treasurer). She has served as volunteer secretary/ receptionist one day a week for quite some time. These days, Carol is responsible for issuing a weekly electronic “Friday Updates” newsletter to the parish.

After working for a law firm in town for two years, Carol married her husband, Bill, and began a family, which grew to three children. She spent their early years as a homemaker, and developed a life-long interest in horses that led her to enroll in riding lessons, and eventually to being involved in teaching, showing, training and boarding them. She spent several years involved in 4-H projects demonstrating training and riding techniques and judging at horse shows. She offered classes in riding disciplines and horsemanship at Marietta College. She has received a number of honors for her knowledge of horsemanship, animal sciences, and animal health care. Carol has also served the community as a dispatcher with the local Fire Department and Chief of the EMT Squad. She has been active in her local American Legion chapter. Since the early 90s, Carol has spent much of her time tending to her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Carol is herself a woman of deep faith, who is confident that it was the prayers of the parish community that helped her endure the loss of her husband in 2004 and her daughter in 2011. She is generally known about the parish to be a woman of insight who speaks her mind, and always in a loving way.

She is just the kind of person that every parish relies on.

BOB BEIRING, CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, CINCINNATI

Bob Beiring at the luncheon with Christ Church Cathedral dean, the Very Rev. Gail Greenwell.

Robert (Bob) Beiring has been an active member of Christ Church for more than 40 years. He is a man of great humility but with great passion for living the gospel day by day. Many families and individuals at Christ Church came because of Bob’s incredible hospitality and welcome. He knows the power of Christian community to transform a life. For 38 years Bob has served as the director of the Boar’s Head Yule Log Festival, the cathedral’s annual gift to the City of Cincinnati. Not only does he direct a breathtaking series of performances but he also embraces and welcomes hundreds of cast members, musicians and singers from around the city, young and old, Episcopalians and many others. Bob and Boar’s Head have been responsible for bringing countless scores of people into the Episcopal Church and to a relationship with Christ. Bob creates an esprit de corps that brings both cast members and audiences back year after year.

Additionally, Bob serves as a cook and greeter for more than 200 guests who attend the cathedral’s weekly dinner on Tuesday evenings, known as the 5000 Club. Bob sees Christ in each person and treats everyone as a gift from God. People feel blessed to be in his presence.

Judy Cook enjoys the celebratory luncheon with guest Larry Welsh.

JUDY COOK, ST. PAUL’S, DAYTON

Judy Cook exemplifies Christian ministry, both in regard to her invaluable work at St. Paul’s and in her extensive community leadership.

As Senior Warden at St. Paul’s, Judy led the congregation through a difficult time of transition. She addressed conflicts through empathic listening, accepting differences and seeking understanding and resolution of divergent views when possible. Prayer and a deep religious faith provided Judy with God’s guidance and consolation during those challenging times.

In addition to serving as Senior Warden, Judy was a Sunday School teacher for 15 years, past director of the Altar Guild, EMC Co-Chair, and both an alternate and delegate to diocesan conventions. She served on the Rector Search Committee, the Finance Committee and was chair of St. Paul’s Nominating Committee.

Christian values also undergirded Judy’s work as Mayor of the City of Oakwood for eight years. She threw much of her energy into an aggressive effort to build a diverse community, encouraging the integration of families of all ethnic and religious backgrounds into Oakwood, essentially an upscale community. Her efforts were successful since Oakwood now counts among its citizens African-Americans, Muslims and many Jewish people who add vitality to the community and enrichment to the schools.

Judy’s community work was recognized by the Dayton Daily News as one of Dayton’s Ten Top Women in 2005. She is a mentor to many younger women, encouraging them by example to challenge themselves and become actively involved in the church and community.

Continued on next page

7

THE REV. ABEOSEH (ABBY) FLEMISTER, ST. MATTHEW’S, WESTERVILLE

The life of the Rev. Abeoseh Flemister, fondly known to many as Mother Abby, is a faithful witness to the bountiful fruits of the Spirit. While one can think of examples of how each of The Rev. Abby Flemister receives her award the individual fruits are manifested in her life and ministry, from event host, the Rev. Nancy Hardin. the one with which she is most identified is JOY! The witness of Mother Abby’s life – through many different circumstances and challenges – is one of pure joy, freely shared with all. Her boundless energy is apparent in who she is and in all she does.

Mother Abby is a native of Liberia, where she was called to ministry and ordained priest. Her ministry in our diocese is most closely associated with her leadership of Partners-in-Ministry-in-Liberia (PIMIL), established in 2005 at St. Matthew’s, Westerville. PIMIL brings together individuals and organizations in the United States to support the educational needs of Liberian children. Her missionary zeal and advocacy of PIMIL have contributed to the PIMIL story being told throughout the diocese. Over just the past four years, more than $80,000 has been sent to Liberia from PIMIL. Mother Abby’s witness to a life of prayer is inspirational to all who know her.

Following closely the news of the world and local community, Abby is intentional about daily offering thanksgivings and raising petitions. She brings the concerns of her faith community to her prayers. Her discerning spirit and openness to those around her continually draw people who need a quiet word of encouragement.

Liberia is far from the Diocese of Southern Ohio – roughly 5,000 miles. More than any other person in the diocese, Mother Abby makes the people of Liberia feel like our neighbors. While she always holds them before us in prayer and in her conversations, during the Ebola crisis she put names of family members and students on the anonymous faces of the epidemic. Her presence among us challenges and encourages us to follow Christ’s example of loving all of God’s children.

TONI OLGEATY, ST. CHRISTOPHER’S, FAIRBORN

Toni Olgeaty is a longtime member of St. Christopher’s, where she serves as a Worship Leader, reader and healing minister. A multiple cancer survivor, she constantly proclaims the healing power of prayer. Her faith is stellar and unshakable, even in the wake of cancer recurrences. She writes an article for St. Christopher’s monthly newsletter about the healing power of prayer. Her faith and conviction is unmistakable. With God, her cup is always overflowing.

Toni has been involved in a variety of ministries. She has served multiple times on vestry. She engages in cooking for various affairs held as fundraisers for the church. She is a part of the St. Clare’s Group, which knits prayer shawls. As the head of the Worship Committee she makes sure acolytes, readers, lay leaders, chalice bearers and healing prayer people are scheduled. She oversees the Altar Guild and the Tuesday Healing Service, as well as healing prayers offered on Sunday. Toni heads up the Prayer Chain and she is a Worship Leader and prayer “cheerleader” – truly encouraging others by word and action to pray without ceasing. She has a willing ear to listen to the stories of others in need.

Her compassion and love are tremendous.

Toni Olgeaty is applauded by Bishop Breidenthal.

ED SMITH, ST. CHRISTOPHER’S, FAIRBORN

Ed Smith is the true example of living out the Great Commandment with great humility.

He is an “unseen” force behind a lot of what goes on at St. Christopher’s and in the community in general. Always eager and willing to lend a hand to help in any way he can, he does so not desiring any recognition.

Ed has been active with the Boy Scouts for decades and is an Eagle Scout himself. Retired from the Air Force, he has worked in the community in many capacities and is a wonderful volunteer. If a neighbor needs anything, he is the first to be there to lend a hand.

Ed serves the parish as a chalice bearer and acolyte. He readily fills in if someone is away or cannot fulfill their duties. Ed has served on the vestry numerous times. He and his wife Carole head up the parish Foyer groups, and they host an Annual Christmas Party at which Ed skillfully poses as Santa Claus. His daughter and her family also are faithful members of St. Christopher’s. They serve as stellar examples of generational faith in action, as well as model a wholesome Christian family life.

Left: Honoree Ed Smith and wife Carole at the luncheon held at Procter Center.

RUTH VANCE, EPIPHANY, URBANA

Ruth Vance indeed lives a compassionate and faithful life. A lifelong Episcopalian, she has a deep love for the sacramental life of the church. She is fully committed to both her own family and her church family.

A woman of deep faith and prayer she is active in every facet of church life and a tireless supporter of all our activities. Indeed, when her parish (one of our cluster churches) Holy Trinity, Bellefontaine closed, Ruth and a few others didn’t miss a beat by coming the next Sunday to Epiphany.

She’s served for numbers of years on vestry, altar guild, and Shrove Tuesday pancake supper chair or participant. She attends weekly Bible study, and participates in seasonal book studies and retreats. She has a prayer shawl ministry, anonymously supplying shawls for those in the parish who are ill, as well as to two extended care facilities in Logan and Champaign counties.

Ruth is extremely active in Epiphany’s outreach ministries, serving at monthly community meals and as a beloved elf – complete with curled toes – at our Well Child Christmas party. She can be seen hiding Easter eggs in the park and attending swim parties and zoo trips, also a part of our Well Child Ministry. She is a yearly enthusiastic camper at Procter’s Family Camp, and has taken one of the young campers we sponsor for family camp under her wing with great loving care and patience. She is often asked to be a baptismal or confirmation sponsor – responsibilities she takes very seriously.

