The Address of the Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., to the 84th convention

“To Do the Work You Have Given Us to Do”:
The Healthy Church Initiative

“To do the work you have given us to do.” Beloved, that is an excerpt from one of our post-communion prayers. You know it well: “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do….”

Welcome, Beloved, to the 84th Convention of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina. We meet here not as stockholders, not as Board of Directors, but in the Name of Christ, to do Christ’s work and to coordinate that work among the congregations that constitute our diocese. We gather primarily to worship God, delegated by our congregations to worship reflecting our unity as a diocese—but otherwise in something of an odd combination of family reunion, mutual support group, allocating our resources for mission, dinner on the grounds—at least our version of it—and religious revival—or at least our version of it: spiritual renewal... We seek renewal as the Body of Christ--Jesus, Son of the Father. We seek renewal in the Holy Spirit, who empowers us for mission.

You know our mission well—this ministry of reconciliation: “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ”. With our best efforts at precision and inclusive, widespread involvement, we have planned our mission work. We planned our mission for work at home and beyond, and gave it a name: “One Body, One Mission: Changing Lives”. Having planned our work, we have set about working our plan.

What we do now is the next logical step in working our plan—using our resources “to build up the body of Christ”. In Holy Scripture it is called equipping “the saints for…ministry”. We call it the Healthy Church Initiative—empowering every one of our congregations for effective mission. And we pledge ourselves to take that step whenever we celebrate the Holy Eucharist: “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do….”

The Next Step: The Healthy Church Initiative

Last spring, in the first session of this convention, we examined the Healthy Church Initiative in detail. Let me summarize its purpose: to assist congregations in effectively changing lives, by bringing people into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As the result of a generous gift to me as the bishop, we can provide consultation with a church professional regarding every aspect of congregational life, in order to promote the congregations health and, therefore, vitality for mission. Because the money was a gift, this consultation costs nothing—not to the congregation, not to the diocese.

My objective in this address is to accomplish two things: to explain why I am convinced that the Healthy Church Initiative is our best, next step forward in working our plan for Christ, how we are better structured to do so, and to issue challenges which I believe to be essential if we are to do the work God has given us to do.

In the Nineteen-thirties, in the depth of the Great Depression, a crisis occurred in the life of one of England’s most famous institution: Kings College, Cambridge.

The ancient beams supporting the ceiling and roof of the college's historic, revered refectory were deteriorating and giving way. A catastrophe was imminent. The trustees of Kings College were stymied—so far as they knew, there was no timber of the size and strength of the original beams available anywhere. Should they destroy this ancient treasure and replace it with something modern? In an atmosphere somewhat akin to what happens in our congregations when we consider moving the furniture around—especially the altar—quite a row ensued. What to do?

The solution—practically under their noses all the while—came from an unexpected, modest source: the Cambridge University forester. Someone—centuries earlier, had planned ahead. To meet emergencies just like this one, farsighted university leaders had acquired thousands of acres of timber. And in the interim, generations of university foresters, like this one who now stood before the trustees, had spent their lives, tending and nurturing this magnificent timber for one specific purpose: to provide the structural materials that they realized would one day be required to maintain or restore the buildings of Cambridge University. Those gifted trustees had anticipated—envisioned—a need which would not develop until far beyond their lifetimes—and they provided for it. They responded effectively to the work they had been given to do.

Beloved, that which was required at Cambridge is required now by us and for us: vision—vision to strengthen a mission and an institution both of which—mission and institution—have been given to us by God. As God teaches us in the Book of Proverbs, "without a vision, the people perish". Without a vision, you and I cannot recognize, and certainly not accomplish, the work God has given us to do.

Beloved in Christ, as the one blessed to be called as the Seventh Bishop of this diocese, I invite you to join me in sharing a vision to strengthen the mission and the institution—the Body of Christ—in Upper South Carolina. It is a vision for a Diocese that does yet exist in its fullest potential, although our life together has convinced me that God has gradually been clarifying his vision for us. God’s vision—which is our vision--can become our reality. But for vision to become reality we must be willing—no, determined—to transcend the limitations of our current circumstances. An essential ingredient to vision is the practice of Christian stewardship of those things which are required for us—and foresight for the needs of generations to come—if we are indeed to strengthen the health, vitality, and effectiveness required to accomplish God’s mission for us—“the work (He) has given us to do”. You know without my saying so: this is the greatest of all missions, the mission of changing lives by giving the gift of Christ for our children and our children’s children—for all nations and for all time. This is the work we were given to do by the resurrected Christ as his last commandment: the Great Commission.

