Spirit
GARDENING FOR THE GREATER GOOD • INDIA PHILLEY • WANT TO GET AWAY?
Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri
CYBERFAITH: TECHNOLOGY AND THE WORD
Spring 2010 Volume 1, No. 3
Spirit PUBLISHER: The Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe EDITOR: Hugh Welsh Spirit is published quarterly by the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri 420 W. 14th St. P.O. Box 413227 Kansas City, MO 64141 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: The Ven. John McCann, Archdeacon Hugh Welsh, Spirit The Rev. John Spicer, St. Andrew’s, Kansas City Angela Crawford, Administrative Assistant to the Archdeacon, Diocese of West Missouri SUBMISSIONS/LETTERS: Spirit welcomes submissions of news articles, photographs and letters to the editor on topics of interest to the diocese. Submissions should include the writer’s name, e-mail, mailing address and phone number and are subject to editing.
5 Bishop Talk The possibilities for the Church in the technological age are limitless. But one factor mustn’t be forgotten: personal relationships. By the Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe
6 The Middle Ground What’s a church to do in an economic crisis? A rector and ex-banker has an answer. By the Rev. Kenneth L. Chumbley
7 F.A.Q. What’s up in the search for a new bishop? The lowdown.
PHONE: (816) 471-6161, Ext. 15 or (800) 471-6160 FAX: (816) 471-0379 E-MAIL: westmo_spirit@swbell.net WEB SITE: www.episcopalwestmo.org Cover illustration by Hugh Welsh 2
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8 Get Connected The Junior High Retreat is scheduled for the last weekend of April. A teenager writes about her experiences as a participant and, now, a counselor. By Allyse Edwards
FEATURES SPRING, 2010
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Parishioners at St. Mary Magdalene in Kansas City pose before planting. Photo submitted by the Rev. Jason Lewis, St. Mary Magdalene’s vicar.
9 India Philley Ninety-year-old India Philley’s influence is felt far and wide, from her beginnings in North Carolina to Baltimore, L.A. and Chicago. But it was in Springfield, Mo., where she discovered Christ Church — initiating a relationship with the diocese that is nearly 50 years strong. By Hugh Welsh 12 United, She Stands In March, Alexandra Connors, a parishioner at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, was one of the Episcopal Church’s 10 young-adult delegates to attend the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York. Her story. By Hugh Welsh 14 Community Gardens Got green thumbs? These four diocesan churches do — and they’re willing to share their earthy spoils. By Hugh Welsh
16 Technology There’s no one way to incorporate technology into church communication. Profiled here are four churches in the diocese with different outlooks on how to embrace the electronic age. By Hugh Welsh 20 Retreats The modern world can deaden the vitality of the spirit. Two diocesan retreats offer renewal: Kansas City’s House of Grace and the Rivendell Community. By Hugh Welsh 22 One Church Engaging the World A college student in the diocese writes about spending her January term teaching at St. Peter’s Daycare Centre in Mogoditshane, Botswana. Also, the Rev. Mike Kyle talks campus ministry. By Margaret Fasel and Hugh Welsh SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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Editor’s Letter by Hugh Welsh SEVERAL MONTHS AGO A REPORT AIRED on NBC that foreshadowed a not-so-distant future in which virtually everyone — the young and old, residents of Silicon Valley and Plainville, U.S.A. — possessed an iPhone, a phone that fits every purpose, from contacting significant others to locating the nearest winery to functioning as an e-reader. “It won’t be just people in their 20s and 30s who will have this allin-one modern marvel,” says the Rev. Bill McVey, rector at Calvary Church in Sedalia. “It’ll be people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who will be on their iPhone all the time.” McVey isn’t merely Calvary’s rector; he is its Doc Brown — a figure bent more on the future than the present day. Before he was a priest, McVey worked for a market research firm. This explains why his opinions seem so ahead of the eight ball. “We as an Episcopal Church have to get over the idea that multimedia is something only mega-churches use,” says McVey, who currently hosts a weekly radio program and is in the process of restructuring Calvary’s Web site. In the next year, he plans to video record sermons and special events and make them accessible online. “We can no longer grumble about how attention spans aren’t what they used to be,” McVey says. “Like it or not, the whole world is becoming media cool.” In this issue, four diocesan churches — including Calvary, Church of the Resurrection in Blue Springs, St. Andrew’s in Kansas City and Grace Church in Chillicothe — are profiled because of their ability to use technology as a vehicle for communication. If their example is ignored, a dismal fate may await the Episcopal Church, according to McVey. “If we as a Church don’t adapt, we’re in danger of being left behind,” he says. 4
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Letters to the Editor An Appetite for Liturgy I don’t consider myself an Episcopalian at the moment, but I sometimes attend services at St. Andrew’s with a friend. I was reading your winter issue of the magazine and was especially intrigued by Chas Marks’ approach to liturgy. Would it be possible to devote a feature to that topic? RICK MOORE KANSAS CITY, MO Thanks for the suggestion, Rick. I’ve had many people (including my dad) approach me with interest in learning more about liturgy. It is something I intend to featurize in a future issue. H.W.
Joy for Barbara I am the spiritual director of the Worker Sisters and Brothers of the Holy Spirit, of which Bishop Howe is our Ecclesiastical Visitor. Our community was founded at St. Mary’s Church in 1972. In your winter issue, you had a wonderful article on Barbara Mountjoy. She is an Applicant (Postulant) in the Community. Please continue your work and may God bless you in this ministry of bringing the good news to us. SISTER ANGELA BLACKBURN WORKER SISTERS AND BROTHERS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Thank you for the kind comments, Sister Angela. If it weren’t for such vigorously Christian and creative people as Barbara Mountjoy, my job wouldn’t be a blessing. H.W.
Correction A story about Boy Scout Troop 282’s food drive incorrectly stated that Trinity Church’s rector, the Rev. Sam Mason, is an Eagle Scout in the troop. Mason earned his Eagle Scout rank at a troop in Baldwin City, Kan., his hometown. Editor Hugh Welsh regrets the error.