HANK WENDORF, ST. JOHN’S, CAMBRIDGE

Hank Wendorf has been a member of St. John’s, Cambridge, since 1964.

Deacon Bob Howell describes him as the “EverReady bunny” of St. John’s, always answering the call to service when asked, and often stepping up

Hank Wendorf receives his certificate from Society member Michael Kilbourne.

Honoree Gerrie Zust was accompanied to the luncheon by her daughter Sandy Croucher and son, Bob Zust.

GERRIE ZUST, ST. MATTHEW’S, WESTERVILLE

Long before Bishop Breidenthal encouraged members of the diocese to be “connectors”, Gerrie Zust excelled at creating events, spaces and opportunities to gather and welcome people into her home, the church, and other community organizations, and then to connect them to one another to strengthen the community and ensure that everyone felt included. She is one of St. Matthew’s parishioners who most faithfully embody the ministry of radical inclusion and hospitality.

For many years Gerrie has been the Altar Guild at St. Matthew’s, which is especially challenging as the church has been worshipping in at least six different locations, currently in a pub. No well-appointed, spacious sacristy; Gerrie operated out of the trunk of her car! She has demonstrated her gift of creativity in creating a worship space for various liturgical seasons and events in a decidedly “secular” venue.

Gerrie prays with her whole body. Often during the prayers and hymns, Gerrie prays using American Sign Language. Additionally, she is one of several “intercessors” to whom people go following the Eucharist to ask for laying on of hands and prayers for special needs. She also prays with those to whom she takes the Eucharist as a Lay Eucharistic Visitor. As part of her daily devotions, after reading the Bible and reflections each morning, she prays – for those on her own prayer list, for those on the church’s prayer list, and for the Anglican Cycle of Prayer. She also was previously the head of the prayer chain.

Gerrie, and her beloved husband of almost 50 years, Bob (now deceased), have been members of St. Matthew’s since 1969. But they were never the “sit quietly in the pew on Sunday” kinds of members. They were both integral to St. Matt’s very being – woven throughout the fabric of the church’s history, life and ministries. They reared their three children, Vicki, Bob and Sandy, in a home filled with examples of how to be a faithful follower; they must have done it well because all three are now adults who are following their parents’ example of Christian living.

without being asked because he sees something that needs to get done.

Hank helps with setting up for each service, does the service programs, takes care of the accounting, does the yearly parochial reports, and has served on the Vestry for numerous terms. He and his wife regularly attend Bible study, and Hank fills in to lead Compline and Morning Prayer services at St. John’s when a supply priest is not available, usually about once a month. Hank is a resident at the ERS Cambridge Heights community and is active there as well, participating in their parish Health Ministry program. All this while also being a two-time cancer survivor and having had heart surgery and multiple joint surgeries. Hank just keeps on going, always helping, always being there to answer God’s call to service.

Photos by Julie Murray

9

Valuing all parts of the

BODY OF CHRIST

O

ne of my favorite television shows is the BBC show, Sherlock. It’s all about Benedict Cumberbatch’s flashy and clever version of Sherlock Holmes, and of course his partner, John Watson. While the show is about Sherlock, it is just as much about Watson. It wouldn’t be any fun to watch if it weren’t for him.

We read in 1 Corinthians about the body of Christ: “The members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.”

I think it’s natural for our eyes to be drawn to certain people. The clever or eloquent, the people who naturally take the lead. But you also need the quieter and reliable people who make sure someone is

BBCAmerica.com around to unlock the doors and unfold the chairs and move the tables.

These roles are not set in stone, of course. One Sunday morning I went to All Saints in Park Slope (Brooklyn, NY), where the rector, the Rev. Steve Paulikas, pointed out that not only are we different parts of the body, but we may be different parts of the body at different times in our life.

Sometimes we’re Sherlock and sometimes we are John Watson. Sometimes we take the lead and get the attention; sometimes we just show up and quietly work hard. Sometimes we’re the feet, sometimes the eyes, sometimes the ear or nose or liver.

Still, some people tend to fall into particular roles. There are those who simply always show up on time and do whatever is needed and rarely take the lead.

There are others who tend to be visible because they are excellent public speak-

ers or big personalities.

Given this, I think it’s important that church leaders remember to honor those who are less in the spotlight. It’s important to recognize the person who gets the bills paid as well as the preacher, the volunteer who turns on the lights as well as the one who plans the big fundraiser, remembering that we are sometimes the flashy one who can’t do their jobs without others and sometimes the one behind the scenes.

In the series, we are naturally drawn to Sherlock, but one of the points of the show is that he cannot do what he does alone.

Those of us who might be in the spotlight need to occasionally redirect it toward others. It may help to occasionally ask ourselves, are we honoring every member?

Reprinted from ECF Vital Practices www. ecfvp.org. Originally written by Jeremiah Sierra on January 25, 2016.

W

The Diaconate: A call to leadership

hen one looks at the clergy structure of the Episcopal Church, it appears that there is an inherent chain of command: bishop → presbyter → deacon.

This could give the perception that vocational deacons are ecclesiastical “followers”, who carry out the instructions of the clergy “above” them. In reality, however, vocational deacons can be and must be leaders. They lead within their congregations and within the communities they live and serve, and they lead in representing the laity to the other clergy.

According to the Episcopal diaconate ordination vows, You are to make Christ and his redemptive love known, by your word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship.

You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world.

At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself This part of the diaconal vows comes first; deacons are to go out into the world, ministering to all they meet.

Letting deacons find their own ministry, based on their own interests and inclinations, helps to create successful leaders.

They go out into the world as disciples of Jesus where they can do the most good. They are less constrained by parish politics; they can be imaginative and energized people who inspire and motivate, based on vision and call.

A good leader concentrates on people and solving the issues and problems of the day. Their passion drives them to the forefront of an issue or project, and the strength of their conviction continually encourages others to take up the cause. A

leader has a purpose that goes beyond the present, and pushes for a better future.

Strong leadership springs from a caring and concern for other people and a clear vision of better solutions.

By nature of the diaconate ordination, deacons tend to ‘think out of the box’; they function in the community at large, where there may be no distinct lines of standard behavior or function. They have a vision of what the future can be, and they work diligently, both within the church and out in the world, to move toward that vision. Deacons read the Scriptures, pray, study, worship and maintain fellowship with others to help provide guidance and awareness as they pursue a project or goal. These are all attributes of a committed leader.

Deacons also assist in liturgy and other functions within the local congregation and diocesan-wide. This, too, is a part of their vows. Deacons may be counselors or mediators, and often walk through the end of life with parishioners with whom they have established a relationship.

But, ultimately, if left to answer the call from God and fully live out their intricate role in the church, a deacon must provide valuable leadership, not only to the church, but also to the world about them.

The Rev. Deniray Mueller serves her diaconal ministry at the In the Garden Ministry at Trinity, Columbus, and as the legislative liaison for the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact her at deniray@ deniray.com.

11

1

Book of Common Prayer, page 543

EVERYONE CAN

LEAD T

he story of Moses reminds us that God uses flawed, fearful and reluctant people as leaders in God’s kingdom. When God calls Moses at the burning bush to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses demurs, saying, “I am nobody. Why would the king or the Israelites believe that you sent me? I am a slow and hesitant speaker.

Please send someone else.” God answers him, “I will be with you. Throw your staff on the ground. See it turn into a snake?

That will be your sign to prove that I sent you. Who gives man his mouth? I do. I will help you to speak.” When Moses continues to hesitate and asks God to send someone else, God says, “Your brother Aaron speaks well. He can be your spokesman.

The two of you can work together.”

This story gives me hope that God can use even the most reluctant and unlikely of people as kingdom leaders. It reassures us that having flaws is okay, that we should offer what we have, that God will give guidance and that we can collaborate with others who provide what we are lacking.

Leadership has many different forms. People can lead from any position. Leadership doesn’t always have to be the traditional top-down, hierarchical model. Leadership can be collaborative. It can be gradual. People can provide as much leadership as they are able to, and work alongside others on a project. There can be supervised leadership and apprentice leadership. In short – everyone can lead.

At St. John’s, Columbus, we try to recognize leaders in unexpected places and foster leadership among people who would not normally be considered leaders. We use the Asset Based Community Development model, which asks, “What are your gifts? What can you offer the community?” rather than “What are you lacking? What are you in need of?” to open our eyes to the gifts in our community. The ABCD model

St. John’s, Columbus, parishioner Jerry, and one of his sparkling homemade cards. has taught us to look for abundance and giftedness rather than focusing on people’s needs and deficits. We at St. John’s show leadership by identifying the skill sets of the people in our community, and creating spaces for them to practice their skills and lead others.

Here are a few stories of how our neighbors have shown leadership, both in the church and in the community.

Ray is a neighborhood resident currently living on the street who sometimes attends St. John’s Street Church service, held outdoors at Broad and Central every Sunday. He has an associate’s degree in web development. When he heard that we were working on a new church website, he joined us for a working session. By sharing his expertise, Ray helped us to figure out the technical side of launching our website.

