Spirit August 2014

SPIRIT PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS | COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF THE OZARKS

Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri

August 2014 | Volume 6, No. 4

CAMPUS MINISTRY

3 Editor’s Letter

PUBLISHER The Right Rev. Martin S. Field EDITOR

Advances in technology remind us of changes that go unnoticed. And then there are those things that never change. What happens if we don’t adapt to change? And what if we do?

By Gary Allman

Gary Allman

Spirit is published by the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri 420 West 14th St. Kansas City, MO 64105 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Gary Allman, Communications Director Mrs. Angela Crawford, Communications Assistant The Rev. Dr. Steven Rottgers, Canon to the Ordinary 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 and postal addresses and phone number and are subject to editing.

PHONE (816) 471-6161 ext. 17 FAX (816) 471-0379 E-MAIL communications@ediowestmo.org WEB SITE www.episcopalwestmo.org FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/diowemo

4 Keeping Watch Jesus is with us in everything we do and experience, whether it be good or ill. Plus how you can help the people affected by the turmoil in Gaza.

By The Right Rev. Martin S. Field

5 The Ponder Box Fr. Steve’s ‘little brother’ - Fr. Bob in Kentucky demonstrates what it takes to build and keep a congregation.

SPIRIT

Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri

August 2014 | Volume 6, No. 4

ON THE COVER Campus Ministry goes hiking on the Colorado Trail. See page 13.

CAMPUS MINISTRY

2 SPIRIT | August 2014

Photograph: Beth Marshall

Proclaiming The Good News We take a look at the early days of the diocese and three pioneering churches.

By Kathryn Spicer

9 Council of Churches of the Ozarks The Council of Churches of the Ozarks has nine service agencies operating in the Ozarks providing essential services to those in need.

By The Rev. Mark Struckhoff

10 KC Hunger Run The KC Hunger Run returns for it’s second year.

By Karin & Philip Nicotra

13

By The Rev. Dr. Steve Rottgers

Mountain Spirit

6

Campus Ministry students and volunteers enjoyed the mountains and trails as they hiked part of the Colorado Trail.

Independence Day Musing Fr. Steve takes a historical look at how America’s Independence formed and influenced The Episcopal Church.

By The Very The Rev. Steven Wilson

7 PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS | COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF THE OZARKS

8

Small Church Summit and In One Garden We have two important workshops being held in August and September that will help show us how to grow our churches and share our stories.

By The Rev. Dr. Steve Rottgers

By Beth Marshall

14 Ice Cream Social On July 4, St. Stephen’s Monett held an Ice Cream Social. That Sunday they alsoheld a patriotic service.

By The Rev. Paula Lively

14 Community Meals Christ Church’s Outreach Team are hosting quarterly community dinners.

By Edith Van Hoesen

EDITOR’S LETTER | Gary Allman

Adapt and Survive...

Like it or not change surrounds us.

THE DIOCESE TURNS 125 THIS OCTOBER, AND PLANS TO HONOR THE EVENT ARE WELL UNDERWAY. We pray that

those plans will extend into the next year and beyond.

My visit to England to see my first grandchild in June meant that the final draft of the previous edition of the Spirit magazine was finished at over thirty thousand feet somewhere over the Atlantic. The final copy was sent to the printer in Kansas City from an impromptu workspace set up on my brother’s kitchen table. Such are wonders of modern technology.

Really these changes in our working lives should no longer surprise us, or me, come to that. But they do. Watching a rerun of one of my favorite movies recently, I became aware that there were no cell phones, no laptop or tablet computers, and that the phones made that familiar ringing sound you now only hear as a “retro” ring tone. TVs and computers had huge cathode ray tube monitors, and everyone was smoking. Watching the movie reminded me that by and large things change unobserved, changes permeate our lives without us really noticing. And then there are the things that stubbornly refuse to change.

War and the human propensity for conflict seems to be one of those things – no matter how much and how fervently we pray for it to be otherwise. As I’m writing this, friends and family in the UK are preparing to commemorate the start of the Great War on August 4, 1914, one hundred years ago. By the end of World War I over sixteen million had perished. It was supposed to be the “war to end all wars.” How wrong they were. We arrived in England the day before the seventieth anniversary of D Day; the major allied offensive that laid the foundations of the end of the Second World War in Europe. A war in which over sixty million died. The numbers are staggering – incomprehensible, and yet war still goes on. We are kept constantly informed with news of the latest battles and atrocities. The good news is that change will come. Change will come slowly, but it will happen and we need to be ready to adapt.

There seemed to be a lot of unchanging things in England.

We visited the inspiring seventeenth century Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London and while there attended a wonderful sung Eucharist for Barnabas the Apostle. We had a look around the twelfth century parish church of my childhood, Saint Nicholas in Great Hormead. It still looks and smells essentially the same as it did when I left the area in the early seventies. If you’ve ever visited an old and musty English village church, you’ll know exactly the smell I’m referring to. We also visited the historical and very picturesque Holy Trinity Church in Bosham.

We went to services at my son’s parish church, Saint Andrew’s in Cherry Hinton and finally at the church where I and my children were baptized in Portsmouth.

I discovered that this church has no Internet presence at all, just its name and phone number listed on the Portsmouth diocese’s website. It was in this rather rundown inner city church that I got the feeling that the changes of the world at large hadn’t simply passed them by unnoticed, but that the church and its congregation had decided to turn their collective backs on the modern world. They appeared to be unable, reluctant or simply refusing to change.