Bishop Talk christianity 2.0 By the Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe
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he effect of technology on a changing world has always been of immense import. Most of us recall from our history studies how quickly the world changed when the printing press was invented and then mass-produced in the sixteenth century. The world in their lives, and to enter into the community that is the was immediately opened to increased knowledge and living and acting Body of Christ. This is one of the major understanding, and the human mind and heart was filled and expanded with infinite possibilities for new vision and challenges of the Church in our day. People are still hungry for the Good News that speaks of divine love in their awareness. lives. They do not necessarily look for this Good News The most significant outcome of the new technology at in the organized settings of the Church. They look in the that time was the immediate printing of the Bible in the media presentations and in the encyclopedic libraries of familiar tongues of the people. The thirst for obtaining their computers. But technology infrequently translates and reading the Bible was insatiable! Bibles made available knowledge and awareness into transformed hearts and in churches were chained and locked in narthexes so that new life. Transformed hearts and new life are found in people could read them but not take them elsewhere. relational interaction — in one heart sharing with another The printing of the Bible in vernacular languages was one heart; in one life modeling and mentoring another life. It of the main reasons for the growth of the Reformation is in the incarnational and relational aspects of our lives churches. where the presence Today we cannot Of great import is how we use the technology of Our Lord in imagine not having us is found. So anything we want available to us to enable more and more people while we explore to read or study the know the presence of Christ in their lives. many new ways of literally at our using technology fingertips on our to inform us and teach us and inspire us, it is the sharing computers. But we could not say this 40 years ago. What of the love of God with others that produces the most technology has wrought in the past two generations has radical and positive changes in our journey with the Lord. caused revolutionary changes in all aspects of our lives. This sharing is our ministry. We have been empowered in These changes are far too many and too fast for us to fully Baptism with the same spirit Jesus was given, and we are recognize and understand and even appreciate. But they called to the same ministry that Jesus carried out. make our lives ones of constant stimulus and challenge. Like our ancestors of the sixteenth century, what we One day in a future century, the historical analyses of learn and discover through the vast reaches of technology our generation will explore in depth how the world must be converted into relationships that carry out our was radically changed and what major contributions to calling as faithful servants of the Lord. This conversion ongoing life took place. now and always will be dependent upon hearts and souls Of great import, as was true in the sixteenth century, joyfully and eagerly open to the empowering Spirit of the is how we use the technology available to us to enable Lord. more and more people to know the presence of Christ SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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As a Church, we should approve a deficit budget, trusting that God will provide.
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The Middle Ground By the Rev. Kenneth L. Chumbley
ISSUE: ECONOMICS
he bubble burst, and people in our pews and on our vestries heard it. When the housing bubble burst, a onceprosperous America plunged into the Great Recession, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Home foreclosures mounted; unemployment rose to nearly 10 percent; for the still employed, work hours were cut; pay increases became history; anxiety soared. And many churches, including our own Episcopal churches, retrenched. Staff members were laid off. Ministries were eliminated. Mission was deferred. What alternatives were there? Giving had plummeted; once-fat checks for investment income had turned anorexic; church budgets went from black to red overnight. And everybody felt blue – clergy and laity alike. And scared. Some churches began to smell more of the grave than of the Garden. At my church, where giving had increased steadily over the years, pledge revenue fell dramatically in 2008. That decline hurt especially because some 80 percent of our budget was funded from pledge income (and it still is), with the rest coming from investments and others sources. Our vestry meetings were sometimes anxious. We wondered: “How can we manage? Shall we slash the budget and spend only what is pledged? Or shall we approve a deficit budget, trusting that God will provide?” On faith, we approve one deficit budget and then another, discovering at the end of 2008 and 2009, not deficits, but surpluses, in part because unpledged giving made up most of the shortfalls. We also watched our spending and cut costs where we could. Consequently, we preserved our staff, maintained and 6
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As a Church, we should slash the budget and spend only what is pledged.
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even expanded ministries, including outreach locally and in Haiti, and paid our full diocesan assessments. In the midst of this continuing Great Recession, what might churches do to respond? We can pray and trust him whose power is greater than any recession. We are resurrection people. God has done the impossible in raising Jesus from the tomb to new life. This can be a time of new life for the church that is faithful, not fretful. We can remember that ours is the God of abundance, not scarcity. The gospels tell of Jesus’ turning a few loaves of bread and fish into a feast for the multitudes. The Son of God transforms jars of water into the finest wine. And he teaches his followers that as we do the work of the kingdom, as our primary work, he provides all we need. The only real deficit – the one that should most concern us – is that of faith. Starting with clergy and lay leaders, we can teach and practice tithing as the minimum level of giving to God and his work. To put it in business terms, who is going to invest in an enterprise if the CEO and the board provide little capital themselves? And if we, especially the Church’s leaders, are going to obsess, let it not be about the Great Recession, but about the Great Commission. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus commands his disciples to go into the world, proclaim the Good News of God’s love, teach people everything he’s taught us, baptize them, and make more and more disciples. Our churches will be recession-proof – if: If we pray. If we trust God. If we teach and live sacrificial giving. And if we devote ourselves (and our budgets) to advancing God’s kingdom of love, justice, freedom, and peace. The Rev. Kenneth L. Chumbley, a former banker and public relations agency manager, is rector of Christ Church, Springfield.
F.A.Q. What’s up with the bishop search?
A WEBSITE ADDRESS
www.westmobishopsearch.org
REPORTS AND UPDATES
The results of the online survey, listening sessions and clergy focus group sessions. Updates of the search when available.
INSIDE THE DIOCESE
Details the diocese’s whereabouts, average Sunday attendance and pledging trends as well as budgetary matters.
ADVANCES IN THE DIOCESE
Pinpoints the diocese’s forward-looking feats, including the creation of the George Herbert Institute, the hiring of a youth ministry coordinator and a full-time Hispanic missioner along with the relationship it shares with the Diocese of Botswana.
ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Among the issues addressed: shrinking attendance at Sunday worship (34 of the 51 congregations have declined in average attendance); an aging membership (the typical Episcopalian is 60 or older) and the growth of minorities.
DIOCESE HISTORY
The Episcopal Church’s beginnings in Missouri can be traced to 1819 with Christ Church in St. Louis. Jackson Kemper, a missionary bishop responsible for founding 10 missions and a college in Missouri and Indiana, oversaw this diocese’s formation.
