Reimagining Church

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last week I spent three days at Camp McDowell, the Episcopal camp and conference center an hour northwest of Birmingham in the Diocese of Alabama. I was there for a conference on reimagining church led by the Episcopal church’s Office of Church Planting and Redevelopment. For three days I got to consider, reflect, discern, and imagine how the Episcopal Church might reinvent and reimagine itself as an institution based on mission and  ministry rather than attendance and budget. For three days I hung out with, learned from, and shared ideas with people from all over the country who share my passion for new and innovative ways of doing and being church. People who recognize the need for change and transformation to serve the needs of our communities and who believe that the current model that measures church vitality by attendance and giving no longer serves us. It was life-giving and exciting to me, and I came away filled with new ideas, inspired and motivated to continue this work we have already doing to reimagine and reinvent our reason for being, and identifying what God is calling us to do and be through Vital+Thriving.

As I returned to my usual routine this week I have done my best to hold on to the experience and the feelings it generated, and I have come to understand that in order to do the work of transformation and growth we need to take time away from our normal routine to open ourselves up to the movement of the Spirt. And so I plan to invite you at regular intervals to join me in the work of considering, reflecting, discerning and imagining, so that together we build a community of faith that is synonymous with a life lived as disciples of Jesus the Christ.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+