The Harvest, May-June 2012

New students prompt KSM format change

By Melodie WoermanEditor, The Harvest

In what he called “one of the more difficult decisions” he’d made in his eight years in office, Bishop

Dean Wolfe on May 10 announced a restructuring of the diocesan staff that resulted in the elimination of two positions.

Char DeWitt, the director of development and stew-ardship, and the Rev. Susan Terry, one of the diocese’s two campus missioners, concluded their service to the diocese on May 15.

In a message sent by email to diocesan clergy, lay leaders and others and posted on the diocesan web-site, Bishop Wolfe said the move was made to return the use of endowment income to a more sustainable level.

He said, “In recent years we have relied more heavily on endowment income to help make up shortfalls coming from declining parish revenue and the loss of a significant individual gift to the diocese.”

This restructuring, he said, will result in the budget being funded from a less aggressive draw on endowment

income, along with parish apportion-ments.

According to diocesan comptroller Jay Currie, the move will save the dio-cese about $175,000 in 2013, includ-ing salaries, benefits and associated program costs.

The bishop said he and others involved with the diocese’s finances explored other options before reach-ing this decision.

As with most churches, more than half of the dioc-esan yearly budget of $1.8 million is devoted to staff salaries and benefits, and he said cuts to program areas alone wouldn’t have yielded the savings needed.

There was discussion of raising parish apportion-ments, he said, but ulti-mately “it became clear we needed to restructure our ministry.”

B i s h o p Wo l f e s a i d the two staff positions that were eliminated were in

no way “superfluous to our work.” He praised DeWitt’s work in rais-ing $3.3 million in the Crossroads campaign and said Terry was

(Please see Restructuring, page 3)

Staff restructuring eliminates two positions

Inside The Harvest

Conference center renovations are in full swing

Photo by Melodie Woerman

A worker nails plywood sheeting to the roof of the Bethany Place Conference Center in Topeka May 22 before new shingles are put in place. The new roof is one of the many renovations underway in the building.

Char DeWitt

The Rev. Susan Terry


The Kansas School for Ministry has an-nounced its schedule of classes for the 2012-2013 academic year, along with a

switch in format prompted by a group of new students from neighboring dioceses.

Classes will begin on Aug. 11, with students meeting from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. In recent years the schedule fol-lowed a Friday-evening-to-Saturday-evening format.

The Rev. Andrew Grosso, KSM’s coordina-tor, said the arrival this fall of seven students from the dioceses of Western Kansas and West Missouri prompted the change, to allow them more time to drive to Topeka, where all classes take place, without taking time off work. He expects 11 or 12 students from the Diocese of Kansas, also.

Grosso said the idea of students from neigh-boring dioceses attending KSM was born in the summer of 2011, when Bishop Michael Milliken of Western Kansas and Bishop Mar-tin Field of West Missouri attended a regional conference on pre-ordination formation the school sponsored. After the two men learned what KSM had to offer, they and Bishop Dean Wolfe, along with representatives of the three dioceses, began discussing how they all could better cooperate to educate people for ordina-tion and specific lay ministries.

Grosso said four new faculty members from


Construction is well underway at the Bethany Place Conference Center in Topeka, to remodel the 137-year-old building into modern facilities

to house students at the Kansas School for Ministry and others using the space for meetings and retreats.

The work is expected to cost about $400,000 and is the first project to begin using proceeds from the $3.3 million donated to the Crossroads capital campaign.

A ceremonial “plaster breaking” took place in mid-April, and a new roof was put on in late May. Since then the interior of the second floor has been gutted, and the outline of new walls is taking shape as studs are installed.

While the building has served as overnight housing for nearly 30 years, the remodeled facility will provide many upgrades, including a first floor bedroom and bathroom with disability access, three new bathrooms on the second floor, new mechanical and electrical systems, greater energy efficiency, and an upgraded kitchen.

It also will increase the number of sleeping beds from 12 to 20, to better serve KSM students who are prepar-ing for ordination as priests or deacons or engaged in lay ministry training, as well as parish groups that want to use it for meetings or retreats. It also will have five full bathrooms and one half bath.

Rob Junk, the project’s architect, said he and MarLan, the Lawrence-based construction company doing the renovations, are working with state historic preservation officials on approval of new energy-efficient windows that will be installed throughout the conference center.