At the Sunday Holy Eucharist, we were left pretty much alone. Ignored it seemed. After the service the few congregants disappeared, presumably for tea or coffee in the parish hall. We never found out. I don’t like to think it, but it felt like this is a congregation in terminal decline. I hope I am wrong and that we just picked a bad day to visit.

However, the other churches we visited are recognizing the need for and adapting to change. They are embracing technology and the shifting social environment. Saint Nicholas has a thriving church school. There’s a new modern addition to the church, and the old, green painted, corrugated iron parish hall is being replaced. It shares its vicar with four other churches in the area and each Sunday she delivers services in each of them.

On a regular basis they hold ‘Messy Church’ especially targeted at families and children. Holy Trinity, despite being a historical building has a large area set aside for children, in it there were bright vibrant children’s paintings. In Saint Paul’s they manage the delicate balance of the needs of a tourist attraction with those of a place of worship. That included providing iPods with headphones as personal multi-lingual tour guides.

Lest you think children are essential for a welcoming outward looking church. It’s not so as we discovered a few years ago in the remote Scottish village of Pool Ewe. Saint Maelrubha’s Episcopal Church is a tiny converted byre. What a vibrant, welcoming church it turned out to be! They made us feel very welcome from the moment we put our heads around the door. After the service they plied us with delicious homemade cakes and very welcome cups of coffee. Checking their website, (all the churches mentioned above have websites) I see that part of their new parish hall includes a holiday cottage that they rent out. What an excellent idea to help them offset their costs.

So, what plans do you and your church have to ensure that your congregation adapts and grows to meet the changing needs of your community? What are your plans for the next year, or even for the next 125 years? + SPIRIT | August 2014

3

KEEPING WATCH | The Right Rev. Martin S. Field

Jesus is in Our World Today HE HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS. HE HAS BEEN IN OUR DIOCESE AND IN EVERY CITY, TOWN, AND SUBURB. I HAVE SEEN HIM IN MY TRAVELS.

He has crossed our nation’s borders in the guise of a small Honduran, Salvadoran, or Guatemalan child whose parents have made the horrible but loving decision to send their child away to escape poverty, drug-related violence, and (possibly) the very real threat of human trafficking.

He has danced and learned and rejoiced in the presence of nearly 1,000 other youth and youth advisors at EYE 2014, Villanova University near Philadelphia.

He has huddled in schools and homes in Gaza, hunkering down under artillery and small arms fire. He has suffered indiscriminate rocket attacks on his home on an Israeli settlement near the Gaza Strip.

He has splashed and played with vacation joy at a pool at a hotel in Florida and beamed smiles while watching Shamu the Orca whale leap and plunge in crystal clear water.

He has both cheered and mourned because of the decision of the General Synod of the Church of England to remove all obstacles to women in the Episcopacy.

How can I make these claims? I can because, in a parable, Jesus once said this: “. . . I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me’.”

Matthew 25:31-40 Jesus profoundly identifies with the powerless, the needy, and the lost; with those whom society has cast aside, those who lack essentials such as food, clothing, shelter, and safety, and those who are alone. Jesus teaches us that when we see God’s children – any of God’s children whether 4 or 40, 8 or 80, male or female, of any skin color or culture or sexuality – we are seeing him. Jesus is with us! He’s in the world today. Take a quick look around you. He’s everywhere.

But he’s especially where people are on the edge. Gaza’s Al Ahli Hospital – caught in the crossfire between the combat4 SPIRIT | August 2014

ants Israel and Hamas – is in desperate need of assistance. As one of the largest hospitals in Gaza City, their appeal is most urgent. Because of the conflict raging in the streets and neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip it has been called upon to provide critical health-care services for hundreds more than its normal capacity. Al Ahli was straining to meet the demands before the combat began, and now its over-burdened staff is trying to give aid to even more people than before. To assist, you may donate to Episcopal Relief & Development’s Middle East Fund or the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem -see their details below.

In our baptismal covenant we say “I will with God’s help,” to the question: “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” Christ is in all persons, in each of us. Our commitment is and must be to serve. +

Donate to Episcopal Relief & Development www.episcopalrelief.org or call 855-312-HEAL American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem www.americanfriends-jerusalem.org

Human Trafficking is a Reality

Human Trafficking Conference September 6, 2014 Grace Episcopal Church, Carthage, MO

Learn to look beneath the surface Human trafficking is modern slavery A victim of trafficking may look like someone you see every day The Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of West Missouri invite you to join in the conversation

THE PONDER BOX | The Rev. Dr. Steve Rottgers

Lessons From My Brother I HAVE JUST RETURNED FROM A TRIP BACK HOME TO MY ELDEST SON’S GRADUATION FROM THE 27TH GRADE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, PA (He actually finished

a 7 year residency in pediatric plastic surgery). During the stopover in Northern Kentucky to drop my mother off, I had dinner with my younger brother, The Rev. Robert Rottgers, who is a Roman Catholic Priest in the Diocese of Covington.

War stories of parish ministry abound in our conversations.

Fr. Bob was ordained 4 years ago at the ripe age of 58. He answered a late vocation call after the death of Penny, his wife of 14 years, leaving a position as Vice- President in an Industrial Conveyer Consulting Firm. Like any big brother of any worth, I told him just prior to his ordination, “If you pull that pious ‘Holy Mother Church’ stuff around me, I’ll slap you silly!”

Our father’s entire side of the family is Roman Catholic. We were raised Episcopalian by Mom (who was originally Methodist) because there was “Sunday School” at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky. Dad always attended Mass even when the Eucharist, because of the split family affiliation, was denied to him. That changed when Mom and Dad reaffirmed their vows in the Roman Church on their 25th anniversary and Vatican II. Anyway, the Roman/Episcopal blended existence has always been a part of our life.