Jerry is a longtime parishioner who regularly attends our Street Church and Wednesday night services. He lives with developmental disabilities, but is not held back because of them. He loves walking, and regularly walks around 10 miles a day. Last fall, he decided that he would like to share his love

of walking and lead a walk for other St. John’s parishioners. He worked with a St. John’s staff member to design the route and decide on the day. He loved being the guide and sharing his knowledge of the neighborhood with others.

More recently, Jerry learned to make greeting cards at a local community center. For Mother’s Day this year, he made a stack of homemade cards sparkling with glitter and brought them to St. John’s to be shared with the mothers in the congregation. Jerry uses his skills and passions to bless others in the church and in the community.

Mugsy is an “urban pioneer” who has joined together with Jerome, a longtime neighborhood resident, to revitalize Franklinton Gardens’ neighborhood community garden. Both Jerome and Mugsy actively participate in planning meetings and workdays at the gardens on Saturday afternoons. They walked around the neighborhood together informing neighbors about the community garden, and invited them to rent a plot. Jerome led a planning meeting when the main facilitator was gone. Mugsy is spearheading efforts to plant an orchard of native pawpaw trees in the garden. Jerome cleared a plot to grow and distribute cantaloupes communally, and Mugsy created name stakes out of PVC piping to identify gardeners’ plots. Jerome and Mugsy are working hard, together, to make the commu-

nity garden a success.

Lucinda is a longtime member of Street Church. She has struggled with addiction and homelessness. Several members of her family were killed in a house fire last winter. Yet she is always thinking of the needs of others. She is fortunate enough to have a car and often brings food donated from The Andersons store to the Street Church service. Lucinda even remembers people’s birthdays and brings cakes especially for them.

Like Moses, none of these individuals would expect to be called upon as leaders. They, too, might point out their weaknesses and deficiencies. But when given opportunity and encouragement, they have risen above their own expectations of themselves to become community leaders.

Hanna Kahler, community organizer with St. John’s and Episcopal Service Corps member, wrote this article on behalf of all the unlikely leaders in Franklinton. If you want to learn more about recognizing leaders in unexpected places, contact us at stjohnscolumbus@gmail.com.

At left, Jerome and Mugsy, working in the community garden.

Above, Mugsy models a bracelet made from pawpaw seeds.

13

VITALITY

marked by the priesthood of all believers

L

eadership and congregational vitality go hand in hand. In my first six months as Missioner for Congregational Vitality, I have discovered that leadership in our diocese comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and that there really are a variety of gifts but the same Spirit.

Our smaller congregations are incredibly impressive in their efforts to grow the kingdom with limited resources and fewer people, and they have been functioning solely with lay volunteers for many years. Their determination, creativity and commitment are an amazing witness. Our larger communities have so many ministries in place that I often wonder how they are able to coordinate it all. This is often the result of skilled staff members – and what a blessing that is. There is a vibrancy and intentionality in these communities that cannot be measured. Many of our mediumsized congregations are experiencing a transition to part-time clergy leadership, or no regular clergy presence at all other

than supply clergy on Sunday mornings.

The lay leadership in these communities is strong and growing stronger by necessity. Collaboration with other congregations and with our partners in the ELCA and the Methodist Church is more frequent and represents a real opportunity for the future.

The landscape is changing quickly for these communities but I have seen a deep commitment to adapt and continue the journey to the kingdom. In our Fresh Expressions communities, I have been overwhelmed by the sense of adventure and courage to walk into the unknown by the leaders and members. Brendan’s Crossing, the Franklinton Cycle Works, Confluence, the Near East House, New Hope Christian African Fellowship and Northside Abbey are all examples of entrepreneurial leadership and community engagement, and point to new things that God is doing.

All in all, the face of leadership in our diocese continues to evolve and change, but leadership is strong and the Holy

Spirit is calling people to leadership in all of our faith communities. We have much to be thankful for. And in all of these communities, regardless of size or shape, there is willingness from the people to step forward and serve the Lord as best they can.

It seems clear that the days of clergy casting the vision and making all the decisions are long gone and the priesthood of all believers is unfolding all around us. And that is a big cause for for the wonderful vitality in our congregations and our diocese.

The Rev. Jason Leo is Missioner for Congregational Vitality. He works with congregations that are, for a variety of reasons, struggling in one way or another, and specifically with small congregations and congregations without full time clergy. He is pretty new on the job and the learning curve is steep.

Contact Jason at jleo@diosohio.org.

LEADERSHIP

L

comes in many forms and personalities

eadership is defined in the dictionary as the position or function of a leader. At St. James, Piqua, in some cases that means many leaders.

Our main leader is God, whom we all believe in as Christians and Episcopalians. But there are times when we also need the help of other leaders in our personal communities. Starting at the top we have the Rev. Jeffrey Bessler, our priest-in-charge, who is there to guide us faithfully and with the knowledge of God. Fr. Jeffrey comes to us by way of Indiana and has been with us at St. James for a year and a half. We then have the collective membership of our vestry, as many or all of us do, who lead our congregation in the direction we are striving – to perform and make decisions that will benefit our congregation and move us into the future as a sound body. As leaders it is a difficult thing to try and please everyone at the same time, and the vestry does so to the best of their abilities to function in that position.

At St. James, we are proud to say that we have other leaders who step up and are not as prominent as the vestry members or Fr. Jeff, but no matter how small the task or function they are there, no matter what. Their leadership is what keeps our church vital and in the community eye. We are proud of these people and would like to recognize them for their ministry as follows: Cindy Pearson, Vacation Bible School and S.T.A.R. Mission; Marisa Littlejohn, Weddings; Barney Littlejohn, Building and grounds; Sandy Abernathy, Parish Life; Vi Das, Knitting Circle; Dee Gastineau, Choir director and Organist; Krista Abernathy, St. James Coupon Club; Susan Davis, Lunch w/ God; and Brad Boehringer, Newsletter.

As everyone knows, you can’t have leaders if you don’t have followers. The people of St. James have always found a way to do what is needed for our church – and that is only done by participation of the whole congregation. The abilities of our congregation are unbelievable when everyone works together for the common good. It is amazing to see what we can do together.

Krista Abernathy serves as secretary of the church and vestry of St. James, Piqua.

St. James, Piqua, recently created a piece of performance art to be displayed outside for the community – a piano.

It started out just as an old upright that no one really wanted. Parishioner Cindy Pearson (pictured) donated the piano and suggested the project to the church’s leadership, and in February 2016 started with others in the congregation to put in many hours to create something that would stand out and entice people to stop and play if they so desired.

The piano is brightly painted and covered with decoupage sheet music from the 1982 Hymnal. It was mounted onto a four-wheeled dolly to make it easier to move from inside to outside. The piano will be placed outside for “Taste of the Arts” put on by Mainstreet Piqua and will also be placed outside for an upcoming bike festival. The church is very proud of the piano and hopes it is played for a long time to come.

Pathfinders I

stood outside in the vacant abandoned lot at the corner of Central Ave. and West Broad, where St. John’s, Franklinton, hosts Street Church. As worship was about to begin a congregant doubled over in pain and had trouble standing in the circle, even with her walker. At this time, two of our street church members walked across the lot to West Broad and tipped over a newspaper stand. Picking it up, they carried it back towards the circle. People started to mutter, wondering if they were stealing it, when they took it over to the congregant and set it behind her on its side, giving her a place to sit in this sea of asphalt. The perfect pew for street church.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen a more fitting picture of what’s needed in the church today. People willing to break the rules and imagine new possibilities to make room for someone that couldn’t otherwise participate in the community.

While meeting with Jonny Baker of the Church Mission Society in Oxford, he labeled these folks Path Finding Dissenters. Those willing to bend the rules, live outside the walls, hack the canons and show the church a new way forward.

We visited three Fresh Expressions of faith in the UK that were getting on with path finding, and creating new avenues for people to engage in Christian community. Moot, located in financial district of London literally turned the pews of St. Mary Aldermary Anglican Church around.

A lot has changed in London in the 900 years since St. Mary Aldermary was built and Moot, an intentional community now guiding the church, wasn’t blind to the changes. Their location in the

financial district means many people are present in the neighborhood from Monday through Friday, but no longer on Sunday. Moot opened its doors to the white-collar community by facing the pews at one another, creating a café style space where anyone could enter and share in community over a packed or purchased lunch or a cup of coffee from the café stand. Regular prayer, Taizé chants, mediation sessions and yoga litter the Monday to Friday schedule as the side chapel remains quiet and a place for reflection and refreshment in the middle of a busy workday. Moot has become the church the community needs, instead of forcing the parish to attend to its schedules, traditions and desires.