But a vision requires action—working the plan. How, then, do we respond in our place, in our time? The Cambridge experience calls us to exercise their kind of action and foresight.. I also consider the advice of my friend, Tom Smith, who taught me to drive: Like many, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the pavement—well, really the dirt road—immediately in front of the automobile’s hood. “No”, he said, “Lift up your eyes—look down the road. You must anticipate what lies ahead. That is the key to safe driving.” The Cambridge experience and this counsel about safe driving is wise counsel to you and to me. If we do not “anticipate what lies ahead” the struggles that you and I face today in fulfilling God’s mission will be ours tomorrow—and the day after and the day after. Worse yet—they will be the same struggles that will face our Christian heirs. If we do not “look down the road”, and prepare for it, they and we will forever be weaving our way back and forth, perpetually in a state of reaction and overreaction to whatever immediate crisis has arisen. Effective mission requires a healthy Church and a healthy Church requires a vision for the present—but also encompassing the road ahead—the future.

Applying this analogy just a bit more, building on the work of many over recent years, we now have the makings of a deluxe diocesan vehicle that is equipped to carry us forward in the spiritual journey of Christian faith and mission—doing the work that God has given us to do.

The construction of that vehicle—planning our work—has been gradual and it has required evaluation, reevaluation, and modification—change—as we have lived into our plan. It certainly has meant change for me and within me—and in my understanding of what it means to be a bishop. When I was blessed to be consecrated as bishop, almost twelve years ago, I focused—well, to borrow from the lyrics of “The King and I”—on “getting to know you”. I established practices regarding parish visitations and convocational residencies that would give us opportunities to build relationships which I hoped would be catalytic to mission and ministry. I focused, that is to say, on the ministry of bishop as “chief priest and pastor of a diocese”.

But every bishop has a ministry which is more comprehensive: it includes, in part, the ministry to “share in the leadership of the Church throughout the world”. In more recent years, I have been called upon to experience more deeply the ministry as a bishop of the whole Church.

I need not repeat the time I have spent working with other bishops, other clergy, and lay people throughout The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion—roles greatly increased during the past three years. . In addition to those, however—largely because of my experience in the law—I have now been elected President of the Title IV Review Committee—the purpose of that group is similar to that of a Grand Jury: to determine probable cause in charges of misconduct brought against bishops. And I have been appointed to a Task Force to re-write all of Title IV, that portion of the Canons governing the discipline of all clergy: bishops, priests and deacons. Most recently, the Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested that a group of American bishops be formed to respond to the request of several dioceses for alternative primatial oversight—those dioceses which, for various reasons critical to their convictions, feel that they cannot accept the oversight of our Presiding Bishop-Elect, Katharine Jefferts Schori. I am a member of that relatively small group, the work of which continues.

I know that some of you are concerned—and legitimately so—that my additional responsibilities in the larger Church will result in a deficiency in the exercise of my diocesan ministry. As someone with the proverbial eldest child’s control needs and sense of personal responsibility, I, too, have had ambiguous feelings related to this tension within and between responsibilities. My decisions have been made prayerfully and, I pray, responsibly. I have come to see it as “the work God has given us to do”. I think you recognize the importance of this ministry and the call that it constitutes for leadership from our diocese—from you and from me—ministry essential to the unity, mission, and faithfulness of God’s Church.. I make this statement, too—without, I pray, modesty or immodesty—but as a matter of fact, because it is true of every bishop and every diocese. My role in the larger Church is a gift from you to the Body of Christ of which we are but a part.

I hasten to add why I feel such confidence that our mission is strengthened, not diminished, even with an expanded ministry in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion by the bishop.

During the past year the Diocesan Council, my staff and I—learning from our experience and consultation with many of you—have been led into a new, better way to function. This recently devised leadership structure uses the vows of our Baptismal Covenant as a foundation for our life together as the Body of Christ—for becoming healthier in order to do our work of ministry. It requires a broader and deeper level of consultation and decision-making between the Bishop and the Council—but, equally significant, it provides space and opportunities for all of us—you and me—to participate in the discernment and implementation of God’s call to us... This structure requires from us responsible stewardship in every level of our life together as the Body of Christ—incorporating our blessed Anglican identity from the pew to the congregation, from the congregation to the convocation, from the convocation to the diocese, from the diocese to The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, and always within the context of our life as part of God’s one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

I repeat: this structure, an integral part of the Healthy Church initiative, is the next logical step in our commitment to changing lives—transformation within ourselves, and the conversion of others, all after the image and example of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a remarkable and practical blueprint for faithful response to our Lord’s Great Commission. It seeks to accomplish these goals through six commissions, each commission strengthening and empowering us for mission today while preparing for mission tomorrow—each commission designed, strengthened and empowered to engage us more fully in the work God has given us to do.

