But, after all, the theme of the conference was “No Longer Business as Usual.”

Those questions had to do with how we have gone about the business of being the Church and how we might be called to do it better in the future. The challenge is that we are in a time of great change.

How do we do evangelism in a way that works for us? What are the questions we ought to be asking about administration? How do we keep our buildings from becoming idols? Those were just a few of the many questions that filled newsprint and began some conversations that will continue.

A catalyst for the questions and the conversation was “The Great Emergence,” a book by Episcopal author Phyllis Tickle, that looks at the changes and shifts in today’s church and puts them in a historical context. Tickle, perhaps best known for many books that help us pray the daily office, has produced an informative and provocative little book in “The Great Emergence.”

She points out that about every 500 years, there is a major shift in the church – a course correction of sorts – or a giant “rummage sale” where we get rid of a few things. Perhaps the most familiar and recent of those shifts was the Protestant reformation of the 16th Century.

The place where we find ourselves now is one of those times, she says. Perhaps we’ve seen some of the signs. One is a shift in influence. Churches do not seem to have the cultural “clout” that they once did. Fewer people are involving themselves in the lives of churches and often describe themselves as more spiritual than religious.

We have a seen membership losses in most of the Protestant churches (including our own) and many theorize that the Roman Catholic church in the US would show more of a loss if it were not for a growing immigrant population.

Tickle’s book is not a “how to” book. It’s more of a way to understand what is going on around us. She describes a shifting sense of identity among churches that makes it harder to define or describe each one’s style. For instance, churches once could describe themselves with words like liturgical or conservative, or social justice or renewalist. Now it isn’t so clear-cut. Many who have called themselves conservative have a new interest in liturgy. A liturgical church could be interested in social justice or charismatic renewal. And so it goes.

There is, Tickle says, a coming together into what she calls a “gathering center” – a place where many interests and styles converge. That doesn’t mean that we cease being who we are or give up our tradition. What it does ,mean, I think, is that we have a new appreciation for some parts of the Christian tradition that haven’t been on our radar. Some new doors and windows seem to be open across the world of Christianity.

But it also means that we have some new ideas to chew on; some new cultural learning to absorb; some new work to do on our own identity and gifts. And lots more questions to ask.

Perhaps the challenge is to move ahead with some creativity we have not called on before – some ways of embracing and sharing our faith.

One of the parts of our conference that I enjoyed the most was an evening when three of our priests talked about some new energy and efforts in their congregations. One was a serious commitment to feed the hungry in a low-income neighborhood. Another was a series of creative liturgies that drew both Episcopalians and the unchurched. The third was a range of solid and engaging adult formation groups offered every week and drawing a steady crowd.

None of these churches is large, but each is finding its way in changing times. They’ve started to saw away at the great big list of questions on the newsprint, and the rest of us will, too. What kinds of questions are being asked at your church?

Please take time to review and submit your comments on one or all of the below questions:

1. Should the Diocesan Asking (assessment) be a dollar pledge determined by the congregation or percentage pledge amount established by the Diocese?
2. Should the Diocese budget for community outreach or leave this only to parishes?
3. Should a congregation’s Normal Operating Income (from the Parochial Report) be reduced by the amount that a congregation expends annually for budgeted outreach when computing the Diocesan assessment for Asking?
4. Should the amount a congregation spends on clergy and lay health insurance be deducted from total operating income prior to calculation of the Diocesan Asking?
5. Is it appropriate to take into consideration demographic changes in a congregation and/or its surrounding neighborhood from which it draws that affect stewardship or fundraising efforts when calculating the Diocesan Asking?
6. Should the Diocese offer financial management resources/consulting to churches who, upon request, need counsel on whether to pay the asking instead of another budget item that seems critical to that parish – especially if the choice is clearly one or the other?
7. The Diocese has had a Visiting Team support program for Churches having financial troubles; does this process need any further appeal mechanisms for congregations who are suffering financial problems?
8. What changes would you make, if any, to the current Diocesan Askings (assessment) process?

