The Harvest, July-August 2012

Inside The Harvest

English bishop will be guest speaker at Convention

From Canon Loya

While Bishop Wolfe is on sabbatical, Canon Craig Loya looks at how the church can begin to address the many challenges it faces. Page 2

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MissionPalooza

High school youth from the dioceses of Kansas and West Missouri did hands-on urban mission work during the 12th annual MissionPalooza. Page 4

Welcoming workshop A workshop Oct. 6 will help churches determining if they truly are welcoming to guests and if not, how they can be.

The leader is the head of Forward Movement. Page 5

Campus ministry

Students are back on campus, and the diocese’s campus ministry program is adapting to recent changes and seeking ways to reach out. Page 5

Ministry in Kenya

Three teams of volunteers worked this summer through the Kansas to Kenya ministry to offer service to the people of the Maai Mahiu area in Kenya. Page 6

Kindness mob

More than just a flash mob, volunteers on July 21 spread kindness throughout downtown Wichita on behalf of Episcopal Social Services/Venture House. Page 6

Kansas School for Ministry

For the first time, KSM has more students from outside the diocese than inside, representing Kansas, Western Kansas, West Missouri and Nebraska. Page 7

Pantry manager

Deacon Gail Reynolds has stepped down from day-today oversight of the food pantry at St. Paul’s, Kansas City. Her replacement is Ross Warnell. Page 7

Around the diocese

Photos by Shannon Mahan

Naw Shar Shar (left) and her husband, Saw Mow, arrive at the Wichita airport on Aug. 3, the second family sponsored for refugee resettlement by the Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry. The couple, who are expecting their first child in early September, are natives of Burma, also known as Myanmar.

Refugees find a new home in Wichita They are sponsored by Christ Lutheran Church, ELCA. Shannon Mahan, EWARM’s director, he first two refugee families spon- noted that Burmese don’t use last names, sored by the Episcopal Wichita just multi-part first names.

She said each arriving family was met Area Refugee Ministry (EWARM) have arrived in the United States to begin a by a throng of volunteers carrying welcome posters, balloons, new life away from flowers and snacks. the desperate poNaw Shar Shar began litical strife of their crying when she saw native Burma. all the people to greet The first family her and her husband, arrived at the WichiMahan said. “She told ta airport on July 26: us that the welcome Zaw Zaw, a 28-yearwas just so beautiful.” old man; Thla Pen, Mahan said the h i s 2 4 - y e a r- o l d adults spent years livwife; and Lyla, their ing in refugee camps in one-year-old daughter. They are being Thla Pen carries her daughter, Lyla, Thailand and Malaysia sponsored by Ref- on her back as they arrive in Wichita to escape the decades ormation Lutheran July 26. Her husband, Zaw Zaw, of violence that have accompanied them. gripped their native Church, ELCA. Burma, also known as The second family arrived on Aug. 3: Saw Mow, a Myanmar, a war-torn country in southeast 32-year-old man, and Naw Shar Shar, his Asia.

29-year-old wife who is expecting their (Please see Refugees, page 3) first child, a boy, in early September.

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

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ishop Peter Price, head of the Church of England’s Diocese of Bath and Wells, will be the featured keynote speaker at this year’s Diocesan Convention.

His address will take place on Saturday, Oct. 20 from 9:10 to 10 a.m. in the Sunflower Ballroom of the Maner Conference Center in Topeka. He also will give some informal remarks after the convention banquet on Bishop Peter Price Friday evening.

Bishop Price is a friend of Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe, who invited him to speak while the two men were together in England earlier this summer during Bishop Wolfe’s sabbatical.

Bishop since 2001

Bishop Price has headed the Diocese of Bath and Wells since 2001. In 2008 he became one of 24 bishops who sit in Parliament’s House of Lords. Bishop Price originally was a teacher before his ordination as a priest in 1975.

Among other positions he has held, he previously was General Secretary of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He also broadcasts for BBC World Service and Independent Radio in London. He and his wife, Dee, have four adult sons.

His diocese, headquartered in the city of Wells in southwest England, dates to the year 909, and he is its 77th bishop.

Several of his predecessors later became the archbishop of Canterbury, the most famous being William Laud (1633-1645) and George Carey (1991-2002).

153rd annual convention

The diocese will meet in convention for the 153rd time on Oct. 19 and 20, (Please see Convention, page 4)

Read about lots of congregational activities, including the start of construction in Overland Park and a garden in Shawnee that helps feed people in need Page 8

KC church welcomes Latino worshippers

Campus interns

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

Taylor Mather is the new campus intern at K-State, joining Abby Olcese at KU in helping to guide ministry efforts on those two campuses.

Page 9

General Convention

Read a recap of major legislation that was passed by the 77th General Convention in Indianapolis in July. Pages 10-11

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he Rev. Dixie Junk has learned that sometimes the Holy Spirit has a faster timetable than people do.

Junk, the priest in charge of St. Paul’s, Kansas City, and members of the congregation had begun to talk this summer about reaching out to the growing Latino community in which the church is located.

They’d formed a partnership for outreach with the neighborhood Latino health coalition, and Junk made plans to attend two Episcopal Church conferences on

Latino ministry. She and the Vestry had started to dream about offering a Spanish service once all the pieces were in place.

But before that had happened, Latino families started coming to church, and they’ve had Spanish-speaking guests at the Sunday Eucharist almost all summer.

“This feels like it wants to be born now,” Junk said.

In response, Junk quickly started producing worship bulletins in English and Spanish — no small feat for someone who doesn’t speak that language.

(Please see Latino, page 3)

Since Spanish-speaking worshippers began arriving this summer, St. Paul’s, Kansas City, now provides a variety of worship and spiritual materials in Spanish.

2 • The Harvest • July/August 2012

Challenging times give the church the chance to step out in faith By the Rev. Craig Loya

Publisher: The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe, Bishop Editor: Melodie Woerman A member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Communicators, The Harvest is published six times a year by the Office of Communications of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas: February, April, June, August, October and December.

Stories, letters and photos are welcome. They will be used on a space-available basis and are subject to editing. Send all material (preferably in electronic format or by email) to: Melodie Woerman, editor The Harvest 835 SW Polk St. Topeka, KS 66612-1688 phone: (800) 473-3563 fax: (785) 235-2449 mwoerman@episcopal-ks.org Send address changes to: Receptionist 835 SW Polk St., Topeka, KS 66612-1688 receptionist@episcopal-ks.org Upcoming deadlines: September-October issue: Sept. 15 November-December issue: Nov. 15 Subscription rate: $1.50 annually Third class mailing Permit No. 601, Topeka, Kansas POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Episcopal Diocese of Kansas 835 SW Polk St. Topeka, KS 66612-1688

The Anglican Communion

A global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honorable Rowan Williams Lambeth Palace, London WE1 7JU, United Kingdom www.anglicancommunion.org Episcopal seat: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England

The Episcopal Church

A community of 2 million members in 110 dioceses in 16 countries in the Americas and abroad.

Presiding Bishop The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017 (800) 334-7626 www.episcopalchurch.org Episcopal seat: Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

A community of more than 11,000 members in 46 congregations, two diocesan institutions and one school in eastern Kansas.

Bishop The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe 835 SW Polk Street, Topeka, KS 66612-1688 (785) 235-9255 (800) 473-3563 www.episcopal-ks.org Episcopal seat: Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Topeka

“Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

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hese days, if you’re looking for a reason to lose heart over the current and future state of the Church, it is easy to find one. Our declining membership over the past 40 years or so has been well documented. This, combined with rising costs of just about everything and a still shaky economy, means that most of our congregations are facing tight or overstretched budgets. There are voices all over the church noting these challenges and offering a wide variety of different, and often contradictory, solutions.

It is clear we can no longer continue to do business as usual as we move into the future.

Many of our systems, structures, policies and practices were set up to proclaim and live out the gospel in a world that no longer exists. In the middle of the 20th century, which was the pinnacle of Episcopal Church membership, it was the cultural norm to attend church, people had a brand loyalty to their denomination, and local congregations were charged with managing a largely natural demographic growth and a corresponding system of pastoral care, and sacramental and programmatic life.

Every church had a building and a full-time priest. Denominations built up large bureaucracies to oversee and maintain that system. It worked very well for the world it served. It is clear that system is increasingly difficult to sustain, but it is not yet clear what future shape of the church will emerge.

Faced challenges before

In the face of the challenges facing the Episcopal Church in general, and the Episcopal Church in Kansas in particular, a few thoughts occur to me.

1. The church has undergone major changes before.

Our Reformation forebears in Europe and England risked everything they knew to move into a future model for the church that they could not fully see.

From the Book of Acts, through the great councils in the first five centuries, through the Reformation, through the Civil War in this country, and on and on, the church has faced critical moments where it had to adapt, innovate and step out with great faith into an unclear future.

Indeed, our pioneer ancestors here in Kansas came to proclaim and live out the gospel in a land they didn’t know, often with precious few human and financial resources. Change, adaptation and challenge have been constant throughout church history.