Fr. Bob is now in charge of St. Phillips Church in Melbourne, Kentucky, a small, rural, agricultural river town upstream from Cincinnati, Ohio. It has a school attached with K-8th grades, and a state road splits the campus into hillside and riverside halves. Over the past four years the number of member families has grown from 230 to 340, and the average Sunday attendance has gone from 200 to 400 a week, with an increase in giving from $2,300 to $4,200 per week.

“So,” I asked, “what is the draw? That Roman guilt thing, or a weighty sense of duty and or obligation?” He answered, “No, it’s Relationships and being authentically real and relevant!” I didn’t have to slap him silly! It’s the fact that children are welcomed and honored. People are driving miles past their original parishes of 2,000+ families that are struggling to survive, to attend a church where “the priest will sing Happy Birthday to you at Mass if he is aware of the event!” It’s the fact that Fr. Bob talks about the everyday life application of the Gospel and is not “issue-driven” in his weekly sermons, which are delivered from the nave steps, with no notes, and not from the pulpit. It’s not about tech fads or contemporary music or screens. It’s the fact that people feel connected in community and have developed an excited “Can Do” and “Come See” attitude. All this in just 4 years! They get it!

My thought, is that there is no excuse or reason this cannot

be the norm in rural and suburban Missouri as well. There is “No App” for that. It is once again about Relationships, Relationships, and Relationships! The first is building a living relationship with God and Our Lord Jesus, and second, a faith-filled and faithful outpouring of loving relationships with others (in our congregations as well as the surrounding communities). A major challenge is “re-wiring” our thinking from scarcity and survival to one of abundance, “Can-Do” and “Come-See.” The demographics for St. Phillips are not a hard stretch to compare to NERM, Sacred Hills, or ECHO congregations or for that matter, any other congregation in the Diocese of West Missouri. It’s not the external, contextual demographics that limit or drive the results, but the internal faith, heart and spirit of the very people who lead or make up a congregation – regardless of location, size, or age of the members.

It’s all about changing attitudes and mindsets that block, obstruct, and limit the formation of our spiritual faith, a servant heart and an apostolic passion. It’s all about loving grace-filled and graceful relationships with God and with our neighbors as ourselves. It’s all about moving to “Can do!” and “Come and see!” as we go into the world despite what the demographics may show or say.

This entire perspective just might be something worth pondering! +

“Can do!” The youth of the dioceses of West Missouri and Kansas get ‘Pumped up’ at last month’s Missionpalooza.

SPIRIT | August 2014

5

GUEST COLUMNIST| The Very Rev. Steven C. Wilson

Independence Day Musing THE TRANSITION FROM 1775 TO 1789 WAS A HUGE ONE FOR AMERICA’S ANGLICANS. IN THE FORMER YEAR, THE VAST MAJORITY OF ALL PERSONS LIVING SOUTH OF THE MASON-DIXON LINE (THE BORDER BETWEEN PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND) WERE EPISCOPALIANS. The

colonial governments paid the salaries of the clergy in those colonies, and only Episcopalians in good standing could vote or run for public office. There were no churches other than Episcopal ones, except for a few French Protestant refugee parishes in South Carolina—Baptists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians existed, but they worshipped in living rooms, and their ministers couldn’t perform marriages.

The Methodists were the Sunday school movement of Anglicanism (the “Method of Holy Living” was an adult education revival method pioneered by Georgia’s Anglican chaplains, Frs. John and Charles Wesley).

North of the Mason-Dixon line, Anglicans were favored by the state in New York and New Jersey, but not with a monopoly. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut, we were a tolerated minority without any real rights, our chapels mainly protected by their association with the royal family and its military outposts. Congregationalists ruled the roost in those colonies. In Canada, we were technically illegal; in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania we were large minorities struggling in a religious free market. And nowhere did Anglicans pay for their church upkeep with pledges—it was the state which collected tithes and dispensed them, or the royal family which sent salaries to New England through the missionary agencies of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

Our clergy were imported from England, and we had no bishops on the ground. When one was proposed by Queen Anne, the New England colonists bribed Parliament to refuse the proposal.

A vague oversight was exercised by the Bishop of London, when he remembered to appoint a commissary for the colonies.

And when that did happen, the commissary as often as not didn’t do much (one commissary for Maryland, Thomas Bray, charged with enforcing the use of the Book of Common Prayer, fell in love with a local heiress and when they came to the altar and she refused to say “obey,” told the vicar to skip that section)—and it hasn’t appeared in the American liturgy ever since. American Episcopalians have been doing liturgical revision from 6 SPIRIT | August 2014

day one, and American women have never been weak…

By any account, 1775 was a good year for us. About 45% of the population nominally belonged to the Anglican Church.

Two of the five universities were Anglican (William and Mary in Virginia, King’s College—today’s Columbia—in New York), and the entire faculty of a third, Yale, had converted en masse (and were immediately fired by the Congregationalist governor). Prominent leaders in every colony were Episcopalian, including converts like Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. We were poised for glory!

And then came the unexpected. A war nobody wanted turned out to pit clergy, mainly loyalist, against members, mainly patriot. The tax basis of the Church was eroded as state after state disestablished the “King’s Church.” Virginia declared that any congregation without a priest was abandoned and gave property to other denominations. The Methodists left to form their own denomination when we couldn’t agree on how to get bishops (they decided to simply declare their most prominent preachers as bishops, and start fresh, without all the political complexities of begging the British for ordination). In Connecticut the newly-elected bishop, Samuel Seabury, was a traitor with an arrest warrant in his name signed by George Washington, and in Virginia the newly-elected bishop, James Madison, was so depressed by the future of the Church that he begged the president to make him postmaster of a rural district so he could feed his family.