(Please see Center, page 3)

(Please see KSM, page 4

From the bishopBishop Wolfe offers the bad news, and some good news, too, in the recent “Re-port on the State of the Church.” Page 2

UTO grantEpiscopal Social Services/Venture House in Wichita has been awarded a United Thank Offering Grant of more than

$21,000 to help enhance its rep-resentative payee program through new computers and software. Page 3

MegaCampMore than 200 campers, plus nearly 50 adult volunteers, helped make this year’s week of MegaCamp another big success. Add in lots of fun out-door activities, and you know why it’s so popular. Page 5

Six new deaconsBishop Wolfe ordained six people as deacons in a service at Grace Cathedral June 2. Page 6

First refugee family arrivalThe Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry has received word its first refu-gee family, this one from Burma, will be arriving soon. Executive Director Shan-non Mahan says the obstacles they’ll face are enormous. Page 6

‘thelo’Young adults who are part of the Diocese of Kansas campus ministry program spent a week in Wichita in May doing hands-on ministry and learning more about urban poverty. Page 7

Around the dioceseLearn about the 35th anniversary party for St. Jude’s, Wellington, and how St. Andrew’s, Derby, helped tornado victims feel just a bit more loved — and lots more news from parishes across the dio-cese. Page 8

Twitter and zombiesAuthor and professor Eliza-beth Drescher looks at what zombies and the people who like them can teach the church about popular culture. She speaks at St.

Michael’s, Mission, in July. Page 9

Bishops call for aidBishop Wolfe was one of 102 bishops who asked President Barack Obama to work to restore United Nations funding for an Episcopal hospital in Gaza that serves all faiths. Page 10

General ConventionLearn who’s going to the 77th General Convention in India-napolis from the Diocese of Kansas and what issues await them. Page 11

2 • The Harvest • May/June 2012

Publisher: The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe, BishopEditor: Melodie Woerman

A member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Communi-cators, The Harvest is published six times a year by the Office of Communications of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas: February, April, June, August, October and December.

Stories, letters and photos are welcome. They will be used on a space-available basis and are subject to editing. Send all material (preferably in electronic format or by email) to:

Melodie Woerman, editorThe Harvest

835 SW Polk St.Topeka, KS 66612-1688phone: (800) 473-3563

fax: (785) [email protected]

Send address changes to:Receptionist

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POSTMASTER:Send address changes to

Episcopal Diocese of Kansas835 SW Polk St.

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The Anglican CommunionA global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of CanterburyThe Most Reverend and Right Honorable Rowan Williams

Lambeth Palace, London WE1 7JU, United Kingdomwww.anglicancommunion.org

Episcopal seat: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England

The Episcopal ChurchA community of 2 million members in 110 dioceses in 16 countries in the Americas and abroad.

Presiding BishopThe Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori

815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017(800) 334-7626

www.episcopalchurch.orgEpiscopal seat: Washington National Cathedral,

Washington, D.C.

The Episcopal Diocese of KansasA community of 12,000 members in 46 congregations, two diocesan institutions and one school in eastern Kansas.

BishopThe Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe

835 SW Polk Street, Topeka, KS 66612-1688(785) 235-9255(800) 473-3563

www.episcopal-ks.orgEpiscopal seat: Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Topeka

From the BishopThe Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe

State of the Episcopal Church offers challenges

Photo by Stephen Butler

D ear Friends,In preparation for our once-every-three-year General Convention, I currently am

wading through the 753-page “Blue Book” that contains the “Reports of the Committees, Commis-sions, Agencies, and Boards of the General Con-vention of the Episcopal Church.” This may sound like a tedious assignment, but if you love the Epis-copal Church, there are several reports well worth reading by any committed Episcopalian.

In my opinion, one of the more important re-ports is the “House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church,” a 32-page report chock full of numbers, charts and graphs regarding statistical trends for our denomination.

The report begins by saying The Episcopal Church, like all mainline churches, is “undergoing transition.” Technology is changing the way we communicate and meet, and “the corporate struc-ture and mind set,” so prevalent in the 1950s and 60s when all mainline denominations experienced a strong growth spurt, no longer is the dominant organizational model.

To be sure there are “encouraging signs” in the church, and the report refers to Episcopal Relief and Development’s strong response to recent domestic and international natural disasters — hur-ricanes, floods and earthquakes — as well as to the agency’s continuing response to human need around the globe.

Also mentioned is the strength of the Church Pension Group as a provider of “cost-effective retirement, health and life insurance benefits to clergy and lay employees,” as well as the tireless work of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies.

Finally, the committee notes, “the level of angst about inter-Anglican Communion and global rela-tions which has dominated conversations in the Church for several triennia, appears to be easing.”

This is all very good news.

But the not-so-good newsBut then the committee proceeds to report their

hard findings. In the past 10 years, “the Church has seen a 16 percent decrease in active member-ship and a 23 percent decrease in average Sunday attendance. Easter attendance is down 21 percent, and the number of domestic parishes and missions went from 7,095 in 2006 to 6,794 parishes in 2010, a net loss of 301 parishes in a four year period.

“The advanced and still advancing age of the Church’s membership, combined with a low birth rate, means that the Church loses the equivalent of one diocese per year through deaths over births. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s and even into the 1990s, the Church gained more adult members than lost through persons changing denominations (particularly former Roman Catholics.)

“In the fairly recent past, more people joined The Episcopal Church than left it, making up most, but not all, of the natural decline among participat-ing adult members until recently. This is no longer the case.”

The report notes, “51 percent of Episcopalians are in the categories 50-64 and 65+ years of age, significantly higher than the age structure of other mainline denominations. Only 28 percent of Epis-copalians are between the ages of 1-34.”

