The Episcopal Network for Stewardship/TENS

Conference: Generosity +Mission

April 23-26 2007

Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom

Report by B.J. Deering, Ph.D.

Grace Episcopal Church, Muncie, Indiana

The Episcopal Network for Stewardship/TENS

Conference: Generosity +Mission

April 23-26 2007

Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom

Report by B.J. Deering, Ph.D.

Grace Episcopal Church, Muncie, Indiana

The Episcopal Network for Stewardship(TENS), established in 1996, sponsors an annual gathering where Christians fromCanada, the United Kingdom, and the United States can share insights,expertise, and enthusiasm that deepen their commitment to stewardship as a wayof life and a way to enable the mission of their church. .

This year TENS convened for thefirst time outside North America, in the United Kingdom. The Diocese of St.Edmundsbury and Ipswich hosted the conference, which was held at the Suffolk fairgrounds,site of several of the largest regional expositions in the UK.

Delegate profile. About125 delegates attended all days of the conference.

• Half came from the Church of England, representing 25 of its 43 dioceses.
• The Anglican Church of Canada contributed 21 delegates.
• The Convocation of American Churches provided a European presence of nine delegates.
• The Episcopal Church USA had 34 participants from 16 states.

Attending from the Diocese ofIndianapolis were Bishop Cate Waynick and Larry Waynick, The Rev Canon KathleenCullinane (Christ Church, Indianapolis), The Rev

Walter Sherman (St. Albans,Indianapolis), B.J. Deering (Grace Church, Muncie), and Pat and Elgan Carter (NewCastle).

Attendance was steady throughout, thoughsome UK attendees drove in for selected days. The dinner and speech by theArchbishop of York attracted the largest crowd.

I had the good fortune to stay withten other delegates in a village about five miles from the conferencecenter. Sharing a formerrectory with Canadians from British Columbia, Calgary, & Ontario, andAmericans from Washington state and Wyoming, I had opportunities for informal fellowship.The geographic diversity of this group was matched by diverse stewardship rolesin diocese, national and independent consultant roles; most of the rectoryresidents were also on the TENS programme.

Overall perspective. Eachday began with worship that incorporated jazz music and a view to the rolling Suffolkfairgrounds—a centering beginning. The keynote addresses each day explored the spiritual basis forstewardship; while uniformly energizing, each address uniquely reflected the distinctivebackground and experiences each presenter.

The smaller breakout forums anddiscussion groups focused on more specific stewardship issues, such as“Extraordinary or Legacy Giving,” “Leadership Challenges,” or “Maintenance andMission.” Based on my experience, discussion was uninhibited. In the“Maintenance” forum, for example, strikingly different opinions were offered aboutthe extent to which churches should position themselves as secular community resources—anddemand support from the larger community.. There were also mixed feelings about the ability of localpriests to manage extensive stewardship requirements in addition to otherresponsibilities; both time and training needs for stewardship were noted.

My overall impression is that theTENS conference invigorated attendees, encouraging an optimistic but thoughtfulsense of mission among a group who began on a fairly high pitch already.  Learning about specific processes andprocedures to foster stewardship depended more on the particular breakoutsessions that a participant selected.

British delegates—most ofwhom were diocese stewardship representatives--uniformly commented that theywere engulfed in a novel, upbeat and energetic experience that they felt wasvaluable to them. The Americans and Canadians who had attended previous TENSconferences perceived slightly more weight on evangelizing and less onstewardship “nuts and bolts” at Ipswich compared to earlier conferences.

UK Perspective. I madeespecial effort to talk with Church of England delegates during theconference. They recognize theneed for developing stewardship in their parishes, which face stringentfundraising needs. Three-quarters of parish funds come from parishioners, 15%from national commissioners (who draw on income from the five billion GBPchurch assets) and the remainder from fees (weddings etc) and ad hoc events. Historically,UK fundraising has been based on requests against budget, not on an expressionof sharing God-given gifts. This is a “difficult transition for many.

Besides the need to pay for dailybuilding operations, many churches have large restoration needs (45% of Grade 1historical buildings in UK are parish churches). Villages and neighborhoods often consider the churches thecenter of their communities, literally and figuratively, yet church membersalone can no longer maintain the buildings. (I was startled, talking with an Oxford delegate, to learnthat that diocese encompasses more than 800 churches in 624 parishes.)

The Programme: Setting the stage.

The opening day of the TENS Conference coincided with thebirthday of William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564). The invocation began with the prayer Shakespeare gave toHenry VI: “Oh Lord that lends melife, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.”

The Venerable David Brierley,Archdeacon of Sudbury in the host diocese, continued:

· Let us root our conference in God:

· May the Good news of Jesus re-energize our generosity

· That we might go inspired by the spirit to share afreshin the divine mission of love.

His Thought for the Day provided anexcellent foundation for the rest of the conference:

In this Diocesewe are beginning to learn a new language—a language of glad response to agracious god, a language replete

· With nouns of generous resources,

· Verbs of glorious resurrection

· Adjectives of goodness renewed daily for praise.

We want to banishnegative, pejorative words of scarcity, lack of provision, measuring meagre,counting the diminishing, hat has been called compulsory discourse of decline.

The language towhich we aspire is not seeking to “inform” but to form—to shape andfashion an unfolding g, expanding culture of open-mindedness, open-heartedness,open-handedness; sharing, expectation, possibility, growing confidence andincreasing boldness.