 
1. I begin where I should—with the Commission on the Ministry of the Baptized. In keeping with our spiritual—and canonical—responsibility to help everyone identify and receive training for his or her Christian ministry—lay ministry as well as ordained—the process of discernment and nurture has been completely revised and streamlined. This was done initially by a Task Force chaired by Eleanor Whitehead, and then implemented under the leadership of the chairs of this Commission: Mr. Emery Clark and Fr. Rob Brown.
   
   
2. The Commission on Convocations, under the joint leadership of Fr. Rob Harley and Ms. Debbie Morris, will exercise oversight over our convocations. Our convocations are being commissioned and empowered to sponsor mission initiatives in the communities local to their congregations—strengthening the vital and respected leadership of our convocational deans and lay wardens.

 
3. The many rules, regulations, policies and procedures established by our diocese and by The Episcopal Church to shape our congregations into healthy institutions can be confusing and even difficult to know about. Fr. Michael Bullock and Mr. Meade Wilson, and the Commission on Congregations is revising, simplifying, and consolidating all we need to know into one user-friendly handbook of guiding resources. Significantly, they are also developing a uniform procedure for overseeing the support of our mission congregations.
   
   
4. Every baptized person in Upper South Carolina is invited to help shape our Statement of Mission—which means choosing the ministries we choose, acting together as Christ’s Body, to support with our financial resources. The road our vehicle traveled toward the 2007 Statement of Mission was not without its bumps, but with the grace of God and your creative initiative we will improve that process more and more. This is one of the responsibilities of the Commission on the Diocese, co-chaired by Mother Janet Tarbox and Ms. Leslie Buzzell, charged to coordinate, integrate, and strengthen the role of all of our primary diocesan entities: this convention, the convocations, the Council, and the Diocesan House.



5. The Commission on Province IV and National Church Matters, under the leadership of Ms. Angela Daniel and Ms. Rudy Canzater, is commissioned to bring the resources and initiatives of The Episcopal Church as a whole to our diocese, and promoting our involvement in ministry with other Province IV dioceses and The Episcopal Church.

 
6. I personally chair The Commission on the Anglican Communion and International Concerns. We seek to coordinate the efforts of our diocesan family to respond to issues of human need that result in our changing lives in Haiti and throughout the world, as well as our role as a constituent part of the Anglican Communion. It is this Commission which will oversee implementation of the commitments which our Convention has made to the Millennium Development Goals and the vital ministries supported by the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund.

 (These are brief descriptions of the commissions’ duties; their full reports are published in the journal of the convention. But I mention them to stress that this is to all of us very good news.)

In the process of my twelve-year experience—a real education, I’ll tell you—I have learned to be a more effective, if not better, bishop. For one thing, the structure for our new commissions has enhanced my own growth. But I am aided immeasurably by relating differently with the Diocesan Council. Our Council is working much more effectively in doing the work they have been given to do—especially by efficient, committed leadership of, and working within, the commissions. Another innovation: I now meet at least once a month—sometimes twice—with the officers of the Council to share our dilemmas, our challenges, our problems, and to seek their advice. I thank you all for this new insight and structure—I am grateful to God and to all of you for it. I also give thanks to God regularly for the effectiveness and enthusiastic support of my staff: I will introduce them to you later, because if you don’t already know them, you should. As Bishop my congregation consists of 65 congregations, approximately 150 clergy and their families, and 27,000 Episcopalians. For a congregation that size I have, per capita, a very small staff. The staff itself is functioning in a significant new way, coordinated and supervised by the Canon to the Ordinary who, consistent with Anglican polity, speaks for the bishop —this, too, has vastly increased the level of my efficiency, both within the diocese and without. You’ve heard me say it before: they save my life numerous times daily—and serve you in ways I’m not even aware of. They serve, too, so that you and I might do the work we have been given, respectively and corporately, to do.

All in all, our experience in recent years has taught me how to focus my energy and efforts more effectively on the broad apostolic ministry which is unique to the office of bishop. At the same time, it has taught me to entrust the Council, its officers, my staff—and you to exercise the ministry of the baptized—the ministry—our mission as the Body of Christ--so definitively summarized in the Baptismal Covenant.

That is why I directed my staff to work closely with the Executive Committee of the Diocesan Executive Council to see that appropriate, effective stewardship is exercised over every aspect of the life of the Diocese. Fortunately, we live in an era of cell phones, faxes, and email. Thanks to technology, I am never really out of touch with my staff and lay leaders. To my disappointment, this is not the same thing as being available to speak with each one of you in person at a moment's notice, but given the circumstances of our age and life, I am convinced that it is a healthier and more effective method of living into the broad apostolic ministry into which I have been called and consecrated.