It would take a whole new wave of bishops, men who didn’t remember the “good old days,” William White of Pennsylvania, John Henry Hobart of New York, William Meade of Virginia, and our own Jackson Kemper of “All Outdoors,” to bring new hope to the Church. They built a very different enterprise from what had been wrecked in the Revolution. No more state

Photograph: Dave (Flickr)

WORKSHOPS

support. No more reliance on the powers that be. No more guaranteed funding streams. Instead of complacency, you got fervor—Meade was a pious evangelical who preached fiery sermons against horse races and dancing, while Kemper was an anglo-catholic who attempted to recreate the monastic movement on the prairie. They were men with strong opinions, often at odds with one another. But the thing they shared was a willingness to stop looking backward and start looking forward. That was the “new American way” of doing things. And it worked. We dropped from about 1 million Episcopalians in 1775 to fewer than 15,000 in 1795—but by 1900 we were back up to 1.5 million.

And that’s where we are again. The last few decades haven’t been kind to “the way things used to be,” and the Episcopal Church (Grace Church is an exception) has fared poorly.

History tells us that it’s time to get passionate. About Jesus, and how we think He would change things. Not just our insides and our emotions, but our culture too—remember Meade and his horse races, remember Kemper preaching celibacy and obedience. If the Church has learned anything from July 4th, it’s this: Christ makes all things new. It’s up to us to figure out how to proclaim Him as King and Lord in that newness. It’s not the numbers we have at our disposal, but the passion we bring to our understanding of the Christian life, that matters.

Change is here. We can lament that, or we can be the change our culture needs. + This article originally appeared in the July edition of ‘The Spirit of Grace’. The Very Rev. Steve Wilson is rector at Grace Episcopal Church, Carthage.

Small Church Summit and In One Garden

WE HAVE TWO UPCOMING WORKSHOPS TO HELP CONGREGATIONS BUILD THEIR MEMBERSHIP. We strongly urge

clergy and vestry leaders as well as all members to attend these upcoming diocesan events in August and September.

1. “The Little Church that Could” A Summit for Small Churches. Come and hear the success story of how a thriving congregation sprang from an antique shop display room into an overflowing congregation in rural Salado, Texas. With a part-time clergy person (The Rev. Bob Bliss) and part-time staff, St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church has made huge waves in a once sleepy little Texas side road town. Come hear their story and attend workshops designed to enlighten and encourage your parish story to start similar turn around results. The event is Saturday, August 23, 2014 at Calvary Episcopal Church in Sedalia, MO. Check-In is at 9:00 a.m. and activities will conclude by 3:00 p.m. This event will be recorded.

For more information visit: http://goo.gl/us9ifA 2. “In-One-Garden” will have a fall offering that is focusing on the ability of the individual to “Share Their Faith Story” or also better known as, “Evangelism”! Keith Winton from the Diocese of Nebraska will be with us all day to share exercises and insights on being equipped and empowered to express “Come and See” to those who just may not have a church home or a relationship with the Living God in Christ Jesus. Registration and more information is available online. You can find details on the diocese website. This one-day event is being held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, MO on Main Street (School Multi-purpose Room) on Saturday, September 27, 2014. We will be video streaming this event to Grace Episcopal Church, Carthage. + For more information visit: http://goo.gl/OGPYF4

More Fourth of July News from St. Stephen’s, Monett on page 14.

SPIRIT | August 2014

7

Proclaiming the Good News West Missouri’s Journey in Mission.

By Kathryn Spicer

“WILL YOU PROCLAIM BY WORD AND EXAMPLE THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD IN CHRIST?” BISHOP JACKSON KEMPER, 1789-1870, TOOK THE WORDS OF OUR THIRD BAPTISMAL PROMISE TO HEART AND SPENT HIS ADULT LIFE ENTHUSIASTICALLY PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS ACROSS THE MIDWESTERN FRONTIER. In 1835 the Episcopal Church

overhauled the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and concluded that Episcopalians are called to preach the Gospel wherever they may be, whether on foreign or domestic soil. In light of this, General Convention elected The Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper of New York to be the first Missionary Bishop of the Episcopal Church, overseeing Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin, as well as visiting Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Missionary is displayed in this 1838 letter: “I demand some additional, able, and devoted laborers. Let Fulton, and Independence, and Fort Leavenworth, be made Missionary stations. Let St. Charles be supplied with another clergyman… and let one be secured against spring to take Boonville… If the Church wishes me to work faithfully and steadily you must – indeed you must – strengthen my hands by sending me more clergymen.”

Clergymen were sent, and the missions grew strong. Kemper’s missionary zeal in West Missouri can plainly be seen in three of the diocese’s earliest missions – Christ Church, Boonville, Trinity Church, Independence, and St. John’s Mission, Kansas City.

