Diocese of BC Clergy Conference # 6

Diocese of BC Clergy Conference Thursday 19 May 2016 9:00 a.m. Session 6 with Bishop Logan

story about a boat –

After WWII there were a number of decommissioned ships on the west coast . One was used to sail from Chemainus to Thetis Island taking families and children to Camp Columbia for a long time. It served Diocese really well in that capacity.

Then a family in St. Peter’s Quamichan bought the boat and used it extensively for family vacations.

Then one day one of the children in this family was down in the hold of the boat and noticed something which he asked his father to look at. It looked like a shell, so the father  phoned the military base in Esquimalt and they rushed right out to inspect. It turned out to be an unexploded shell from the Second World War.

They cordoned off Maple Bay, removed the shell and dropped it into middle of Maple Bay. The shell went off with an enormous explosion.

Boats, ships churches, ready to explode – all those children going back and forth.

Thinking about where we’ve been as a Diocese

Steps in the Change Journey

Step 1 Urgency!!!!! DMRT

DMRIT then DTT (Diocesan Transformation Team) – on the edge. We focused on second part – this parish should close down, that parish should close down. Outstanding piece of work, not to be satisfied with incremental change but seek transformational change

Step 2 – We created Teams – We have built teams and sent them around the Diocese

Step 3 – Change Vision – before I was consecrated as Bishop we created a vision team to listen to the Diocese and come back to the Diocese from parishes and report.

SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats—a structured planning method that evaluates those four elements of a project or business venture)

Before we embarked on the Waller Report, I said, “Don’t bring me back a SWOT Analysis of the Diocese.” I was disappointed when the Waller Report came to us. It is old. It is time for us to be looking at ourselves in new ways

Step 4 – The vision was changed

Step 5 – Broad based action – we asked: “Did we hear you?”  Leading up to the financial campaign

Step 6 – Short term wins – This is where we are now

Step 7 – Never let up – We need to look seriously at how we are going to gather financial resources.

I was disappointed at Synod that the motion at the end of Synod was so corrupted that we lost the essence of it. It left us in a difficult position. Who is going to pick up this work?

What more can we do to make sure the Diocese feels this is a consultative process? We have consulted a ton.

Step 8 – Changes in the culture of our Diocese – that it becomes who we are. I’m not big on buy-in. I want it to become a shared vision of the Diocese.

Peter Senge explains shared vision using the movie Spartacus.

A thousand fugitive slaves have just lost their battle for freedom, their numbers decimated by the Roman army. The survivors are huddled together awaiting their fate. The Roman leader announces to the fugitives that they may be spared crucifixion and return to their lives as slaves, but only under one condition. They must turn over Spartacus, their rebellious leader, the one who inspired these same slave masses to fight for freedom. Spartacus, famously played by Kirk Douglas, rises to his feet to surrender, but before the words can leave his mouth, the man next to him stands up and shouts, “I am Spartacus.” Then, the next man rises up to declare, “I am Spartacus”. Soon every man on the hillside is standing and shouting, “I am Spartacus.”

http://www.longviewsystems.com/spartacus-read-correctly/

Jesus’ vision of Justice and Peace became shared after the resurrection, when the disciples stepped forward.

It needs to become everyone’s vision.

In groups discuss and list: What are three things you want to say to the Bishop coming out of our Last Synod?

Responses – What are the #1’s on your list?:

1.the vision even though people had it for a long time, needs to be distilled down. It is too broad at the moment

2.parishes won’t get behind our financial campaign

3.we talked about practicalities of the Synod – in the planning of the Synod and it needs to be a balance between planning and practical. Need at least one Alice on the planning team for the next Synod

4.when you question the issue of consultation – we support the fact that consultation really has taken place therefore we believe that puts the Bishop in the position where he has the support to take action and take initiative. We support you in making decisions.

5.inviting Synod to consider limiting terms of Synod delegates to three terms only. We unanimously loved Synod in our group.

6.there are unaddressed issues of power between central and outlying parishes that are not being addressed which might help in issues of resentment

7.why are we afraid to invest capital assets in the work of God?