Not only do I feel that this restructured method of operation insures that I am available to attend to those things that are essential for me to do personally. I have also necessarily had to face the reality that my decidedly pastoral, personal mode of ministry has too often tended to result in undermining the ministry of any number of the talented lay leaders who so generously have made available their considerable skills for management and leadership. That was never my intention—but it is negative leadership.

I think all of us easily recite the words of empowerment contained in the baptismal covenant, but, I, for one, can attest that the gifts of the baptized are real and deserve greater opportunities to be exercised in the ministry of shared leadership of our Diocese. Jesus is Lord of all, and it has taken the challenges of meeting my commitments beyond the Diocese to teach me that Our Lord has generously blessed us with a depth of lay leadership that is more than up to the task of working together, and with me, in tending to the care and nurture of the life we share as Episcopalians in Upper South Carolina.

That is one reason that I am so proud to be bishop of this diocese—because of you—yes, your patience in enduring my foibles, but primarily because you are a people who seek diligently to serve your Lord and your Lord’s Church—because you love—and because, when calls are extended with clarity you respond just as clearly. You are a hopeful people, and because you are hopeful, you give me hope—and hope is a Gospel value. One of my hopes is that you recognize that about yourselves and value it with credit—because credit is clearly due. So, I repeat, we have the well-equipped vehicle, the Healthy Church Initiative—but where is Our Lord calling us to drive it? How do we respond concretely to the call that our Lord constantly holds out to us? How, specifically—for example in the year between this convention and the next—how can we live more definitively into our commitment to the Lord and to the Lord’s Church?

I begin with the assumption that we remain committed to be a healthy, functional, mission-driven diocese, involved in all of the issues of the Church but focused on growth in Christian faith and practice. I assume, too, that we will strive to be tenacious on the work of saving souls as a priority above all other goals, confident that with that life-giving focus we can rest assured that all things, ultimately, will—by the grace of God—fall into appropriate place. There is another assumption from which I proceed: that a healthy, functional diocese is filled with communicants who lead a life of private, personal prayer—enriching a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the bedrock foundation of the work we have been given to do.

These, then, are the objectives: five challenges that I hold up before you:

1. I call the diocese to a year of daily personal prayer (in addition, to be sure, to weekly sacramental worship). And I begin by inviting each one of you in this convention, at this moment, to covenant with me to commit to a daily discipline of prayer, listening to God—and to lead your household to make a similar commitment. Pray regularly, personally and corporately, for the unity, mission, and faithfulness of the Church. Will you make that commitment and be faithful to it? Believe me, your life will be changed—the Church will be changed—and the world will be changed.



2. By the opening gavel of the 85th Convention, I expect every congregation in Upper South Carolina to have participated in a Healthy Church Consultation. Just as personal prayer will change your life, a decision on the part of your congregation to accept this gift will significantly increase the congregation’s effectiveness in mission. To date, 28 of our 65 congregations are involved in ongoing consultation. Among those whose consultations have resulted in capital funds drives—and not all will—projection of a total of $14 million dollars has been established—8 of those million in 4 congregations, and 3 more congregations have registered for the Initiative. I expect next year to announce that 100% of our congregations are involved, whether or not they choose to conduct fund drives. Arrange through the Diocesan House a consultation with Tony Watkins—Christian pastor and expert in the development of healthy churches.



3. By October 2007 I expect every congregation to be able to report progress in the commitment of .7% in support of the Millenium Development Goals—a major step toward God’s kingdom coming “on earth, as it is in heaven”.



4. Having moved from individual to congregation, I now challenge our deans, lay wardens and all delegates to embrace and help refine the means by which our diocesan Statement of Mission is formulated from the pew up—enhancing personal ownership and personal involvement in the ministry to which, together, we discern God is calling us.



5. Finally, Sisters and Brothers, let’s not forget the timber for the refectory. Like any ancient building, the infrastructure for mission can decay and diminish over time. If we are to accomplish the work we are given to do, if our vision is forward to the horizon, rather than downward to the immediate terrain, we must prepare for future needs anticipated—and for the unexpected. And there will always be the need for resources to fund the mission of Christ, to improve the health of our congregations, to meet their needs, internal and external. At the 85th Convention of this diocese, I expect—and I challenge you to help me to bring this expectation into fruition—to celebrate the establishment and funding of the Upper South Carolina Healthy Church Foundation—so that the work our Lord gives us to do tomorrow and in future generations will be enabled through our faithful understanding and practice of Christian stewardship.

You know the prayer, Beloved. Please join me in it. “Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the Body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen”