In decline, churches can find their true mission

By Karmel Puzzuoli, Communications Assistant to the Bishop.

The Episcopal Church made news again this summer for its inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people at its General Convention in Indianapolis. Shortly thereafter, I received an email link from a friend (a proclaimed atheist) titled: “The Collapse of the Liberal Church.”

Oh, joy.

Margaret Wente of the Toronto Globe and Mail, wrote, “In the 1960s, liberal churches bet their future on becoming more open, more inclusive, more egalitarian and more progressive. They figured that was the way to reach out to a new generation of worshippers. It was a colossal flop.”

Other critics of the Episcopal Church cite a 25 percent drop in membership in the past decade because of its progressive approach to typical Christian outsiders.

While a decline in the size of the church is unfortunate, I’m fairly certain that truly liberal Christians are unconcerned.

Many liberal churches, even conservative churches that fall under traditional denominational labels (Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran) have seen declines in membership. Bloggers and commentators are scrambling to figure it out. Can we blame the sexual revolution?  Busy, two-career families that have no time for church? Consumerism, materialism, multiculturalism and relativism? Mega-churches?

But in decline, and perhaps only in decline, can churches re-discover the true ministry and mission of Jesus, which was to be radically tolerant and helpful to those who are poor, sick, outcast and marginalized.

Today, Christian churches divide themselves by their own Biblical focus, some tending toward the Gospel teachings of service, while others lean into the epistles which emphasized more personal and societal living standards in a tenuous time of spreading Christianity throughout the ancient world.

Conflicts are there whether we address them or not, and there is tension in the Christian community over scriptural interpretation and integrity, which can be debated endlessly. Many liberal churches have come to believe that church growth depends on a mission-driven model that includes service to humankind as a guiding ethic with on-the-ground ministries that reach the underserved.

Churches have far too long been places of cultural and socioeconomic sameness, where people go to preserve their own comfort zone and worldview. Even liberal Christians, comprised primarily of well-educated whites, need to be careful of exclusivity and elitism in their ranks. (That was one point I’ll concede to Wente).

Gene Robinson, our first openly gay bishop, said in his sermon at General Convention, “[The Episcopal Church] will be asked to move on, because even LGBT work can’t be a tent that we live in forever. As soon as we get a real leg up on this thing, God is going to point out somebody else that we haven’t been paying attention to.”

The Episcopal Church has addressed LGBT concerns openly, to the detriment of some of its membership. Let’s hope that the time has come, or is near, to put the issue to rest, to take for granted that our LGBT brothers and sisters are welcome at the table.

But while we’ve been wringing our hands over LGBT issues, the poor are getting poorer, the sick are getting sicker, and the most marginalized members of society still await signs of hope. As the mother of an autistic child, I can tell you one of the most marginalized groups is people with developmental disabilities and cognitive impairments. Disabled people aren’t at the top of anyone’s list of priorities. There are a lot of people who need help whom we simply do not see.

Theologians and religious scholars sometimes debate whether Jesus came to establish a new religion, or to bring forth a new way of life to suffering people in a desperate and oppressive time. Christian history is larger than our present-day disagreements on  sexual orientation and gender identity. And I think the only reference we really need is that whenever Jesus was confronted with bigotry, sexism, classism, labels and prejudices, he used them as a teachable moment to reflect our own fallibility. It just makes sense, to me, to keep our feet on the ground, as he did.

This column ran in The Battle Creek Enquirer, the Kalamazoo Gazette, and was published in other newspapers' online editions.

Being Truly Progressive and open includes welcoming other viewpoints

Guest Writer: Rick Schulte

If you haven’t guessed by now – through reading some of the stories in The Record, watching the news or simply through paying attention in church – the Episcopal Church has a reputation for being somewhat progressive.

Some would say liberal. Some would even say radical. All are entitled to their opinions. Churches, like all of society, have members from all points of the spectrum.

Personally, the political slants of my friends are as diverse as can be, ranging from left of the Occupy Movement and to right of Rush Limbaugh.

I’ll note some of my own personal beliefs. I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans. I love and hate some of the things Gov. Rick Snyder has done. I like the spirit of the Occupy Movement but have some serious misgivings about its execution and messages. I believe the poor need help and social programs can be very helpful, but I’m not a fan of achieving this through enormous tax increases. I support gay marriage but also respect the opinions those who feel marriage is only meant between a man and a woman.