Canon to the Ordinary the Rev. Craig Loya

2. There’s no magic solution. There is no single program, idea, initiative or proposal for restructuring, and no money-saving trick that will save or renew the church. There’s no priest, no bishop, no lay leader and no program coming out of a central office that, on its own, will move us into the future.

It will take all of us, acting together, in constant conversation, with a willingness to be creative and experiment, and even, at times, to fail.

3. We have what we need.

There are exactly two things that have renewed the church when it has faced moments of crisis and great change in the past: the love and power of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and a people passionate about proclaiming and modeling that love for a world that is starving for it.

That’s what we have to offer.

That’s what we are about, and that’s the only way we can meet the challenges before us.

We’ll need to stay focused on what it fundamentally means to be the church: to celebrate the sacraments, to make disciples, to live life together in the power of the Spirit.

The central question is how do we continue to do those things given who we are, what we have, and where we’re located? It sounds simple, but it won’t be easy.

Conversation to start

In his letter to the diocese announcing his sabbatical, Bishop Wolfe indicated that when he returns, we will continue and

further focus the process of discerning the shape of the Episcopal Church in Kansas going forward, and this year’s Diocesan Convention will allow us some opportunity to begin that conversation.

These next several years will require large doses of creativity, a spirit of playfulness, and a willingness to try out different arrangements and experiments.

We also likely will need to make some difficult decisions and have substantive and hard conversations about what it means to be a local community of faith, what it means to be a diocese, and how the relationship between the local community and the wider body can be most faithfully and effectively organized.

Most of all, we will need to have great faith in the God who has sustained his people from one generation to another.

During my time in Kansas, I have seen the people of this diocese exhibit a willingness and great capacity to do all of this, and our history shows this is nothing new.

Far from despairing, I look forward to the next chapter in our life together with great hope and excitement.

We can choose to be weighed down by the many burdens and anxieties of doing God’s work in lean and uncertain times, or we can choose life, freedom and love — because we serve the God of life, who has overcome death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and who “for freedom has set us free.”

We can choose to step out boldly into an uncertain and unknown future, not knowing for sure what shape our common life will take 50 or 10 or even five years from now, but resting in the certainty that since it is by God’s grace that we are engaged in this ministry, since it is by God’s grace that we are sustained in this ministry, and since it is God’s grace that time and again has renewed the face and life of the Church, we do not lose heart.

The Rev. Craig Loya is canon to the ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. v

Bishop Wolfe is on sabbatical

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ishop Dean Wolfe is about six weeks into his threemonth sabbatical, which began on July 23.

He and his wife, Ellen, recently returned from visits to England, Scotland and Rome. Their son, William, joined them for a portion of the trip before heading back to college.

While overseas the Wolfes visited with a variety of bishops and saw ancient Celtic and Anglican worship centers in the British Isles

and the places that marked the beginning of the Christian church in Rome.

Bishop Wolfe next plans to make a retreat at the monastery of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist and then will work on a study project examining best practices for diocesan leadership.

He plans to be back at work on Oct. 12, in time to preside at the 153rd Diocesan Convention, which meets Oct. 19-20 in Topeka. v

July/August 2012 • The Harvest • 3

Latino: First Spanish service planned for Nov. 11 (Continued from page 1)

they are accustomed to or desire.

“They have put so much into this relationship,” she said.

She ordered Hymnals in Spanish and every Spanish translation Forward Movement publishes.

They’ve posted bilingual scripture verses in the nursery and Sunday school rooms, and Junk has vowed that every guest will have a name tag ready for them when they attend for a second time.

“We are doing what we can to be as welcoming as possible,” she said.

Spanish service Nov. 11

Emphasis on hospitality

That effort will go a long way with the Latino community, according to the Rev. Anthony Guillén, missioner for Latino/ Hispanic ministries for the Episcopal Church. “If the congregation has that welcoming heart and can make people feel welcome, that’s the key,” he said.

Guillén met Junk at one of the conferences she has attended recently, and he said he was struck by the depth of her interest in reaching out to her church’s Latino neighbors, saying, “She has a real heart for people and reaching out to them.”

He added, “Latinos are very attuned to the heart of a person.

They don’t care if things aren’t perfect if the person leading them cares for them.”

Guillén said the key is to not make assumptions about the people in the pews or about their community. “If we want to be evangelistic, find out what the

Photos by Melodie Woerman The Diazes, who recently moved from Dallas, are one of three Spanish-speaking families that have begun attending St. Paul’s. From left are José Diaz, his mother Josefina, St. Paul’s priest the Rev. Dixie Junk, Cristian Solis (a family friend), Javier and Julito Diaz, and their father, Julio.

people in our neighborhoods are like so we can speak to them and invite them to our church.”

He noted that the majority of Latinos in the United States no longer are recent immigrants — 60 percent of them now are second, third or fourth generation.

Most of them are bilingual and bicultural, he said, and churches can serve many of them with education and pastoral care in English. But most still prefer to worship in Spanish or in a service with a Spanish flavor, he said.

Worship ‘in my heart’

On a recent Sunday the Diaz family made their first visit to St.

Paul’s. Julio and Josefina, along with their sons José, Javier and Julito and Javier’s friend, Cristian Solis, recently moved to the Kansas City area from Dallas so Javier and Cristian can play for the under-18 Academy team sponsored by Sporting KC, the Major League Soccer team.

The Diazes were members of St. Mary’s in Irving, Texas, which offers both English and Spanish services each Sunday.

Their priest, the Rev. J.J. Bernal, also met Junk at a recent conference and told the Diazes to visit St. Paul’s once they got to Kansas City. The Diaz boys are bilingual, but Julio and Josefina

speak only Spanish.

When asked what it was like to worship in English, Josefina said (with José interpreting), “I don’t understand the words but I feel it in my heart.” Being at St. Paul’s, she said, “feels like home.”

Junk said two other Spanishspeaking families have attended regularly since June. One recently moved from Boston, where they attended an Episcopal church, and another learned of St. Paul’s through the church’s connection to the local Latino health coalition.

Junk said she admires the families who have come, even though St. Paul’s can’t yet offer them the worship experience

Junk said she is working to launch a Spanish service at St. Paul’s on Nov. 11, relying on the Rev. Craig Loya (who has experience celebrating the Eucharist in Spanish in previous assignments) and others to handle the language initially.

Bernal has offered to come from Texas to help with the music and other details.

Junk said she also is looking forward to learning even more during the visit to Kansas City in December by the Rev. Alberto Cutié, a Miami priest who as a Roman Catholic had an extensive Latino television ministry.

His conversion to the Episcopal Church and that of his soon-tobe wife made news in the Latino and English press, and he also has had success revitalizing a Latino congregation in Miami.

Junk said St. Paul’s Vestry and congregation members are firmly on board with the opportunity, and necessity, of reaching out to their Latino neighbors.

She said the 2010 Census shows the neighborhood around St. Paul’s now is about 45 percent Latino and will be 60 percent in less than a decade.

This is an opportunity that can’t be ignored, Junk said.“How can the church ignore a whole demographic?” v

Refugees: Burmese are new to the U.S. but eager to learn (Continued from page 1) They are entering the United States through a program to protect and resettle political refugees from around the world.

EWARM is an affiliate of Episcopal Migration Ministries, one of the agencies that partner with the U.S. government to undertake this work.

Mahan said all the adults speak some English. Saw Mow studied English with Catholic nuns in his camp, she said, and he is eager to polish his pronunciation. She estimates he has the equivalent of a fifth grade education, although he had little opportunity for formal schooling in the camp.

He and Naw Shar Shar also received good cultural readiness training once they had been selected to leave the camp.

Zaw Zaw and Thla Pen do not speak English as well, Mahan said, but they are eager to learn. She estimates Zaw Zaw may have the equivalent of a second-grade education.

Settling in to a new life

Once they’d left the airport, Mahan and some volunteers took the family to their apartment and helped them settle in for their first night in the U.S. “We gave them emergency contact numbers and showed them how to use their phone,” Mahan said, “and showed them basic safety items, like how to lock the doors, which faucets were for cold and hot water, where the stove and refrigerator were, and how to adjust the air conditioning.”

The next day each family had an English tutor assigned to them — an adult volunteer

who spends at least an hour a week helping them learn English. They’ll also be enrolled as English classes for non-native speakers.

Mahan also took them to sign up for Social Security cards and to apply for government assistance for which they are eligible until they can find employment.

That will be a special challenge, she said, given their limited English skills and lack of formal education. Mahan is searching for employers who can offer jobs that are highly visual and highly repetitive, such as restaurant dishwasher, hotel housekeeper or some forms of manufacturing line work.

EWARM was responsible for renting and furnishing an apartment for both families, and Mahan said she found two next door to each other. And even though the two families are of different ethnicities and religions — Zaw Zaw and Thla Pen are members of the Chin ethnicity and are Christians, and Saw Mow and Naw Shar Shar are Karin and Buddhist — she said they quickly became friends and a real support to each other.