PAST BISHOPS
The diocese’s first bishop (1890 to 1911), Edward Robert Atwill, saw the number of communicants increase from 3,150 to 5,000. Sidney Catlin Partridge, who succeeded Atwill as bishop, was a world traveler who spent 27 years in China and Japan; he was the Bishop of Kyoyo prior to his election as bishop. The diocese’s longest-standing bishop (1950 to 1973) was Randolph Welles, an advocate for civil rights and a key component to St. Luke’s Hospitals’ rise to national prominence. Barry Howe, who was consecrated in 1998, is the diocese’s seventh bishop.
A TIMELINE
APRIL/MAY
Screening and background checks of potential candidates JUNE/JULY
Candidate visits
Deadline for petition nominees; background checks Clergy/lay leaders’ retreat before walkabouts; walkabouts (opportunities for members of the diocese to get to know the candidates) held two weeks prior to election
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
Election of new bishop at 8th Annual Gathering and 121st Diocesan Convention Nov. 5 and 6; consent process Consecration of new bishop
MARCH, 2011
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Get Connec ed
West Missouri Youth
The Junior High Retreat By Allyse Edwards • Church of the Redeemer in Kansas City (Junior at Park Hill South High School)
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he Junior High Retreat is one of my just being myself around some of my closest favorite events that I have attended as a friends, having a good laugh, or building new counselor. relationships. At the Junior High Retreat last Last year, the participants and staff did a wide year, it was an amazing experience to build variety of activities, from a ropes course to a relationships with new people and to take a cookout to building paper towers. Throughout step in my faith and help others build their the weekend, I saw the junior high kids grow relationship with God. with God. They were able to ask unanswered The Junior High Retreat is a great stepping questions, get stone to take to know God, in one’s walk experience his with God. It’s a love, and learn perfect time to that it is OK to ask questions, make mistakes. get to know I feel that God, and spark a every junior relationship with high student him. should attend As a high this retreat. They school student, will be able to it’s amazing connect with to build these God on new relationships levels by getting with God and to know him and new friends who hopefully start a have the same Pictured counterclockwise from bottom right, Allyse Edwards works with retreatants lifetime walk with at last year’s Junior High Retreat. Submitted photo. values, and to be him. able to be yourself. Personally, I love coming to events again This Junior High Retreat will be in Atchison, and again. It’s time when I take a deep breath Kan., at the St. Francis Retreat Center, April 30 from my hectic life and relax. This is when I to May 2. There will be many different activities spend the most time with God, whether I am such as shalom time, a cookout, crafts, a ropes sitting down reading the Bible, having fun and course, and more! 8
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A Walk — or Run! — with India
INDIA PHILLEY TURNED 90 LAST DECEMBER AND IS A RESIDENT AT BISHOP SPENCER PLACE, A SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY IN KANSAS CITY. BUT DON’T EXPECT THIS 50-YEAR MEMBER OF THE DIOCESE TO SLOW DOWN. HER WILL WON’T ALLOW IT. STORY AND PHOTOS BY HUGH WELSH
Pictured inside the Chapel of the Epiphany at Kansas City’s Bishop Spencer Place, India Philley continues to not only be an active Christian in faith — but also in practice.
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ndia Philley is as fleet of foot as a robin in pursuit of found and spearhead. The foundation receives property a worm. contributions, monetary donations, grants and gifts of “Good afternoon,” she chirps to passersby during title, which are invested and allocated according to donor her mile-long daily walks through Bishop Spencer Place – instructions. a nurse, a cook, the receptionist. On the diocesan level, Philley’s list of accomplishments Then she encounters a man leaning on his walker, his are of equal, if not greater, stature: she has been a face drooped in resignation. member of the Diocesan Council, Standing Committee “Keep moving,” Philley tells him. “Always keep and Commission on Ministry (“one of my life’s great moving.” joys,” she says), and she’s chaired the Department of th In early December, Philley celebrated her 90 birthday. Stewardship along with the Credentials Committee and The turnout was testament to her popularity both at her Resolutions Committee at Diocesan Convention. She new place of influence (she moved into Bishop Spencer was a lay deputy at the 2003 General Convention. Place, a senior independent living community in Kansas In June 1995, Philley was asked to join the Diocesan City, in 2007) and her former one, Christ Church in Finance Committee, which oversees the budget and Springfield. advises the Diocesan Council. “I do miss parish life a great deal,” says Philley, who “They thought it’d be a fun thing for me to do,” says became a member Philley, whose of Christ Church in term limit has long 1966. expired. “I’ve never In a recently been asked to leave.” published book about Crunching Christ Church’s numbers has history, no name is always come mentioned more than easily for Philley, hers. While a copy who possesses an occupies her coffee MBA from Drury table (she says she’s University in been gifted a dozen Springfield. She copies by friends), she worked for years as isn’t one to reminisce a certified public too much. accountant for “I don’t think firms in Los Angeles India Philley serves on the Altar Guild of the Chapel of the Epiphany at Bishop about the past,” and Chicago. Spencer Place in Kansas City. Philley says. “I think For 13 years, she about what’s going on now and in the future.” taught accounting at Southwest Missouri State (now Yet Philley’s past cannot be ignored. Missouri State University). As a founding member of the “India, my beloved friend, has a heart for ministry and Springfield chapter of the American Society of Women mission and knows that the Church has a high calling Accountants, she inspired entry-level female accountants on earth as the Body of Christ,” says the Rev. Kenneth to enter management. Chumbley, rector of Christ Church. “She is a devoted But before all that, she was a high school math teacher Episcopalian.” in a one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of North For 40 years, Philley was a member of St. Mary’s Guild Carolina, having earned her teaching degree from East (a group devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Carolina Teachers College. She left her position after Incarnation of our Lord); for 30 years, she belonged to two years – not because she didn’t love the kids or the the Altar Guild; for an 11-year stint, she was the church’s challenge, but because of the meager pay. treasurer; and she’s served on the Vestry three times. But “I was raised believing I could make a more reasonable perhaps most significant to Philley was her involvement salary,” says Philley, who accepted a corporate job in with the Christ Church Foundation, which she helped Baltimore. 10
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India Philley plays a role on the committee that oversees the courtyard garden at Kansas City’s Bishop Spencer Place. “The garden is a source of happiness for many people,” she says.