Kahaila Café began its Fresh Expression ministry as a café with a conscience. All profits from the café are poured into supporting local charities, which holds great appeal in the young hipster neighborhood of Brick Lane that longs for

value in its purchases. The walls are open for local artists to display and sell their work. As community began to form in conversations in the café and partnerships emerged with local arts groups and charities, a church began to meet on Wednesday evenings in the café itself. The commitment to social good, the arts and the community created around coffee led to the formation of a worshipping group. The community that formed was able to name the further need for job training and employment opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged women, and has started Luminary Bakery – which offers courses, work experience and employment as bakers, providing a new way forward in life for the women involved. The shared space of Kahaila Café has become both invitational and generative.

Don’t Forget Your Cornflakes! No really, don’t forget your cornflakes. This innovative family service is held at All Hallows in Lady Bay, Nottingham. It is the church’s second service and is designed as a Bring & Share service.

Families are invited to bring and share their breakfast with one another during a playful and engaging worship service designed for the participation of the entire family. Simple prayers, interactive songs and sermons bring the Gospel to life and create accessibility for families to enter together into worship. The Rev. Mark and Barbara Rodel model

Wanted: Those willing to bend the rules, live outside the walls, hack the canons and show the church a new way forward.

participatory leadership beyond the liturgical form of the service. They and a team of five seminarians share in the leadership of the church. The seminarians and their families live in the parish while in the formation process. They have created an intentional community that meets together and walks the street, inviting young families that live in the neighborhood to visit All Hallows to experience the good news of Jesus in a new way.

I wonder how we can reimagine the use of our buildings, church planting, and our liturgy here in the Diocese of Southern Ohio to create avenues for those outside of our circle to discover our God of love? May we make room for the Path Finding Dissenters in our communities whose imagination might just be our saving grace.

Jed Dearing is the director of the Confluence Year, and a member of the Franklinton community. He is gentle in manner, kindly in spirit, and ferociously competitive when it comes to games.

He has a tremendous gift for relationship and is a person of great thoughtfulness and intelligence.

He also likes bourbon. Contact Jed at jeddearing@ gmail.com or follow his blog posts at praxiscommunities.org.

Next generation leadership

L

eadership is very much on the minds of the parishioners of Christ Church, Springfield, as we enter the process of finding a new rector after the long and successful tenure of the Rev. Charlotte Collins Reed, who first heard the call to ministry when she herself was a member of our congregation.

One of the ecclesiastical features of the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church from which we took our start, remains a very clear sense of who is in charge. (In this respect, we are a step ahead of our English original, as we are the “Episkopoi” church, the “church of the bishops.”) This concern with authority must be in our DNA from the sixteenth century,

when the issue of who was head of the church led to our somewhat muddled creation story (“The Act of Supremacy”?) and was very much still a concern when our founding documents were established.

So, sixteen years ago my wife Jody and I were new to Springfield and were visiting churches. As confirmed members of Generation X, we had already attended churches together that represented three different denominations, always choosing the church that seemed the best option in whichever new community we found ourselves.

When we visited Christ Church one Sunday, we were especially impressed by the beauty of the sanctuary and the welcome the congregation extended to a small group of mentally handicapped adults from a nearby group home. (We later learned that they were shuttled to the church every Sunday by Marcia Bethel, one of Christ Church’s matriarchs and spiritual leaders.) At the end of the service, a very kind and friendly woman introduced herself as Dodi Holmes and guided us downstairs to a meeting where members of the parish were discussing the qualities they thought desirable in their next rector, the departure of current co-rectors Ruth and Bob Partlow having recently been announced.

I remember very clearly explaining to Dodi how it didn’t quite seem appropriate for first time visitors to go to such a meeting. She politely acknowledged the concern but quickened her pace as she led us to the meeting room, explaining as we sat down that ours were exactly the voices that needed to be included in that particular conversation.

From that first Sunday and Dodi’s confident introduction, Jody and I found a home at Christ Church, raising our children here, volunteering at the food pantry and in the Christian Education program, welcoming and bidding farewell to that future rector we discussed in the abstract that morning.

I have since had occasion to reflect many times on our first Sunday at Christ Church, when the vestry discussed new efforts at outreach, or when explaining to other Episcopalians how we found our way into the

fold. It now seems clear to me that what Dodi demonstrated that morning was not so much hospitality, as a special kind of lay leadership.

Before we visited Christ Church, we had made Sunday morning visits to at least four other local churches, in some cases with pastors or elders stopping us after church to tell us what the church was about and how welcoming they were to new families. But Dodi did something different: she led us to a conversation; she showed us what her church was about; she exercised authority in leading us into that meeting. Of course, as an outreach plan, perpetually seeking a rector so that visitors can be invited into focus group meetings to discuss their ideal candidate has practical limitations. What resonated in Dodi’s action was her willingness to say to strangers: your voice matters here as much as mine, and I’ve belonged to this church for more than fifty years.

I have been very impressed by the work of a young theologian who came to Procter to lead a retreat two years ago. (Sadly, I was not able to attend the retreat, so I have not met Dwight Zscheile in person, only through his books.) In his most recent work, The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age, Zscheile writes: “Leadership in the agile church is about fostering the spaces in which people can learn, practice, and play.” I am struck by the resonance of that phrase ‘fostering the spaces,’ because it suggests a more other-focused definition of leadership. The agile leader he has in mind creates opportunities for the agency of others, leading people to significant conversations – which was Dodi’s gift to my family many years ago, the legacy of her leadership in the church that she loves enough to offer to others.

What resonated in Dodi’s action was her willingness to say to strangers: your voice matters here as much as mine

Ty Buckman is Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Professor of English at Wittenberg University. He attends Christ Church, Springfield.

introvert Leading as an

After years of trying to force himself to be an extrovert, a pastor discovers that being a Christian leader begins with accepting who you are. Even if you are introverted, shy and out of touch with popular culture, you are God’s beloved.

I

’d been invited to preach to a group of ordinands. Before the worship service, the bishop described the kind of ministers the church needs.

I don’t remember the exact words, but I recall the gist: visionary, entrepreneurial, get-it-done, people-oriented, outgoing, culturally savvy leaders, equipped to revitalize declining congregations and launch new ones.

And there I was in the front row, an introverted, shy pastor, hopelessly out of touch with popular culture, with a shade of social anxiety (I’m really good with people as long as there are 200 of them, and they are all 15 yards away).

I knew that if I saw a church mem-

ber or visitor in the grocery store, I’d be just as likely to hide in the dairy section as I would be to start a conversation.

Just listening to his description exhausted me.

I leaned over to my wife, Ginger, and said, “If that’s what we need, then we don’t need me.”

Listening to this description of the ideal pastor exhausted me because it reminded me of the many years I’d tried to become one – the conferences I’d gone to, hosted by CEOtype, big-church pastors, the books I’d read by the most innovative entrepreneurial new-church pastors, the workshops I’d attended to learn how to cast a compelling vision.

The message I always took away was You need to become someone else.

So I spent the first years of my ministry feeling deficient and determined to fix myself. I tried to greet every visitor every Sunday morning. I gave inspiring, vision-casting talks at the beginning of every church meeting. I preached without a shred of notes, even though that doubled my Sunday morning anxiety. I visited the home of every first-time guest on Sunday afternoons. I tried to become an extrovert.

And I didn’t want to get out of bed on Monday mornings.

But as I desperately tried to become someone else – the kind of leader the church supposedly needs – I also had alternative influences. Increasingly, I found myself in sacred spaces with pastors and guides who encouraged me to honor my truest self and claim what Parker Palmer calls our “birthright gifts.”

I was beginning to see that though I might need to learn new skills, my self – the complex of desires, gifts, personality traits, even anxieties that was me – was not deficient and didn’t need to be fixed.

For a tired pastor, working against the grain of his personality, this was nothing short of gospel.

What I began to learn, and now firmly believe and teach to my students, is that the church needs pastors who have the courage to discover who they are in God alone. Then they can lead out of that discovery and create the space for the members of their congregations to do the same.

This might not be a strategy recommended by the visionary, entrepreneurial, get-it-done, people-oriented, outgoing and culturally savvy, but it is a way that leads to life.

I’ve been at this work long enough – both pastoring against the grain of who I am and learning to do it with the grain – that I can offer a few pieces of advice, things I’ve learned along the way.

First, claim your gifts, especially the gift of your self.

When the little voices in your head start to say, “You are inadequate, deficient, the wrong person at the wrong time for the church,” gently ignore those voices and run to your favorite book by Henri Nouwen, letting him remind you (if no one else is around to do it) that you are, as you are, God’s beloved. And that is enough. Full stop.

Second, revel in the fact that you belong to a community of gifts. Trust that God has endowed different people in your congregation with different gifts, since there’s no way one person can have them all. Who in your church is visionary?

Who can get things done? Who are the entrepreneurs, the catalysts, the natural-born leaders? As you use your unique gifts, let them put theirs to work as well, and enjoy watching them do it.

Finally, allow yourself to learn new leadership skills – not to fix a deficient self, but in the same way that you would learn to get better at writing a sermon or to speak louder when leading the liturgy.

At one point, feeling quite inadequate, I bought a book called “How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends.”

For many years, books like this held the false promise that I might become someone other than myself.

