Have you unified your diocese today?
Have you unified your diocese today? Of all of our diocesan mission imperatives, unifying the Diocese may be the most interesting challenge.
There is a lot of diocesan geography in eastern Washington and north Idaho (or was that east Washington and northern Idaho?). There are deaneries where you can drive for hours between congregations. We have congregations in two states. Don’t even think about how long it takes to drive from Grangeville, ID, to Roslyn, WA!
But we are making some progress on the “uniting” front. For instance, the Communications Committee of the Diocese recently hammered out a plan to link us together more effectively. And some of the work is well underway.
A recent computer upgrade at the diocesan office will expand our capacity to improve e-mail and web page communications. The Inland Episcopalian, wrapped around Episcopal Life, continues to expand its reach into the Diocese. Three newsletters go out regularly via e-mail: the Digest, with calendar information and coming events; a bishop’s newsletter; and Goodstuff, a compilation of resources and educational opportunities. All of those strive to be “connectors” as they inform congregational leaders of news and events.
Our diocesan events are always part of the “uniting” effort. We come together each year in a convention that moves beyond a business meeting by offering workshops and conversations on a variety of topics. There is a lot of opportunity during a convention weekend to get to know folks from across the Diocese.
The Diocesan Commission on Theological Education gathers students from many congregations who are preparing for some kind of ministry. Our clergy conference and clergy retreat bring most of the clergy together for three or four days twice a year for prayer, worship, learning and the joy of being together. A variety of diocesan commissions and committees gathers together members from every corner of the Diocese.
The list goes on and on: youth events, Camp Cross, the endowment campaign “Renewing our Mission,” and more.
But there are a couple of much more subtle ways we work at being more connected. One is the diocesan cycle of prayer, used in most of our churches. Every week we pray for one congregation or ministry group, offering to God a thanksgiving for their ministry. Even if we’ve never visited Christ Church, Zillah, or St. Mary’s, Bonner’s Ferry, or St. John’s Cathedral, we hold their members in prayer.
The other subtle way has to do with visual images. A few years ago the leadership of the Cathedral asked each congregation to make a banner that was to be hung in the cathedral for its 75th anniversary celebration. Those colorful banners were designed by the congregations, beautifully crafted, and they now hang in the cathedral nave. The original plan was to return them to the congregations that made them, but they remain in the cathedral’s nave, reminding everyone that the cathedral belongs to the whole Diocese. At every worship service and every other event in the cathedral, the people who gather there are “surrounded” by the Diocese.
On a smaller scale, the chapel at Paulsen House has a new diocesan focus with photographs from each deanery of the Diocese: rolling hills south of Spokane after a snowfall; brilliant red cherries from the Yakima Valley; dry falls in the Wenatchee Deanery; an early-morning scene of the Columbia River near Richland in the Snake River Deanery; Lake Pend Orielle in the Kootenai Deanery; and a red barn in the farm country of the Palouse in the Clearwater Deanery. As the Bishop and staff gather for prayer each morning they, too, are surrounded by the Diocese.
Uniting the Diocese is a big job because we are a big, diverse diocese. But little by little, we’re working on it. How do you find your part in this effort?