8.Who is the primary carrier of the vision? One person has to carry it does it have to be the bishop?

9.we hear mixed messages. In the charge bishop said, I’m ok to pause and then during Sybod we heard that this is a listening Sunod. But now we hear that the bishop is disappointed that we didn’t vote

10.we talked about timing, who gets money, who spends money – has the process been backwards in terms of where the money is going? If we collect ideas on where the money might go before fundraising. Led us to think about PWRDF and how it operates and lets people give money to things they really feel motivated to give to

Bishop Response

Thank you for the confidence to go ahead. But we are an Episcopal and Synodical system. It is Synod that makes decisions and between Synods, Diocesan Council acts on Synod’s behalf. I hear you saying tell Diocesan Council that it is time to move forward. I do feel that Synod wasn’t ready to move ahead.

Stephen at beginning of Synod was trying to say we want to listen to Synod. I think we made an error when we said this is not a deciding Synod. We should have said if Synod wants us to be a deciding Synod we should go ahead.

Second Responses

1.current congregations are well served by current chaplaincy model and are prepared to accept that the church of the future may need something different than chaplaincy model – does that mean for the remained of their lives will they not have the church supporting them in their lives the way they have been used to? Can parishes maintain those who need a chaplaincy model and at the same time step out in bold new initiatives towards those for whom the chaplaincy model has no appeal?

2.there was a sense in our group that Synod felt rushed. It needs to be longer. 1/3 of the people who show up at Synod are new, we need time to build relationships and have constructive time to consult among ourselves and really report back. Who is picking up the ball and going on from here? What is the next stage? If we are going to do more consultation, who is going to guide that?

3.how do we get people in the pews to share the good news?

4.we need greater clarity about the purpose and results of Synod. We had little realistic discussion in groups at Synod. If you had said we are going to do a pilot there would have been support for that.

5.Synod felt rushed. there was not enough time to discussed the Waller Report. It needed a whole day.

6.pause is ok with prayer and discernment and then decisions to be made by Diocesan Council

7.how can we refine the vision so that it can be communicated to anyone and have a wow factor?

8.timing – the process is really good. But there is a section for the larger group to reflect and for introverts to give input there hasn’t been enough time. We need to gather again so we can get the best response from Synod. We need more time to process.

Bishop’s Response – Could regional gathering satisfy that?

9.we felt Synod was light on vision details, what its for and where the money would go.

Further comments:

So often in our system we are all clergy gathered here. What would be here if we had also wardens and one other delegate and clergy nowhere around? Is it worthwhile having a gathering without clergy present?

The value of being face to face and knowing each other properly. It is not wise to do this re-visit in regional groupings because we have quite different regions. And there is a perception that some regions life and perceptions may not be valued by other regions. It is worth gathering everyone again in one place.  It is so valuable when we really do sit with each other and have the time to hear each other.

If we gather everyone together it is harder for minority views to be expressed. We need to hear the particular views from the different regions.

Bishop

I find people are fare more open to talking about marketing than they are to talking about evangelism. People buy what you do because of why you do what you do.

Video:

Simon Sinek  TED Talk Trust and Why

The very survival of the human race depends on our ability to surround ourselves with people who believe what we believe. When we surround ourselves with people who believe what we believe, something remarkable happens. Trust emerges. Make no mistake about it, trust is a feeling, a distinctly human experience… The problem with most organizations is their own success… At the beginning of any organization what and why are inextricably linked. But, as they grow the what becomes more successful and now they have to hire someone based on what they do. Why they do it starts to grow fuzzy. A split develops between the what and the way. And when this split develops stress goes up and passion goes down. People start saying its not like it used to be. The organizations starts focusing on what other organizations are doing.

 

Bishop

In your groups – is there anything Simon Sinek said that relates to us as a church? that relates to us as a Diocese?

At this time in our Diocese we are in experimentation and exploration. Trust allows us to experiment and try things out. Then we can say that didn’t work. If there is no trust we are not going to make ourselves vulneargle

Symptoms of Split:

• Stress goes up Passion goes down
• Old timers say – “It’s not like it used to be.” “It doesn’t feel right.”
• Focus on competition and less on themselves. We have something very unique as Anglicans. We have a particular role to play in society.
• They start asking outsiders what they should be.