Now they are not so freighted. It’s useful to know, for example, to ask open-ended questions to keep a conversation going and not to stand with my arms crossed if I want people to talk to me.

Learning new skills allows you to get better at some things without succumbing to the myth that you need to change everything to be what the church needs.

Because there’s a very real chance, if God has anything to do with it, that you are exactly what the church needs. Just as you are.

This article first appeared in Faith & Leadership, www.faithandleadership.com. L. Roger Owens is associate professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Serminary. Owens and his wife, Ginger Thomas, previously served as co-pastors at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church in Durham, N.C. He received his Ph.D. in theology from Duke University where he was awarded a Lilly Fellowship for the Formation of a Learned Clergy. Before that he completed his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School.

21

My problem with leadership essays

“Dick, would you want to write an essay for the upcoming issue of Connections, the theme being ‘leadership’?” An interesting proposition from our director of communications, David Dreisbach.

“I really don’t like a lot of current writing on leadership because it’s so often self-aggrandizing,” I replied.

“So, why don’t you write about that?” he calmly asked me.

Nice, I thought. So here is my response.

T

here is no public behavior (political/ corporate/educational/diplomatic/religious) more robustly examined today than leadership. From boardrooms to dugouts, from the polling place to the congregational meeting, women and men evaluate and debate the ways of leaders all the time. Yet too much of our thinking on this topic, sadly, is shallow or self-serving.

Let’s start with the modern classics. Peter F. Drucker, the high priest of American management theory, famously gave us an enduring maxim: “Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.” Saul Alinsky’s Industrial

Areas Foundation 10-Day Training teaches something simpler yet similar: “Leaders are people who have followers.” And then there is the general, unattributed claim (surely used by us all from time to time): “Leaders lead.” All three of these pithy statements are memorable and useful, and yet ultimately risk becoming self-justifying – even prideful. We who follow Jesus must seek a more excellent way.

It was in the 1990s – following an Indiana-based writer named Robert Greenleaf and his many lesser-known disciples – in which generative ideas associated with “servant-leadership” emerged. For Episcopalians, the book Servanthood: Leadership for the Third Millennium (Cowley Publications, 1997) by Bennett J. Sims was a doorway into a different leadership approach. Impressed by Greenleaf’s essay, “The Servant as Leader,” Sims, by then the bishop emeritus of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, reflected on an epiphany he had when first coming upon this former AT&T executive’s personal discovery of servanthood.

“No longer did I need to be intimidated by the two-fisted management habits and long-standing power structures of secular hierarchies, for Greenleaf taught me these habits were outmoded and counterproductive in any organization, profit and non-profit alike. He gave me the heart to pitch out my envy for leaders of business organizations who, it appeared, could hire and fire and order people around at will. His wisdom squared with the wisdom of Jesus, who taught and lived the concept of servant-leadership nearly two thousand years before…” For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)…

My eyes were opened to see the piercing truth of this paradox. The paradox is true not because Jesus said it. Jesus said it because it is true.”

As has been said of other doctrinal debates of the past, this self-disclosure is good in what it affirms yet less-than-good in what it denies. Because the writer’s emphasis is on the utility of Jesus’ teaching and not on his personhood, we literally change the subject from Jesus to ourselves, and this is anything but a humble turn. Perhaps this move toward personal service, still barely thirty years old, is the best we can do to answer the lingering command-control legacy of the “Leaderas-Hero” school so dominant for so long in our culture, yet many hunger for something more filling.

This hunger was met a year ago at Procter Center when a team from the Diocese of Chicago lead a daylong introduction to “Fierce Conversations,” a cutting-edge program founded in the tech-savvy Pacific Northwest and now widely used in corporate and non-profit organizations around the world.

Thanks to the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s Commission on Congregational Life’s best practices initiative, many leaders in our congregations that day learned practical techniques for richer, deeper listening leading to a more compassionate leadership. But under it all “Fierce Conversations” stressed three essential outcomes: 1) we speak in our own voices; 2) we will get to The Issue behind the issue; and 3) we will be different when the conversation is over. All three assertions bring us to a place where our leadership – honest, brave, empowered, and humble – is transforming because we have been changed by something beyond our own judgments, capacities, and skills. A question asked often in the “Fierce Conversations” training – “What is the most important thing we should be talking about now?” – is the starting point for the leader who goes beyond mere appearances as servant to a commitment as partner, or even friend in Christ.

Jesus said it best, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15).

I offer these three readable and reliable foundations for moving toward more transforming, (or in Ron Heifetz’s vocabulary) adaptive, leadership: Ronald A. Heifetz’s indispensable Leadership Without Easy Answers (Harvard University Press, 1994) ; Henri J. M. Nouwen’s exquisite “In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership” (latest ed. Crossroads, 2000) and Timothy Radcliffe O.P., I Call You Friends (Continuum, 2001) .

To be sure, make the move from lone-ranger hero to servant-leader with good intentions, but that move still largely is about us. The bolder move toward becoming living witnesses (in the same spirit as the Hebrew Prophets and the disciples of the early church) is complex and taxing, yet it is worthy of those who say surely God is doing a new thing in our time.

The Apostle Paul put it this way “’Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those who the Lord commends.”

(II Corinthians 10:17-18). Or, as an Anglican priest of a past era put it to a young acolyte preparing to serve at the altar on a Sunday morning: “God does not chose the worthy; rather God makes worthy those whom (he) chooses.”

The Rev. Richard Burnett serves as rector at Trinity Episcopal Church on Capitol Square in Columbus.

Contact him at r-burnett@trinitycolumbus.org.

You can find links to all of books referenced in the article at dsoconnections.org/. Look for the Featured Books tab under Resources.

Check out our Featured Books section at dsoConnections.org

You can find links to all books referenced in each issue of Connections at our Amazon store. Look for the Featured Books tab under Resources

Check out these

Why good leaders make you feel safe What makes a great leader? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests it’s someone who makes their employees feel secure, who draws staffers into a circle of trust. But creating trust and safety – especially in an uneven economy – means taking on big responsibility. https://youtu.be/lmyZMtPVodo

videos on leadership

What is leadership?

Former nuclear submarine commander and leadership guru David Marquet imagines a work place where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, a place where people are healthier and happier because they have more control over their work – a place where everyone is a leader. https://youtu.be/pYKH2uSax8U

COMING UP NEXT: NEIGHBORS Who is our neighbor? One useful resource for consideration is Peter Block’s new book, Community: The Structure of Belonging. Block offers a lens through which we can consider how we engage our neighbors and live into transformational communities.

The book is written in two parts: “the fabric of community” and “the alchemy of belonging.” It may be a useful resource to individuals, groups and congregations interested in re-framing the conversation about neighborhood and neighbor.

How are you connecting with your neighbors? We want to hear your stories!

Submissions should be sent to communication@diosohio.org. Deadline is August 1.

at DSOConnections.org/video

Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast Life.Church pastor Craig Groeschel shares experience and insight to help you make the most of your leadership potential, learn to solve problems in new ways, and be empowered to take your next steps in leading others.You can find the whole series at http://www.Life.Church/leadershippodcast/

relationships

The essence of leadership An excellent summation of the essence of leadership by General Colin Powell. https://youtu.be/ocSw1m30UBI

29

The bishop and present clergy lay hands on AJ Stack as he is ordained to the priesthood.

Photos by Julie Murray

Emerging leaders

O

n Saturday, June 4, 2016, Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal ordained Gene Alan (AJ) Stack, Jr. and Jennifer Lee Oldstone-Moore to the Sacred Order of priests during a celebration of Holy Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral. Then on Saturday, June 11, Bishop Breidenthal ordained Kevin D. Beesley, Margaret L. Foster Foote, Rick A. Incorvati, Sandra Sue Kidd, Paul J. Scanlan and Margaret C. Leidheiser-Stoddard to the Sacred Order of Deacons during a celebration of Holy Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral. We welcome these emerging leaders to the diocese and give thanks for their ministry with and among us.

The bishop ordains Maggie LeidheiserStoddard to the diaconate.

relationships 27

Do we follow the example of our

LEADER?

J

esus, CEO, a book I read a few years back, shed an interesting light on leadership and how the followers of Jesus might consider conducting themselves.

Leadership and clergy health, eh? Where does one even begin?

If Jesus came back today, I wonder what He would think. Would this be the church He would recognize? Or would He discover a church mutated over centuries of morphing into practices that distract us all from living into His Gospel message? Ron Edmondson, church planter, Christian organizational leader and pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, identified 12 leadership principles of Jesus. Let’s focus on some that we most often face as clergy.

Jesus was willing to invest in people others would have dismissed, caring more about people than about rules and regulations According to Scripture, Jesus associated most often with the least, the last and the lost; those marginalized in society. Criticized for those He ate and partied with, whom He associated with, whom He touched and healed. People, even His own family, thought He was crazy. He could have hobnobbed with the people who would advance His ministry.