Suffolk does nothave a dramatic landscape, more a gentle undulation; no grand centre or resortbut countless picturesque villages; no hill or mountain top scenery but bigwide skies with spectacular sunsets

a place to restawhile to recollect, to reflect on the unfolding universal pattern of unity indiversity;

to be gentlystimulated and gradually renewed;

to letimagination run wild under the heavens.

So dream dreamsborn of God’s abundant generosity and grace unbounded beauty andbeneficence—offer yourselves afresh to share in this mission of love.

Train, encourage,nurture and support that our vocation might be to live lives and buildcommunities of celebration, ministry and Good News.

The Programme:  Keynote Speeches

Keynote speeches will be availablein an edited DVD. Streaming video of Archbishop Sentamu’s address is at www.stedmundsbury.anglican.org ..   Some reflections, but notsummarizations, follow.

• The Most Rev. Douglas Hambidge, former Archbishop of B.C & Yukon, spoke of his travails in learning new stewardship requirements as a recent arrival to Canada. With dry wit, he detailed his abrupt initiation into the necessity of encouraging giving by parishioners. His ability to learn this skill well enough to fulfill the church mission provided developmental encouragement. He saw a new basis was needed: Matthew 25, where all belongs to the master, all belongs to God. Stewardship requires risktaking, against a criterion of how faithful one is, rather than not how successful in monetary terms. Be a steward, not someone running a stewardship program. He also movingly described his mission work in Tanzania where people’s gifts of whatever they could afford—chickens, produce—arrested him with their spontaneous generosity.

• The Rt Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of North Carolina. since 2000, emphasized that the life of stewardship is a life of faith. Mental and spiritual powers are too small—faith is required. He provided many examples of faith, the conviction of things unseen, (Deborah, Noah, Sarah, etc. presaging Jesus). Faith in action is a link to God, a gamble rather than insurance; it implies risk, but “since I do not live by being right, I am not defeated by being wrong.” Bishop Curry’s dynamic presentation of his reliance on air travel emphasized how we may have more faith than we acknowledge: “If I can trust an airline, I can surely trust the Lord God Almighty, even if I don’t understand him, because he trusted me with his life.”

• The Rt Rev. Catherine Waynick, Bishop of Indianapolis since 1997 clarified how stewardship is more than time/talent/treasure, but rather all we are all the time. What is entrusted to us is a reflection of God. Considering how God uses resources helps us learn how we can be stewards; we must nurture the gift of appreciating nature, inventiveness, as in music. We are not created to run on instinct but rather have the capacity to experience life deeply. We have the gift of freedom, even if we misuse that gift (re: 07/07 in UK, 09/11 in USA) God does not take it away. God’s giving is sacrificial; consider if you could love those who reject you. Jesus gave us everything to get us back.

Priorities, notresources, are the problem. Always assume overwhelming abundance. When we livein conviction of abundance, then we can be true stewards.

• The Most Rev. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, arrived in the UK as a refugee from Uganda three decades ago. He sees manna as the template for stewardship—what we receive will be sufficient, but if we do not use it then it will disappear. What we do with money is a personal and political statement of who is in charge.

His appeal for theSend a Cow charity, for which he is patron, resulted in 6000 GBP in donationsfrom TENS attendees at the final Eucharist, sufficient to buy eight cows for anAfrican village

• Terry Parsons, Staff Officer for Stewardship, The Episcopal Church, USA, provided a historical context for defining generosity. Beginning with ancient Israeli sacrifices, she traced the meaning of gifts from Jewish through Christian perspectives. Paul provides a primer for stewardship (2 Cor 8): I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others,” as he asks for a fair balance between “your present abundance and their need.”

The Programme: Panel Discussion andOther Comments from the Keynote Speakers

• Endowments. An endowment (like Indianapolis Diocese’s) requires thinking of stewardship differently than just fundraising. Establishing a sizable endowment—the “dead paying for a living church” may create future problems. It is important to discern giving, so that giving itself makes the contribution holy. In UK and Canada, there is concern that endowing buildings may make it impossible to close them.

• Tithing. Setting a % goal limits the imagination. But “only Christians fund churches” so giving there first may be essential. Yet god may prompt giving to non-church organizations also. Conferees were visibly impressed by her and Larry’s commitment to tithing… and beyond.

• Women bishops. The election (vs. appointment) basis for U.S. bishops was clarified for the conference attendees, since this is different for many.

• Stewardship of the body. Reinforcing that caring for our health and others’ is a core element of stewardship, Bishop Waynick educated delegates about women’s heart health and how to be aware of potential problems

Conference Setting.

Part of the pleasure of the conventioncame from its locale. For delegates at the rectory, the daily bus ride followedrolling country lanes through cherry blossoms, past fields of fluorescentlyyellow rapeseed, before we fetched up at the Convention Centre. Consequentlythere was much beauty to be thankful for as each day began with worship.

Those staying in Ipswich were ableto enjoy its waterfront and harbor. The city’s early growth came from its portand it has continued as a transportation center. The Convention Centre for TENSis set in fairgrounds near Ipswich’s motor transportation hub.

Conclusion

My time was well spent at the TENSconference, for many reasons that I believe will benefit Grace Episcopal.

• I felt uplifted daily about stewardship as an expression of faith.

• I was educated via exposure to many methods for encouraging stewardship, at the individual, parish, and higher levels. The interplay of British, Canadian, and American perspectives increased the learning.

• I enjoyed the company of bright, motivated, faithful people joined in a common mission.

I thank Grace Episcopal for itsforesight in promoting and supporting participation at the conference.  I recommend that each diocese assurethat its churches are fully aware of the TENS tools available to them,including the possibility of participation at the annual conference.