Why should I come to church? Well we’re nice people.

We have to look at who we are and the why.

What causes the split for us?

We have lost our core. We have lost our vision.

Comment

My local Baptist church hasn’t lost the why and they have 100 children in Sunday School on Sunday.

Comment

I disagree that trust is a feeling. It is constituted by feelings. But trust is a decision to act in a certain way. When we buy this postmodern vision of trust we are always trying to get people to feel a certain way. We need to call people to commitment and get over this idea that if people aren’t feeling right it’s our problem.

Comment

In the wedding ceremony we say “I will”

Comment

We don’t actually all believe the same stuff. That has an impact on identity and why we are doing the things we are doing. What is the common thing in being who we are?

Bishop

The purpose of this conversation is to get us to think.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Gone are the days when we can afford to be flippant about the Christian faith.Gone are the days of playing the “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” at the end of the service.

Questions from the Group:

Can you articulate our special role as Anglicans?

Bishop

Our history, how we were formed through the Reformation. We have a catholic sense of who we are. We are the Via Media. We learn from one another.

Question

There  is a paradox that in addition to being serious, we also need to be deeply joyful.

Question

Humour is a way to draw people in and then you can be serious

Question

what did the story of the boys you told at the end of Synod mean to you?

Bishop

The story was related to September 11 – this is the story:

Two young brothers were asked by their mother to go out to the hen house to check for chicken snakes. The boys checked the bottom roost and it was clear. As they checked the upper roost, just about face high, they found themselves nose to nose with a chicken snake. In sudden panic, they nearly destroyed the chicken house door in their flight to escape. Rushing into the house, they told their mother about the snake.

“Now, boys,” their mother said, “You know a chicken snake won’t hurt you.”

“Yes, M’am,” one of the brothers replied, “but some things will scare you so bad that you hurt yourself.”

At Synod we were scaring ourselves so much that we were afraid to do anything

Question

The Waller Report focused on Regional Ministry. Do you have any feedback for us on that?

Bishop

You work with the folk who are closest to you. I hope when we go back to Clericus in regions you will continue to build relationships and talk about these things. I hope we will gather more as clergy of the Diocese to work together.

those who are not here – I hope that they will be brought up to speed.

I hoped there would be regional councils but it hasn’t happened. I am still convinced there are ways we should be working together on a regional basis.

Question

what are the next steps in relation to the First Nations people?

Bishop

The next major step is at the local level in parishes contacting the First Nations people around them. We need to look at the calls to action.

You need to drop in on First Nations People.

Comment

The elected chiefs are not necessarily the hereditary chiefs. There are sometimes power and control issues. There are multiple issues. It is important to listen carefully.

Bishop

I hope every parish in the Diocese will write on their letterhead what it has meant for their parish to be in a companion relationship with the Diocese of Myanmar. I will make sure copies go throughout the Diocese. That will be the end of our companion relationship.

Question

Is there any discussion of a future partner?

Bishop

We are going to have a Diocesan Conference in October

Comment

What would it look like in our Diocese to partner among parishes within the Diocese? In the next month in preparation for our Diocesan Conference on prayer, people will come together who have already been praying for each other across parish boundaries.

Comment

Partners in Mission meeting 18 June will begin process of discerning what is next. The Diocese of NW has just taken on the northern Diocese of the Philippines. We are open to input and ideas. It is important that we maintain international ties.

Bishop

Dates:

July 30 – here in Chemainus we will gather to say thank you to all those people who worked in Camp Columbia and to say that Camp Columbia in the Diocese no longer exists in our lives

Diocesan Conference – keep dates available Oct 28-29, 2016

Clergy Days – September 29, 2016; October 25, 2016; January 26, 2017

January 9-12, 2017 Clergy Retreat – James Koester

Clergy Conference – May 15-18, 2017

Synod suggested date – April 21-23, 2018

At Clericus make sure everyone has these dates.

Thank you for being here. I think we have come a long way.

We have some serious work still to do. But I am going to make sure we still have some fun.

Eucharist will begin at 11:00