By age 7, both of Philley’s parents were dead. Her mother’s youngest sister adopted her as her own. “She was very strong in her principles and morals,” Philley says. “She had high expectations of her children and of me – and we knew it.” Philley was raised a person of faith, attending worship at a nearby Baptist church every Sunday. She knew the Scriptures so well she was once asked to conduct a funeral while she was a teacher. She met and married William Bennett Philley in L.A. before moving to Chicago and then Springfield, the hometown of her husband, who had been a member of Christ Church. India Philley had been active at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement in Chicago. “I fell in love with the liturgy, the music, the priests and their sermons,” says Philley, who belonged to the church’s Women’s Auxiliary and St. Martha’s Guild. “When I got to Springfield, I was a faithful Episcopalian.” Christ Church became a kind of second home for Philley – its clergy and parishioners an extension of her family, which includes two sons and one stepdaughter.
When Philley lost her husband in June 1978, they were the support she needed. “I’ve been blessed with great friends at Christ Church,” Philley says. Chumbley likes to think of himself – as well as the church and diocese – as the blessed party. “She knew everyone in the parish, knew the books better than anyone and watched the money closer than the Government Accounting Office,” Chumbley says. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Bishop’s Shield. It is the culmination of an “exemplary life of lay ministry in action,” the inscription reads. That was six years ago. Today, Philley remains an impassioned member of Daughters of the King, a women’s organization committed to a rule of prayer and service. The day Philley arrived at Bishop Spencer Place, she asked to join the worship committee and Altar Guild. Apparently, her reputation preceded her. The assignment had already been made. SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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United, She Stands
Twenty-one-year-old Alexandra Connors, a parishioner at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, has goals. Go to Kenya and muscle a wheel barrow full of rocks all day? Check. Be selected to attend the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women as one of 10 young-adult delegates from the Episcopal Church? Done. Learn all there is about the struggles of women? Working on it. STORY BY HUGH WELSH
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lexandra Connors says she’s been an active participant in the diocese for nearly 19 years. In listening to her voice and work ethic (she wakes every day – weekends included – at a quarter till 6), you would presume she’s a woman in her late 30s, maybe even early 40s. She is 21 years old. “People are always telling me I don’t act my age,” says Connors, a parishioner at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. Connors, a junior majoring in architecture at Kansas State University, is actively involved in the school’s campus ministry, Canterbury House. “Sometimes, I’ve been known to procrastinate,” she says. Like when she waited until an hour before the deadline to write a flurry of essays for consideration in March’s competition sponsored by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York. “What can I say?” Connors says. “I was putting some finishing touches on a model.” Connors’ essays were so compelling that she was selected by the Episcopal Church as one of 10 young-adult delegates for the commission. She applied at the request of the Rev. Craig Loya, the Diocese of Kansas’ canon to the ordinary who had previously headed Kansas State’s 12
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campus ministry. “It wasn’t so much an offering as an order Craig sent me: fill out the application for this,” Connors says. Prior to the two weeks she spent in New York, from Feb. 26 to March 6, Connors regularly took part in conference calls to educate her and the nine others about the assembly’s
Alexandra Connors. Submitted photo.
chief purpose: a 15-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action. The platform represents women’s rights and equality worldwide. No amount of preparation could have readied Connors for what she would encounter. “Every day, there were 30 different things going on at once,” Connors says. “It was very overwhelming.” Connors, a fluent Spanish speaker
with interest in the indigenous cultures of South America, attended a variety of committee meetings and sessions presented by nongovernmental organizations. Above all else, Connors says, the experience imparted to her a sense of discomfort for the plight of women in other countries. In a side event on maternal health, Connors heard a woman from a lessdeveloped part of India talk about how a pregnancy out of wedlock is cause for banishment. “It made me realize that I am a wealthy person,” Connors says, “and that there is a lot more I need to explore.” Connors spent a considerable portion of her time at the Episcopal Church’s offices at 815 Second Avenue. It was there she met Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who made herself available for an interview. Connors and the other young adults present didn’t shy away from asking difficult questions, including why the Office of Women’s Ministries was eliminated at last year’s General Convention, as well as questions regarding gay and lesbian issues. “She didn’t reprimand us at all for asking such pointed questions,” Connors says. “She was very patient and very
candid in her responses.” The trip to New York isn’t the first time Connors has represented the diocese. At the 2006 General Convention, she was a member of the Official Youth Presence, a body of 18 young adults given voice in the House of Deputies. And last June, she traveled to Kenya with four other college students from the Diocese of Kansas. In helping with a school construction project, Connors got her first taste of the inconveniences of the Third World. “When they said we were going to be making concrete, I suspected it would involve dumping a bag of concrete mix and adding water,” Connors says. “Then I saw the giant rock pile and the wheel barrow.” Connors says the heat bordered on intolerable, and every breath was half air, half dust. Still, she persevered. “I didn’t want to disappoint,” she says.
Top: Alexandra Connors (back row, second from the left) poses with fellow young-adult delegates from the Episcopal Church. Bottom: The interior of the United Nations building in New York. Submitted photos.
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GARDENS
Ardent Gardeners
Four diocesan churches — Kansas City’s Church of the Good Shepherd and St. Mary Magdalene along with Grace Church (Liberty) and St. Alban’s (Bolivar) — have a hands-on approach to their feeding ministries. Stories by Hugh Welsh Church of the Good Shepherd (Kansas City) THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN Kansas City is the diocese’s community garden veteran. It’s only fitting for a church whose name was first suggested as “Gethsemane” by then-Bishop Robert Spencer in 1947. (Gethsemane was the garden near the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before Jesus’ crucifixion.) The church’s 80-by-80-foot garden is 20 years old and, for the longest time, was the Kansas City Community Kitchen’s mainstay in terms of fresh vegetables. Bob Kile is its proprietor, growing tomatoes and peppers from seed in his backyard greenhouse. “I enjoy growing vegetables for the garden,” says Kile, who credits his knowledge of gardening to some of the church’s older parishioners, most of whom are no longer living. “They taught me everything my grandmother (who kept a huge garden when Kile was a boy) didn’t.” Kile says he is one of many who devotes a lot of time and attention to the garden. “There have been a lot of us working together over the years,” says Kile, who cites John Zaiger as his fellow overseer. “A lot of people, even those who aren’t members of the church, really care about this.” The garden is divided into five sections, with each section having a different family as its caretaker. In addition to tomatoes and peppers, the garden also produces beets, onions, beans and squash. Kile says it is mandated that half of the garden’s produce be gifted to the Kansas City Community Kitchen. “We allow the families who care for the garden to take up to half of the produce for themselves,” he says. “But usually the percentage of produce donated to the kitchen is more like 75 percent.” Kile says he thinks of the garden as a sort of sanctuary – as do the church’s parishioners. “The most pleasant part of the garden is being out in nature by yourself,” he says. “If I need solace, it’s where I go – no matter how hot and sticky it may be outside.” 14
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Two parishioners at St. Mary Magdalene prepare the soil for planting. Photo submitted by the Rev. Jason Lewis, St. Mary Magdalene’s vicar.