The declining statistics in membership and participation were paralleled by a decline in plate and pledge giving in 2008, 2009 and 2010, a trend exacerbated by a global economic crisis.

“Nevertheless,” the committee notes, “the Church should be reminded that God continues to provide a blessing of what many would regard as abundance. Total operating income reported by all congregations for 2010 was over $1.6 billion;

by all dioceses, $197 million; and for Churchwide operations, $41 million.”

While the 2010 Survey of Episcopal Congre-gations indicates 43 percent of parishes reported serious conflict over the issue of the ordination of gay clergy (40 percent indicated some people left, and 19 percent reported some people withheld funds), “as always, conflict over clergy leadership is the single most disruptive form of conflict that churches experience.”

Finances and budget, the priest’s leadership style, how worship is conducted, program priori-ties and the behavior of other members or par-ticipants added up to surpass the ordination of gay clergy as the primary sources of conflict in congregations in the last five years.

This corresponds to our experience in the Epis-copal Diocese of Kansas.

Fewer priests are being ordainedThere has also been a steady decrease in the

number of priests ordained since 2005 and an in-crease in the number of retirements. In 2005 there were 406 priests ordained, and in 2010 there were 247 priests ordained. In 2005 there were 308 re-tirements, and in 2010 there were 417 retirements.

The average age of priests at ordination is currently 46.4 years, and, “older clergy at ordina-tion makes it more difficult for churches to attract young persons.” 55.6 percent of all congregations now depend upon part-time or non-stipendiary clergy or have no called or assigned priest!

The committee suggests there are a variety of trends to monitor concerning clergy data. The age of clergy leadership is “potentially a significant factor for growing the Church,” and “with the av-erage age of ordinations in the 40s, it means there are fewer and fewer long ministry careers.”

Learning to lead a congregation takes time and experience, and “fewer opportunities to serve in assisting roles under a mentoring rector suggest another area for further study and potentially a new focus for bishops and diocesan staffs.”

The report also highlights the “rising and shocking number of congregations without clergy leadership or the only pastoral leadership is pro-vided by retired clergy.”

The House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church concludes, “The decline in numbers of parishes and missions seems to be matching the decline in ordinations. Unless there is some sort of intervention, such as a Churchwide church

(Please see Bishop, page 3)

May/June 2012 • The Harvest • 3

(Continued from page 1)

instrumental in establishing the in-novative campus ministry model the diocese now employs.

He said that in this transition he sought to be generous and that he and others would do all they could to assist DeWitt and Terry in the coming weeks.

Going forwardBishop Wolfe said that as a

result of this move, the diocese will have to rely more heavily on finding and training lay leaders for ministry.

He said he also will be pursu-ing “pioneering partnerships with other dioceses and denomina-tions” where those exist.

He said, “We cannot do more with less, but we can conduct our ministries with greater clarity, creativity and collaboration.”

The Rev. Michael Bell will continue as campus missioner, he said, now with responsibility for all the efforts to reach college campuses in the diocese. Bell will work with the paid campus interns at Kansas State University and the Universality of Kansas, as well as peer ministers on all the campuses.

Bishop Wolfe said Bell will continue to work “to connect parishes to the campuses in their communities,” as well as further refining how campus ministry will be carried out.

To continue to solicit addi-tional gifts to support the Kansas School for Ministry, which is the

focus of the Crossroads campaign, the bishop said he’d rely on the use of some development consultants to assist him.

“We do not intend to lose the hard-won progress we have made in these ministries,” he said.

Time of transitionBishop Wolfe said that this

decision comes in the midst of discussions across the Episcopal Church on how to accomplish its mission with fewer full-time, professional staff members.

He noted that eliminating two positions from an 11-member full-time staff represents a real challenge for the Episcopal Dio-cese of Kansas, but he said that when challenges have arisen in the past, “they have all turned out to be opportunities to pursue our mission — to know Christ and to make Christ known — in new and more faithful ways. This moment is no different.”

“Together,” he said, “we will continue to implement our mis-sion to bring Christ to a world desperate to know of God’s love and grace.” v


planting initiative, The Episco-pal Church will become more and more a denomination of predominately part-time clergy and single-cleric churches with clergy becoming, in the words of Dr. Matthew Prince, ‘chaplains to the retired.’”

On the right trackMost people would read

these statistical trends with great alarm, and I believe every Episcopalian should be giv-ing thoughtful and prayerful consideration to this committee’s findings.

However, this report also reveals our work to build up the Kansas School for Ministry and our emphasis on training lay people, deacons and priests for part-time and non-stipendiary work is positively prophetic.

This report reveals our efforts to develop creative teams for ministry in small-town and rural

parishes and our church planning effort in Spring Hill are exactly the kind of work we need to be doing!

In every crisis it is the responsibility of every faithful Christians to ask, “Where is God in all of this? In what way is God’s present?”

I believe God is being re-vealed in the growing number of people in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas who are coming to the realization that, if our church is to survive and meet these omi-nous challenges, it will be up to every one of us. No one will be able to remain in their comfort-able pew.