Learning American customs

Part of the refugees’ ongoing education is learning about American life, Mahan said. “We offer exposure to museums, public transportation, the post office, grocery stores.” She said the refugees have to learn how to use a debit card so they can access their government assistance, as well as things Americans take for granted — like how modern appliances work. Those didn’t exist in their refugee camps.

They are adapting well to American grocery stores, she said, and in the process

How to help In the Wichita area: volunteer.

Drivers to take families to appointments Pick up, sort and deliver donated goods provide child care while adults are in English classes Elsewhere: send money.

Make checks payable to EWARM and mail to: 401 N. Emporia St. Wichita, KS 67202

exhibited what she called a Christ-like graciousness.

Volunteers took Zaw Zaw and Thla Pen grocery shopping one morning, and others were slated to do the same for Saw Moe and Naw Shar Shar that afternoon. When they arrived, Mahan said they found that a handful of everything purchased by the family in the morning already was in the other family’s refrigerator.

Likewise, when an English tutor comes to help one family, the other sits in to advance their knowledge, too.

All in all, Mahan said the two couples are coping “much better than I had expected.” Other Burmese natives, as well as some refugees resettled in the past by other

agencies, stepped forward to help once they heard the families had arrived. “The Burmese community has a very supportive grapevine,” Mahan said.

More sponsors urgently needed

Mahan said St. John’s in Wichita will be the first Episcopal church to sponsor EWARM refugees, a family of four (29-year-old father and mother, a 9-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl) that is slated to arrive in Wichita Aug. 31. They also are of the Chin ethnicity and are Christian.

EWARM also has been assigned two families who will arrive in about six weeks, and so far Mahan has no sponsors to help them. They include a married couple (he’s 40 and she’s 28, without children) and a family of a 46-year-old father, a 42-year-old mother and their 12-year-old son.

The father’s only occupation has been a Baptist preacher, Mahan said.

Mahan said that sponsoring organizations help to expand the support EWARM can offer the new arrivals.

The agency receives $1,850 per person, which has to cover direct assistance for 90 days, as well as administrative costs. That money comes through a grant from the U.S. State Department to Episcopal Migration Ministries and then on to EWARM. Sponsors contribute an additional $3,000 to help for an extra three months; they also provide volunteers to help with American cultural instruction.

Anyone wanting to discuss sponsoring a future refugee family should contact Mahan at shannon.mahan@ewarm.org or (316) 977-9276. v

4 • The Harvest • July/August 2012

Convention: Lutheran bishop will preach at Friday Eucharist (Continued from page 1) with the theme “Walking by faith,” based on 2 Corinthians 5:7.

Convention business includes the election of people to the Council of Trustees and the diocesan Disciplinary Board, consideration of a proposed canonical amendment, and adoption of a mission plan, or budget, for 2013.

Four workshops will round out Friday afternoon’s business: The work of Episcopal Community Services and Episcopal Social Services; A report from members of Kansas’ General Convention deputies; Strategies for church growth; and Outreach to young adults.

Convention Eucharist

The convention Eucharist is set for 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, before the opening of business. It will take place at Grace Cathedral.

The preacher will be Bishop Gerald Mansholt, head of the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Dean Wolfe will preside at the Eucharist.

Special Thursday night fundraiser

On Oct. 18, from 7-9 p.m., the Stewardship and Development Committee is sponsoring a special Western-themed chili supper, as well as a fundraiser to help with the cost of furnishings for the remodeled Bethany Place Conference Center. The supper will take place in the lower level of Grace Cathedral, and there is no charge to attend.

Participants will have the chance to tour the adjacent conference center, which houses the Kansas School for Ministry.

Thursday evening’s activities begin with Evensong at the cathedral at 6:30 p.m.

Additional guests

Two clergy from Kenya also will be at convention as guests of the Kansas to Kenya ministry of the diocese. Bishop Joseph Muchai heads the Diocese of Nakuru, the area where K2K undertakes its ministry. Accompanying him will be the Rev. Antony Ngugi, rector of All Saints Church in Maai Mahiu, the center of K2K’s work. v

Y’all come Chili supper and open house to see the remodeled Bethany Place Conference Center plus the chance to help underwrite the cost of new conference center furnishings

This year’s MissionPalooza featured 74 youth and 27 adult sponsors from the Dioceses of Kansas and West Missouri. The program gives youth the chance to engage in hands-on service in an urban mission.

MissionPalooza unites youth from two dioceses in service

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

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igh school youth from the dioceses of Kansas and West Missouri joined forces to tackle some hands-on ministry work during the 12th annual MissionPalooza urban mission event.

A total of 74 young people participated, along with 27 adult volunteers.

MissionPalooza took place July 16-22 and was based again this year at St. Paul’s, Kansas City, Mo.

Ministry and reflection

The event gives students entering high school through recent graduates the opportunity to select from a variety of ministry needs in the greater Kansas City area, while engaging in nightly reflections.

This year’s theme was “Transformers,” based on Romans 12:2 — “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

According to Diocese of Kansas interim Youth Missioner Michael Funston, participants spent their day at one of nine work sites, ranging from a local animal shelter to a retirement center to the Kansas City Community Kitchen.

Three Kansas Episcopal churches — St. Michael and All Angels, Mission; St. Aidan’s, Olathe; and St. Paul’s, Kansas City — also provided youth with work opportunities.

Funston said that after a full day of work, participants gathered in small groups to discuss a scripture passage that related to the “transformer” theme. “Whether it was Paul’s conversion, the road to Emmaus or Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus after the resurrection, these all sparked conversations on how the days’ work transformed the youth,” she said.

Each night before bed the young people gathered for worship.

Funston said there was plenty of fun, too.

Throughout the week MissionPalooza offered games,

Thursday, Oct. 18

Grace Cathedral, Topeka Evensong: 6:30 p.m.

Chili supper, silent auction and open house: 7-9 p.m.

No charge to attend; bring cinnamon rolls to share.

Attire: Jeans, cowboys hats and boots

Maggie Hutchinson, a member of St. Aidan’s, Olathe, helps a young girl with her reading skills at the Don Bosco community center in Kansas City, Mo., which provides a number of social services.

Submitted photos

Sydney Webb (left), of St. David’s, Topeka, and Michael Hall, St. Michael and All Angels, Mission shovel rock at St. Paul’s, Kansas City, Mo., to provide landscaping for area churches during MissionPalooza.

the chance to watch a video or go out for ice cream.

On the last night the group chose between an outing to see the new Batman movie or to go bowling.

Nine Episcopal churches from both sides of the state line fed participants a hearty breakfast every morning. Kansas participants were Trinity, Atchison; St. Aidan’s; and St. Michael and All Angels.

Teamwork made ministry possible

Sydney Webb of St. David’s, Topeka, was one of two young people who gave the sermon at St. Paul’s, Kansas City, Mo., at the Sunday Eucharist at the end of MissionPalooza.

In her remarks, she praised the cooperative effort between the two dioceses. “ I love that Kansas and West Missouri came together to give back to the community, and also each other,” she said. “We accomplished so much that we couldn’t have without teamwork.”

She added, “All the youth at MissionPalooza worked extremely hard, and everyone worked together.”

That cooperation goes beyond just the physical work youth did during their MissionPalooza week, Webb said. “The Episcopal youth always amaze me. Participants have made a huge difference in others’ lives in the community, and people were so appreciative.”

She added, “This week not only transformed me, but caused me to remember past transformations.” v

July/August 2012 • The Harvest • 5

Campus ministry responds to new challenges

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he Rev. Michael Bell prepared for the start of the school year with challenges he hadn’t faced in his two previous years as campus missioner for the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.

When he was hired in the summer of 2010, he oversaw outreach efforts to campuses in the western half of the diocese and was based at Kansas State University in Manhattan, working alongside the Rev. Susan Terry, who was based at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and had responsibility for the eastern half.

In May a staff restructuring due to financial constraints eliminated Terry’s position, leaving Bell with sole responsibility for all ongoing efforts to reach young adults on campuses across the diocese.

While the new situation was daunting, he said he’s preparing to “adapt and evolve” to the new arrangements, thanks to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And he said the entire campus ministry support network, including the lay and clergy leaders who already are involved, will be adapting and evolving right along with him.

The KU Canterbury ministry team includes (from left) the Rev. Michael Bell, Claire Howard, Caroline Howard, Tyler Kerr, campus intern Abby Olcese, Kayla Bush, Shannon McGill and Ben Allman.

Mission opportunity

Missioner model success

Since the missioner model of outreach to campuses across the diocese was begun by Bishop Dean Wolfe in 2007, ministry now has either started or is being planned on 15 campuses.

The existing Canterbury Houses at KU and K-State now house residential peer ministers as well as paid campus interns to help guide programs there.

