A Volley from the Canon, #88

A Volley from the Canon, Number 88
WHAT CONGREGATION LEADERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
OR
“Ten Things Your Confirmation Class May Have Failed to Mention
About the Episcopal Church”

During the past half-century, The Episcopal Church has done, frankly, a horrible job at retaining those people who have grown up in it, the first such period in which that has been the case (but ditto for the entire Main Line of Christianity). However, at the same time, it has done a marvelous job of attracting—US!—the immigrants from other denominations and communions, or from church-less-ness, who have made The Episcopal Church our spiritual home. We’ve never in our history had so large an influx.
Something else we have not done terribly well is teaching new recruits and even “cradlers” about ourselves, our own communion. Consequently, we often encounter conflicts based on mis-communications or erroneous suppositions, often brought along from other churches or from no-church. Here are some examples.

1. We practice all three historic ordinations in The Episcopal Church, not just one as in Protestantism, and recognize the order of laity as well. Each of these four orders has its role to play in the mission of the church. They complement one another, but they are different.
We receive the order of laity upon our baptism. Some of us later experience, and have affirmed by the larger church through agonizing formation and examination, a call to the holy orders of ordained ministry; one might then be ordained a deacon, either as a permanent vocation, or as a passage to priesthood. The deacon models the role of servant in the congregation, and has a particular responsibility for raising the plight of the poor, sick, and out-cast to the attention of the community. Some deacons are, in due course, ordained to the priesthood, and are given authority to carry out some of the functions of the bishop in a locality, the “parish,” in his or her absence. A few priests are eventually ordained bishop, to serve as chief pastor and leader of the church in their geographic area, or “diocese.” Yet, inside every bishop, there remains a priest, a deacon, and a baptized person. Each order is separate, and distinct.

2. The Episcopal Church is not a congregational church, nor is it a presbyterian one—Episcopal means “having the governance of bishops.” The basic unit of the Episcopal Church is the diocese, and the bishop (“ordinary”) of the diocese is head pastor to all. Each congregation, from parish to preaching station, is a local branch of the diocese, and it falls under the supervision of its bishop (episkopos means “overseer”).

3. Ministries come under Episcopal oversight, too. Priests serve local congregations under the authority and by appointment of the bishop. (Remember that service called “The Institution,” when the bishop “installed” the new rector or missioner?) Priests are expected to have a high level of professional competency, and thus they enjoy a degree of autonomy in their work. Nevertheless, they work under their bishop, and their authority is derived from his or hers. Deacons, from the inception of the order (Book of Acts), have “belonged” to the bishops. They may be assigned to the supervision of a priest, but only on loan. They work directly for and on behalf of their bishop. And the laity? They also place themselves under the pastoral care of their bishop, in the sacrament of confirmation or reception.

4. Vestries, wardens, and congregations do not “hire” a rector or missioner. Rather, they prayerfully, and with the assent of their bishop, “call” one. Bishops want their congregations to be happy with the selection of their clergy, and the laity are rightly involved in the discernment of the best candidate for their clergy leadership. But the question is not “who is the best person we can get to fill this position?” but “whom is God calling to serve in this role, in this place and at this time?” The “call” cannot be issued without the approval of the bishop. It is the bishop who makes the appointment.

5. Therefore, a vestry cannot “fire” its rector, and the rector cannot “quit.” That would be like one partner in a marriage saying to the other, “You leave now!” Sure, you hear of it happening occasionally, but it is not proper or canonical, and it can only stand if all parties assent to it. When relational problems develop between an Episcopal rector and his or her congregation, the bishop (often through staff) is involved in working through the conflicts and achieving an appropriate resolution—which might, though not painlessly, involve a parting of the ways, but hopefully leads to reconciliation.

6. The vestry, then, is not the clergy’s employer, and the senior warden is not the clergy’s supervisor. The bishop is. Episcopal bishops tend to meet with their clergy often, and to know them well. Not much happens in an Episcopal congregation that the bishop does not know about almost instantaneously. A good senior warden is a friend, trusted confidante, valued aide, and sometimes advisor to a clergy leader, and has an important role in supporting and encouraging him or her. Vestries do well to select a Warden who is equipped for those roles, and not one who has the goal of “shaping up” the clergy—to their own liking.

7. The governance of the Episcopal Church includes all four orders, is modeled after the United States Congress, and is representative—but it is not entirely democratic. In parish meetings, laity have predominance. In diocesan conventions, priests and laity share equally. In General Convention, bishops have equal voice to the other orders. It takes a three-quarters majority in any diocesan deputation to cast an affirmative vote on a resolution in the House of Deputies (laity and priests/deacons), and either the Deputies or the Bishops can block action from the other house. The church is not geared for precipitous or ill-considered shifts in practice. By design, it takes time to turn this ship! Sometimes, it takes patience and restraint to live in it, too.

8. If anyone claims to speak for the Episcopal Church, but proclaims a position contrary to that of the General Convention, that person is misrepresenting the church. Only the General Convention determines the teaching, discipline, and policy of the Episcopal Church.

9. There are no “independent contractors” or “clergy at large” in the Episcopal Church, especially in terms of ministry. Note our striking lack of famous independent televangelists or “Minister’s Name Ministries.” Everyone belongs to, and is responsible to, some ecclesial authority, generally their bishop.

10. Contrary to popular belief, the Episcopal Church is not an “anything goes” denomination. We are not as stringent as the Catholic Church or the Church of Latter Day Saints. It is tough to get excommunicated from TEC (but you can manage to do it). We have learned over the centuries that it is best to allow a considerable amount of leeway in terms of opinions people might express, and even, to a lesser degree, actions they might take. After all, if they contradict the General Convention, they speak only for themselves. We are all still subject to the disciplines of our particular order, though—laity, deacons, priests, or bishops—the order to which we are called by God, and in which ministry we are affirmed by our bishop.