The Sixty-Sixth Synod of the Diocese of Saskatchewan

Saint Alban’s Cathedral, Prince Albert

October 16^th, 2009

The Charge of the Bishop of Saskatchewan

PART II

Called and Sent

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Welcome

Welcome to the sixty-sixth Synod of the Diocese of Saskatchewan.  We are blessed to have Archbishop David with us for most of this Synod.  Archbishop Ashdown was elected and installed as Metropolitan of Rupert’s Land at the June Provincial Synod in Calgary and I commend him and his ministry to your prayers.  He is the Archbishop of Keewatin and the Chair of the Council of the North and we are fortunate to have someone of his experience and abilities leading us in the Province and Council.  Archbishop David has a passion for the work of the Council of the North and has brought imagination and energy to that work which have benefited us all.  We are also blessed to have Pastor Dan Haugen, from Messiah Lutheran Church in Prince Albert, with us for this Synod.  Pastor Dan is here representing the Saskatchewan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and their Bishop Cindy Halmarson.  I want to say two things about the importance of our close relationship with our Lutheran brothers and sisters.

We are also very fortunate to have Mrs. Freda Lepine, from the Diocese of Brandon and Archdeacon Larry Beardy, from the Diocese of Keewatin, with us for this Synod.  I asked them to come and share with us what plans they are making for an Area Mission in Northern Manitoba which would include indigenous Parishes in both their Dioceses.  They led a workshop this afternoon and will be presenting to the Synod tomorrow.

The presence of these guests reminds us of the Church beyond our borders.  We also commemorate today two martyrs of the Reformation, Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley.  We are reminded then that the Catholic Church to which we belong is in all times and all places and we ought to cherish our unity in Christ which transcends all the divisions of sex and language, nation and kindred, time and place. It has been the wisdom of the Anglican Church of Canada both to acknowledge that is but a portion of the One Body of Christ and to never act as if it were the whole Body or had no need of the other members.

Vocation and Mission

“I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling.”  “Go and make disciples of all nations.”  The theme of this Charge is simply Called and Sent.  Jesus Christ says to you and me both, “Come unto me” and, “Go ye into all the world”.  We are called and sent.  I want to think with you then about our common Vocation and Mission as Christians.  In Christ we share in a divine calling and mission.  We are called by God in Christ Jesus to grow and mature by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ himself.  We are called like Christ and to be Christlike.  And we share in his mission.  As the Father sent him, he sends us. 

Called and Sent are what we mean by the Apostolic Church.  Church, Ecclesia, means the called out.  Apostolic means the sent out.  So when we profess to believe in the Apostolic Church, we are speaking of ourselves as belonging to the Sent Out Called Out. 

My charge to you and to the Diocese has to do with renewal, with hearing and feeling and understanding and responding anew to our Vocation and Mission.  My vision is of a Diocese that is Renewed, Recalled and Resent.  By Renewed I mean a lasting inner spiritual renewal of real depth, found in life changing encounters with Jesus Christ in prayer and worship, scripture and sacrament, study and fellowship, service and suffering.  By Recalled I mean a fresh sense of the height and holiness of our Christian Vocation, higher standards for discipleship and membership, and this must begin with expecting more of ourselves.  We need to relearn and represent what a life worthy of our calling looks like.  By Resent I mean that we will have a new and stronger sense of our Mission and commitment to that as individuals, Congregations, Parishes and a Diocese. 

We are called to be holy and that means being called out of the world.  And we are sent into the world on a mission.  Jesus in his prayer (John 17) speaks of his disciples as being in the world but not of the world.  Our Vocation is out of this world; our Mission is into this world.  Our fault is that we are so often of the world and not enough in the world.  Too often we think as if we were of the world, merely reflecting the dominant views of our day and culture on questions as widespread as the Death Penalty, Abortion, Euthanasia, the Rights of the weakest and most vulnerable, and the Stewardship of Money, Time and Creation.  And too often we act like we are not in the world, disengaged from the sometimes dirty and hands on work of caring for the hungry and thirsty, the homeless, sick and imprisoned.  The Incarnate and Ascended Lord sends us into the world but calls us not to be of the world. 

So our two readings this evening lay out before us our Vocation and Mission.  We will have opportunity to think more tomorrow about this vocation to holiness which is ours in Christ.  I want to highlight how these two are present in our Epistle reading.  St. Paul writes about how the whole body, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.  There are two kinds of bodily growth or Church growth alluded to in that verse.  One we might call Increase and the other Edification.  The Church, as a whole and in its Dioceses, Parishes and Congregations is meant to grow.  That growth requires that we all lead a life worthy of our calling and that each part of the body is working properly.  Then we may pray for and expect growth, for the Church to grow, larger and stronger. 