Twenty college students are serving as peer ministers at seven colleges, universities and community colleges.

Adult lay leaders coordinate

in the ministry effort. Bell said other dioceses across the Episcopal Church have taken notice of the way Kansas undertakes campus ministry.

“About 10 other dioceses have contacted us in the past none months to learn from what we’ve accomplished,” he said.

That successful program now needs to further evolve, he said, from what has been a diocesan initiative that engages local support to “a locally owned and operated, mutually shared ministry of every parish, bolstered by periodic diocesan support.”

To do that, Bell said congregations will have to wrestle with some challenging questions of their own: Do you believe that cultivating Christian faith and promoting the Episcopal tradition to young adults on and around our campuses will make a difference in their lives and our shared world?; If so, what are we each doing to support this mission?; and How is this priority lived out in our congregations?

The K-State Canterbury ministry team includes (from left) campus intern Taylor Mather, Wyatt Iams, Naomi Cunningham, the Rev. Michael Bell, Olivia Divish, Kathryn Rush and Hannah Clayton.

efforts in other locations.

Bell said that since the campus missioner model was adopted five years ago, work on campuses primarily has been “seen by many as a diocesan initiative that solicited local support.”

Through diocesan grants to

local congregations, many parishes were able to establish contact with nearby campuses that they hadn’t undertaken previously.

And the success of that model goes beyond the expansion from two campuses (KU and K-State) to the 15 campuses now involved

Bell said it helps to see campus ministry as a mission opportunity that won’t always immediately get young people into church pews.

He said, “Our mission is to engage young adults where they are, literally and experientially, cultivating their Christian faith and equipping them with the best of what the Episcopal tradition has to offer.”

The result, he said, is that the lives of young people are transformed by their interaction with the Episcopal Church, leading them in turn to transform the communities in which they live and serve.

New Council to assist

Bishop Wolfe recently appointed Scott Howard of St. Peter’s, Pittsburg, to chair a newly formed Campus Ministry Council, which will work with Bell to share best practices among all the campus ministry groups.

It also plans to establish greater ties to campus ministry alumni and supporters, get more people in local parishes involved in the ministry, and find new ways for more people to contribute financially, which will allow a more sustainable method of support for ministry on campuses.

Two of Howard’s daughters have been active as peer ministers at KU, so he said he knows firsthand the benefit this ministry can have.

He said, “I look forward to collaborating with other leaders from across the diocese on the Campus Ministry Council in promoting and advancing our campus ministries and supporting their continued success.”

Bell and Howard hosted 16 people at an August retreat to talk about the future of campus ministry in Kansas, and Bell said they plan to stay in touch with supporters and other interested people through a new e-newsletter, Campus Ministry Connections.

Bell said any congregation that wants to get more involved with a local campus — or that needs help exploring whether they should undertake such a mission opportunity — should contact him at mbell@episcopal-ks.org or (785) 370-4484.

More information about campus ministry in the diocese, as well as the chance to sign up for the new e-newsletter, is on the campus ministry section of the diocesan website at www.episcopal-ks.org/ campusministry. v

Workshop will explore whether your church really is welcoming

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he diocesan Congregational Gunn said, “Every congregaDevelopment Commission tion will benefit from some imis sponsoring a workshop provement in our welcoming and to help congregations answer one hospitality, and we’ll talk about question: “The Episcopal Church some strategies and techniques for welcomes you. Or do we?” receiving every guest as we would It will take place Saturday, Oct. 6 receive Christ himself.” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the lower Gunn said he will share stories level of Grace Cathedral, 701 SW of his own visits to churches of all 8th Ave. in Topeka. The cost to atsizes and shapes, and he’ll encourtend is $10 and includes lunch. To age conversation among the particiregister, contact Michele Moss at pants. Together they will look at the The Rev. Scott Gunn mmoss@episcopal-ks.org or (800) why (theology of hospitality) and 473-3563. the how (real world techniques).

Leading the event will be the Rev. Scott Gunn, Focusing on the very first visit, participants also executive director of Forward Movement, a minis- will look at the whole process of incorporating try of the Episcopal Church known widely for its new members. flagship publication Forward Day by Day. Before his call to Forward Movement, Gunn Gunn said he wants to help churches “practice was a parish priest in the Diocese of Rhode Island. our slogan” of welcome. “Nearly every Episcopal Prior to that, he worked in information technology congregation describes itself as ‘friendly’ and ‘wel- in places that include the MIT Media Lab, The coming,’ but evidence suggests otherwise,” he said. Atlantic Monthly, Education Development Center “St. Benedict said, ‘Let all guests be welcomed as and IBM. He was educated at Yale Divinity School, Christ.’ Do we live up to that high standard?”

Brown University and Luther College.

He said that during the workshop participants He is married to Sherilyn Pearce and lives in will explore ways to determine how welcoming Cincinnati with their dog. His popular blog, Seven their church is to first-time guests and will learn Whole Days, can be read at www.sevenwholedays. strategies for getting people to visit in the first place. org. v

Photo by Michael Funston

Interns learn the ropes of youth ministry Rachel Haley (left) and Tyler Kerr spent the summer as interns in the diocesan youth program, learning how youth ministry is conducted and undertaking vocational discernment. They worked under the direction of interim Youth Missioner Michael Funston.

Haley is a student at Baker University in Baldwin City and serves as a peer minister on campus. Kerr attends the University of Kansas in Lawrence and is a peer minister at the Canterbury House there.

They engaged in spiritual formation with weekly Bible studies, met with youth ministers around the diocese to further their vocational discernment, and interacted with young people at MegaCamp and MissionPalooza.

The goal of the internship is to nurture faithful, committed leaders in both lay and ordained ministry.

The diocese has sponsored 12 summer youth interns since 2005. v

6 • The Harvest • July/August 2012

K2K volunteers help meet many needs in Kenya Story by Melodie Woerman Photos by Bob Basow

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hree teams of volunteers, totaling 47 people, traveled to Kenya this summer through the diocese’s Kansas to Kenya ministry, known as K2K. Efforts are centered in the town of Maai Mahiu and often work in conjunction with the priest and people of All Saints Anglican Church, which is part of the Diocese of Nakuru.

Additionally, volunteers spent time with people in the nearby camp for internally displaced persons. IDP camps sprang up after violence erupted in response to political disputes in Kenya in recent years.

In addition to the yearly medical clinic that was K2K’s initial efforts in the east African nation, other volunteers worked on a variety of community development and public health projects.

In recent years those have included installing drip irrigation to help farmers improve their crops, helping women set up small businesses to provide a better quality of life for them and their children, offering leadership development for women and young people, and helping impoverished young people obtain a better life through

A girl reads from a Kindle in the library built on the grounds of All Saints Anglican Church in Maai Mahiu, Kenya. Each device eventually will hold more than 3,000 books in Swahili and English.

enhanced educational opportunities.

This year volunteers also handed out almost a thousand anti-malaria mosquito nets and worked on a project to provide feminine hygiene options to young women so they can attend school regularly.

Volunteers again built houses in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity.

E-reader library

A generous donation started construction on a library on the grounds of All Saints Church. But instead of paper books, it will use e-readers and other technology to place up to 3,000 books on each device — in Swahili and in English.

Additional donations allowed 37 Kindles to be delivered by Kansas volunteers, thanks to an arrangement with Worldreader, a nonprofit organization working to make digital books available to children in the developing world.

By working with the Kenyan Ministry of Education, current text books also will be loaded on the Kindles.

Medical clinic scramble

Deacon Barbara Gibson of St. John’s, Wichita, was one of the K2K volunteers.

She noted that a last-minute cancellation of the site for the medical clinic resulted in a scramble to find a place where 28 health professionals and other volunteers could see patients for five days.

It also meant the need for new housing arrangements for them.

She said Kenyan partners helped arrange for a three-day clinic in a remote location in the northern part of the Diocese of Nakuru, with the final two days in a slum neighborhood in the city of Nakuru.

At that location volunteers were able to walk to new, affordable, accommodations at the diocesan retreat center.

Gibson said the new locations proved beneficial. “The change of plans allowed us to work with a new district health officer, local public health officials and vicars from two parishes.”

She said being near the diocesan headquartered fostered “an even closer working relationship and personal friendship” with Bishop Joseph Muchai of Nakuru and the director of the Regional Christian Community Services, the relief and development agency of the Anglican Church in Kenya.

Above: Gary Chubb (right), of St. John’s, Parsons, shows how a drip irrigation system will work to benefit the Maai Mahiu secondary school for boys.

Right: A woman of the Masai tribe holds a string of cycle beads, which aid women in family planning.

The beads were part of the K2K community health work.

Supporting the MDGs

Deacon Steve Segebrecht, K2K’s founder and director, said the wide range of projects Kansas volunteers undertook all were in support of the Millennium Development Goals — an eight-prong effort to reduce extreme poverty and hunger in the developing world by 2015.