We will need to prayerfully commit our time, our tithe and our many talents to responding to this Spirit-drenched moment.

May God bless you, and may God bless our beloved Episcopal Church.

Faithfully,+Dean v


The building, which had been the barn for the Episcopal girls’ school that occupied the prop-erty until 1928, was placed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places in the 1970s.

It had served as a home for several Kansas bishops from 1916 until 1980 and was con-verted into a conference center a few years later.

Junk said they also have be-gun the process of applying for permits from the City of Topeka so that interior construction can begin once framing is complete.

Besides the new windows, Junk said another energy saver will be an on-demand tankless water heater.

Because it will heat water only as it is needed, Junk said KSM students won’t run out of hot water when taking showers, and the diocese won’t be paying to heat water around the clock when it isn’t in need, as with conventional water heaters.

The accessible bedroom and bathroom on the first floor will be another bonus, since until now the only access to the up-stairs sleeping rooms has been by stairs.

A portable ramp will allow wheelchairs to enter the front steps and won’t require a perma-nent ramp that would disturb the property’s historic façade.

The kitchen also is being configured to make it more functional for groups using the building. It will include new ap-pliances, more usable cabinets and large countertops.

Junk said that once build-ing permits are received and construction gets underway, he expects all work to be completed by mid-October, just in time for a reveal during Diocesan Conven-tion. v

Restructuring: Ministries will continue, relying more on lay leaders

Bishop: Report shows KSM and training efforts are ‘prophetic’

We do not intend to lose the hard-won progress we have

made in these ministries.

— Bishop Wolfe


A construction worker prepares to add some additional framing to the second floor of the Bethany Place Conference Center. Renovations will provide an enhanced facility for students at the Kansas School for Ministry, as well as church groups seeking a place for meetings and retreats.

Center: Building will feature energy efficiencies and disability access

Episcopal Social Services receives UTO grantBy Melodie WoermanEditor, The Harvest

Episcopal Social Services/Venture House in Wichita on June 21 received word that it had been given a grant from the United Thank

Offering in the amount of $21,753 to enhance its representative payee program.

Word of the award was made to the agency’s executive director, Dr. Bar-bara Andres, and to Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe by email.

The grant, which was almost the entire amount sought by ESS, will help upgrade the computer system used to assist payee clients. The agency proposes to buy fine new computers and a printer for its site in Wichita, and two new computers and a printer for its satellite site in the Winfield/Arkansas City area.

It also will cover the purchase of upgrades to the program’s software, to accommodate increased data collection needs and create greater efficiency.

The representative payee program provides

money management for some people who receive Social Security or Veterans Administration dis-ability checks. These people meet with their ESS volunteer payee, who helps make sure bills are paid and basic living needs are met, allowing them to live independently.

In its application for the grant, ESS officials said that in the past three years they had

seen an increase in the number of people needing this service.

Many of the agency’s payee clients have been diagnosed with “a severe and persistent mental illness, cognitive

disorder, substance abuse or physical disability,” the application noted, making

them vulnerable to people seeking to swindle cash from them.

ESS payees serve their clients at no cost through the use of trained volunteers. Weekly meetings also enhance the client’s support network and allow the payees to provide referrals for additional services their client might need. The agency currently as-sists more than 300 payee clients. v


By Charles Everson

The Diocese of Eastern Oregon has proposed a resolution to the 2012 General Convention to remove

the following sentence from the canons (laws) of the church: “No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.” (Canon 1.17.7)

The movement supporting this posi-tion is referred to as “Communion With-out Baptism,” or CWOB. Proponents of CWOB present their position as inclusive and opposing views as exclusive.

Is requiring Holy Baptism before re-ceiving Communion an issue of inclusiv-ity, or is it a matter of sound, theological principle?

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer, more so than any other prayer book revision, emphasizes the fact that Holy Baptism is the full entrance or initiation into the life of grace, and hence the life of the church.

God desires all to believe, repent and be baptized, and all are truly welcome to receive Holy Baptism.

Those desiring Holy Baptism must in-dicate a desire to be baptized and follow Christ, repent of their sins and choose to turn from their old ways to the new life of grace.

Each of the other sacraments, or sacramental rites, also requires that the candidate affirm and consent to various things. Confirmation is only bestowed upon those who choose to affirm their faith through a series of vows and prom-ises. The church puts many conditions upon those who wish to be married.

Ordination has multiple requirements, including age and education. Confession, or Reconciliation of a Penitent, is precon-ditioned upon the penitent repenting of his sin and committing to amend his life. Healing of the Sick requires a desire to be healed.

And so it is for the Eucharist. Holy Communion is God’s gift of love, nour-ishment, sustenance and healing for those who have decided to follow Christ and have been baptized.

To invite those who aren’t baptized puts the cart before the horse and de-prives the non-baptized of the riches and graces of God’s love poured out through the waters of baptism.

In other words, inviting the non-baptized to the Communion rail begs the question, “Why be baptized at all?”