St. Mary Magdalene (Kansas City) ST. MARY MAGDALENE’S CHURCH AT ITS NEW Holmes location may be unfinished, but its community garden is flourishing. The second-year garden occupies a 40-by-40-foot enclosure behind the church’s retreat center, House of Grace. Last year, the garden yielded more than 500 pounds of produce, including tomatoes, bell and hot peppers, onions, squash and melons. The goal for 2010 is to double its yield, adding such vegetables as zucchini, cucumbers, parsley, mint and basil. The project benefits greatly from the church’s partnership with such local businesses as Suburban Lawn & Garden, which hosts a weekly fundraiser called “Charity Fridays” in which 10 percent of all sales benefits area charities. St. Mary Magdalene’s time is 5 to 8 p.m. May 14 at Suburban Lawn & Garden’s location at 135th and Wornall. Last year, St. Mary Magdalene raised $1,350 at the event. “If you need anything for your lawn and garden – a spade, a hoe, a playset – be sure to buy it at that time,” says the Rev. Jason Lewis, St. Mary Magdalene’s vicar. Following the harvest, Karen Wood, the lead gardener, transports the produce to the Kansas City Community Kitchen at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral. “Our vision for the future includes becoming a resource for community education in food preservation so that the abundance of the summer harvest may continue to provide nourishment throughout the winter months,” Wood says.
Grace Church (Liberty) THE COMMUNITY GARDEN AT GRACE CHURCH may have a fancy-sounding title – “Grace’s Garden: An Urban Farm” – but it’s the appropriate one. The first phase of the garden, consisting of 30 plots, is in the shape of a cross – a reminder of the meaning behind saying “grace” before a meal. And as the garden expands into the undeveloped acreage surrounding the church, it will resemble a farm, replete with orchards bearing apples and pears. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to expand our feeding ministries by including fresh vegetables and fruits for people who are hungry,” says the Very Rev. Susan McCann, Grace’s rector. According to Gretchen Renfro, the garden manager, there’s been talk of a community garden at Grace for many years. “We wanted to start small and do a quality job,” says Renfro, who grew up on a farm in Richmond, Mo. “Every foot of the garden is accounted for this year.” This year’s produce will include tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, eggplants, peppers and okra. Grace Church was advised on what and how much to plant by Marlin Bates, a horticulture expert at the University of Missouri Extension Office. An arbor made by Grace’s parishioners lies at its entryway. While this year’s produce will be donated to local food kitchens, the church would eventually like to co-sponsor a healthy kids program with the Liberty School District. Grace’s Franklin Friends, a four-year-old program providing six simple weekend meals for children at Liberty’s Franklin Elementary School, is the prototype for similar feeding programs in the Kansas City area. “We have lots on the drawing board,” says McCann, who envisions cooking and canning classes in the near future.
Parishioners at Grace Church plant potatoes on a Sunday in mid-April. Photo by Susan Lambrecht.
St. Alban’s (Bolivar) IT WAS JUST TWO YEARS AGO THAT THE BISHOP’S COMMITTEE APPROVED A GARDEN AND CANNING project at St. Alban’s in Bolivar. While the diocese awarded the church a grant of $1,000 to help buy food preservation equipment, the program’s success hinged on St. Alban’s parishioners. They were expected to donate the plants, compost and seeds. They were also expected to be the sweat-equiters: the plowers, tillers, planters and caretakers. The congregation at St. Alban’s hasn’t disappointed – not even its youngest parishioners. “We had four kids work the beds to prepare them for planting carrots, the youngest being 5 years old,” says Cathy Carleton, the garden’s manager. “Our goal is that all our children will have the knowledge to plant and care for a garden when they get older.” Encompassing about 1,000 square feet, the three gardens at St. Alban’s include one in-ground bed and eight raised beds. Vegetables include beets, carrots, garlic, lettuce, onions, peas, jalapeno peppers, sweet peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, squash and sweet potatoes. It has three orchards, one of which may be seen through the windows of the sanctuary. The produce goes first to parishioners who need it and second to the church’s pantry, which members of the public can access with no income requirement and no need to supply identification. “We have a lot of retired, fixed-income people in this community,” says the Rev. Cathy Cox, St. Alban’s vicar. “We don’t want to exclude anybody.” St. Alban’s holds tightly to the ancient Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The church regularly hosts classes by area master gardeners and in June will again invite the staff at the University of Missouri’s Extension office in Springfield to conduct an all-day canning class. Everyone at St. Alban’s, a congregation of 62, is expected to contribute to the gardens’ upkeep. “If you’re able, you’re expected to water and weed one hour per week,” Carleton says. “No excuses.” SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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TECHNOLOGY
Cyberfaith
Adapt or bite the dust. It’s an expression four diocesan churches — Church of the Resurrection (Blue Springs), Calvary Church (Sedalia), St. Andrew’s (Kansas City) and Grace Church (Chillicothe) — understand well. Stories by Hugh Welsh
Church of the Resurrection (Blue Springs)
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here’s no need for Ron McIntire, communications chairman at the Church of Resurrection in Blue Springs, to strain his voice to praise the church’s efficient modes of communication. “Our goal is to make it interesting, informative and easy to access,” says McIntire, a retired mechanical engineer and popular barbershop singer. The church has three communication vehicles: a Web site currently undergoing a redesign; a mid-week emailing; and a monthly email that provides a link allowing recipients to directly upload a PDF of the Vision newsletter. Prior to McIntire assuming his position in early 2006, the church’s rector had directed the threadbare communications department. That changed when the Rev. Ron Keel was named Resurrection’s rector. “Father Ron wanted communications to be more of a priority,” says McIntire, who has owned a computer since 1983 and served as co-editor of the Lake Tapawingo newsletter for nearly a decade. The first step for McIntire was to reinvent the newsletter: to make it more appealing for parishioners both young and old. McIntire’s approach to the newsletter is comprised of five parts: a message from Keel; summaries of events from the past month and month to come, usually with photographs; church family news, including notifications of graduations, weddings and 16
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Vol. 2010, No 4
Visions
April 2010
A monthly newsletter of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Blue Springs, Missouri
Holy Week Remembered
Photo by Ron McIntire
The Easter Sunday worship service began with a grand procession led by layperson Tess Garcia carrying a flowered cross. Acolytes, Flint Kochenower and Laura Wallace, followed as the choir and 92 parishioners sang the triumphant hymn “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” The service is a favorite at Easter time and its joy is experienced with the ringing of bells both during the procession and at the closing hymn. The Rev. Ron Keel delivers his Easter sermon at the 10:30 a.m. worship service.