He noted that the teams included a variety of people: nutritionists, engineers, nurses, librarians, business experts, doctors, a physical therapist, a mental health professional, educators, public health profession-

als and dentists. Other volunteers offered support and life experience to the efforts.

“Their gifts of time and talent were a great blessing to the people of Kenya,” Segebrecht said.

Volunteers paid between $3,800 and $4,200 to participate in one of the three mission teams.

The trips were coordinated through the efforts of Mercy and Truth Medical Missions, a Christian organization with nearly 20 years experience in logistics for mission trips. v

ESS sponsors kindness mob in downtown Wichita

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piscopal Social Services/ Venture House sponsored a variation of a flash mob July 21 when a “kindness mob” took to the streets of Wichita.

The morning effort was dubbed “Acts of Kindness” to encourage people to perform an act of intentional kindness, according to Dr. Barbara Andres, ESS’s executive director.

It also was a way for more people in the community to learn about the work of ESS. She said, “In the book of Acts in the New Testament, people were called out to spread the good news of Jesus. We decided our Acts of Kindness day would be a time to call out people to show kindheartedness to each other.”

About 50 volunteers surprised Submitted photo people in downtown Wichita by handVolunteers carry a banner promoting Episcopal Social Services/Venture House’s first “Acts of Kindness” ing out bottles of water — a welcome Day July 21. Volunteers formed a “kindness mob” to share good deeds in downtown Wichita that morning. gift in the 105-degree heat.

Some headed over to St. John’s Episcopal Church to provide clients of the church’s Saturday lunch program with coupons for free ice cream cones.

Volunteers also handed out coupons for free pizzas, and others delivered toothbrushes, as well as glow necklaces to children they met.

Among those participating were about a dozen members of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Lyons, in the Diocese of Western Kansas.

Participants returned to ESS to hand out box lunches and enjoy an ice cream social.

The Wichita Fire Department got involved, too, offering free blood pressure screenings at ESS during the event.

Andres called the event “a fun morning” and said the agency already has plans to do it again next year.

— Melodie Woerman v

July/August 2012 • The Harvest • 7

Submitted photo Photos by Melodie Woerman

For the first time, students at the Kansas School for Ministry include a majority who are from outside the Diocese of Kansas. The dioceses of Western Kansas, West Missouri and Nebraska now are sending some of their students to Topeka to study.

KSM students represent four different dioceses

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

New pantry manager at St. Paul’s Ross Warnell (right) has been named the new volunteer manager of the food pantry at St. Paul’s, Kansas City. He succeeds Deacon Gail Reynolds (center), who has managed the pantry since 2008.

Reynolds will continue to work at St. Paul’s, exercising pastoral and liturgical ministries.

With them is St. Paul’s priest in charge, the Rev. Dixie Junk (left).

Warnell, a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Liberty, began his work July 1.

The St. Paul’s food pantry is one of the largest in the area and serves hundreds of families every month. It is open twice a week to serve residents of the neighborhood around St. Paul’s. v

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he Kansas School for Ministry has begun another academic year, but this one has a new twist — more than half the students are coming from outside the Diocese of Kansas. Students now also come from the dioceses of Western Kansas, West Missouri and Nebraska.

Last year one student from Western Kansas attended, but this is the first time so many dioceses have been represented.

A total of 26 students are enrolled this fall: 12 from the Diocese of Kansas, seven from West Missouri, five from Western Kansas and two from Nebraska. Of those, 14 are studying for ordination as priests, seven are pursuing ordination as deacons, four are in a specialized program of Anglican Studies for those who have previous theological education, and one is in a program for licensing as a lay preacher.

Because the school’s usual location, the Bethany Place Conference Center in Topeka, is undergoing extensive renovations, classes are taking place at Grace Cathedral, and students are renting rooms at a nearby hotel at a discounted rate.

A blessing and a challenge

Renovations continue Delivering drywall through an upstairs window is just part of the renovations going on at the Bethany Place Conference Center in Topeka. With much of the interior gutted, new walls are going up, plumbing has been installed and new electrical service is in place.

Plans call for completion in time for an open house on Oct. 18, the night before Diocesan Convention starts. The center then will offer 20 beds for KSM students and others using the facility.

Money donated to the diocese’s Crossroads campaign is making the renovations possible. v

The Rev. Andrew Grosso is KSM’s coordinator, and he said having so many new students is both a blessing and a challenge. “It’s wonderful to see so many people faithfully pursuing the call to ordained ministry,” he said. “It’s especially gratifying to be able to experience the fellowship and camaraderie that comes from getting to know people from other dioceses, both students and instructors.”

But the current enrollment “definitely is putting a strain on our resources,” he said, “making the needs identified by the Crossroads campaign even more apparent.”

Crossroads is the diocesan fundraising campaign to raise money to build a new Leadership Center for adequate KSM classrooms, as well as modern diocesan offices. Crossroads funds are paying for the conference center remodeling.

Grosso said this year’s students come from a wide variety of backgrounds in a number of different contexts. “Those make clear the changing shape of ministry in the church,” he said.

Diocese of Kansas attending, driving an hour to Wichita and then carpooling to Topeka. She said having so many new students has only enhanced the school’s excellent program. “I am pleased that more people know about it and are able to participate.”

She said KSM offers its diverse students “a community in which we can talk about God and the spiritual challenges we face as we grow into our callings.”

The chance for spiritual and interpersonal formation is as important, or more so, than the academic coursework, Ballinger said. “I would gladly drive twice that distance if it were necessary.”

Bruce Bower attends church in Kansas City, Mo. but lives on the Kansas side of the state line, so getting to Topeka is easy. The amount of reading, writing and preparation students have, however, is not.

“I’m glad to be retired so that I have plenty of time to study and prepare,” he said, noting it must be a challenge for those with jobs and young children.

All on the same journey

Still room for others

Doreen Rice, a first-year student in the priesthood track from St. Aidan’s, Olathe, said her initial weekend at KSM was “simply and utterly inspiring.” She noted that having so many fellow students from differing backgrounds showed her that “we are all on the same journey, which was incredibly affirming.”

Carolyn Ballinger, from Kingman in the Diocese of Western Kansas, is in her second year at KSM. Last year she was the only person from outside the

Grosso said people who want to expand their religious knowledge are welcome to enroll as nonordination students. “We offer course in biblical studies, church history, doctrine, mission and evangelism, and other subjects,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for those who have completed Education for Ministry or other formation programs.”

Those interested in learning more about KSM should contact Grosso at rector@trinityks.org or (913) 367-3171. v

Photo by Donna Griggs

Church garden gets a makeover A garden next to St. Paul’s, Clay Center, has been revitalized and refreshed, enabling it to provide a lovelier spot to welcome guests and those who pass by.

Thanks to the efforts of Donna Griggs and other parishioners, new plants have been added and the area cleaned and refreshed. A former church member also has donated a new church sign.

The area will be rededicated in September. v

Photo by Kent Wingerson

Cathedral cross comes down

A concrete Celtic cross at Grace Cathedral, Topeka, that stood on the peak between the bell towers was removed Aug. 18 after it began to crumble, with pieces falling to the ground below. It may have been struck by lightning during a storm the night before.

The cross was installed sometime around 1917 and was 75 inches tall. A design for a replacement is being developed, and replacement will depend upon costs, cathedral officials said. v

8 • The Harvest • July/August 2012

Around the diocese St. John’s, Abilene offers the sacrament of healing with unction on the first Sunday of each month, right after the conclusion of the service of Holy Eucharist.

Epiphany, Independence and Ascension, Neodesha noted backto-school time with backpack blessings on Aug. 12 in Independence and Aug. 19 in Neodesha.

Trinity, Atchison hosted an historical worship service and open house on July 21 as part of the city’s annual Amelia Earhart Festival. The famous aviator was born in Atchison and baptized at Trinity.

Covenant, Junction City has created new ministry teams to carry out the work the congregation needs to undertake: worship, outreach, buildings and grounds, education and hospitality.

St. Mark’s, Blue Rapids saw four members of a family baptized, and seven people confirmed and another received during a service June 10.

St. Paul’s, Clay Center offered a Taizé service on Aug. 5, led by Deacon Rex Matney, who is doing part of his post-ordination internship year at the congregation.

St. Andrew’s, Derby members serve as volunteers for the Derby Court Advocates for Domestic Abuse, sitting with victims, explaining court procedures and providing other information.

St. Martin’s, Edwardsville hosted an inside-outside cleaning day on July 21.

St. Andrew’s, Emporia marked the seasons for young members with a blessing of their bicycles on June 17 and the blessing of school backpacks on Aug. 19.

St. Margaret’s, Lawrence provides magnetic name tags for all members and now displays them on a central board, to make it easier for people to remember to wear their name tag during church services.

Trinity, Lawrence served the needy in the community through the Trinity Interfaith Food Pantry.

In June the pantry provided 294 bags of food to serve 812 people — 301 children and 511 adults.

Thirty-five new families visited the pantry that month, too.