Please feel free to contact a member of the Asking Task Force for clarification or additional comment/suggestions.  Thank you for taking the time – greatly appreciated

The Askings Task Force was formed by Bishop Waggoner in response to a request from the Diocesan Council and issues/resolutions presented at the past Diocesan Convention.  In its tasking the Task Force has been directed to analyze Askings practices in other dioceses and Askings process within our own diocese.  Upon conclusion of its analyses the Task Force will provide recommendations through the Bishop to the diocesan Council.

Members of the Askings Task Force include:

Ted Paterson, Chair, Grace Church, Dayton

Rev. Patton Boyle, St. Luke’s, Wenatchee

George Durrie, St. Paul’s, Cheney

Rev. Chris Hagenbuch, Holy Trinity, Grangeville

Kay Rafferty, St. John’s Cathedral, Spokane

Rev. Dave Walker, St. John’s Cathedral, Spokane

Rev. Stanalee Wright, St. Anne’s, Omak

The world of communications is changing and shifting.  Newspapers are at the eye of the storm.  They are no longer the way many of us keep up on the news.

As I listened to the news about newspapers, I had a flashback to my college years when I worked on the University of Washington Daily as a student reporter and editor.  I loved the routine of reporting—of writing—of editing.  I loved the nightly trip to the “back shop” where we put the finishing touches on the next morning’s paper.

But that scene seems almost out of a history book.  We worked with lead type and an old flatbed press—a bit of a relic even then.  The smell of the ink was pervasive.  The rhythmic clicking of the press was mesmerizing.

After college I worked for the Tri-City Herald for a good many years and shortly before I left for seminary we converted from manual typewriters and lead type to a completely computerized operation. It was a radical  (and often difficult) transition—especially for the old timers who cherished the clunky typewriters, the wire news coming clattering teletype machines and the pots of rubber cement that we used to glue the pages of a story together—another scene from the history book.

If the shift from lead type to offset printing seemed radical, the shift from paper to electronic communication has been monumental.  We’re getting our news not only on radio and TV, but also by websites, e-letters, blogs and RSS feeds—terms that didn’t even exist when I was in newspaper work.

The news cycle is relentless. News comes all day—and all night. It comes on demand.  It comes whether we want it or not.

Commercial news media are not the only ones who are rocked with change.  Everyone who has communicated by newsletter, newspaper or some other form of print media is feeling it.  Our own diocesan newspaper, the Inland Episcopalian, has a copy deadline nearly a month before publication.  It’s a frustratingly slow “news cycle.”

Increasingly churches, dioceses and other organizations are using “e-letters”—newsletters sent by e-mail.  These have a lot of advantages.  They can be sent quickly, can look good, and cost a lot less to produce.  Two of our diocesan media, the “Digest” and “Goodstuff” are in this type of format.

The only problem is that not everyone has access to e-mail.  How do you reach everyone who needs to know what is happening?

Video is another tool that has become easier to use.  You may have seen the two youth-produced videos from our Diocesan Convention on YouTube, an internet video site. Bishop Waggoner’s Christmas message was also posted there.  How might video enrich out diocesan communications?

This year will bring some changes in how we communication as a diocese.  The monthly issues of the Inland Episcopalian will appear less frequently.  There was no January issue.  You will probably see more video.  There will likely be fewer face-to-face meetings and more conference calls, some of which already use video conferencing software.

But we are still working on developing a coordinated strategy.

Bishop Waggoner has appointed a task force to look carefully at the communication needs of the Diocese and report to Diocesan Council. This group, chaired by the Rev. Jeff Neuberger, was scheduled to begin its work in January.  Its members and consultants represent a lot of communications experience from newspapers,  broadcast, internet, advertising and public relations. They plan to dig in, look at the possibilities and practicalities of communicating well and with the best tools we have.

Stay tuned.  They’ll be communicating with all of us before long.

Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.  Mark 13:33.

We’re heading into that “awareness” season again.  Advent always is a call to “wake up.”  To be attentive.  To wait for the Lord to come.

The late Anthony DeMello, priest, retreat leader and writer, often said that most of us go through life as though we are asleep.  I tend to agree with that.  Sometimes it takes a big nudge to get us to wake up to what is really around us.  What is really important.