If only the world was a black and white place, in terms of issues and answers. As most of us know, it’s not.

Which leads me back to the original idea for the reputation of our church, which leans to the left.

A friend of mine, an Episcopalian, recently noted: “Our church is welcoming and inclusive. As long as you follow its liberal agenda, that is.

Those can be stinging words. But many members of our church also see them as accurate.
   
So what is the right answer?

Well, that’s the beauty – and the challenge – of who we are. There is no one right answer. For some issues, there may be a sense of prevailing opinion. But that doesn’t mean our answers are etched in stone.

Many mainstream religions have a fallback answer to questions regarding social issues: The only real truth is found in the Bible. Although many churches have their stance on specific issues such as abortion, gay marriage, married and gay clergy and other so-called “hot button” topics, many of their members quietly question these stances. Sometimes, they not-so-quietly question these stances. Either way, if you mention the name of a religion and a topic, you often know what the stance is on any given subject.

Even in this church, issues are approached differently. One church may openly embrace the concept of female clergy or LGBT acceptance. Others may have more “traditional” views that do not look on either with much approval.

Does that mean one church is more Episcopal than another? Is one church any less right? Of course not. It may be a hard pill to swallow in listening to the views of someone who is similar to you in many ways, but a polar opposite in others.

I have had friends ask me, rather pointedly, why my bishop (Bishop Wendell Gibbs Jr.) simply does not enforce one doctrine for all churches to follow. (If you haven’t guessed, those friends are from another religion). As much as I’d like to see that sometimes, that wouldn’t be who we are as a church. You see, for as open and inclusive as we like to think we are of all lifestyles and choices, that also has to include those who don’t agree with us.

It would be rather hypocritical if we believed otherwise.

Rick Schulte is the Director of Communications for
The Episcopal Diocese of Michigan.   

Episcopal Youth Camp: All About Joy

Blog Post by Karmel Puzzuoli

Camp Newaygo has been the home of Episcopal Youth Camp (EYC) for the past seven years. It sits on 101 acres of land along a chain of lakes in the Manistee National Forest Region of mid-western Michigan. It is nestled on the eastern edge of Pickerel Lake in Newaygo County, where the hustle and bustle of city life, cell phones and televisions can’t be heard.

The quiet our campers encounter can be disorienting to them.

“This is probably the first time some of these children have experienced silence for any period of time,” said Bobbie Traxler (Holy Spirit, Belmont). “They are bombarded by advertising, electronic media, chaotic schedules, and often they don’t have enough time to form their own thoughts. Here we make it okay to be silent.”

However, the silence where gadgets and television once were is replaced by chatter of meeting new friends, reuniting with old friends, singing, laughing, splashing in the lake, and the reverent sounds of an outdoor Eucharist in a place in the woods called Walden.

You find generations of campers here. Many of the camp staff were young campers at Episcopal Youth Camp decades ago. There’s a sense of continuity.

“This is a time bubble,” said Christine Tillman, deacon for children and youth ministries. “We can create a different piece of the kingdom, something that grows and is exciting. We are all loving learning about God.”

EYC is held in three one week-sessions for different age groups throughout the summer. The first week was Senior Camp, held in the middle of June, for youth entering grades 9-12. The second camp, Middle Schol Camp for children entering grades 6-8 was held this week, and next week, the younger children entering grades 3-5 will arrive for Junior Camp.

In addition, new camp counselors and Christian leaders are constantly being trained through the Counselors in Training (CIT) and Leaders in Training (LIT) programs. CIT is open to young people who are 16, 17 and 18 and not yet out of high school.  CITs lodge together and spend part of the time in a classroom setting, learning about child development and leadership skills.  LITs also lodge together with their adult mentors.  LIT is a new initiative for young people between the ages of 13 and 16 who are interested in learning more about Christian-based leadership.  Their focus is on living into a community with God in the center, and to find and name their own gifts and skills and encouraging others to live into theirs.

Judy Fleener (St. Paul’s, Muskegon) has been working at EYCs since the 1970s, and was a camp counselor when Gennie Callard, Assistant to the Bishop for Children, Youth and Young Adult Ministries, was a camper here.