St. Paul’s, Leavenworth enjoyed its annual picnic Aug. 19 right after church. Church school registration and a potluck lunch were the highlights.

St. Paul’s, Manhattan participated in the annual pre-football season gala, “Purple Power Play on Poyntz,”by handing out bottles of water. Last year’s effort distributed 1,800 bottles to thirsty Wildcat fans.

Submitted photo

Shawnee church garden aids food pantries St. Luke’s, Shawnee, is putting some of the spare ground around the church building to good use to grow vegetables to give away to area food pantries, including the one at St. Paul’s, Kansas City.

Spearheaded by parishioners Pat Jones and Ruth Knabel, the 50-by-150 foot plot contains 57 regular tomato and 10 cherry tomato plants, as well as several rows of green beans, zucchini squash, cucumbers, okra, and green and jalapeño peppers.

Jones and Knabel have augmented the summer’s meager rainfall with two rain barrels to capture what falls for later use. v

St. Paul’s, Marysville will host a garage sale Sept. 14-16 during the U.S. 36 Treasure Hunt, an event that features garage sales along a 400-mile stretch of Highway 36 across Kansas.

St. Michael’s, Mission offered a daylong spiritual preparation retreat Aug. 25 for parents whose children are to be baptized in the coming months.

July collected school supplies for distribution through the Salvation Army to students who otherwise couldn’t afford them.

ner and a round of “Jeopardy” on Aug. 12. Questions were created by the Rev. Don Davidson and Rabbi Debbie Stiehl.

St. Aidan’s, Olathe used sports during its summer Sunday school program, “SASSY,” or St. Aidan’s Summer Session for Youth. They engaged in Gospel Badminton (receiving and passing on God’s love) and Gospel Croquet (getting and sharing God’s word).

St. Luke’s, Wamego helped collect school supplies with other members of the Wamego Council of Churches. The church assisted by collecting pocket folders, three-ring binders, pencil bags, wide-lined spiral notebooks and pencils.

Grace, Ottawa will have refurbished bathrooms after the Vestry voted to replace toilets and sinks. Decorating touches will be provided by the Episcopal Church Women.

Good Shepherd, Wichita “busy needles” group for those who knit, crochet or quilt heard from a speaker Aug. 7 about a program to provide purple caps for every newborn at hospitals across North America. The crafty group meets once a month.

St. Matthew’s, Newton during

St. Thomas, Overland Park provided the location for a babysitting course offered by the American Red Cross. The all-day event Aug. 11 provided participants with a special certificate of completion.

St. John’s, Parsons now is offering gluten-free communion wafers each Sunday for those whose diet requires them to refrain from eating anything made from wheat flour.

Submitted photo

Construction is underway at St. Thomas, Overland Park Construction got underway in early August at St. Thomas the Apostle in Overland Park, which will result in a new narthex (worship area entryway), parish hall with expanded kitchen, restrooms, sacristy and parking.

A new driveway required moving storm sewer and utility lines that ran underneath the existing entrance.

Existing air conditioning units that cooled the office had to be moved, but temporary ones were put in place to keep clergy and lay staff comfortable during the building process.

Building chair Weldon Fate is posting weekly construction updates on the church’s website.

Ground was broken on July 22, following a ceremonial groundbreaking last October. This is the first major expansion to the church property since it was built in 1987. v

St. Peter’s, Pittsburg handed out pens and information about the church to Pittsburg State students during the annual Community Fair Aug. 22.

Grace Cathedral, Topeka announced its “Great Spaces” music series, featuring 12 concerts. It will be highlighted by a visit from the Vienna Boys Choir on Nov. 11.

St. David’s, Topeka joined with Temple Beth Shalom for din-

St. Bartholomew’s, Wichita in July and August gathered a variety of personal hygiene items and canned food for distribution to people in need through Episcopal Social Services.

St. James’, Wichita has a jar at the front office desk to collect loose change to benefit the Church Periodical Club, an Episcopal Church organization that makes printed materials available to seminarians and those in developing countries. The goal is to collect a mile of pennies, $844.80, to donate to the agency for use around the world.

St. John’s, Wichita designates the loose offering the third Sunday of each month for the parish’s “doorstep ministry,” to respond to the needs of poor and homeless neighbors and others facing a financial crisis. The effort served 76 people in the first six months of the year. v

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July/August 2012 • The Harvest • 9

People

Episcopal team joins Lawrence race against hunger

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Photo by Katie Knoll Lenon

Kansans (or former residents) who participated in the July 28 “Running for Food, Running for Health” 5K race in Lawrence are (front row, from left) the Rev. Patrick Funston, Sarah Haley and Maggie Burk; (back row, from left) Karen Schlabach, Taylor Lenon, Sally Burk, the Rev. Craig Loya, Chad Senuta, Michael Funston, Mike Blouin and Katie Burk. Most wore specially designed T-shirts proclaiming themselves “Kansas Episcopalians.”

even Episcopalians from four Kansas parishes,along with two diocesan staff members, one former staff member and a chaplain at the diocese’s secondary school, joined forced to help fight hunger by competing in the “Running for Food, Running for Health” race on July 28.

The 5K race (3.1 miles) was sponsored by the Lawrence Community Mercantile to raise funds for the store’s community garden projects at several area public schools.

The Rev. Patrick Funston, chaplain at Bishop Seabury Academy in Lawrence, said several of the participants had registered for the race independently of each other, but once they found out who would be running they recruited others to joint them.

Katie and Maggie Burk, members of Grace Cathedral, Topeka, designed special team Tshirts that most wore, emblazoned with the seal of the Diocese of Kansas and the words “Kansas Episcopalians.”

Among participants were the diocese’s Canon to the Ordinary the Rev. Craig Loya, interim Youth Missioner Michael Funston and former Youth Missioner Chad Senuta, who now lives in the Diocese of Chicago.

Out of the 153 runners who finished the race, Kansans fared very well.

Loya finished 29th over-all, nudging out Katie Burk, who took 30th.

The congregations represented were St. Michael and All Angels, Mission; St. Thomas the Apostle, Overland Park; Grace Cathedral, Topeka; and St. Margaret’s, Lawrence.

— Melodie Woerman v

Campus interns ready for new school year at K-State and K.U.

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

T Taylor Mather, K-State campus intern

Abby Olcese, K.U. campus intern

here will be one new and one familiar face among the campus interns who already are hard at work for the 2012-2013 school year.

New to the diocese is Taylor Mather, who is living at St. Francis Canterbury House at Kansas State University in Manhattan.

Returning for a second year is Abby Olcese, who is in residence at St. Anselm Canterbury House at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Mather, 22, is a native of Moses Lake, Wash., and recently graduated from Washington State University with a degree in biology and a minor in psychology. While at WSU he was active in student life, serving as a resident advisor for three years.

He said he is looking forward to the chance to work with K-State students, as he prepares for a career in higher

education. “Working with college students is something I really enjoy doing, and I am glad to be able to continue working with them through this position,” he said.

Olcese is a native of Pittsburg and a graduate of K.U. and worked with the Canterbury students at K.U. last year.

Both interns will serve as mentors to the undergraduate peer ministers who live in each Canterbury house and will help oversee their work.

They also will work with other peer ministers on other campuses across the diocese.

They will help organize events specifically for students on the campuses where they work and will help create service projects for peer ministers and other students on campus.

This is the sixth year the Diocese of Kansas has hired graduate campus interns. They are paid a modest stipend for the academic year and are provided housing at the Canterbury house on their campus. v

Submitted photo

Nets for Life result in close shaves The Rev. Andrew O’Connor, rector of Good Shepherd, Wichita (right) and parishioner Ted Blakley had to pay with half their beards when Vacation Bible School students met a challenge O’Connor had issued.

If they raised more money for the “Nets for Life” program through Episcopal Relief and Development than they did last year, the two would shave half their beards. Donations of $800, $200 more than 2011, prompted the shaves during the VBS open house on July 20 The $800 raised will provide 66 anti-malaria mosquito nets. v

Clergy news The Rev. Susan Terry has been named assistant rector of Trinity, Lawrence, beginning Sept. 1. This is a part-time position. Terry most recently served as one of the campus missioners for the diocese.

The Rev. Amanda Eiman was married on Aug. 3 to the Rev. Christopher Bishop at St. James’, Wichita, where she had been serving as assistant rector. She has moved

to Radnor, Penn, where Bishop serves as rector of St. Martin’s Church.

The Rev. John Macauley, who was the longest-serving priest in the diocese following his ordination in 1953, died on Aug. 2 in Lawrence. He was 83. He had been rector of Trinity, Lawrence, from 1988 to 1994 and for many years taught history and religious studies classes at the University

of Kansas.

He also was instrumental in establishing Bishop Seabury Academy, the diocese’s parochial secondary school in Lawrence.