How should we respond when a non-baptized seeker wishes to receive Com-munion? We should invite them to follow Christ and be baptized.

Priests should use pastoral sensitiv-

ity at all times at the communion rail; no one that I’m aware of is arguing that a priest should refuse Communion out-right if they’re aware an individual is not baptized.

Nevertheless, baptism is the entrance to the full life of Christ, while Com-munion is the body and blood of Christ, broken and poured out for his followers as food for the journey.

According to the canons of the church, baptism is the prerequisite for Holy Com-munion, and all baptized Christians may receive Communion in our churches.

But should all baptized Christians approach the communion rail, every time and no matter what?

The church calls us to consider the dignity of the Eucharist. “For while the benefit is great, if with penitent heart and living faith we receive the Holy Sacra-ment, so is the real danger great, if we receive it unworthily, not recognizing the Lord’s body. Examine your lives and conduct by the rule of God’s command-ment....acknowledge your sins before Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and also being ready to forgive those who have offended you, in order that you yourselves may be forgiven. And then, being reconciled with one another, come to the banquet of that most heavenly Food.” (Book of Common

Prayer, pages 316-317). Holy Communion is not a right, for

any person, regardless of whether they’ve been baptized. It is a gracious gift that Jesus offers again and again to his follow-ers who are spiritually prepared to receive Him.

When was the last time you (or I) voluntarily abstained from receiving Holy Communion because you had sins you had not yet confessed, or had not recon-ciled with your brother or sister in Christ?

Let us as Episcopalians welcome and invite all to follow Jesus Christ through the waters of baptism.

Let us also return to a holy Eucharistic discipline of self-examination, confes-sion and repentance so that we all may rightly “come to the banquet of that most heavenly Food.”

Charles Everson is a member of St. Michael and All An-gels in Mission. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and a Masters of Business Administration from Baker University in Baldwin City.

He can be reached at [email protected]. v

Guest commentary

Importance of the Eucharist requires baptism first


the neighboring dioceses will be teaching next year, joining 12 people from the Diocese of Kansas.

Students will include those preparing for ordination as deacons and priests, as well as those wanting to pursue a one-year program of study to aid them in one of the seven licensed areas of lay ministry:

� Pastoral leader; � Worship leader; � Lay preacher; � Eucharistic minister; � Catechist; � Parish administrator; and � Children and youth ministry.

Certificates in those areas are approved by the bishop upon application from parishes, Grosso said, but 10 months of courses can help prepare people for the challenges they will face in those ministries.

These students will take the same core courses as those pursuing ordination, he said.

There currently is space to accommodate those wanting to study for one of these certi-fication areas, Grosso said.

There also may be space for individu-als who want to take KSM classes for their own enrichment but without receiving credit toward a certificate or pre-ordination track, he said.

KSM meets for 10 months, August through June, normally on the second weekend of the month. The cost to attend is $150 per course for those in the ordination process and $100 per course for others.

Fees cover tuition, overnight accommoda-tions in the Bethany Place Conference Center (starting later this fall, after renovations), and four meals.

The cost of books and other materials are

not included.Those wanting to enroll or who need more

information should contact Grosso at [email protected] or (913) 367-3171.

Next year’s classes are announced

The schedule of Kansas School for Min-istry classes, with instructors, for the coming

academic year has been announced.Aug. 11-12: Homiletics (the

Rev. George Pejakovich) and Christian Spirituality (the Rev. Virginia Brown)

Sept. 15-16: Anglican Identity (the Rev. Virginia Brown), Old Testament Survey (the Rev. Dr.

Bill Breedlove) and New Testament Survey (Dr. Jim Lewis)

Oct. 13-14: Pentateuch and Histories (Dr. Melissa Tubbs Loya), Gospel Traditions (Dr. David May) and Liturgics (the Very Rev. Benjamin Thomas)

Nov. 10-11: Prophets and Writings (Dr. Melissa Tubbs Loya), Pauline Epistles (the Rev. Richard McCandless) and Ecclesiology (Dr. Don Compier)

Dec. 8-9: Diakonia (the Ven. Charles Pearce) and Presbyterate (the Rev. Kelley Lackey)

Jan. 12-13: Missional Ecclesiology (the Rev. Craig Loya)

Feb. 9-10: Congregational Development and Evangelism (Dr. David Thompson) and Contemporary Ethics (Dr. Don Compier)

March 9-10: Church History Survey (the Rev. Cathy Cox) and Polity and Canons (Mr. Larry Bingham)

April 13-14: British Christianity (the Very Rev. Bill Wolff)

May 11-12: History of the Episcopal Church (the Very Rev. Bill Wolff) v

KSM: Students prepare for ordination and lay ministries


Aug. 15 is the deadline for submission of items to come before the annual Conven-

tion of the diocese when it meets Oct. 19-20 in Topeka.

By then nominations need to be made for offices to be elected at the convention, or amendments to the constitution or canons of the diocese.