The Pioneer Parish – Christ Church, Boonville

Bishop Jackson Kemper

By the time Bishop Kemper visited Missouri there was only one clergyless church in the state. He knew that Missourians needed spiritual guidance, and set out from St. Louis to minister to the West. Between 1835 and 1845, he founded four missions in Missouri – Boonville, Fayette, Independence, and Lexington – and inspired other missionaries to begin congregations of their own. Kemper’s devotion to his role as 8 SPIRIT | August 2014

In 1836, Bishop Kemper traveled to Boonville; he believed it to be the perfect place to plant an Episcopal church, due to its location and receptiveness to new forms of faith. Kemper recruited The Rev. F.F. Peake as the first missionary priest in western Missouri, and he served for six years. In 1840, Christ Church received its own clergyman, The Rev. James D. Mead; the next year, a lot was purchased to house the congregation’s first permanent building. The Rev. Almon D. Corbyn came to Boonville in 1844; he oversaw the completion of the church building, arranged the arrival of Boonville’s first pipe organ, brought speakers for a Lyceum series, and revamped the choir and Sunday school. Corbyn took Kemper’s evangelism to heart, leading Christ Church into a place of prominence in the community and exemplifying how a small mission

can become a successful parish. After Corbyn’s retirement in 1854, the congregation was only visited infrequently by roving clergy.

The Rev. F.R. Holeman came in 1867 after four years banishment in Canada because of his opposition to the

Christ Church, Boonville C1900

Confederacy. He led an extraordinary revival of the church’s life, founding a church school, hosting parish suppers, and assembling a new choir. The Rev. George H. Ward continued Holeman’s trend, expanding Christ Church with several community outreach programs, yearly choir concerts, and a remodeled building. A writer for Boonville’s Weekly Eagle wrote in 1873: “The Episcopal Church is noted for its brotherly love one for the other, and its kind regard and attention to the stranger within its gates…its standards of morals, though high, is not so far beyond the nature of man, as to be utterly unattainable by him.

Taken altogether, this branch of the ‘vine’ is a power for good…”

From 1874 to 1886 Christ Church was served by two well-loved rectors – The Rev. Dr. Judson M. Curtis, known

for organizing church socials and stirring sermons, and The Rev. J.J. Wilkins, known for zealous presiding and directing the church’s remodel. After the congregation’s division under an extremist rector, the vestry called The Rev. Henry Mackay in 1890 to reunite the people.

He led Christ Church into the founding of West Missouri, and was “greatly beloved by his people and honored and admired by the public generally”. At Bishop Atwill’s first visit to Boonville in 1890, Christ Church celebrated its new status as the diocese’s first parish and its continued success in promoting West Missouri’s mission.

with the parish’s first pipe organ. The building was completed on schedule and consecrated by Bishop Atwill on October 1, 1888.

The Rev. Dunn returned in 1893 upon Birchmore’s resignation and oversaw three different rectors of Trinity over the next nine years. With Dunn’s leadership, the average number of communicants rose from 30 to 70, Sunday school was well-attended, and over two dozen were baptized or confirmed. In 1902, The Rev. R.R. Diggs took over Trinity; in the

give the people regular services and establish Sunday-schools, I am confident that not only will our present congregations hold together, but many will come to us

The Little Church That Could – Trinity Church, Independence Bishop Kemper began Trinity Church early in his career as Missionary Bishop.

He first held a service in Independence in 1835; services were held off and on for several years, but not until 1844 did Independence receive a missionary priest. Kemper assigned The Rev. Michael Fackler as the rector of Christ Church in Lexington and missioner to Independence. From 1847 to 1860, priests from Lexington came to Independence every few weeks. Due to this work, the congregation was admitted as a parish in the Diocese of Missouri in 1855. Trinity called its first rector, The Rev. F.R. Holeman, in 1860 before his deportation to Canada; Holeman worked primarily in Independence but also preached in Boonville and Fayette.

After 1863, Trinity was without a permanent priest for fifteen years. The congregation continued to meet, employing members as lay readers. Holeman returned to Independence in 1878 and oversaw the construction of Trinity’s first wood-frame church on Main Street. After two years, The Rev. John W. Dunn, a traveling priest familiar to Independence, took over Trinity and prepared to build a new brick structure on North Liberty Street. Under Dunn’s direction, the Sunday school continued to thrive and the Ladies’ Guild formed; he retired in 1885. The Rev. John W. Birchmore arrived three years later, along

Early sketch of Trinity, Independence

next three years, three dozen were confirmed or baptized, a new altar installed, the Sunday school doubled in size, and the parish gained a place of prominence in the community. The mission work of Bishop Kemper in Independence was finally realized in Trinity Church as it celebrated its success after years of absent priests, lack of funding, and abandoned parish organizations.

The First Urban Mission – St. John’s, Kansas City Even in 1891, Bishop Atwill felt Bishop Kemper’s call. In his speech at West Missouri’s first diocesan convention, he gave some disheartening facts on the state of the diocese – churches in bad repair, lack of Sunday schools, complete absence of priests in most churches – but went on to say: “Shall we give way to repining and lose heart? No! We believe that God is with us and ‘one with God is always in the majority.’ We find for our encouragement in these fallow fields abundant indications of adaptation of the soil to the germination and growth of true Christian principles…if we can

Bishop Edward R. Atwill

who only wait the opportunity.”

With this missionary zeal in mind, Atwill decided that the urban core of Kansas City needed an Episcopal church.

He recruited around fifty individuals and families and set out to found St. John’s Mission in 1891 in an upper room at Elmwood and Independence Avenues.

The first service was held by Bishop Atwill and a visiting priest, W.H. Stark.

The congregation grew for the next several years, building its first structure at Independence and Lister in 1895 and celebrating Christmas that year with a new altar. From 1895 to 1903, the mission was served by half a dozen priests on rotation, but the congregation declined because of its location far from paved roads. This waning in expanding mission work and increasing focus on established parishes prompted Bishop Atwill to say at the 1900 diocesan convention: “Our board of missions is faithful, most faithful in the discharge of their duties… These men are burning with missionary zeal and with the desire for extension of the diocese…

Continued on page 11.