His funeral was Aug. 8 at Trinity, Lawrence. Memorial contributions may be sent to Bishop Seabury Academy, 4120 Clinton Parkway, Lawrence, KS 66047. v

10 • The Harvest • July/August 2012

National and international news Anglican news briefs Episcopal News Service  Legendary Japanese-American priest celebrated in Nebraska: Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori led a festival Eucharist July 29 to celebrate the life and ministry of the Rev. Hiram Hisanori Kano, who served the congregation of the Church of Our Savior in North Platte, Neb., after he had been imprisoned in four World War II internment camps. After emigrating to the U.S. from Japan in 1916, Kano earned a degree in agriculture and eventually was persuaded by the Bishop of Nebraska to become a priest; he was ordained in 1936. While imprisoned with other Japanese-Americans during World War II, Kano led worship and ministered to and taught those around him, including his jailers, other internees and German POWs who were housed there. Kano died in 1988. The Nebraska Legislature commended his contributions, and July 29 was declared by the governor as “Father Hiram Hisanori Kano Day.”  Church staff reduced by 10 positions: Responding to budget constraints adopted at General Convention in July, as well as other considerations, several staff members of the Episcopal Church lost their jobs in August. Reductions amounted to 10.25 full-time equivalent positions, of which five were unfilled. Reductions in positions or hours took place in the areas of congregational development, environment, Episcopal News Service, human resources and legal.  New dean of Washington National Cathedral named: The Rev. Canon Gary R. Hall, Episcopal priest of 35 years and currently rector of Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has been named as the 10th dean of Washington National Cathedral. Hall, 62, is expected to begin as dean on Oct. 1, succeeding the Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, who stepped down in September 2011. The Rev. Dr. Francis H. Wade has served as the cathedral’s interim dean on a part-time basis since January.  Malawi churches unite to promote better management: Several Christian denominations in Malawi, including Anglicans, Presbyterians and Pentecostals, have established the Institute of Church Management, an organization to help improve management, financial and administrative skills of churches and churchrelated organizations in the southern African nation. The group aims to do this through training, consultancy and research. The group is led by retired Anglican Archbishop for Central Africa Bernard Malango.  Milwaukee bishop urged Episcopalians to support Sikh community: The Diocese of Milwaukee encouraged Episcopalians to participate in the Aug. 12 Day of Prayer for the Sikh Community following the Aug. 5 shooting rampage at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. The diocese offered information about the prayer day organized by the Wisconsin Council of Churches, and Bishop Steven Miller noted additional prayer vigils planned in Milwaukee and Madison.  Kenyan Anglican youth to mobilize a million voters: To mark the 50th anniversary of the Kenya Anglican Youth Organisation (KAYO), its members are launching an initiative aimed at mobilizing one million young people in Kenya to vote in the upcoming General Elections. The youth movement of the Anglican Church in Kenya (ACK) was started in 1962 by the late Bishop Obadiah Kariuki.  Saskatchewan diocese elects first indigenous bishop: The Ven. Adam Halkett, archdeacon of Saskatchewan and priest-incharge at St. Joseph’s, Montreal Lake First Nations, has been elected the first diocesan indigenous bishop of Saskatchewan. He was chosen July 28 by the diocese’s general assembly in Prince Albert. The election and consecration of a diocesan indigenous bishop is part of a proposal adopted by the indigenous council and executive committee of Saskatchewan and approved by the metropolitan and executive committee of the province of Rupert’s Land in 2011.  Indian Ocean primate is re-elected: The Most Rev. Ian Ernest has been re-elected as the primate of the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean. The Church of the Province of Indian Ocean comprises the dioceses of Mauritius, Seychelles, Antananarivo, Toamasina, Antsiranana, Mahajanga and Fianarantsoa. v

Photo by Melodie Woerman

Kansas deputies and alternates pause at the end of a day of legislation: (from left) the Rev. Juli Sifers, Joe Mitchell, Natalie Vanatta, the Rev. Matt Zimmerman, Mike Morrow, Larry Bingham, the Rev. Betty Glover, Bob Skaggs, the Rev. Craig Loya, Deacon Steve Segebrecht and Harriet Duff.

General Convention: Re-envisioning church for the 21st century

By Matthew Davies Episcopal News Service

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eneral Convention has called on the Episcopal Church to re-imagine its structure, taken historic steps toward full inclusion, endorsed positive investment in the Palestinian Territories and reaffirmed its commitment to building Anglican Communion relationships while declining to take a position on the Anglican Covenant.

Based on the Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission, the budget for the Episcopal Church in the 2013-2015 triennium was adopted unanimously by the 77th General Convention July 11.

The budget is balanced at $111,516,032, compared to $111,808,350 for the current triennium, and comes with a small surplus of $30,000.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and outgoing President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson addressed the media at a closing news conference July 12.

At this convention, “you have seen the Episcopal Church not only of the future, but of today, in the presence of young adults, a more significant number than we’ve seen in a long time, people of many nations and tribes and language traditions,” said Jefferts Schori, noting that more than 40 international guests attended convention. “The Episcopal Church is healthy, it’s becoming healthier, and it’s poised for an even more significant impact on the world around us. There’s no stopping us. Watch out world.

We’re coming.”

Anderson, who now steps down as House of Deputies president, said it has been a great convention and that the deputies, 44 percent of whom were new, were extremely well prepared.

General Convention, which met July 5-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, is composed of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, which includes clergy and laity.

Structural reform

Of the almost 400 resolutions submitted to General Convention, more than 90 related to structural reform. Most of those resolutions were similar in nature, and it was the work of the structure committee at convention to consider the legislation and make its recommendations.

Applause and cheers erupted July 11 as Resolution C095, which calls for creation of a task force to re-imagine the workings of the Episcopal Church in the 21st century, sailed unanimously through the House of Bishops. A day earlier, deputies also had passed the resolution unanimously.

The legislation creates a special task force of up to 24 people who will gather ideas in the next two years

from all levels of the church about possible reforms to its structures, governance and administration. Its work will culminate in a special gathering of people from every diocese to hear what recommendations the task force plans to make to the 78th General Convention. Its final report is due by November 2014.

Budget adopted

The spending portion of the budget for the next triennium is allocated according to the Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission, and the categories of administration and governance. The five marks are: To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom To teach, baptize and nurture new believers To respond to human need by loving service To seek to transform unjust structures of society To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth The budget assumes $73.5 million in commitments from the church’s dioceses, nearly $4 million less than that in the current triennium. That total is based on keeping at 19 percent the amount that the church asks dioceses to contribute annually to the churchwide budget.

Same-gender blessings

In a historic move, convention authorized provisional use of a rite for blessing same-gender unions. “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant” rite will be available for use starting Dec. 2 (the first Sunday of Advent), but clergy will need the permission of their bishop under the terms of the resolution.

The resolution calls on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music “to conduct a review process over the next triennium, making clear that this is a work in progress,” the Rev. Ruth Meyers, deputy of the Diocese of Chicago, told the deputies. She chaired the convention Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music Committee’s subcommittee on blessings and the SCLM. The resolution directs the SCLM to include “diverse theological perspectives in the further development of the theological resource” and to invite responses from throughout the church as well as from the Anglican Communion and the church’s ecumenical partners.

The resolution states that, under existing canons, clergy can decline to preside at a blessing liturgy and says that no one “should be coerced or penalized in any manner, nor suffer any canonical disabilities” for objecting to or supporting the 77th General Convention’s action on blessings.

(Please see Convention, page 11

July/August 2012 • The Harvest • 11

Convention: Bishop Wolfe re-elected VP of bishops (Continued from page 10)

Gender identity, expression

Two resolutions passed by convention offer support for the transgender community by adding gender expression and identity to two canons that prevent discrimination. One makes clear that the ordination discernment process is open to them, and another guarantees their equal place in the life, worship and governance of the church.

Following action on same-gender blessings and transgender rights, the majority of the Diocese of South Carolina’s deputies left the General Convention July 11 because, in the words of its remaining clergy deputy, the gathering had passed resolutions that violate the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church.

However, that deputy, the Very Rev. John B. Burwell, told Episcopal News Service, “We are not leaving the Episcopal Church.”

Photos by Melodie Woerman

Above: The Rev. Sharon Billman (St. John’s, Parsons) and the Rev. Jan Chubb (St. Timothy’s, Iola), serve as Sunday Eucharist ushers while volunteering at the convention.

Left: Bishop Dean Wolfe readies for the start of the Sunday Convention Eucharist, surrounded by other bishops.

Positive investment

Convention overwhelmingly supported a resolution on positive investment in the Palestinian Territories. But the bishops agreed to postpone indefinitely a conversation on corporate engagement.

Resolution B019 affirms positive investment “as a necessary means to create a sound economy and a sustainable infrastructure” in the Palestinian Territories.

It also calls on the church to support “the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian study on peace with justice in the Middle East,” and produce an annotated bibliography of resources.

