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Bishop calls for action on goals, asks delegates to dream big

By Melodie Woerman

Editor, The Harvest

Bishop Dean Wolfe called on the diocese to move ahead in four keys areas of diocesan life during an address to diocesan convention Oct. 14 in Wichita. Photo by Tom Pott

Bishop Dean Wolfe challenged delegates to the 146th meeting of the convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas to “dream big” and work together on four important ministry goals he placed before the diocese.

Clergy and lay delegates met at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita, on Friday, Oct. 14 for a one-day business session and the following day for a “Diocesan Gathering” that incorporated singing as a way to build community among participants.

Fran McKendree, a noted musician from Hendersonville, N.C., served as presenter during Saturday’s Gathering and led singing during Friday’s business meeting. He also presented an hour-long concert after the convention banquet Friday night that brought attendees to their feet — and prompted some to form a conga line.

In his convention address, the bishop said that the diocese is ready to move ahead in four key ministry areas in the coming year:

• continued support for youth ministry
• a strong and vibrant campus ministry with a presence to more students on more campuses
• planting three new churches in the next 10 years
• increasing personal stewardship and growing diocesan financial resources through development

He noted that a new vision for campus ministry already has borne some remarkable fruit. An anonymous donor, who was impressed with the plan to bring the church to more campuses, is offering a substantial gift to provide for renovations at Canterbury House at the University of Kansas to implement a plan for interns and peer ministers there. An upgrade to the parking lot began in early December with construction at the house itself to follow.

Bishop Wolfe also called on delegates to go beyond these four big ideas and to “dream even more” — to explore the possibility of a diocesan center and cathedral complex that provides more meeting space and parking; making the bishop’s offices accessible to people with disabilities; and his recurring call for a camp and conference center that would become a true center of diocesan life.

He also cautioned parishes not to become complacent, noting that average Sunday attendance was down in the diocese last year. “As my 13-year-old son might say, ‘What’s up with that?’” Bishop Wolfe asked. He also called on parishes to make their buildings visible with appropriate signs, noting that “if we can’t get these small things right, how can we do the big things?”

A ‘via media’ budget

The convention approved a 2006 budget that compensates for a projected $200,000 loss in apportionment revenue due to the departure of Christ Church, Overland Park earlier this year. The budget cuts expenditures by $100,000 but also raises apportionments from remaining congregations by $100,000.

Diocesan treasurer Doug Anning called the proposal, which made up the shortfall by splitting it between budget cuts and apportionment increases, “classic Anglicanism, the ‘via media’ or middle way.”

Major reductions will come in three areas:

• savings in campus ministry, with the reconfiguration of that program to focus on a campus missioner instead of residential chaplains
• near-elimination of the seminarian intern program, in which the diocese paid half the salary and benefits for two years for recent diocesan seminary graduates
• a smaller asking from the national church, due to a lower diocesan income with the loss of Christ Church money. The national church assessment is based on diocesan income.

Convocation meetings in September gave delegates the chance to air questions about the budget in small groups, prompting few queries when the matter was presented on the floor of convention.

Debatable resolutions

Delegates addressed a total of four debatable resolutions, including one that was introduced on the floor of convention.

Convention passed without discussion a resolution presented by diocesan deputies to the 2003 General Convention. It called on all members of the diocese to develop “holy habits,” including tithing, daily prayer and study, Sabbath time and weekly corporate worship. Delegates were given the chance to affix their signatures to this resolution in support; 39 people did so.

Delegates also passed two resolutions on affordable health care — one asking General Convention to work for this, and another calling on Congress and the Kansas Legislature to adopt appropriate legislation to provide reasonable and affordable health care.

The convention also tackled a topic that has appeared on a number of diocesan convention agendas around the country this fall — millennium development goals. They were presented in the form of a resolution from the northwest convocation calling for the creation of a diocesan Commission on Global Reconciliation. That body would have created a diocesan study program dealing with eight topics including poverty, disease and global development; as well as a mandate for giving from the diocesan budget of about $9,000 in 2007 to national agencies that support these development goals.

The resolution was defeated, in large part because of concerns about privacy in a required database of giving at the individual, parish and diocesan level that would be used to verify that giving reached the 0.7 percent of budget level required by the resolution.

Fran McKendree wowed delegates with an after-dinner concert Friday night at the conclusion of diocesan convention. He also led Saturday's Diocesan Gathering. Photo by Melodie Woerman

A festive gathering

Friday’s debates gave way to music and sharing on Saturday as McKendree led clergy, delegates and a few dozen guests at the first-ever diocesan “Gathering.” Hundreds of brightly-colored balloons decorated the hotel ballroom and swayed along with delegates as they sang and clapped under McKendree’s tutelage.

Using songs from around the world, he asked attenders to exchange greetings with many people around the room, to create bonds of friendship and connection within the larger group.

At the end of the day, Bishop Wolfe celebrated the convention Eucharist. In his sermon he recalled Jesus sending his disciples out in mission and asked, “What’s holding us back? Let’s tell our friends about what’s going on in our lives, and then tell our families and then let’s go out into the world and tell everyone, everywhere, all the time. Tell what you know is true.”