Ten to be electedThe following offices will be

elected at this year’s convention: � One at-large, lay member of the

Council of Trustees, for a three-year term;

� One at-large, clergy member of the Council of Trustees, for a three-year term;

� One at-large, clergy member of the Council of Trustees, to fill a one-year unexpired term; and

� Three lay and four clergy mem-bers of the diocesan Disciplinary Board, for three-year terms.Lay nominees must be a confirmed

member of a parish of the Diocese of Kansas and at least 16 years old. Clergy nominees must be canonically resident in the diocese and in good standing.

The Council of Trustees is the governing body for the diocese be-tween conventions. It oversees all matters relating to programs and fi-nance, and it functions as the canonical Standing Committees.

The Disciplinary Board is part of a revamped Title IV process that assesses a variety of complaints that

might be brought against members of the clergy of the diocese and assists officers of the process in developing an appropriate outcome.

Submissions go to committee chairs

Nominations for positions to be elected, proposed resolutions and pro-posed amendments to the constitution or canons must be submitted by the Aug. 15 deadline to the chair of the respective committees:

Nominations: the Rev. Betty Glov-er, PO Box 490, Winfield, KS 67156-0490; [email protected]; (620) 221-4252.

Debatable resolutions: the Rev. Shawn Streepy; 10700 W. 53rd St., Shawnee, KS 66203-1838; [email protected]; (913) 631-8548.

Constitution and canons: Frank Taylor; P.O. Box 550, Olathe, KS 66051-0550; [email protected]; (913) 782-2350. v

Convention deadline nears for nominees, other actions

Convention detailsWhat: The 153rd annual conven-

tion of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

When: Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct.. 20, 2012

Where: Capitol Plaza Hotel and Maner Conference Center, To-peka

Deadline: Aug. 15 for nominations for elections, debatable resolu-tions and amendments to the constitution or canons of the diocese


MegaCamp 2012

Where friends and fun meet God and the church,

in the beauty of the Flint Hills

Photo by Karen Schlabach

Bishop Dean Wolfe (left) celebrates the outdoor all-camp Eucharist, assisted by acolyte Creed Ekerberg, St. Matthew’s, Newton, and the Rev. David Lynch, newly ordained deacon and curate at St. James’, Wichita.

Photo by Karen SchlabachWhen 214 campers and 48 adult staffers and volunteers get together for Eucharist, it’s easy to see why the event is called MegaCamp.

Elementary camper Amelia Ross of St. Michael and All Angels, Mission, tries her hand at archery under the watchful eye of a YMCA camp staff member.

Izzy Knott of St. Andrew’s, Derby (center) enjoys a game of MegaTwister with other junior high campers.Photo by Tyler Kerr

F or a week in early June, Camp Wood YMCA, nestled in the rolling Flint Hills near Elmdale, was filled with the sounds of 214 Episcopal campers

at the second annual MegaCamp. Along with the 48 adult

volunteers who provided sup-port, young people in fourth grade through recent high school graduates spent a week engaged in exploring their faith with the theme “Prophets and Visionaries.”

Interim Youth Missioner Michael Funston said the theme was inspired by Peter’s description in Acts 2:17 of the church right after Pentecost, in which young people would prophesy and dream dreams.

Funston said the theme was designed to let the campers know “how as young people we were called, on the first day of the church, to be prophets and visionaries for the church and to dream dreams of the kingdom of God.”

It was designed, she said, to get the campers asking how they might talk with others about God’s love and what prophesying about the kingdom of God could look like once they left camp.

They learned, she said, “No matter how young you are, you can do something.”

Campers spent two hours a day exploring these topics, she said, and another hour a day in worship.

While many activities were separated by age group, every-one came together one after-noon for an outdoor Mega-Eucharist that incorporated all campers and staff.

Celebrating that service was Bishop Dean Wolfe, who was on hand for much of the MegaCamp week.

Organized camp events in-cluded a game of MegaTwist-er, with the colored squares of the popular body-bending game spray-painted on the ground, and do-it-yourself water slides that kept young-sters cool.

They also could participate in YMCA camp activities, including horseback riding, a ropes course and archery, which drew a lot of interest this year thanks to the popu-larity of The Hunger Games

book series and movie, in which it plays a key role.

— Melodie Woerman v

Photo by Sue Mason

Photo by Brian DuerksenGraduating high school seniors pause for prayer near the cross on High Y Hill as they recall their final time at camp.


Six new deacons are ordained in June 2 service

Photo by Tom Pott

Clay Center as well as at the Junction City parish.

Lynch and Shaw graduated this spring from seminary — Lynch from Virginia Theologi-cal Seminary in Alexandria,


The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas welcomed six new deacons after they were

ordained by Bishop Dean Wolfe in a June 2 service at Grace cathedral in Topeka.

Three of them intend the dia-conate as their ordained vocation, and three of them are transitional deacons who are on track to be ordained priest in January.

The three deacons are: � Peggy Flynn, from St.