“Every year I load up a toolbox of stuff that will help the kids connect with God,” said Judy. “I am sharing what I have, who I am. I am also the beneficiary of this experience. I get to be who I am. And I think the best thing for the inside of a child is the outside – at camp. Kids who come here for a week can be themselves, nobody has preconceived expectations. And the kids love to come back.”

Each day is full of activities, including formation, arts and crafts, outdoor time, Eucharist, restful time, and even an outreach project, but not necessarily in that order.
In fact, this year’s EYC will make a generous donation to the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry at nearby Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Belmont. Each week of camp made a food item to donate. Senior Camp filled canning jars with beans and the ingredients for a homemade soup, Middle Camp is filling jars with the ingredients for chocolate cake, and Junior Camp will put together a collection of personal care items.

“Sometimes a week at camp gives them as much or more than a half hour of Sunday School every week,” said camp counselor Becky Searles, who also attended camp as a child.

Christine Tillman added that more than camp being a place for kids, it’s a place for adults to understand the spirituality of young people.

“This camp gives me hope for the church and a sense of how the Spirit is moving through the youth. It looks different from what some of us may be used to,” said Christine. “Our youth want a chance to be part of the church and to be loved. They are in love with the church and they are spiritual.”

– Karmel Puzzuoli
Assistant to the Bishop for Communications

Mission to Lexington Reading Camp

Editor’s Note:
Lexington Reading Camp is one of our expense-paid domestic mission trips to Appalachia. It began as a single camp as a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, but has expanded to eight camps across the state. The mission of the camp is to provide intensive remedial literacy education to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade children who are struggling with learning to read. Below is a report by the Rev. Cindy Nawrocki about the EDWM mission trip to Reading Camp June 22-30, 2012. Photos courtesy of Micki Holder.

On June 22, thirteen people from the Diocese of Western Michigan headed to the mountains of Appalachia to help kids become better readers. These volunteers represented 11 different parishes and all but three of them had never attended one of our mission trips in the past. The age range of the volunteers was from 14 to 75.
We spent the first day learning the process used by the Reading Camp Network and what was expected of us. All of the teaching is done in the mornings and included phonics, comprehension, strategies, writing and pleasure reading. The kids spent 30 minutes at each station every day. They had journals they wrote in every morning and then had other journals they wrote in at night. It was amazing to see some of the changes we witnessed in just one week.

The camp experience is not just about reading, and the kids had a chance to swim, hike, rappel, practice archery, make quilt squares and attend a campfire. The hikes included going to the top of the mountain and a trip to a bat cave. Three of the volunteers also tried each activity. Marcia Baker from St. Andrew’s, Grand Rapids said that she wanted to show the kids that even though she was afraid to rappel down the cliff, she trusted the staff helping her and conquered her fears. Pam Sten from St. Paul’s, St. Joseph and Micki Holder from St. Barnabas made up the rest of those three brave souls. The majority of the volunteers went on at least one hike, but those of us who didn’t try it got lots of exercise also.

The kids had movie night in which we watched the movie “Up” and had popcorn. The bonding of the campers was so much fun to watch. They played basketball, jumped rope played hand games and water games.

These children, all of whom were identified by their schools as being at least a year behind in grade level for reading, were finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade. Many of them had never been in the countryside before and had never heard of Michigan. After Rona Howell from St. Peter’s, Montague gave them a lesson about how to identify Michigan by using your hand, they got a kick out of asking what area on the hand we were from.

There are many hopes and plans to bring this experience back to our diocese and to staff a Reading Camp in Kentucky again next year. If you want the experience of a lifetime, come join us. We are evidence that any age can contribute to this type of mission experience. In addition to those already mentioned, we included Jim Gillard from Holy Cross, Kentwood, Judy Fleener and Claudine Dekker from St. Paul’s, Muskegon, Marge Collinge from St. Gregory’s, Muskegon, Adam Heibel from St. Mark’s, Grand Rapids, Tabitha Bellinger from Holy Trinity, Manistee, Mary Davies from St. Andrews, Grand Rapids, Marilu St. John from Zion United Methodist in Ionia, Mary Climer from Prince of Peace Lutheran, Portage, and Cindy Nawrocki from the diocesan staff.