Larger and Stronger

There are not that many clear and objective ways of tracking the growth St. Paul speaks about except in terms of the number of people in Church on Sunday.  Effective immediately, I will be asking and expecting every licensed priest to submit reports of the Sunday attendance in the Parish and Congregations they serve and any signs of strengthening in these parts of the Church, including the number of Baptisms, Confirmations, Bible Studies, Prayer Groups and the like and any new initiatives in mission and discipling.  More bodies in Church on Sunday do not necessarily mean that we are growing but it is an easily obtained and read barometer of trends.  And these trends to date are quite startling.  I bring these numbers before you not to discourage any of us but because we need to face the reality of our situation with honesty and respond in repentance.  In 1991 we reported an average Sunday attendance of 1783 people, by 2001 that had dropped to 1423 and by 2005 it was at 1231.

These numbers represent two challenges.  First of all they are not accurate since only 50 to 70 percent of the congregations actually provide an annual statistical report.  Secondly, these numbers represent an undeniable trend.  “The Anglican Churches in the Diocese of Saskatchewan are declining” is how the Evangelism and Mission Strategy Task force chose to put it. The indicators are that Sunday attendance has dropped by some 30% over fifteen years.    The first step forward is always honesty about the past and our present condition.  For Christians this is called repentance and while this kind of honesty is difficult and painful, it is also full of hope.  The truth makes us free.  The truth is that we have been in decline for many years. 

Our response to these statistics should not be despair but rather repentance and the resolve to reorient ourselves and our Diocese around our Christian Vocation and Mission.  We need renewed prayer, teaching and study around Vocation and Mission. 

We do not yet have a clear sense of and priorities for Mission in the Diocese and without that Diocesan leadership it is unreasonable to expect the same from our Parishes and Congregations.  For too long we have allowed the Budget to determine the Mission instead of the Mission shaping the Budget.  Instead of asking, what we can do with what we have, we should be asking, what do we need to do what we must.  Old models still prevail in the Diocese, on Reserve and off, and we are thinking and operating as if it was still 1950 while much has changed.   If I can offer one small and challenging example of the difference between a declining Church locked in a desperate but failing attempt at survival and a Mission Church reaching out to others with the love of God, it would be that one runs Fundraising Meals to pay its bills and the other runs a Foodbank to feed the poor. 

We did hold a very successful Evangelism  Conference in 2006 and we have a very challenging report of the Evangelism and Mission Strategy Task Force on file but there has been little coordinated follow up on these at a Diocesan level.  That Task Force also pointed out that based on the reports submitted by Parishes and Congregations, only some 20% of those on our Parish lists attend Church on Sunday.  They wrote, “This is an obvious mission field: reaching it should form the first phase of any parish strategy.”  I want to echo that.  In May we held a Clergy Day in the Synod Office.  I spoke to our Clergy about the two Commissions in Matthew, chapter 10 and chapter 28 which we heard this evening.  In chapter 10 Jesus sends his apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and in chapter 28 he sends them out into all the world.  I interpret the lost sheep of the house of Israel to refer to those who belong in the fellowship but have fallen outside of it, what we call the lapsed or nominal members of our Churches.  At that meeting I asked each priest and Parish to undertake one new initiative directed towards nominal Anglicans in their area.  This is a focus I would keep before us all for the remainder of 2009, “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” in our Diocese and congregations.  Advent may provide an ideal time to invite these people to explore or rediscover their faith and to welcome them back to the life of your congregation. 

Five Marks of Mission 

In the Anglican Communion we speak often of the Five Marks of Mission.  They are,

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
To respond to human need by loving service
To seek to transform unjust structures of society
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

The first two Marks of Mission refer to what we read tonight in the Great Commission.  Evangelism is at the forefront and heart of the Mission we have been given and that means proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In every one of the four Gospel accounts Christ’s Commission is recorded and we would do well to recall all of these.  Mark tells us that Jesus commanded them, and us, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  Luke, whom we remember on Sunday, tells us that our Mission is the Christ centred, Bible based preaching of repentance and forgiveness to all in the name of Jesus Christ who died and rose again.  And John tells how the Apostles and Apostolic Church are sent by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to share the forgiveness of sins.  He who calls us also sends us.  He who says “Come” also says “Go”.  Our hesitancy to ‘Go and preach the Gospel’, to live and speak as witnesses to Jesus Christ, stems not just from shyness but from a lack of conviction and confidence in the Gospel itself.  So any attempt at renewing ourselves in Mission and Evangelism out in the world must begin with an inner renewal in the Gospel of God’s saving love in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Spirit. 

