Abundance and Want

From the Sounds of St. Francis, 12 October, 2017

We are now into the third week of Stewardship-Tide at Saint Francis, when we are asking you to consider your financial support for the ministry of our parish in 2018.  Our vestry will also need to decide on a pledge in the next few months, how much we plan to contribute to the ministry of our diocese in the coming year. With God’s help, both pledges will increase, so that together we may all be more faithful and effective in serving Christ and sharing His Gospel.  

The pledge we make to the diocese, like the gift you make to Saint Francis, testifies to the fact that our faith is communal, that a relationship with Jesus draws us into mutual dependence on other brothers and sisters.  Because we follow the apostolic model of church governance, we must have a bishop, our chief teacher and minister of those sacraments that connect us with the universal body of believers.  Our gift to the diocese first supports her ministry.  

Our relationships within the diocese also allow us to contribute to the good work being done in Christ’s Name in some of the most challenged parts of our region.  Writing to the Corinthians about a collection he was raising for those suffering from famine in Jerusalem, Saint Paul stressed that Christian fellowship should be embodied in practical support extended from wealthier congregations to those who are suffering.  “Your abundance at the present time should supply their want,” he wrote, “so that their abundance may supply your want, that there may be equality.  As it is written, ‘He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack.’” II Cor. 8:14-15.

While parts of Washington and  its suburban regions, including our own, are very wealthy, our diocese also has churches and service-oriented ministries in rural Southern Maryland and in deprived sections of the city. It is also working to plant new congregations, especially among new immigrant populations.  A few congregations receive direct support from the diocese.  Others benefit from programs offered by the diocese focused on evangelism and congregational development.  

In a time of growing wealth disparity, we need thriving congregations in challenged areas more than ever.  Like several of you, I was blessed to grow up as part of a strong church in a relatively poor rural community.  In addition to giving me a firm grounding in the faith, my home church exposed me to the wider world of music, art and history.  Learned ministers encouraged my intellectual interests, and through church camps and conferences, I built relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds and was exposed to new ideas.

In his recent bestseller, Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance noted that his own ability to rise from a troubled background was closely related to his youthful involvement in a church that presented an alternative set of values to those of the surrounding culture.  He also pointed out a reality that those of us who spend time in challenged rural communities know well: such churches are rarer these days than when he and I were young.  The decline in church attendance of the last several decades has been especially hard on rural mainline churches, many of whom can no longer support a resident pastor and a thriving program of ministry. Under-resourced rural and inner-city congregations are growing older, and many struggle to keep going, with little time or energy for projects that serve their communities  Fewer young people are being exposed to Christ and to faithful role models like the pastors Vance and I knew in our youth.  The gifts we make to our diocese (and through the diocese, to mission work across the Episcopal Church and around the Anglican Communion) are among of the best opportunities we have to address these kinds of challenges.  

Over the past several years, though, we have also been major recipients of the help offered by our diocese.  During our search process, Bishop Budde and Canon Joey Rick both made visits to our parish at decisive times to help us move forward with a clear sense of God’s purpose and a commitment to common order.  

Since I have begun serving as your rector, diocesan leaders and connections facilitated by them have helped us develop a personnel policy, job descriptions for new positions (including translating them into Spanish), and to transition to a new IT consultant, computer server and database (with substantial cost savings on all fronts). Programs offered by our diocese reshaped our stewardship campaign and have helped expand our youth ministry.  In the coming week, our Diocesan IT director will return to St. Francis for the second time to lead an orientation session about our new database.  I have served in four different dioceses.  The commitment to equipping congregations to thrive in ministry that I have found here in Washington, under Bishop Budde’s leadership is, in my experience, second to none.

In truth, the abundance of other Episcopalians in our diocese have, in Saint Paul’s words, “supplied our want.”  Our diocese requests that each congregation contribute a 10% tithe of income to the diocese, but our current pledge of $31,000 is only 3.3% of our operating income.  Our ministry here has been able to thrive because of the help extended to us. God is blessing us through the help of brothers and sisters, and hopefully the time will soon come when we can return thanks with funds to extend that help to others.