Holy Week: A Holy and Joyous Time Church of the Resurrection, its family and friends remembered and celebrated Holy Week and Easter 2010 in wonderful and magnificent fashion. Worship gatherings included Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, The Watch, Stations of the Cross, Good Friday Liturgy, The Great Vigil of Easter and Easter Day. Over 440 parishioners were present to share in these important and meaningful worship experiences. Appreciation and thanks go out to the many who participated and offered their ministry during this most holy time.
Photo by Ron McIntire
He is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed. Photo by Ron McIntire
Alleluia!
funerals; a page devoted to the church’s financial situation, its attendance during Sunday worship as well as any changes in the directory; and a history section, which profiles an elder parishioner at Resurrection. Another one of the newsletter’s strong points is its attention to youth. McIntire often accompanies youth outings, writing and photographing them first-hand. “I really enjoy my relationship with the youth of this church,” McIntire says. Before making the newsletter primarily an online document, McIntire says it would cost the church about $40 per month to mail copies to 110 households. A physical version of the newsletter is still sent to 34 individuals and families. The mid-week emailing is a quick hitter of what is up-and-coming in the church. “It’s just a plain ol’ reminder of what’s going on,” McIntire says. In terms of the Resurrection Web site, McIntire – who is working on it with the church’s treasurer, Jim Gilligan – knows what he wants. “A Web site should be succinct and not have long pages requiring a lot of scrolling,” McIntire says. “I’m a fan of tight writing: get in, say what you want and get out.”
Calvary Church (Sedalia)
T
COFFEE WITH THE PASTOR
he Rev. Bill McVey calls it “post-modern religion on demand.” 8-8:30 a.m. “Imagine a world in which everybody is Thursdays carrying the Church in their pocketbooks,” says McVey, Calvary’s rector. “It’s happening faster than we ever realized.” church’s parishioners are reaching retirement McVey, who worked in market research before age, meaning they are more likely to travel and becoming a priest, hosts a half-hour radio show every Thursday morning on KSIS in Sedalia. It’s move elsewhere. “I don’t like the idea of losing members called Coffee with the Pastor and is meant to be because they can’t sit in the pews anymore,” motivational, offering a Biblical perspective on McVey says. “It’s important to keep them all matters. “It’s been a feel-good project,” says McVey, who interested and feeling connected with what’s happening at Calvary.” has hosted the show for about two years. “But Of course, McVey also has an agenda to lure it’s lacking the visual element, and it’s too long.” young people to Calvary. McVey thinks Facebook isn’t the outlet of “A church tomorrow; it’s that is too print “A church that is too print driven is like sitting a YouTube. And driven is like achieving Andy youth down to watch a black and white movie,” sitting a youth Warhol’s 15 the Rev. Bill McVey says. “It’s painful for them.” down to watch a minutes of fame black and white is more difficult movie,” McVey says. “It’s painful for them.” than ever before. McVey isn’t shy about telling the truth “A three to 15-minute audio-visual clip,” regarding young people. McVey says. “That’s the expectation.” “It’s impossible to get them to come to church McVey is currently retooling the Calvary Web on Sundays,” McVey says. “It is possible to get site, making it a resource for dynamic recaps of them to come out for coffee and music on a sermons, special events and discussion rather Wednesday night.” than an abundance of text. And if they ask for more information about “My goal is to make the church alive for Calvary? parishioners,” McVey says. “Not direct them to a “Later this year, I’ll be able to give them Web site that’s too textual.” a 15-minute DVD guaranteed to keep their And he isn’t merely referring to Calvary’s attention,” McVey says. younger members. McVey says a lot of the SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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TECHNOLOGY
St. Andrew’s (Kansas City)
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n the past year, St. Andrew’s in Kansas City has experienced a rebirth – a technological rebirth. “Our goal is to be connected with our parishioners on an ongoing basis and be able to impact those beyond our walls who are searching for a spiritually active community,” says the Rev. Frederick Mann, St. Andrew’s rector. “It is an adventure to be sure!” In 2004, St. Andrew’s Web site, www.standrewkc. org, yielded nothing beyond the church’s location, its worship schedule and news practically as old as the church itself. The parish, like so many, relied on a printed monthly newsletter, The Messenger, to deliver information. In 2005, the Web site was redesigned, though its changes were directed more at staff and parishioners than those seeking to learn more about St. Andrew’s. The site was also made to be more aesthetically pleasing, according to Emily Davenport, the church’s communications director. “It had lots of information but was hard to navigate,” Davenport says. “Although it wasn’t as intuitive as we’d like, I dove in head first and kept it as up to date as possible.” Davenport was tasked with updating information on the Web site two to three times per week, but there was a problem: no one seemed to be using it. Interestingly enough, it was a budget crisis in 2009 18
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that changed everything. To curb costs associated with printing, the church opted for a weekly e-newsletter. “As a result of this change, not only can our newsletter recipients read the newsletter wherever they can check email, they’re also better informed,” Davenport says. “Now, instead of having deadlines two weeks away, our deadline is only four days prior to publication.” At first, Davenport had her doubts about deemphasizing the printed product in favor of an e-newsletter (a printed version is still mailed to about 50 households out of the more than 800 comprising the church’s membership). “I felt truly sucker-punched by the impending budget cuts we were facing in 2009,” Davenport says. “After all, I had always designed print layouts. How could I make this transformation? How will our parishioners react? Thankfully, some truly wonderful things have come from this transition!” Some of the perks of St. Andrew’s electronic adaptation include: the use of weekly “e-blasts” to communicate breaking parish news and the ability to gauge who is actively invested in St. Andrew’s goings-on (they currently have an e-newsletter “open rate” of 35 percent). St. Andrew’s has just completed another Web site redesign and still issues one printed resource to parishioners each month – a “What’s Happening” postcard to be placed on an object unlikely to ever go virtual: a refrigerator.