We are told there were followers who supported His mission. Yet He Himself did not have a place in which to dwell. The rich He told to go sell their possessions first and then come back and see if they wanted to follow Him. But what do we do as clergy? We collect money. We hold annual stewardship campaigns. We pay bills, maintain buildings, employ folks, maintain accounting records, send parochial reports, deal with mission shares. We eyeball newcomers to the congregation sometimes more for what they can monetarily give to the church to keep the building up, rather than what the Church can provide for them. I wonder how many capital campaigns Jesus oversaw? What a travesty!

RevRN: Reflections on clergy health

ture”– no mitre, no vestments, no collar. Jesus was an understated servant leader. His ministry did not have time for any other distractions. He went out and sought folks to whom He could have been of service. He had no structure to deal with. He kept his eye on his mission. He had a travel itinerary for which he could walk. He had to deal with the temple upper crust. (I doubt that Jesus was told to read Well Intentioned Dragons and Clergy Killers as we were in seminary.) He broke bread and passed the cup (not a jewel encrusted chalice of fine metal) of wine around the table to share in fellowship with others, after blessing it. He didn’t exclude people. He was inclusive. He didn’t go through the correct hand motions or have people debate whether to use hosts or “real” bread.

It may serve us well to deal with distractions with grace.

Distractions serve as learning curves for all those who take their focus off the true mission of the Church. But that takes understanding and patience. It also takes guts and grit in dealing with naysayers.

Jesus was self-developed How did Jesus develop Himself? He prayed without ceasing. He trusted in God’s ever presence and called upon the Father’s guidance in all He did. “Your will not mine be done,” mentality. He studied. He taught. He kept His eye focused on the mission. He wasn’t referred to as the Rev. Dr. Jesus, or the Very Reverend, Most Reverend, whatever Reverend. He didn’t have a bunch of letters behind his name. But then when you are God, I guess you don’t need that. Yet, He did not mandate that of His apostles/disciples either. What He mandated was to “do ministry for the least of these.”

The latest issue of Plough Magazine deals with “All Things in Common?” There are several interesting articles, one entitled “From Property to Community”, the other “Why Community is Dangerous”.

I commend them to your reading enjoyment with hopes that it allows our mindset to move in the direction of mission and ministry.

Another read which I have found inspirational in my own leadership venture is Love Kindness by Barry H. Corey. Based on that wonderful verse from the prophet Micah, it speaks of our doing justice, the vital importance of loving kindness, and how it would be refreshing to walk humbly with our God. So, as clergy folks, placing ourselves over against these parameters, how do we perceive ourselves as healthy leaders? We all have our personal leadership and managerial styles from macro to micro and every stripe in between. However, no matter what our style is, how well do we live by the example already set in place by our Heavenly CEO? The Rev. Ruth Paulus is a registered nurse and serves as rector of St. Christopher’s, Fairborn. Contact her at revrn05@gmail.com.

relationships

What do we worry about as clergy? The fleeting Pollyanna in me would like to give a resounding “the least, the last, and the lost.” I would hope more of our ministry would be focused on that, if not all. What consumes our time? Worn out buildings, BIPS (butts in pews), broken down boilers, budgets, congregants complaining about other matters of things rather than how we are to serve the least, the last, or the lost. If you are a clergy person in a small congregation, you unclog toilets, replace depleted towel dispensers and call the person to fix the roof, along with making sure the fire extinguishers meet code. How did the church swing so far from Jesus’ commission to take nothing with you, making believers of all nations, and ministering to others?

Who of our forefathers decided all this opulence we hold so holy and sacred was such a great idea? Jesus did not have tomes of rules and regulations. Let us recall that He said that we are to love God, neighbor and self; upon that hung all the law and the prophets. He mentioned nothing about stained glass windows, silver chalices, frontals or pews and other “stuff”, which in essence is just stuff. How do we delude ourselves into thinking God gives a rip snort about any of that stuff?

What, pray tell, would happen if the church suddenly shifted its paradigm and really lived into the leadership role of Jesus? We maintain a monied church mentality common in days of old, when in fact that is no longer the reality. Can this cause stress in clergy? Perhaps!

Yet the paradigm is shifting. We can go kicking and screaming into it or trust that the Holy Spirit is in control and listen.

Jesus released responsibility and ownership in a ministry, celebrated success in ministry, and held his followers to high expectations If I hear that we as Episcopalians are the “frozen chosen” one more time, I will spit! Frozen chosen smacks of our staid history in an era that has gone by. That is not what Jesus intended his followers to be, ever. He respected people who ran hot or cold but not lukewarm. As clergy we are called to enable all we lead to develop their unique giftedness and put it into the practice of ministry. If we don’t, we aren’t worth our salt because our salt has lost its ability to season. Ministry is the priesthood of all believers; not some, not just the qualified. Yet, as clergy, we push up again those who are bound and determined to keep the church the way it was in its heyday. That paradigm is dead in the water – we have to go to people, the people will not come to us. We aren’t even on most folk’s radar. Trying to introduce something new to breathe some life into the church is often met with suffocating negativity. How do we as clergy stay healthy in those realms? Many don’t.

They throw up their hands and leave. Perhaps our declining numbers is the Spirit’s telling us to sit up and take notice.

Jesus practiced servant leadership, with a laser sharp focus on His vision, handling distractions with grace Jesus was a servant minister/leader. He got his hands and feet dirty. He may have had a staff, but he was not Jesus “haute cou-

29

PIMIL International Luncheon benefits Liberian children

P

artners-in-Ministry-in-Liberia (PIMIL) will host their annual International Luncheon and Silent Auction on Saturday, July 23 at St. John’s, Worthington, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Launching the vision of a “Decade of Expansion”, and with Ebola orphans in mind, the goal is to raise $10,000.

The theme for the luncheon is: “Seeking, Caring and Belonging” (John10:16). The food is delicious! There are creative activities for the children and interactive educational and cultural activities. The event also will feature three wonderful vignette speakers that include a former PIMIL student of the program, Rufus Kelly from Liberia, now residing in Texas with his family.

PIMIL supports Liberian students in three ways: Letters from the students, donations from individuals, families, organizations, congregations and grants, and also by annual fundraising through St. Matthew’s, Westerville, and the PIMIL Council, the governing board of PIMIL.

We invite you to join us in this self-giving humanitarian effort in any way possible: by sponsoring an ad for the souvenir booklet, donating an item for the silent auction, attending the fundraiser or by making a donation. Send donations to: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 23 East College Avenue, Westerville, OH 43081. Indicate PIMIL in the memo line.

Your contribution will be acknowledged and used for the intended purpose. See the PIMIL website: www.pimil.org for more information, including the support of a student.

“To do good, and to distribute, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:16).

The Rev. Abby Flemister is a retired priest attending St. Matthew’s, Westerville and serves as PIMIL Director. Contact Mother Abby at aflemister@ insight.rr.com.

Some of the Liberian students and Ebola orphans who will benefit from PIMIL’s annual fundraising luncheon.

Episcopal Night at the symphony A large group of about 75 Episcopalians – clergy and lay – (as well as a couple of Presbyterians) from Columbus area congregations gathered at the Ohio Theater in downtown Columbus one evening in April for “A Night at the Symphony.” The evening began with a reception in the Patron Lounge, where attendees heard from Ron Jenkins, Director of the Columbus Symphony Chorus about the history of this great choral work. Many of us also gathered in the theater for a talk by Christopher Purdy, Program Director at Classical 101 (WOSU-FM) and a member of St. James, Clintonville, then we all enjoyed a glorious 2½-hour performance of Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah,” the story of the Old Testament prophet charged with bringing Israel back into God’s fold.

Night at the Symphony organizers, the Rev. Bruce Smith and the Rev. Paul Williams.

Symphony attendees enjoyed a presentation

by Columbus Symphony Chorus director Ron Jenkins during a reception before the performance.

relationships

The event was coordinated and hosted by the Rev. Bruce Smith, Priest Associate at St. James, Clintonville, and the Rev. Paul Williams, Vicar of St. Andrew’s, Pickerington, with able assistance from the folks at the Symphony office.

We had originally reserved 60 seats in Prime Orchestra.

They sold out fast, but we managed to get 15 more to bring the total to 75. With the success of this event, we have begun formulating plans for next season, looking toward the Verdi “Requiem” in late October 2016. ~ submitted by the Rev. Bruce Smith

31

Episcopal Community Services Foundation announces

T

2016 Grant Recipients

he Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Community Services Foundation (ECSF) is pleased to announce that 37 ministries in 26 congregations have been awarded grants for 2016.

“It is awe-inspiring to see the diversity, passion and commitment to ministry represented by our congregations and parishioners,” said the Rev. Suzanne LeVesconte, board president. “It’s our faith in action and service to our brothers and sisters in Christ all across our diocese.”

Successful applications demonstrated that the applying congregation and its ministry were connected to the concerns and needs of their communities and neighbors and actively were seeking collaborative partnerships with other ministries, congregations and community organizations. And, each committed to the criteria of addressing the impact and root causes of food, housing and life skills insecurity, as well as the emergency assistance needs of individuals and families.

