Upper SC 86th Convention has focus on health, mission, formation, outreach
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Many thanks . . . There were many who helped make our Leadership Day a great success. Special thanks go to all— the volunteers from St. John’s, Columbia, and their leader Anne Miller; the many from throughout the diocese who met to help structure the content of the day; the Revs. Furman Buchanan and Karen Humbert, who were responsible for the texts of our liturgy, specifically the Prayers of the People and the Eucharistic Prayer; Mr. English Morris, who assumed leadership for the music and inspired us with his creative use of a variety of instruments. Thanks be to God for these wonderful people, their many gifts, and their generosity and willingness to share. |
The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, meeting on October 17-18 for its 86th annual convention at the Columbia (SC) Metropolitan Convention Center, had as its focus “four goals for a seamless transition”—health, mission, formation, and outreach—articulated by the Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., in anticipation of his mandatory retirement at age 72 in January 2011.
Under the thematic banner “Equipped for Action: Changing Lives,” day one of convention tackled the business of the diocese; day 2, “Leadership Day,” offered a variety of breakout sessions addressing the bishop’s goals and woven together by plenary gatherings featuring master storyteller the Rt. Rev. Charles F. Duvall, retired bishop of Central Gulf Coast.
Putting flesh on the bones
Borrowing from Ezekiel the metaphor of bones coming to life and focused on the refrain “A diocese is healthy because its congregations are healthy,” Bishop Henderson set the tone for convention with his address, reminding clergy and delegates that “we have identified and committed ourselves to three areas of ministry which clearly constitute the sinews and flesh and skin of our mission: first, congregational development,” supported by the diocesan Healthy Church Initiative, which was launched in mid-2006; “second, Christian Formation; and, third, Mission Outreach.”
“The proof,” the bishop said, “that we have transformed words into action—dry bones with living, breathing flesh—will be . . . ‘a noise, and behold, a rattling’—. . . changed lives, spirited and lively, like Israel renewed at the time of Ezekiel.” The measure of our effectiveness—part of the “noise and rattling,” he went on, “will be a healthy and measurable commitment to, and involvement in, achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” endorsed twice by our diocesan convention, named a top priority by General Convention, and embraced as a major focus of last summer’s Lambeth Conference.