Grace Church (Chillicothe)
A
s a lay preacher and “webmistress” at Grace Church in Chillicothe, Rosina Harter takes her job seriously. “In many ways, we are like St. Paul and his followers who decided to take the message to the Gentiles in Asia Minor and Greece,” Harter says. “We fly without a net because we strike out in faith and learn as we do.” Six years ago, Harter was asked by Grace’s former rector, the Rev. William Bellais, to voluntarily manage the church Web page. She says she heard it as “Web site” and took the responsibility to heart. “Back then, I was doing a great deal of personal research on the Episcopal Church, God, the Trinity, etc.,” says Harter, who was studying for adult confirmation. “Back then, the answers to my questions weren’t found online, and I thought, ‘Maybe other people out there are like I am.’” Harter decided to do something about it: she wrote the site, had it approved by Bellais and learned XHTML to build it. The site is not glitzy: download speeds aren’t deadened by superfluous content or flash-propelled graphics. It’s static with occasional updates – but the index page changes every week. “If a church has a site, it should update it frequently,” Harter says. “There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a church site with the last entry as Easter 2008.” The Grace Web site is an inventory of all things church-related and otherwise, including pages devoted to how Episcopalians differ from Roman Catholics and Protestants, famous Episcopalians and frequently asked questions. It averages about 1,500 visitors per month. Harter has also constructed a Facebook page where events are announced. And she’s on Twitter, Tweeting daily devotionals and invitations to church services and events. “We thought: if people Tweet meaningless things, maybe they’d like something meaningful now and then, too,” Harter says. And that’s not the extent of it. To save money, Harter was at the forefront of discontinuing the
printed newsletter, except about 30 or so copies for those parishioners who are disenchanted by computers. Soon, the newsletter will be in the form of a Blog attached to the Web site. A link will be sent to parishioners via email. Harter doesn’t foresee her duty stopping there, either. She has created a Wikipedia entry for Grace Church, which has won several awards for its historic preservation. But it’s not history that interests Harter. “A link to Wikipedia will move us up in the pecking order of recommended sites on search engines without costing money,” Harter says. “It will also help local people see that we are a serious and live church.”
SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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RETREATS
The Trick of Retreat
The diocese offers two retreat centers: the House of Grace, a ministry of St. Mary Magdalene in southern Kansas City, and the verge-of-nowhere Rivendell Community. How do you want to get away? Stories by Hugh Welsh. The fiber art on display at the House of Grace was created by Karen Hansen. Photo by Hugh Welsh.
The Rev. Jason Lewis says that when St. Mary Magdalene acquired the property off Holmes in south Kansas City (its soon-to-be headquarters) in fall 2007, it didn’t know what to do with the lackluster house that came with it. “We considered bulldozing it,” says Lewis, St. Mary Magdalene’s vicar. “But we didn’t; we knew there was something special about it.” 20
SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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oday, that once-boring abode is the House of Grace, a retreat and spirituality center. Cori Pursell, the retreat director, was the handywoman for the house’s rehabilitation, painting its walls soft shades of color and converting an awkward living room into a chapel sunlit by arched windows. Pursell was hired as retreat director two years ago. A Benedictine oblate, Pursell has a master’s degree in Christian spirituality from Creighton University, and she got her supervision training from the Aquinas Institute. She is also a staff member at the Souljourner’s Program for Spiritual Direction Formation. “Spiritual direction is a role of listening,” Pursell says. “The Holy Spirit is the real director, and my job is to help retreatants listen.” The House of Grace offers Daily Office prayer Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as individual retreats, either guided or unguided, and monthly programs. The house currently has enough beds to accommodate a party of four and, as soon as the clergy and staff offices at the new church are complete, will allow for a group of up to 12. House of Grace is the translation from the Hebrew “Bethesda,” the pool where Jesus heals a man long bedridden so he may continue to pursue healing on his own. Pursell wanted to install a swimming pool next to the house, but funds were insufficient. Then it was discovered the church’s foundation needed fill dirt. Either the dirt could be purchased elsewhere or plumbed on-site, which would greatly reduce cost. Lewis opted for the on-site option. The excavation left behind a gaping crater. Pursell got her body of water: a pond. “We’ve had a series of fortunate events here,” Pursell says. “I hope it’s a good sign.”
Rivendell SITUATED BETWEEN KANSAS CITY AND SPRINGFIELD IS DUNNEGAN. It’s a quiet town – more undeveloped than developed. “You can hear the roosters and the cows, and the birds are always singing,” says Susie Danielsson, the Rivendell Community guardian. Rivendell calls Dunnegan home. “Our closest neighbors are the Amish.” The Rivendell Community, which received canonical recognition as a Christian community of the Episcopal Church in March 2002, is Eucharistic in belief and practice. There are no televisions, and radios are seldom heard. It calls its members Companions – “those who break bread together.” Its Web site describes the lay of the land well: “its 67 acres include forest, pasture, garden and orchard, a creek and a pond along with a barn and a chicken coop.” It’s the perfect getaway – and it’s open to retreatants at no charge, with all meals, linens and towels provided. (Of course, donations are welcome.) You can schedule a silent or directed retreat or a personal retreat with or without guidance. If you desire, you may occupy the Amish-built hermitage, hewn from locally reaped cedar logs. It is without electricity or indoor plumbing: the allowances are a wood-burning stove and a composting outhouse. “It’s for people who really want to get away,” Danielsson says. With the Rev. Virginia Brown’s return to the Motherhouse (she’s been serving as part-time rector of Shepherd of the Hills in Branson and St. Mark’s in Kimberling City), themed retreats will again be offered. Danielsson says Brown’s presence has been sorely missed. “My role is one of hospitality,” she says. “Virginia does spiritual direction.” Brown became acquainted with the diocese in 2000 as a priest at Christ Church in Springfield. While she enjoyed her time at both Christ Church and Shepherd of the Hills, she says she gets no greater satisfaction than helping another person “hear the call of God in their life.”