Each applicant ministry receives a site visit from a Grants Committee member and must demonstrate a commitment to best practices in the area of service, as well as make every effort to provide spiritual support and resources, including Bible study, worship and prayer. Additionally, the primary criteria for an ECSF grant is that the sponsoring congregation must commit to a significant level of financial support from the congregation’s budget and demonstrate commitment and active involvement in the ministry by parishioners.

“Every request for funding is evaluated on its own merits based upon its application, compliance with the criteria for funding, and site visit input, as well as effectiveness of the program and number of people served against dollars requested,” LeVesconte added. “The grants committee, site visitors

and the board spend many days evaluating and visiting congregations and ministries.

They do so with prayer and the commitment to ensuring that the finite resources we have are carefully and equitably distributed to serve our congregations, communities and the ministry priorities of the diocese.”

ECSF received 39 applications for 2016 in the amount of $155,535, including from two new ministries, representing congregations of all sizes across Southern Ohio – from Xenia to Gallipolis and Dayton to Nelsonville – each demonstrating the passion of many volunteers committed to making a difference in the lives of those in need. The range of ministries included food pantries, shelters, community meals, job and skill training, adult and youth literacy and tutoring programs and services that assist individuals and families in regaining financial stability.

All funds for ECSF grants and programs of the Foundation come from the generosity of individuals, grants, congregations and business sponsorships. The full list of 2016 grant recipients is available on ECSF’s website, www.ECSFsouthernohio. org under the Ministries and Grants tab. The next regular cycle application submission deadline will be September 15, 2016. Ministries that would like a copy of our application or assistance with the grants process are invited to visit our web site or contact the Rev. Terri J. Thornton, Ministry Leader, at ministryleader@ecsfsouthernohio.org.

The Rev. Terri Thornton serves as the Ministry Leader of ECSF.

2016 ECSF GRANT RECIPIENTS: Church of the Advent, Cincinnati

Open Door Ministry Church of the Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming

Valley Interfaith Food and Clothing Calvary Church, Cincinnati

CAIN (Churches Active in Northside) Christ Church, Dayton CityHeart Christ Church, Springfield

Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) of Springfield Peace Camp Christ Church, Xenia

Emergency Shelter Church of Our Saviour, Cincinnati

Food Ministries

Latino Ministry/Transformacion Price Hill Church of the Redeemer, Cincinnati

Home Comforts

Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati - Housing Security

Madisonville Education & Assistance Center - Emergency

Assistance Program Church of the Epiphany, Nelsonville

Feeding Ministry Church of the Good Samaritan, Amelia

Community Supper & Emergency Pantry Grace Church, College Hill

Community United Empowerment Grace Church, Pomeroy

Precious Ones Diaper Ministry Holy Trinity, Bellaire

Daily Bread Center

Motivational Munchies/Community Meal

St. Andrew’s, Cincinnati

Summer Camp Reading St. Andrew’s, Dayton

Dayton Episcopal Food Pantry St. John’s, Columbus

St. John’s Outreach Programs (His Place, Street Church,

Emergency Assistance)

Godman Guild Learning Center

Youth Programs St. John’s, Worthington Kindway/EMBARK St. Mark’s, Dayton

Kemp School Community Partnership St. Mary’s, Hillsboro

Samaritan Outreach St. Paul’s, Logan

Feeding Ministry St. Peter’s, Gallipolis

Dry Bottoms

Loaves and Fishes St. Philip’s, Columbus

Community Food Pantry Ministry St. Stephen’s, Columbus

Neighborhood Services St. Thomas, Terrace Park

InterParish Ministry - Food & Emergency Relief Trinity, Columbus

IDs for Ex-Offenders & Homeless

In the Garden Trinity, McArthur Layette Trinity, Troy

Partners in Hope

relationships

The Episcopal Community Services Foundation is a 501(c)3 supporting foundation of the Diocese of Southern Ohio and the primary source of grants for congregational ministry support and development. For information about ECSF, or to inquire about how to make a gift in support of our ministry partners, visit our website, ecsfsoutherohio.org to donate online, or email ministryleader@ecsfsouthernohio.org.

33

Sacred journeys

Every ministry has a season, and a short life doesn’t always equate with failure. Good Samaritan, Amelia, parishioner Dena Morris shares her story of venturing into campus ministry with the students and faculty at the University of Cincinnati Clermont campus for a season.

A

s I neared the end of a teaching career in rural Appalachia, I became aware of high school students who were un-churched or who felt they would not be welcomed into a Christian congregation. That upset me, but I felt unable to address it within the public school system. Moreover, the nearest Episcopal churches were each over an hour’s drive from where I live and from the schools in which I taught.

Shortly before I retired I attended a presentation, conducted jointly by the Revs. Jane Gerdsen and Karl Stevens, concerning campus ministries. What they were talking about sounded challenging, but interesting. Consequently, I began working toward a two-year experience that became known as “Sacred Journeys.”

each week (often 3 or 4 at a time). Moreover, the students themselves elected officers and wrote a constitution, in an attempt to become a “recognized” club.

Those who came together to form Sacred Journeys were an incredibly diverse group of individuals. Regular attendees were mostly young people, although a few elders participated.

We were gender-identified as straight, lesbian and transgender. Our belief systems ranged from several varieties of Christianity to agnosticism to Buddhism to Pagan/Wiccan.

Most important of all was the fact that we were able to be respectful and to support one another.

During the second year of Sacred Journeys I set up an altar consisting of a small cross, some feathers, a candle, Tibetan prayer flags, some animal bone fragments, a stone with the word “Grace” painted on it, part of a box turtle’s lower shell, and a bumper sticker that said, “God is Too Big to Fit Into Any One Religion.” We handed out over 100 “Coexist” buttons and dozens of bookmarks (in particular one that advocated “Celebrate Community. Honor Diversity”). We were also gifted with free Tarot readings, six of us visited a Hindu Temple in Clermont County, and five of us visited the Clifton Mosque. We were even able to include a tour of main campus and some time at the Edge House, when we visited the mosque.

Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts became painfully clear during the program’s second year. Students who had been able to attend faithfully during the first semester were suddenly “not on campus” when we met during second semester. Several found that work and/or study commitments kept them from attending as regularly as they had at the beginning of the academic year. Even I was forced to concede that a regular commitment of over five hours per week was starting to conflict with time I needed to spend at home and with my family. We held our last meeting of Sacred Journeys just before second semester finals. At that point students and our faculty advisor were given most of the items from the altar and a few of the books I had purchased.

Sacred Journeys, as it was originally conceived, will not be continuing at U.C. Clermont next year. I am convinced that it will be missed. I know that it positively impacted a number of lives, including my own. Faculty and staff alike continuously stated that they were glad that we were present on campus.

Dozens of “non-members” greeted us warmly and/or stopped into our safe space briefly to say hello and to help themselves to a cookie and some lemonade. All in all, Sacred Journeys was an investment of time and treasure that was well spent.

Moreover, I am personally grateful to have had this opportunity to share the Good News of God’s love and compassion.

relationships

With the support of my congregation (Church of the Good Samaritan, Amelia) and the diocese, I approached the University of Cincinnati Clermont campus and ultimately gained permission (once I found a faculty advisor) to be present once a week to meet with any students or staff members that were interested in talking with me. I immediately scheduled a meeting with the Rev. Alice Connor, campus missioner at the Edge House near U.C.’s main campus, and ordered nearly a dozen books. After I finished reading and taking notes on each of the books, I lugged them back and forth with me to U.C. Clermont for nearly two years. The students I met were mildly impressed by my “library,” but only a few of them were willing to undertake reading beyond their assigned course work. Alice’s advice concerning the need to be authentic and to listen proved to be as valuable as any of the books.

On the other hand, free buttons and bookmarks were popular with both students and the U.C. staff. That first year I was able to purchase 50 buttons which stated, “God Bless the Whole World: No Exceptions.” That phrase encapsulated the sense of welcome I hoped to convey.

In fact, I’ll never forget what happened when a young mother, who was a student and also a devout Muslim, picked one up to take with her. Her friend immediately observed, “That’s not your God;” to which the young Muslim woman replied, “Oh, yes, it is.”

During that first year I seldom had more than 2 or 3 individuals meeting with me at any one time. I sent out regular notices to anyone who had been willing to share an e-mail address; came armed with cookies, coffee and seemingly relevant handouts; and participated in interesting discussions concerning current events (including the Charlie Hebdo protests in Paris), the Quran, and seasons of the Christian calendar. An attempted field trip to see Jerusalem at the Omnimax theater in Cincinnati fell through, but I did become certified by U.C. as an “ally” for transgender individuals, and I was able to offer emotional support to one or two staff members who were willing to discuss personal issues with me. By the end of that academic year I had collected over two dozen e-mail addresses, could claim to have six or seven regular attendees, and was allowed to make plans to hold meetings again the following year.