I was in prison and you came to me

In the summer of this year we received a Grant from the New England Company, which has so generously supported Youth Ministry and the James Settee College in the past.  They allocated $6,000 to assist with Prison ministry in the Diocese.  At the same time we have been contracted with Correctional Services Canada to provide chaplaincy services at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary and have appointed the Reverend Joanne Beacon to this ministry.   Over the past year we have provided worship and communion at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary and the Prince Albert Correctional Centre and some of our members were involved in a very successful Alpha programme at the Riverbend Institution.  I am inviting anyone interested in Prison Ministry in the Diocese to gather at the Synod Office on Saturday November 21^st, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to consider what we might offer to those incarcerated in our Diocese and what training and support will be required.  This may be just the kind of particular mission work that God is calling us to undertake as a Diocese. 

Indigenous Self-determination within the Church

The Sacred Circle met in Port Elgin, Ontario in August and I was a guest along with the rest of the Council of the North Bishops.  At that meeting the desire to move towards greater self-determination within the Anglican Church of Canada and, for the most part, within existing Dioceses was clear.  There has been a long discussion between the Dioceses of Brandon and Keewatin about forming an Area Mission in Northern Manitoba that would be served by an indigenous Bishop.  In this proposal the congregations who desire to be under the pastoral care of such an area Bishop would remain within their Diocese.  I am excited by this “dual citizenship” model which is much like what we did when we elected a Cree speaking Suffragan Bishop.  Archdeacon Halkett has been invited to several of the consultations held in Manitoba and Bishop Mark MacDonald held a two day consultation here in Prince Albert on March 5^th and 6^th of this year.  This kind of an initiative is related, though not necessarily so, to a growing vision for replacing non stipendiary priestly ministry in the Diocese with fully supported priests.  Our Provincial Synod made provision at its most recent meeting for the possible election and consecration of a Bishop to serve the Parishes of Northern Manitoba.    At the Sacred Circle in Port Elgin the Diocese of Saskatchewan was asked if it would be interested in working with this Area Mission.  Whatever we think of this or  any particular proposal, I am convinced that we need to work together for a more self determining indigenous expression of Anglicanism in our Diocese and country with the goal of working and worshipping together as equals and that the current model of non stipendiary ministry is a profound disservice to both priest and people.  There is both fear and impatience about these possible new directions and the need to listen to each other and discern together the will of God is of utmost importance.  Whatever decisions we make, there needs to be a lot more conversation and prayer throughout the Diocese so that as individuals and Parishes and a Diocese we can make informed and faithful decisions. I have applied for and received some special funding from the Council of the North to cover some of the necessary travel and accommodation for these consultations.  

One small step forward for us as a Diocese would be for the Diocesan Indian Council, which I hope will become the Indigenous Council at this Synod, to take greater and real leadership, responsibility and authority in the Diocese.  At present the Council functions as an advisor to the Bishop, especially on matters of appointment and ordination.  What if the Executive Committee assigned real budget and grant dollars and discretion to the Council and asked it to take some responsibility for raising funds for Ministry and Mission?  Would there be openness in our First Nations congregations to supporting the work of the Council and could its enhanced role be a first step towards greater self-determination within the Diocese? 

Leadership Development

The quantity and quality of lay leadership in and for the Diocese is an issue very much before me.  Without this kind of lay leadership, we lack ownership of the work and decisions of the Diocese at the local level.  While I am always impressed by the quality of leaders we have in our congregations, we have failed to attract and retain our best people to serve and lead at a Diocesan level.  My hope and prayer is that you and many others will feel called to offer leadership as we seek to become

  *A Diocese renewed in its Vocation and Mission.

  *A Diocese that is growing Larger and Stronger Congregations.

  *A Diocese that preaches the Gospel with clarity and conviction to both near and far.

  *A Diocese working towards greater self determination for its indigenous members and Parishes.

  *A Diocese where we worship and walk and serve together as equals, as brothers and sisters in Christ.

            I have laid out some hard realities before us all and the challenges that face us in terms of growing in Mission and the issues around greater self-determination for indigenous members of our Diocese are daunting.  At times we do not feel up to the task at hand and there is an evil spirit of discouragement all around us.  We need to remember and relearn that it does not depend upon us and to depend wholly on the mercy and grace of God.  Paul asked in the face of the Mission before him, “Who is sufficient for these things?” And he reminds us, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant.”  Our sense of inadequacy should lead us to trust more and only in God’s grace.  This is the word of the Lord to those who feel unworthy and lacking in the face of their Vocation and Mission, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  To the frightened and bewildered eleven he gave the Great Commission but he also gave them his promise, “I am with you always.”  We gather here to celebrate the presence of Christ who died and rose again for us and who is among us always.  We gather here to remember what is of first and last importance in my life and yours and in the life of this Diocese, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” 

I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling.  Go and make disciples of all nations.

+Michael