SPIRIT | August 2014

9

Council of Churches of the Ozarks Uniting Faith. Serving with Compassion.

By The Rev. Mark Struckhoff

THE FIRST WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH IS A SPECIAL DAY. That’s the

day when volunteers from Christ Episcopal Church in Springfield can be found serving side-by-side at Crosslines with volunteers from Broadway United Methodist Church in Springfield. Crosslines is one of nine service agencies of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks. Crosslines is where some of the most vulnerable people in Greene County come to access a food pantry and other emergency services, and where volunteers from area churches come together to serve their neighbors in need.

The Council of Churches of the Ozarks was born in 1969 from the union of two Biblical themes: Matthew 25:35-40 and John 17:20-23. The text in Matthew compels the followers of Jesus to recognize that we are serving Jesus Christ when we care for the vulnerable, the “least” among us. In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays for us to be “brought to complete unity so that the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

The Council of Churches of the Ozarks’ mission is to improve the quality of life in our region through collaborative outreach in the name of Jesus Christ, by doing together what can best be done together.

“Our experience is that when we practice serving others together, we begin to experience greater oneness,” says Rev. Mark Struckhoff, Executive Director of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks. “Working together and serving our neighbors in the name of Jesus Christ builds relationships and unity of spirit.”

These shared relationships, values 10 SPIRIT | August 2014

Photograph: Council of Churches of the Ozarks

and vision give traction to the work of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks.

Today nine service agencies are highly focused and are networked together in order to improve the quality of life for some of the most vulnerable people in the region, regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, or religious background. Last year the Council’s nine service agencies recorded a total of more than 2.3 million service contacts.

Through unified service, the Council of Churches continues to be the hands and feet of ministry that expands the capacity of our congregational, individual and business partners to make a real difference in the quality of life for the most vulnerable in the Ozarks. And with poverty rates in the Springfield area doubling in the last ten years, the mission

and ministry of the Council has become even more important to the Ozarks.

The Council of Churches of the Ozarks is where common ground is higher ground, the sort of higher ground that offers a vantage point from which we can begin to see the face of God in, with and through our community. +

For More Information Call 417-862-3586 or visit www.ccozarks.org Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ccozarks The Rev. Mark Struckhoff is in his fifth year as the Executive Director of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks. Mark has more than 25 years of experience serving churches and non-profit organizations in Missouri and Texas.

The Nine Service Agencies of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks

Continued from Page 9

Ambassadors for Children serves foster children and their families in Greene, Christian and Taney counties.

Child Care Aware® of Southern Missouri delivers quality training for early childhood professionals in 38 Missouri counties.

Child Care Food Program serves as a monitoring agency to ensure healthy meals are offered in home-based daycares in 52 Missouri counties.

Connections Handyman Services delivers essential home repairs for lowincome seniors living in Greene County.

Crosslines serves individuals and families in crisis with a client-choice food pantry, rent-assistance, and other emergency services for residents of Greene County.

Daybreak Adult Daycare provides medically-monitored adult care and day habilitation services for Greene County residents.

Long-term Care Ombudsman Program trains and empowers volunteers to advocate for nursing home residents in 21 Missouri counties.

RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) connects seniors to meaningful volunteering opportunities in Greene County.

Safe to Sleep collaborates with area churches and service agencies to provide overnight emergency shelter for homeless women in Greene County.

Saint John’s Kansas City

My grand old friend Bishop Tuttle said in his address to that first council in this diocese: “Yours is a glorious missionary field. Talk missions. Work missions. Love missions from the very start. I beseech you, as for your life, stand by the missionary work.” Few men can rival his expression. I cannot.

But, from a heart no less filled with yearning for the strength and enlargement of the church, I say: Amen.”

To reverse its loss of funds and membership, St. John’s bought a lot at 517 Kensington in 1902. The new stone church building was completed in 1905 and consecrated by both Bishops Atwill and Tuttle. That same year, the congregation received its first permanent priest, The Rev. Carl Reed Taylor, who served until 1916. As a purposeful mission, St. John’s was designed to serve the expanding south-east of Kansas City, to provide its neighbors with a Christian community and respond to its needs.

This meant supporting its own mission at 103 Oakley Avenue, beginning Sunday schools in several locations within walking distance of parishioners’ homes, and

holding services at those same sites to reach people who could not or would not come to the church. Atwill felt that the diocese should focus on strengthening congregations already established, rather than beginning new, non-supportable missions. St. John’s thrived under this model and expanded to include these new programs throughout The Rev. Taylor’s time as rector, and continued its achievements past his retirement in 1916.

By 1890, the year of our diocese’s founding, Bishop Kemper’s missionary spirit had produced twenty-three parishes, twenty-eight organized missions, and five unorganized missions. The trend only continued under West Missouri’s first bishop, The Rt. Rev. Edward R. Atwill, who founded six churches during his tenure. In our present circumstances, we too can fulfil our third baptismal covenant as they did; to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ”. We may not plant churches across the frontier, but we can plant them within the hearts and minds of those we encounter. + Kathryn Spicer is a senior an Truman State University in Kirksville and member of St. Andrew’s Church in Kansas City. She is currently serving as the Assistant Diocesan Archivist.

SPIRIT | August 2014

11

Second Annual KC Hunger Run Unity Village near Lee’s Summit, October 11th, 2014 at 8 a.m.