Odd as it sounds, a used motor scooter that came into my life a year and a half ago has become a window into awareness for me. I bought this scooter (dubbed Isabella) after a visit to Florence, Italy, where it seemed that everyone was getting around on these two-wheeled marvels.  “I could do that,” I thought, remembering that my commute to Paulsen House is only two miles.

My scooter interest couldn’t have come at a better time. Gas prices were skyrocketing and the prospect of 100 mpg was irresistible.  So on those days when it isn’t raining or snowing and I don’t have errands that take me on busy streets, Isabella is my transportation.

I’ve learned a lot from my scooter-riding adventures.  Patience, for instance.  Isabella’s 49-cc engine putt-putts along at about 25 mph if there isn’t a hill.  Don’t even ask about the uphill speed!  For a person who usually moves pretty fast, my uphill journey home is an exercise in slow motion.

But the bonus is that I get to experience so much more.  I can savor the aroma of newly-mown grass and blooming flowers in the spring and summer.   I can marvel at the astonishing color of the trees in the fall and watch the first fallen leaves flutter across the pavement.  I can see children at play and neighbors visiting across the fence.  When I drive the car all of this is there but I don’t notice it in the same way.

But maybe the bigger learning is a more intense kind of awareness.  Anyone who rides a bicycle, scooter or motorcycle (or tries to cross the street as a pedestrian in Spokane) has heard this good advice:  “Always assume you are invisible to drivers.”  This includes drivers backing out of parking spaces and drivers heading forward in broad daylight.

Riding to work without the protective shell of my car makes me vulnerable to everyone backing out of a driveway, drifting through a stop sign, failing to yield the right of way or simply driving on zoned-out auto pilot.

So I’ve learned to ride with intense attentiveness.  (My scariest moment so far was when an adult bicyclist shot through a stop sign and on to a major arterial just in front of me.)  Luckily, Isabella has good brakes.

To be perfectly honest, attentiveness is a matter of life and death when you’re on a cycle or scooter.

I think about the connections between that intense awareness and the Advent awareness to which we are called in this season.  Advent brings a unique invitation to wait and watch – to wait for the Lord, both as we anticipate the celebration of his birth at Christmas and his coming again in glory.  It is more than ramping up to Christmas.  It is ramping up to eternity.  May these Advent days be for us a time of waiting and watching—a time to be awake and aware.

In it a group of men with hang gliders goes flying with some flightless birds, penguins, chickens and an emu. As the birds dangle from their bird-sized riggings, both men and birds all seem to be enjoying the experience. The penguin even flaps his little wings. The tag line is “Every bird should get to fly”—a true stretch of the imagination if you are a penguin.

The program, on Home and Garden Television, is called “Hidden Po­tential.” It features families who want to buy a house but have budget constraints. They look at three houses that are well within their price range, but all of them seem unappealing with features like hideous floor plans, small kitchens, ugly exteriors or dreary basements.

Enter a young architect with a laptop computer who looks at the ugly spaces with new eyes and offers a fresh design, brought to life with computer­ized illustrations. The trans­formations are amazing. Best of all, the remodeled houses are still within the budget.

What do these flight­less birds and ugly houses have in common? Both invite opportunities for cre­ative thinking. If a penguin can’t fly, why not use a hang glider to get him airborne? If a floor plan is horrible, why not move a wall?

Most of us do not think that way most of the time. Often it takes a new pair of eyes to see something from a new angle and offer a suggestion that seems “out of the box.”

In the last month or so I’ve heard about several churches that have moved ahead in their missions with some “out of the box” thinking and doing. I visited a church in Oregon, for instance, that started out as a small group of Episcopa­lians who wanted to worship together in their retirement/recreation community. Later they joined with some Lutherans in the area.

Eventually folks from other Prot­estant denominations wanted to join in, so they found a way to include them with a special kind of membership that had the blessing of the Episcopal and Lutheran bishops. Now they’ve grown to 300 members and share space with the Roman Catholic Church. The small community where they live is unique and their own story of growth and develop­ment is unique as they’ve responded to the needs and challenges of their setting. They practice ecumenicity at a level that wouldn’t work everywhere, but it works well for them and what they do is, well, out of the box.