Faculty and staff members welcomed me back at the beginning of the 2015 – 2016 school year. I was able to be present during orientation and held a “meeting” during the first week of classes. That helped students begin to think of Sacred Journeys as a part of their regular schedule. In fact, Sacred Journeys very quickly became a successful, student-led organization. I seldom met with fewer than six or seven students

35 35

Save the date for Jubilate 2016 – Reimagining Advent

M

American Academy of Liturgy’s Advent Project. In addiany of us have long noticed that the celebration to our speakers, we’ll enjoy breakout sessions geared tion of Christmas seems to begin as early as toward practical application in our communities and conNovember 1. This is not happening simply gregations. Registration is a mere $10 per person and is in secular, consumer culture, but even in available online at dsojubilate.org.

Christian communities – the Church has been comResponsive to Bishop Breidenthal’s call for more plicit! The season of Advent and its focus on waiting for teaching, the Commission on Liturgy & Music hopes the reign of God and looking to the end to make sense to offer Jubilate as an annual conference on similar of all our moments has been all but eclipsed. This is themes that draw together careful theological reflection likely a grumble you’ve heard before, or perhaps one with practice in our shared ministry. you’ve made yourself. But we can do more than To learn more about the Advent grumble! We can reclaim the season.

Project see their website, The Commission on Liturgy & Music www.theadventproject.org. For welcomes you to a day of practimore information on Jubilate cal reflection and visioning for a 2016 visit the website or renewed and reimagined Advent contact Marsha Reilly at on Saturday, September mareilly1@columbus.

10 at Procter Center. Our rr.com or the Rev. Dr. keynote speakers will be Saturday, September 10, 2016 Calvin Lane at associate@ the Very Rev. Dr. William stgeorgesdayton.org.

Petersen and the Rev. Dr. 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Elise Feyerherm, both Procter Center active leaders of the North

Jubilate 2016 – Reimagining Advent

Open to all clergy, musicians, Christian Formation directors, Altar Guild members and any other interested persons.

Interfaith day camp builds bridge to peace

K

ids4Peace, (K4P) a grassroots interfaith youth movement dedicated to ending conflict and inspiring hope in Jerusalem and other divided societies around the world, brings together children from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths to begin working together to explore each other’s religions and culture. The organization helps kids to build bridges across the barriers of fear and distrust, and utilizes a camp model to build life-long friendships and positive relationships.

K4P’s mission is to build interfaith communities that embody a culture of peace and empower a movement of change. Values include:

Judy A. Chamberlain, RN, MSN, is a member Christ Church Cathedral and Chapter Lead for Kids4Peace Cincinnati.

formation

DIVERSITY in family background, political perspective, and religious practice EQUALITY among women and men, religions and cultures SENSITIVITY toward the pain, struggle and risk of living together SPIRITUALITY as a source of strength, courage, and wisdom CONNECTIVITY across our global community RESPECT for the experiences, beliefs, and choices of others, including those most different.

Almost three years ago, an interfaith group with members from each of the three Abrahamic faiths began working on developing a chapter of K4P in Cincinnati. As a result of their work, K4P is delighted to announce our first Day Camp for 6th-7th grade children will be held in the Cincinnati area August 1-7, 2016.

Campers will spend time at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, Adath-Israel Congregation and St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Montgomery. A fourth day of fun and service is also planned, with location to be determined. Then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the kids and their families are urged to visit the hosting houses of worship, supporting their new friends and observing each different religious service.

K4P Cincinnati has engaged a highly qualified camp director, Rob Gleisser. A graduate of the Ohio State University, Gleisser is currently a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College studying in Jerusalem, and working directly with the folks at Kids4Peace International. He is preparing an impressive curriculum of significant dialogue, along with sessions of games, art, music, sports and food.

Please consider enrolling your child in this exciting new and unique interfaith experience. It is one more avenue to developing very positive friendships and building bridges within our own local community.

If you would like to enroll your child, visit our Facebook page Kids4Peace Cincinnati, and click on the registration form, or go directly to www.k4p.org/summer2016/daycamp/ and register directly. For further information or questions contact Rob Gleisser at rob.gleisser@k4p.org, or Judy Chamberlain, Chapter Lead of k4pCincinnati at cjbconsultants@fuse.net.

37

142ND ANNUAL DIOCESAN CONVENTION PREVIEW November 11-12, 2016

WELCOME! Welcome to Columbus for the 142nd annual Diocesan Convention. We are thrilled to be hosting everyone and will do everything in our power to help make this an event where we not only conduct the business of the Church but also celebrate our sense of community, and stand in awe and worship of the God of all creation who has redeemed us in Christ and brought us together through the power of the Spirit.

The Episcopal Church of Columbus and Central Ohio offers examples of community, innovation, creativity and fresh expressions of ministry. We gather annually in a weekly Lenten School to pool our resources so we can offer classes on numerous topics. St. John’s in Franklinton and Trinity on Capitol Square provide Street Church Sunday ministries to the homeless. St. Matthew’s, Westerville explores innovative and new ways to provide community ministry, utilizing a downtown house and holding Sunday services in a restaurant/bar. We participate in ministries to campus, with youth and children, partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, and so much more. The clergy gather fairly regularly for study of the Sunday lessons and the occasional quiet retreat day. We have nurtured a sense of community and shared ministry among us, and we welcome the whole diocese into that fellowship.

See you in November!

The Rev. Stephen Smith Host Committee chair

Canonical deadlines

Canonical Changes: Monday, September 12 Commission/Committee/Task Force annual reports: Thursday, September 29 Nominations for offices: Thursday, September 29 Proposed Resolutions: Thursday, September 29 Necrology: Monday, October 24

Pre-convention hearings

All delegates to convention are expected to attend an area pre-convention hearing. The bishop presides at each one of these meetings, and this is the only opportunity to have casual conversation or ask questions about resolutions and the budget.

East area: Sunday, Oct. 2 at St. Paul’s, Logan. 2 p.m.

Cincinnati area: Wednesday, Oct. 19 at St. Thomas,Terrace Park. 7:30 p.m.

Dayton area: Saturday, Oct. 22 at Christ Church, Dayton.

2 p.m.

Columbus area: Sunday, Oct. 23 at St. John’s, Columbus.

2:30 p.m.

Constitution and Canonical changes

The Constitution and Canons guide the governance of the diocese. A committee reviews the Constitution and Canons each year and considers whether to propose changes. Proposed amendments may come from any member of the diocese, although the committee requests an opportunity to review the proposal to make sure it abides by wider-church rules. Proposed amendments must be submitted in writing by Sept. 12 to convention@diosohio.org. Contact diocesan chancellor Joseph J. Dehner at 513.651.6949 or jdehner@fbtlaw.com with any questions.

2016 offices for nomination

Budget Committee / three year term Elect 1 lay, Class of ‘19

Procter Board of Directors / three year term Elect 1 clergy or lay, Class of ‘19 Deputies to the 79th General Convention Elect 4 clergy + 4 clergy alternates Elect 4 lay + 4 lay alternates The 79th General Convention will be held July 5-13, 2018, in Austin, Texas

Proposing resolutions

Proposing resolutions is a key way for the people of the diocese to discuss and reflect upon issues in the church and beyond. There are a variety of types of resolutions, ranging from those that ask the diocese to take a stand on a particular issue to special observances to calls for commitment to certain ministries.

All proposed resolutions must be sent to convention@ diosohio.org and received by Sept. 29. The Resolutions Committee will meet that week to review the resolutions.

Those submitting resolutions are expected to attend or have a representative present at all pre-convention hearings. Contact resolutions chair Jim Heathcote at 937.446.2108 or jheathcote@earthlink.net with questions.

convention

Check the 142nd annual convention page on the diocesan website for a description of each office and a link to the online nomination form. Deadline for nominations is Sept. 29. Direct any questions to nominations chair Nadya Richardson at nadya19767@aol.com.

Diocesan Council / three year term Elect 2 clergy and 3 lay, Class of ‘19

Episcopal Community Services Foundation board / three year term Elect 3 clergy or lay, Class of ‘19

Standing Committee / three year term Elect 1 clergy and 1 lay, Class of ‘19

Trustees of the Church Foundation / five year term Elect 1 clergy or lay, Class of ‘21

Trustees of the Diocese / five year term Elect 1 clergy or lay, Class of ‘21

Diocesan Disciplinary Board Elect 3 clergy and 2 lay

39

CONNECTIONS

The official publication of the Diocese of Southern Ohio www.diosohio.org

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Publisher David Dreisbach, Art director Julie Murray, Editor Amy Svihlik, Designer Dave Caudill, Copy editor

Submissions: Connections encourages the submission of articles and pictures. We reserve the right to edit material offered for publication. All submissions must include name, phone and email address for verification.

Send submissions to communication@diosohio.org.

Next deadline: Aug. 1

Connections (USPS 020933) is published bi-monthly by the Diocese of Southern Ohio, 412 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-4179. Periodical postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. This publication is sent to all members of Episcopal congregations in the Diocese of Southern Ohio and is funded by mission share payments to the diocesan operating budget.

Other subscriptions are $10 annually.

POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to Connections, 412 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-4179.