By Karin & Philip Nicotra

ST. ANNE’S PARISH IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE SECOND ANNUAL KC HUNGER RUN! IT WILL TAKE PLACE AT UNITY VILLAGE NEAR LEE’S SUMMIT, ON SATURDAY. OCTOBER 11TH, 2014 AT 8 A.M. Over

175 runners and walkers participated in last year’s race, raising over $1,500.00 for Episcopal Community Services. KC Hunger Run hopes to build on last year’s success with a re-designed 5K course and new prizes. Sponsors ARC and Door-to-

12 SPIRIT | August 2014

Door Organics have renewed their support of the race and mascot Calvin the Canine is scheduled to return as well to add to the fun of the event.

Each Hunger Run participant receives a custom medal, post-race food, chip timing on the course, and a high-quality tee shirt! On behalf of St. Anne’s and Episcopal Community Services, we invite each and every one of you to join our race and fight hunger locally in the Kansas City area. The event is open to all abilities, and your participation will provide meals and snacks for needy children and families in our community.

You can learn more about this exciting event on our website. Sponsorship opportunities are available and online registration is now open. If you cannot directly participate in the event, there are many ways to support the race and

Episcopal Community Services by volunteering, sponsoring, or by donating prizes or funds.

Episcopal Community Services is a vibrant ministry in our diocese. It serves over 500 lunches every workday, offers job training for food service occupations and supports Back Snack to provide food over the weekend to disadvantaged youth. These are just a few examples of the many ways ECS benefits our community. We are blessed to have such a great organization in West Missouri. + For more information and online registration visit www.KCHungerRun.org Race co-directors Karin & Philip Nicotra and their two young sons have been members of St. Anne’s for many years and enjoy family time including jogging, biking, reading, and soccer for the boys.

Mountain Spirit Campus Ministry: hiking on the Colorado Trail.

By Beth Marshall

THE WARMTH OF THE RISING SUN HAD BEGUN TO REPLACE THE CHILL OF A MOUNTAIN MORNING WHEN WE ARRIVED. THE ROCK-LINED PATHWAYS INTO OUR CAMPSITE FORMED A HEART, AND THE SMELL OF PINE TREES AND GOD’S EARTH PERMEATED THE AIR. In the valley

below, the Twin Lakes were in full view, and the mountains rose up just beyond to circle the lakes. Inlaid in the tree colors of the mountain directly across from our ‘island’ campsite, was the outline of an angel praying. And just over the edge of camp lay the winding pathway of The Colorado Trail. For the next few days this was home base for a group of college students and volunteers exploring the

possibilities and options for a 2015 Campus Ministry Spirit Walk in the mountains of Colorado.

Thanks to the expert guidance of Brad Hayes, the group got to experience a myriad of sights, sounds, and elevations, with several different ‘day hikes’ on The Colorado Trail - a winding path up the mountain side, lined with aspen and pine trees, the vibrant colors of flowers and vegetation tucked in-between; the icy waters of a babbling brook or small

Back row, l-r: Brad Hayes, Angie Stephens, Karen Behen, Chris Palma, Fr. Joe Behen.

Front row, l-r: Melissa Janney, Samantha Behen and Beth Marshall.

stream rushing down the mountain side; a trail following the edge of a tiered body of water created by the log jams of a local beaver clan; a lake nestled between the peaks; a trail straight across an open field above the tree line, and up to the first of three ridges still laden with snow at Independence Pass. It was much farther than it looked, and yes, there was a snowball fight in July.

Back at camp the group enjoyed a variety of meals cooked on the camp stove and campfire by Karen Behen and kudos to Fr. Joe Behen for providing the morning coffee.

The chairs around the campfire provided community time for liturgy, shared reflection, marshmallow roasting, and

theatrical ghost story telling – thank you Samantha Behen.

When asked if they would do this again, the students replied with a resounding “Yes!” Many thanks to: Melissa Janney, Chris Palma, Angie Stephens, and Samantha Behen for taking time out of their summer to join us and help work out some options for a diocesan-wide Campus Ministry Spirit Walk next year.

Thanks also to Fr. Joe, Karen Behen and Brad Hayes for volunteering their time, talent, expertise, and equipment. Finally, I’d like to thank Kim Snodgrass, for lending us a tent for the trip. + Beth Marshall is the Campus Ministry Coordinator for the Diocese of West Missouri.

SPIRIT | August 2014

13

Ice Cream Social Celebrating July 4, Ice Cream Social and Patriotic Hymns.

By The Rev. Paula Lively

WE WANTED TO GET TO KNOW THE NEIGHBORHOOD BETTER, SO WE HELD A JULY 4 ICE CREAM SOCIAL ON THE LAWN OF ST. STEPHEN’S MONETT. To publicize the event we

posted 200 flyers door-to-door, put a banner out by the street and listed the event in the News Briefs column of our local newspaper.

On the day we decorated ready for our visitors while Fr. Tim Coppinger stood out front dressed in patriotic garb waving people in off the street.

We received very positive feedback from our guests. People told us how much they appreciated us organizing the social, commented on how pretty the decorations were, and a large percentage of our guests sat down and chatted.

Everyone had a good time, and we want

Members and guests celebrate July 4th at St. Stephen’s, Monett

to make this a 4th of July tradition. All-inall a fun time was had by all!

On Sunday July 6 we had a wonderful service with patriotic lessons and hymns that was inspired by the ‘A Liturgy of

Lessons and Songs of Independence Day’ article we read in the April 2014 edition of the Spirit Magazine. + The Rev. Paula Lively was ordained into the deaconate in April this year.

Community Meals Meeting a local need.