At a national conference early in October I heard two other “out of the box” Episcopal stories. One congrega­tion has formed itself into a collection of house churches that worships weekly in homes. The priest spends some time with each and they come together every few weeks to share in a community Eucha­rist. That very different worship struc­ture serves this church well.

Yet another church sold its build­ing in order to pour resources into a min­istry that is part of their local mission. The congregation is strong and vital, but chooses to worship in rented space in order to focus their ministry.

Clearly these are choices that aren’t for everyone. But they are creative and bold responses to local opportunities. I’d like to think it is the Spirit is at work, leading them into creative kinds of mis­sion and ministry. These churches were able to ask the question, “What if…?” and then move ahead in faith.

Sometimes a creative and bold response is a lot less radical. At a recent Diocesan Council meeting the Rev. Stana Wright of Omak described how they invited members and visitors to a back-to-school party and then followed up with the folks who came. The bot­tom line: attendance has improved! St. Paul’s, Cheney, a church whose building is not easily identified as a church, added bolder signs and a cross that leave no doubt that it is an Episcopal Church.

What are the creative challenges for us? What are the compelling min­istries that nudge us to think and work creatively, even if that means finding a daring new way of being? What are the bold choices that have made your con­gregation stronger? If you have a story to share, please contact me at kristip@spo­kanediocese.org and I will pass it along.

After all, every bird (or every con­gregation) should get to fly!

Like many of you, I will be filling out at least one pledge card this fall during what we’ve come to know as “stewardship season.”  That’s the time in the fall when most churches, planning and budgeting for the coming year, invite us to consider our own giving toward God’s work.

This process seems cemented into the rhythm of the church year. As much as we talk about “year-round stewardship,” the big push in the fall gets most of the attention. And that gives rise to all kinds of techniques to teach a lot of stewardship in a short time.

Don’t get me wrong.  I know that in a world where we are flooded with information, we need to have the occasional “attention getter” to focus on something important. This seems particularly true in the world of stewardship.

I have had a cardboard pony express pouch delivered to my house with instructions to add my pledge card and pass the pouch to a fellow parishioner. I’ve enjoyed elaborate and elegant meals in parish halls that included a soft sell about pledging. A California parish where I was a member promised us that if we pledged, no one would come to the house to ask us to give, a tactic that was disturbingly effective. I have been instructed on the significance of the tithe and steeped in the principles of proportional giving. All of those things have been helpful.

In each of those scenarios I have made a pledge but, I have to confess, none of them really grabbed my heart. For what it’s worth, my best stewardship lessons have come more simply. Many of them have come from short homilies or talks by laity who have called me back to the basic truth that our generosity arises out of a deep sense of thanksgiving. These talks come out of real life. They are unembellished truth.

They remind me that the abundance that surrounds me – a home, a job, family, friends, the beauty of creation, a parish community, the many other blessings that can so easily go unnoticed and unacknowledged, come from God. They remind me that none of that “stuff” I’m thankful for really belongs to me, but is simply put into my care. That I am being called to be a good steward – all year round.

That’s what motivates me to give to two churches, three capital campaigns and a couple of other things. That’s what reminds me to be a good steward not just with my financial giving, but in every part of my life.

If a pony express pouch lands at my house this year, I’ll happily add my pledge card. And I know I’ll join into any activity my church chooses to get stewardship “on the screen.” But when push comes to shove, I’m with Meister Eckhart. It’s all about thanksgiving.

If you are interested in some helpful websites for stewardship, try these: The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS) www.tens.org or The Stewardship of Life Institute, a Lutheran organization, www.stewardshipoflife.org.

The moose in question, by a grove of trees.

You know it’s going to be an interesting week when someone in your office says on Monday morning, “Did you know there’s a moose in the meditation garden?” And, indeed, there is.

A young cow moose found her way to Paulsen House late in July and was having a nice time munching on the raspberries and napping in Gloria Waggoner’s serene garden at the northwest corner of the yard.  When we called 911 (the preferred moose-reporting procedure in Spokane), a wildlife officer came to track her down. Soon he’d made a call to his department who dispatched biologists to administer a tranquilizer. This would make it safe to move her to a trailer and eventually to a new habitat near Mount Spokane.