Resolution C060, which called on the church to engage “in corporate social responsibility by more vigorous and public corporate engagement with companies in the church’s investment portfolio that contribute to the infrastructure of the Occupation,” was tabled after Bishop Sean Rowe of Northwestern Pennsylvania called for the conversation to be postponed indefinitely.

The deputies had passed that resolution on July 9, but it would have required the bishops’ consent.

Anglican Covenant, Continuing Indaba

Convention also affirmed its commitment to building relationships across the Anglican Communion, especially through the Continuing Indaba program, and to decline to take a position on the Anglican Covenant.

After considering eight resolutions, the General Convention’s committee on world mission recommended adoption of two resolutions on Anglican Communion relationships and the Anglican Covenant, a document that initially had been intended as a way to bind Anglicans globally across cultural and theological differences.

Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas, chair of the World Mission Committee, told ENS following the vote that the resolutions are “a genuine pastoral response because we are not of one mind, and to push a decision at this time would cause hurt and alienation in our church on both sides and instead we chose to stay in the conversation.”

Houses elects leadership

The Rev. Gay Jennings of Ohio was elected to serve as the next president of the House of Deputies and Byron Rushing of Massachusetts as the next vice president.

Each will serve a three-year term beginning at the end of General Convention. Jennings succeeds Anderson, who chose not to run for a third term.

Bishop Dean Wolfe of Kansas also was

Want to learn more?

Comments about various aspects of General Convention from Kansas deputies and Bishop Wolfe are on the deputation’s blog, http://ksgcdeputies2012. wordpress.com/ Episcopal News Service has dozens of stories from Indianapolis under the “77th General Convention” tab on its website, http://episcopaldigitalnetwork. com/ens/

The Rev. Andrew O’Connor (left) and Ted Blakley, both of Good Shepherd, Wichita, were in Indianapolis staffing the booth for St. Mark’s Press, a ministry of the church. (Submitted photo)

re-elected as vice president of the House of Bishops.

Other legislation that convention passed includes:

Denominational Health Plan: Resolution B026, to give dioceses and parishes an additional three years to meet the requirement that they provide parity in health insurance cost-sharing between lay and clergy employees. That deadline now is extended until Dec. 31, 2015.

Dioceses and parishes still must offer health insurance to employees through the Church Medical Trust by the end of 2012. It also calls the Medical Trust to continue to explore “more equitable sharing of health care premium costs.”

Access to Holy Baptism, Holy Communion: Resolution C029, affirming the Episcopal Church’s teaching that Baptism is the norm for those who wish to receive Holy Communion.

Relocating Episcopal Church Center: Resolution D016, to approve a move away from, but did not authorize the sale of, the Episcopal Church Center headquarters at 815 Second Avenue in New York.

Establish development office: Resolution D025, establishing a Development Office for the Episcopal Church to solicit major gifts and other resources.

Reconciliation or dissolution of an Episcopal relationship: Resolution B021, which amends the canons to provide a mechanism for addressing

The Rev. Christine Gilson (Trinity, El Dorado) checks credentials of those seeking admittance to the House of Deputies as a convention volunteer.

disagreement in the pastoral relationship between a diocese and its bishop.

Studying marriage: Resolution A050, authorizing a 12-member task force to study marriage, including needs for pastoral responses by clergy for same-sex couples in states where civil marriage is legal, as well as issues “raised by changing societal and cultural norms and legal structures.”

Pilot Student Loan Program: Resolution D049, which calls for creating a pilot student loan fund for seminarians who agree to exercise three years of ministry in under-served areas of the Episcopal Church.

Monitoring women, other underrepresented groups: Resolution A144, requiring the tracking of the ratio of women to men in bishop election processes, along with racial and ethnic minorities, and encouraging dioceses to strive for greater diversity in candidates.

Support for Gaza hospital: Resolution B017, calling on the church to support the Diocese of Jerusalem’s Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza with fundraising and advocacy after the United Nations Relief and Works Agency cut its financial aid, slashing the hospital’s budget nearly in half.

Poverty and justice: Resolution A135, a compilation of several other resolutions that responds to issues of poverty and injustice. It commits the church over the next three years to “teaching, preaching, organizing, advocating, and building

mutually transformative relationships with those who are poor to focus our hearts and the mission of our congregations and dioceses on reducing poverty and increasing economic and racial justice.” It also calls for every meeting that takes place in the church to include time for prayer and reflection “on how our work engages issues of poverty and economic and racial justice networks” in order to “cultivate mindfulness about poverty in our communities and world.”

Sudan: Resolution A019, re-affirming advocacy support for peace in Sudan.

Release of Cuban prisoners: Resolution A021, calling for the release of all in Cuban prisons for religious activities or peaceful advocacy of political change in the Republic of Cuba; and to support advocacy efforts for the humane treatment and pastoral care of four Cuban nationals convicted of spying for the government of the Republic of Cuba, who are serving prison sentences in United States.

Ecumenism: Resolution A036, which commends the 11-year relationship of full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and asks the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee to address areas where Episcopal and Lutheran practices differ, especially around the matter of who can preside at Holy Communion and the role of deacons.

Dialogue with Mormon Church: Resolution D081, directing the Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations to initiate dialogue between the Episcopal Church and the Mormon Church “for the interreligious purposes of friendship, goodwill, mutual understanding” and in anticipation of the 78th General Convention to be held in Salt Lake City in 2015.

Matthew Davies is editor/reporter for Episcopal News Service. v

12 • The Harvest • July/August 2012

Reflections on faith and life

Sharing the Good News

Sabbatical offers new insights By the Rev. Gail Greenwell

I

n May and June I took my very first sabbatical. I had prayerfully designed my sabbatical, with the help of the St. Michael’s Vestry, to offer me equal measures of time with God, time with family, occasions of study and reflection, and time in service. The itinerary went something like this: One week in the monastic community of Taizé; Two weeks traveling with my husband; Two weeks with the Kansas to Kenya team in Maai Mahiu; and Three weeks at home.

Sabbatical isn’t a vacation

Sabbaticals are not the same as a vacation. A sabbatical is a time to respond to God’s request that we honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Sabbaticals are not for the individual alone. A sabbatical should renew the person as well of the whole Body of Christ’s people.

In fact, there is no point in sending your clergy on sabbatical if something isn’t offered for the good of the whole — something creative and restorative.

Here are some random reflections on my discoveries as I stepped away from life as usual: 1. Routine and repetition can enhance rather than repress lively prayer. Monks, practitioners of meditation and anyone who uses prayer beads or rosaries have always known this.

2. Doing Bible study with an internationally diverse group points out how we tend to domesticate the Gospel to our U.S./Western point of view.

3. Young people the world over are turned off by religion not because of the style of worship but because of our internal bickering.

September 2012

October 2012

8 Southeast Convocation pre-convention meeting, St. John’s, Parsons

6 Congregational Development Workshop: “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You -- or Do We?” Great Hall, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

5. Photographs ultimately do not capture the story. Sometimes you have to lay the camera down and just look and listen.

6. There is a big difference between a twoweek vacation and an intentional, extended time away. Real rest isn’t achievable (for me) until about week three.

18 Council of Trustees meeting, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

7. Creativity and ingenuity are more accessible when I’m well-rested and feeling playful.

8. Some delights should be experienced as fleeting. For example: I had forgotten what real, in-season strawberries taste like. Wow! 9. There is a whiney girl who lives in my head.

She regularly complains about the inconveniences of foreign food, toilets, showers and mattresses. I learned to tune her out.

10. It seems so much harder to lose someone you love when you can’t get home for the funeral or to hug your family. My brother-inlaw died while I was in Kenya.

11. The poor of this world have a wisdom and experience of God and God’s grace that we who are more comfortable find it hard to access. I hope I can return to Kenya or someplace like it so I never forget that truth.

There is no such thing as a purely provider/ recipient model of ministry. We both give and receive.

12. Silence can be scary and intimidating. But it helps. And silence is different than just being alone. Silence can occur in the midst of thousands.

The Rev. Gail Greenwell is rector of St. Michael and All Angels, Mission. This reflection is an edited version of one that first appeared in Week by Week, the weekly e-newsletter of the parish. Reprinted by permission. v

Southwest Convocation pre-convention meeting, Trinity, El Dorado

22 Northeast Convocation pre-convention meeting, Bishop Seabury Academy, Lawrence

Northwest Convocation pre-convention meeting, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

18 Chili Supper Crossroads fundraiser and Bethany Place Conference Center open house, Great Hall, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

Commission on Ministry meeting, Capitol Plaza Hotel, Topeka

19 Diocesan Convention, Capitol Plaza Hotel and Maner Conference Center, Topeka (through Oct. 20)

NOTE: Bishop Wolfe is on sabbatical until mid-October. He returns in time for Diocesan Convention.

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4. Young people the world over are turned on by the idea that God has a unique plan for their lives. They also like to think of the church as a resource for helping them figure out what that plan might be.

Diocesan Calendar

The mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas is to gather, equip and send disciples of Jesus Christ to witness to God’s reconciling love.