By Edith Van Hoesen

IN MAY CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SPRINGFIELD WELCOMED OUR NEIGHBORS FOR THE FIRST OF WHAT IS PLANNED TO BE A QUARTERLY PROGRAM OF COMMUNITY DINNERS.

More than 85 guests were served and 40 ‘to-go’ boxes were served to neighbors who were unable to attend. Over 40 parishioners served and enjoyed a meal with our neighbors and 120 meals were sent to Rare Breed, a local shelter for youth. The night was chosen to not overlap with other meals served in the immediate area. We advertised the dinner with signs in front of the church and we distributed fliers at the local food banks and shelters.

As a part of our Outreach Ministry, Christ Church is now planning on serving a quarterly community dinner. We 14 SPIRIT | August 2014

Members of the local community at Christ Church’s 2013 Thanksgiving meal

visited St. Matthew’s Ozark where more than 50 members of the local community are fed each week. Members of our Outreach committee were able to use the knowledge gained to fine tune our plan

for serving our community. Finding a home for any leftover food is an essential part of the planning. Community partners and local shelters are contacted prior to the event so no food goes to waste.

THE AGENDA | Upcoming events around the diocese

Following our May dinner, in addition to meals sent to Rare Breed, fruit and desserts were served the next day at a teacher appreciation gathering at Bissett Elementary – a local elementary school

Events The Little Church That Could 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. August 23.

Venue: Calvary Episcopal Church, Sedalia.

Youth Ministry Commission Commissioning Service 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - August 23.

Venue Christ Church, Springfield.

In One Garden 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. September 27.

Venue: Saint Paul’s Kansas City with simultaneous webcast at Grace Church Carthage.

served by Christ Episcopal Church.

The idea for the quarterly community dinners was prompted by the increasing attendance at our annual Thanksgiving Dinners. These are a traditional Thanksgiving meal hosted by the youth of Christ Church that has been served for several years the week before Thanksgiving. Parishioners bring in Thanksgiving favorites that are served with turkey cooked and sliced by a local grocer. Attendance and distribution of that meal has almost doubled in size yearly. The addition of to-go meals has given Christ Church the opportunity to reach out to those unable to attend or in need of food for the following. In 2013 more than 500 meals were served or carried out during the annual Thanksgiving event.

Getting to know our neighbors, seeing them in church, providing a safe place for a meal with the comforts of warmth, food lovingly prepared, and shelter, if only for a short time has given Christ Episcopal Church a way to bring outreach closer to home.

Christ Episcopal Church’s next community meal will be served on Thursday August 28. + Edith Van Hoesen serves on Christ Church’s Parish Council, and the Vision And Support Team, which provides help and support to Josh Trader the diocese’s Youth Ministry Coordinator for the South Youth Network.

ECW Fall Gathering - Human Trafficing Conference 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. September 6.

Venue: Grace Church, Carthage.

Send Us Your News & Articles We welcome your news articles, photographs and letters to the editor on topics of interest to the diocese. Submissions should include the writer’s name, e-mail and postal addresses and phone number.

Whenever possible we will share your submissions with the members of the diocese in the Spirit Magazine. The earlier you can get your news to us the better, to ensure inclusion please send in your news an absolute minimum of two weeks before the end of the month in each of January, March, May, July, September and November.

If you have an idea for an article please tell us.

You can contact us at: communications@ediowestmo.org Please note: because of space and time constraints we cannot guarantee to be able to always use your news material or pictures. Any supplied text and images may be edited.

The Spirit & eSpirit online: Daughters of the King Fall Retreat Time: TBA, October 4.

Venue: Saint Michael’s, Independence.

SPIRIT WEMO YOUTH SUMMER ACTIVITIES | VOLUNTEERS MAKE IT HAPPEN

Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri

June, 2014 | Volume 6, No. 3

KC Hunger Run 8:00 a.m. Saturday October 11.

Venue: Unity Village near Lee’s Summit

Diocese of West Missouri is 125!

October 15. Events TBA. CONFIRMATION

Gathering and Convention 2014 November 7 & 8.

Venue: Ramada Oasis Convention Center, Springfield.

www.diowestmo.org/spirit/spirit-magazine.html

Online Diocesan Calendar For the latest information on diocesan events don’t forget you can also check the diocesan calendar online at:

www.diowestmo.org/espirit/espirit-newsletter.html

www.diowestmo.org/our-work/our-work.html

Additional Photo Credits Image on Page 6 by Flickr user ‘Dave’: flickr.com/people/vintagehalloweencollector/ Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

SPIRIT | August 2014

15

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage

SPIRIT Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri 420 West 14th Street Kansas City, MO 64105

PAID

Permit #668 Kansas City, MO

An Exceptional Place in the Heart of it All.

Sati

ion

gu

ed

Rewarding and engaging. Intimate in size, but wide Sfact open with opportunity. At Bishop Spencer Place, you’ll thrive living in our landmark location near the Country ar a t e n Club Plaza and you’ll be energized by all of the cultural activities and conveniences Kansas City has to offer. Plus, you’ll celebrate each day with ease knowing you have access to a full continuum of on-site healthcare and to our affiliate Saint Luke’s Hospital, if needed.

Our faith-based retirement community is also a close affiliate of The Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri, and we’re proud to have enriched lives for nearly 20 years.

There is simply no better place to be!

Canon Harry Firth at

100%

Bishop Spencer Place.

Call Mendi at (816) 595-5878 for Lunch & Tour. www.BishopSpencerPlace.org 4301 Madison Ave. Kansas City, MO 64111

T h e

p l a c e

16 SPIRIT | August 2014

T o

b e

f o r

r e T i r e m e n T

l i v i n g