Moose have a certain charm. When I was at Glacier National Park in June we saw a couple of moose near Many Glacier, each followed by a small army of curious tourist-photographers who seemed oblivious to the dangers of following a moose too closely. They crunched through the underbrush with zoom lenses, looking for that perfect close-up.

Urban moose are even more fascinating.  We get used to seeing skunks and raccoons and even the occasional coyote in town, but a moose is an exotic and intriguing beast. And a very big one. It takes a lot of will power (and good sense) not to follow them around like moose groupies.

I wondered, watching this lovely creature make herself at home in the garden, if when the city folk are going to the lake for the summer the moose were vacationing in the city.

The young officer spent most of the morning monitoring our moose as she wandered from the garden to the lawn to the grove of trees near Canterbury Court. We tried to be quiet and stay out of the way so that she didn’t get ’spooked’ and run into the street.

By the time the biologists and some other helpers arrived, the moose had disappeared into a thicket and, when she emerged, they administered the tranquilizer. Unfortunately, tranquility did not come right away. She bolted into the street and into a passing pickup truck. Fortunately, neither driver nor moose was hurt.

When the tranquilizer took hold our  moose collapsed near the cathedral, just outside Dean Bill Ellis’ home. The biologists and their helpers placed her in the trailer and into the care of the wildlife folks.  Just another day at the office.

Summer can be like that. Full of surprises. On a hot day in July when there were worries about the economy; when the Lambeth conference was going full-steam ahead; when our morning prayers remembered wars, disasters, famines and poverty, one of God’s magnificent creatures changed the subject for a couple of hours.  And a great big animal helped us to appreciate anew the wonders of creation.

Well, you get the idea.  The sky’s the limit.

However, not until the 1960s did we begin to see women serving on vestries, reading lessons in church services, serving as delegates to diocesan conventions and deputies to General Convention, and being ordained as deacons.  The first women were ordained priests in 1977; we didn’t see women as bishops until the late 1980s.  The idea that women could exercise pretty much any ministry in the Church is a fairly recent one.

That’s why an elaborate framework for the ministries of women evolved, most often known as the Episcopal Church Women (ECW).  First called the “Women’s Auxiliary,” ECW was a way for women to exercise leadership, participate in a variety of ministries and enjoy the companionship and collaboration of other women in a time when formal ministry opportunities were not open to them.  ECW, which still has its own Triennial meeting alongside the General Convention, was a parallel structure at every level of the Church.

The good news is that ECW is still with us – looking a bit different that it once did, but still offering many opportunities for women to engage in ministry and fellowship.  Some churches in this diocese still have active and involved ECW groups. But in other places women have opted out of the organization, wondering if it has outlived its usefulness.  Not too long ago, the diocesan structure for ECW was discontinued.

This brief history was the backdrop to a meeting, “Good Wine and Fresh Wineskins,” in May. Bishop Waggoner invited women to talk about what the ministries of women look like – and how to best support them.  More than 40 women from around the diocese gathered at St. John’s Cathedral for that Friday-Saturday conversation.

They talked about what they had valued in women’s ministry over the years, noted what is missing today, looked at the challenges of change and considered what the future might hold.  They wondered how they might involve younger women and what kind of structure would assist women in local congregations.

As I listened to the spirited conversation, several things seemed clear.  The first is that these are women who “get” ministry.  They are living into their baptisms and doing so with enthusiasm.  Another is that they value ministries of outreach and compassion.  Historically women’s groups have put massive energy into a variety of outreach ministries and this is still true today.  These women also enjoy being together, whether for a project, a meeting or simply a time to visit.  And spirituality is at the center of who they are.  They are shaped by their faith.

The tricky part is discovering if and how some diocesan structure can support and encourage the ministries of women and what that might look like in a culture of ministry where so many more options exist. The spring meeting wasn’t the end of the conversation.  A second gathering is tentatively planned for October.  So stay tuned for more on what is emerging in the ministry of women in the Diocese of Spokane.