87th Convention celebrates mission and ministry, honors Bishop Henderson, looks ahead
The business of changing lives
Day one of convention was devoted to the business of the diocese, including the long-awaited announcement of five nominees for eighth diocesan bishop, and topped off by a gala banquet and "roast" honoring Bishop Henderson (see the related article).
Day two, with its emphasis on "changing lives,"
featured guest preacher the Rev. Mike Kinman, former executive director of
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation; 25 hands-on workshops focused on
our diocesan goals of health, mission, formation, and outreach; and a
gathering of congregational displays depicting the many ways lives have been
changed during Bishop Henderson's 15-year ministry among us.
Convention elected individuals to serve on Diocesan Executive Council,
Ecclesiastical Court, and the Board of Trustees of the University of the
South. Two resolutions—one encouraging the diocese to hold the convention
business session on a weekend day and the other designating the first Sunday
in February as "Gravatt Sunday"—were adopted, and the proposed Statement of
Mission, totaling $2,702,500, was approved.
"Done and left undone"
Noting as "a footnote to our common reality . . . that my tenure as a
diocesan bishop is drawing to a close," in his address to convention Bishop
Henderson turned his attention to "'things done and left undone.'"
Addressing the latter, the bishop pointed to an underlying tendency "to do
our own thing, both congregationally and individually"—an attitude that has
prevented Upper South Carolinians from taking "full ownership as One Body of
the very mission outreach projects which we ourselves have established as
priorities," including our ministry in Cange, Haiti.
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