John’s, Wichita; � Sandy Horton-Smith, from

St. Paul’s, Manhattan; and � Rex Matney, from Church

of the Covenant, Junction City.The three transitional deacons

are: � David Jenkins, from St.

David’s, Topeka; � David Lynch, from St. Mi-

chael and All Angels, Mission; and � Adrianna Shaw, from St.

Paul’s, Leavenworth.Flynn, Horton-Smith and Mat-

ney all studied at the Kansas School for Ministry in preparation for their ordination. After two years of instruction, each now will spend an internship year.

Flynn will spend two weeks a month at St. James’ and the other two at St. John’s, both in Wichita.

Horton-Smith will split her time between St. Mark’s, Blue Rapids, St. Paul’s, Marysville and her home parish in Manhattan.

Matney will work at St. Paul’s,

Six deacons stand with Bishop Dean Wolfe after the June 2 service in which they were ordained. They are (from left) Deacons Rex Matney, Peggy Flynn and Sandy Horton-Smith; Bishop Wolfe, and the Revs. David Lynch, David Jenkins and Adrianna Shaw. Lynch, Jenkins and Shaw are transitional deacons who are on track to be ordained priests in January.

Va., and Shaw from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Jenkins attended seminary a number of years ago, prior to his ordination as a pastor in the Dis-ciples of Christ Church.

Lynch has been named curate at St. James’, in Wichita, begin-ning July 8, and Shaw will be returning to Texas to continue working with a church in Austin.

Jenkins has been appointed as

pastoral leader at the Church of the Covenant in Junction City, ef-fective June 15. He will continue to serve as the state chaplain for the Kansas National Guard, head-quartered in Topeka. v


Just 15 months after the idea for such an agency was first developed, Epis-copal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry,

or EWARM, is getting ready to resettle its first refugees.

Shannon Mahan, the agency’s executive director, received word in May that they can expect a family to arrive soon, perhaps as early as mid-July.

She said a married couple (he’s 28, she’s 24) with a 10-month-old daughter will come from a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand. She guesses the couple may have met while living in the camp, where both would have fled to flee the decades of fighting and civilian attacks that have characterized life in Burma, also known as Myanmar, for decades.

Mahan said she has been told a few things about this family. They are members of the Chin ethnic group and have very minimal education, perhaps elementary or middle school level.

They have almost no employment skills and do not speak, read or write English. They also know no one in this country.

“We don’t know their clothing sizes,” Mahan said. “We don’t know much about their health, except that they’ve had a health screening within the past two years. Many people coming from refugee camps arrive in the U.S. malnourished.”

She said she was told to expect them to bring nothing but the clothes they are wear-ing, although they may have a few personal belongings with them.

Mahan said it is EWARM’s responsibil-ity to find housing for the family, and she’s been able to secure a one-bedroom apart-ment in southeast Wichita.

It’s not easy to convince a landlord to rent to a refugee family, she said, since they arrive with no job and no credit history, and the landlord has to keep the utilities in his or her name until the new residents can get established.

She also had to line up translators, not only to help the family begin to adjust to a strange environment but also to be sure they understand any legal documents they’ll sign, including rental leases, bank account documents and, eventually, employment papers.

She’s found two Burmese people who received political asylum in Wichita who speak the Chin dialect as well as Burmese, and two Roman Catholic priests in nearby communities who speak Burmese and Karen, another of Burma’s 135 dialects and languages.

Federal and donated fundingEWARM is an affiliate of Episcopal

Migration Ministries, an official agency of the Episcopal Church that partners with the U.S. government to resettle refugees in this country. According to EMM’s website, in 2011 it and its affiliate partners across the U.S. (EWARM is the 34th) assisted more than 3,600 refugees from 34 countries.

EMM receives grants from the federal government to help fund its work, which it in turn passes on to resettling affiliates. Mahan said EWARM will receive $1,850 for each of the three members of this family.

Of that, $925 must be spent on direct aid to the refugee within 90 days of ar-rival. The rest of the subsidy supports the administrative work of EWARM and establishes a reserve to help refugees with extraordinary needs.

Mahan said Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita has agreed to help spon-sor these first refugees, donating $3,000 to assist after the grant from EMM runs out. They also will provide volunteers to help the family begin to navigate an American culture that is unknown to them.

She said there will be an ongoing need for financial and human support, as more refugees are sent to Wichita to begin a new life.

Enormously difficult taskMahan said the magnitude of difficulties

this young family will have to overcome “is enormous.” They quickly need to find a job, and Mahan said she’s scouring the Wichita

area for work that is “highly visual and highly repetitive,” to accommodate their lack of skills and English.

They’d be suited for jobs like restaurant dishwasher, hotel housekeeper or in some cases a manufacturing line worker, she said.

They also are eligible for low-income government assistance until they find work, including Medicaid and food stamps.

EWARM’s goal is that the family will be self-sufficient in six months, employed and paying their own bills. They also have to reimburse the U.S. government for the cost of their flight from Thailand to this country.

