Category: Episcopal Church

What I sent to TREC about ‘the contractor thing’

Kyle

Last week I attended a churchwide meeting convened by the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church (TREC). It wasn’t a “reading a public statement” kind of affair, so I wanted to post the feedback I sent to the committee. I did ask a question that spoke to these concerns, and I’m writing about it today over at Key Resources.

My name is Kyle Oliver. I’m the digital missioner in the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary. I serve as well as a part-time parish priest here in Washington and a board member for Forma, the Episcopal Church’s independent network of faith formation ministers. My comment is about the proposed “transition in the mission-related staff of the Church Center to a primarily contractor-only model.”

In our center’s resourcing and training work, we regularly collaborate with the Church Center’s Lifelong Christian Formation Office and also the Diversity and Ethnic Ministries Office. The local church needs these Church Center staff members. They do a ton of the heavy lifting of forming and resourcing the parish, diocesan, and campus ministers who pass on and nurture faith at the local level. And none of our reorganization will matter if we aren’t forming disciples.

As you know, fewer and fewer dioceses have the resources to support local faith formation excellence. Already there is much more demand for low-cost training, consultation, and resource-sharing than is available, and the situation would get much worse under this proposal. Of course it is possible, though probably not just, to outsource and commodify specific faith formation programs and other projects. But you can’t outsource the rest of what these ministers do, which is provide invaluable support for the many effective networks doing good work around the church.

Networks may not have centers, but they do have hubs. They may not need executives, but they do need conveners. The faith formation ministry ecosystem needs well-connected connectors, idea-bouncer-offers, experienced mentors, and wise stewards of pilot money to help new projects get off the ground. I believe no one is better positioned to do such work than highly qualified, full-time church center staff members.

A marathon, not a sprint: General Ordination Exams

Kyle

Tomorrow through Saturday I will be taking General Ordination Exams administered by examining chaplains appointed by the Episcopal Church. My buddy Mike wrote a nice summary last year, comparing the test to OWLs. The comparison that springs to mind for me, though, was the Ph.D. qualifying exams I took in my first year of grad school. The scope is similarly comprehensive, though the stakes are not as high. In this case, failure in a subject area generally means a meeting with a local examining chaplain and maybe a supplementary paper. Not, you know, getting one more chance to pass it or being asked to leave with a master’s degree.

In any event, I swore after that exam (for which I studied full-time for two months and managed to squeeze by on the first go, thank God) that I would never again get that worked up about a test. Some nerves that set in yesterday notwithstanding, I’ve managed to stick by that pledge. The only systematic review I’ve done is re-reading three quarters’ worth of church history lectures–more than 400 pages in all. It was a bigger project than I’d first thought but also fun and probably worth it. Today I’ve set up my examination files and will do some light review of my notes. And then I will watch the Rose Bowl (go Badgers!).

I appreciate your prayers and good wishes for me and my classmates during what I expect will be a long, but perhaps also kinda fun, week. Catch you on the flip side.
Support me, O Lord, in my examinations; and, that I may make the most of the knowledge I possess, grant me confidence, steadiness, honesty, and a quiet mind. Amen.
(Prayer courtesy of fellow test-taker Jo Belser.)

VTS Forum Event Next Week

Kyle

I don’t write much here about my job as coordinator of the VTS Forum Hour, but we’ve got a big event next week that I’m trying to promote as widely as possible. Plus I’m genuinely excited and wanted to share the news! Tell your friends!

Special Guest Next Week

The Rev. Stephanie SpellersNext week, 4/4-4/6, the Rev. Stephanie Spellers will visit VTS to meet students and be part of several special events. Many of you know of Rev. Steph and her work. She serves as priest and lead organizer for The Crossing community, a fresh expression of church within the life of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston, and as the Consulting Editor for Emergent Resources for Church Publishing in New York. She is co-chair of the Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism and travels the country consulting and supporting Episcopal congregations as we embrace the challenges and opportunities of life in 21st-century America.

Rev. Steph’s visit is an opportunity for VTS to get another take on the world of emergence Christianity and some of the ways it expresses itself in an Anglican context. In particular, let me draw your attention to the Tuesday night conversation. We have scheduled this event at 5 p.m. in the Welcome Center to accommodate as many students as possible, knowing that some will have to leave for classes and other commitments. Please come for as much of this evening as you can. If you plan to be around for dinner at 6:15, a dinner that will be worth your while, RSVP to this email and let me know that you’re coming.

Please join me in welcoming Rev. Steph when you see her here on campus next week, and do join us for these events with her as you are able.

Many thanks to the following students who have helped plan these events: Mike Angell, Tim Baer, Kirsten Baer, David Erickson, Bert Hall, Gregg Morris, Audrey O’Brien, and Brenda Sol.

In Christ,
Kyle

Summary of Events

Tuesday at 1: Anglicanism Remixed — Embracing Our Traditions and The Other

How do we balance a commitment to transformation and radical welcome with love for Anglican traditions? Can you keep the baby but refresh the bathwater? Rev. Stephanie Spellers leads this interactive forum exploring multicultural, emergent visions of Anglicanism.

Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Time: 1-1:50 p.m.
Location: Gibbs Room
Contact: Kyle Oliver, koliver@vts.edu

Tuesday at 5: Dreaming with Both Feet on the Ground

A session for students considering ministry as innovators, church planters, and church redevelopers (or anyone who wants to introduce radical welcome and fresh expressions in a conventional congregation). Please join us for an introductory session at 5 p.m. and/or an informal, no-cost dinner around 6:15. Please RSVP for dinner to koliver@vts.edu.

Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Time: 5-7:30 p.m.
Location: Welcome Center
Contact: Kyle Oliver, koliver@vts.edu

Wednesday at 12: Seminary Eucharist

Rev. Steph will preside as we use the Eucharistic liturgy from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the ELCA worship book. Bishop Richard Graham, bishop of the Metropolitan Washington DC Synod ELCA, will be our Lutheran preacher for this service in observance of our Lutheran-Episcopal full communion agreement.

Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Time: 12-1 p.m.
Location: Prayer Hall
Contact: Mitzi Budde, mjbudde@vts.edu

Post-Columbus-Day Prayer

Kyle

One of my colleagues from the VTS Native American Heritage Month committee distributed this prayer this morning. It was published by the Native American Ministries Office of the Episcopal Church. I thought it did a fairly nice job of addressing what is problematic about Columbus Day in a positive and understated manner:

CREATOR, we give you thanks for all you are and all you bring to us for our visit within your creation.


In Jesus, you place the Gospel in the Center of this Sacred Circle through which all of creation is related. You show us the way to live a generous and compassionate life,


Give us your strength to live together with respect and commitment as we grow in your spirit, for you are God, now and forever. AMEN.