The Rivendell Motherhouse (top) and hermitage (bottom). Photos by Susie Danielsson.
“My duty is to be available,” Brown says. “A lot of spiritual guidance happens informally over a cup of coffee or around the dinner table.” Whatever the plans for your retreat may be, keep one priority in mind: rest. “A lot of people come here with illustrious ideas,” Danielsson says, “and they spend a lot of their time sleeping.” Brown says it’s a sign of how enfeebling the modern world can be on the spirit. “Before the grace of God can be known, he must have fresh materials to work with,” she says. “People are so busy and under so much pressure all the time, they never feel they’re caught up enough to debrief with God.” At Rivendell, communing with God comes easier: If not in the solace of the place, then the solicitude of its people. “Here we all abide by a spirit of Christendom,” Danielsson says. “We all pray together and for each other, retreatants included.” SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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ONE CHURCH
I
ENGAGING
THE WORLD
BY MARGARET FASEL
have always been very interested in helping underprivileged every one of the children who I had the pleasure of getting to children, and I believe that education and a nurturing know in January was incredibly intelligent. That is not to say environment are vitally important to their growth. I that they made my job easy, but they did what children from any volunteered all four years of high school at the Spofford Home, culture or background do. Without St. Peter’s, they may not a home and therapeutic center for mentally and physically have had the opportunity to just be kids. I found the children abused children in Kansas City. to be curious and eager to learn. However, This fall, I was looking for something to keeping the attention of children that age – do with my January term after especially when there is a language the program I was looking at in barrier – is a difficult task. I did India was canceled. Mary Howe my best to keep them happy and suggested that St. Peter’s Daycare entertained. Centre (in Botswana) always needs In the afternoon, I worked with volunteers. I was immediately children who had graduated excited, and contacted Father from the center but returned to Mudereri and his wife to set the school for lunch or tutoring. something up. This provided me with first-hand They were incredibly experience of what wonderfully encouraging and welcoming, so intelligent, capable children the I set off on the difficult process center nurtures. Beyond that, it is to receive school credit. With the Margaret Fasel (back row, first from the left) takes shelter hard to stereotype the children at from a downpour with a teacher and students from St. Peter’s help of some of my professors and Daycare Centre in Botswana. Submitted photo. St. Peter’s because, just like people many emails and meetings, I finally anywhere, they have their own convinced the career center that teaching in Botswana would personalities and quirks. There are 60 to 100 children enrolled be a beneficial experience. By this time, it was the beginning at St. Peter’s at any given time, and the center provides a muchof December, and I had very little time to cement my plans. needed service to provide education and care for orphaned and Fortunately, everything came together without another hitch vulnerable children. It is hard for me to put into words exactly and, before I knew it, I was off. After an incredibly long flight, how volunteering at the center affected me, but I have no doubt I finally arrived in Gaborone. The Mudereris welcomed me to that it made me a better person. These children need all the their family with such warmth that I felt comfortable almost help they can get, and St. Peter’s does an excellent job of trying immediately. I had a few days to adjust to the time change, and to provide them with everything they need. Unfortunately, the then it was time to prepare for the new school year. center really could use more volunteers. So, if anyone ever wants Before I knew it, the children had returned to school, and to go to Botswana, I can’t stress highly enough what a great I found myself the assistant teacher to a class of 20 3-year-olds. opportunity it is. I have never had a better or more tiring experience. Each and Margaret Fasel is a sophomore at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She is the daughter of the Rev. Canon Dr. William Fasel and Michelle Fasel.
BOTSWANA
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Members of the diocese’s campus ministry gathered for a March 19 retreat at Rivendell. Submitted photo.
CAMPUSMINISTRY
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’. At least as far as the Church’s relevance for college-aged persons is concerned. “The thinking is that you give young people a break from religion to so some thinking when they go to college,” says the Rev. Mike Kyle, diocesan campus ministry coordinator and rector of All Saints’, West Plains. “The problem is, they don’t come back when they’re married and have kids.” According to Kyle, campus ministry is a much-needed bridge between youth outreach – “Kim Snodgrass helms one of the top youth programs of any diocese in the country,” he says – and forming active adult parishioners. The good news? The diocese’s presence on college campuses is pronounced – and growing stronger. In Springfield, Christ Church is partnered with Missouri State University and St. John’s with Drury University; in Fayette, St. Mary’s cooperates with Central Methodist University; in Maryville, St. Paul’s works with Northwest Missouri
The Rev. Mike Kyle, diocesan campus ministry coordinator, will resign at the end of the year. How well is the diocese reaching out to college campuses, and what advice does Kyle have for his successor?
State University; in Liberty, Grace Church affiliates itself with William Jewell College; and at St. Paul’s in Kansas City, the Rev. Todd Bruce sustains a relationship with the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Kyle says his role isn’t to push campus ministry onto a parish but to cultivate the possibility. For starters, a church must have a college graduate over the age of 23 who is willing to be a campus minister and/or someone who is currently a student and can serve as an intern (both jobs pay minimally and can occupy as many as 20 hours per week). “Sometimes people emerge,” Kyle says. Ezgi Saribay, a campus ministry intern and Christian convert at Drury University who grew up in a Muslim household in Turkey, is an example. St. John’s rector, the Rev. Jerry Miller, experienced campus ministry early in his career at Oklahoma State University. “Jerry pretty much said, ‘here she is,’” Kyle says. “‘Do what you will with her.’” One of Kyle’s loudest boasts is for All
Saints’ in West Plains. “It’s a small parish,” Kyle says. “And yet they accomplished something very special.” A single-parent resource center has been established at All Saints’ former rectory. The center, which received a $40,000 grant from the Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering, is a joint venture of All Saints’ and Missouri State University – West Plains. If Kyle can offer any advice to his successor (Kyle will resign his post at the end of this year), is not to underestimate the value of a campus-ministry retreat. “Studies suggest that young people will not drive to an event,” Kyle says. “I’ve found that to be false.” In late March, a weekend campusministry retreat at Rivendell attracted six individuals; in September, a workshop at Christ Church in Springfield drew similar interest. “If you invite college students and young adults to gather in one place, they will come,” Kyle says. — BY HUGH WELSH SPIRIT, SPRING, 2010
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Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri p.o. box 413227 kansas city, mo 64141
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