Mahan said right now she needs more people to assist this family in assimilating. Aided by in-person translators, volunteers will begin to explain things like American finances, health care, and child care and parenting, as well as how to cope with the stresses of their unfamiliar environment.

She said she also needs people able to provide instruction in things we take for granted — how to tell time, how to read a prescription label, how to use public trans-portation, how to operate appliances, how to use the post office.

Mahan said the agency also needs pre-paid cell phones and international calling cards, or money to buy them locally.

EWARM needs to be able to contact the family so a phone is a must, and she’s certain that with no contacts in this country, the family will seek contact with people they know in Burma or the refugee camp.

Those wanting to make donations or needing more information can contact Mahan at [email protected] or (316) 977-9276. v

Wichita agency prepares to help its first refugee familyRefugees arriving soon in Wichita are natives of Burma, also known as Myanmar, a country in South-east Asia.



Episcopal Social Services/Venture House in Wichita on May 30 an-nounced that it was unifying its

programs with that of Breakthrough Club, a services and support organization for people with mental illness that had begun its work as a part of ESS and later became a separate agency.

Dr. Barbara Andres, ESS’s executive director, said the new agreement will strengthen both bodies by offering one location where clients of each can access services. It also allows for lower overall administrative costs and will combine du-plicated programs, including a hot lunch and representative payees.

It stabilizes the funding for Break-through Club while offering ESS a greater economy of scale in its administrative operations.

Andres said the unification was sparked by large government funding cuts to Break-through Club in 2010 that affected mental health agencies statewide.

Facing ever-larger cuts to their pro-grams, Breakthrough Club officials de-cided that by joining with another agency

it could reduce costs and maintain its core programs.

Both groups will move into the current Breakthrough Club building. ESS will sell its building and use proceeds to help fund needed renovations in the new joint facility.

“This location will be more convenient and accessible,” she said. “It will offer more resources in one space.”

Andres said the names and logos of both agencies will be on the building, which will expand the visibility of each to its constituents. She said the move should be completed by the end of the year.

Similar but unique missionsAndres said that while the two agencies

share similar missions, they offer some

unique differences. Breakthrough Club fol-lows the International Center for Clubhouse Development model, which offers people an intentional community, “much like a par-ish church,” she said. “It establishes a safe place to develop relationships and live their life.” Members have a greater ownership of the program, she said.

ESS is a more traditional service agency, she said, offering a variety of short-term assistance, including food programs and help with finding a job.

It also serves more people — more than 1,000 unemployed people and 300 at-risk youth last year alone. Breakthrough Club helped about 450 members, Andres said.

But in spite of these differences, the missions of the two groups centers on helping needy and vulnerable populations in Wichita.

The move to the Breakthrough Club space has the added benefit of locating it in a neighborhood with agencies in health care and housing that will offer new part-nerships.

Andres called this new arrangement “exciting” for both agencies and said the soon-to-be merged boards of directors are working to make sure the transition is a smooth one. v

Episcopal Social Services/Venture House and Breakthrough Club will share the latter’s building near downtown Wichita after the two agencies join forces later this year.

ESS photo

ESS, Breakthrough Club join to better serve Wichitans in need

Inaugural mission helps young adults understand urban povertyThose involved in the first-ever “thelo” urban poverty mission experience include (from left) Episcopal Social Services/Venture House Executive Director Dr. Barbara Andres, Daniel Troop, ESS Volunteer Coordinator Lillian Gattis, Tristan Holmberg, Kayla Bush,campus ministry intern Abby Olcese, Mike Flaigle, Andrew Leigh-Bullard, Michelle Pauley and Campus Missioner the Rev. Michael Bell.

Photo by Shannon Mahan

In addition to volunteering at several Wichita agencies, “thelo” participants spent time in prayer and worship in the chapel of the Magnificat Center, a retreat center sponsored by the Congregation of St. Joseph, where they stayed.


Seven young adults asso-ciated with the campus ministry program of the

Diocese of Kansas participated in the inaugural mission experience entitled “thelo,” a Wichita-based opportunity to learn about urban poverty, volunteer with social service agencies, and receive training in nonprofit leadership and management.

The title is taken from a Greek word meaning “I am willing.”

The weeklong event included six college students from the Uni-versity of Kansas, Emporia State, Wichita State and Butler Com-munity College, as well as campus intern Abby Olcese and Campus Missioner the Rev. Michael Bell.

Bell said the idea for the mission opportunity came from Tristan Holmberg, a student at Butler Community College and a graduate of the diocesan youth program. Last year he asked if young adults could engage in an urban ministry project similar to the Kansas City-based Mission-Palooza for high school students.

Bell said planning then began, resulting in the trip that took place May 13-18. He said “thelo” of-fered participants the chance to volunteer with Episcopal Social services/Venture House, Break-through Club and United Method-ist Open Door.

They also learned about the sociology of urban poverty as well as non-profit leadership and man-agement, thanks to ESS’s execu-tive director, Dr. Barbara Andres, and Shannon Mahan, executive director of the Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry.

They also engaged in daily prayer and worship in the chapel of the Magnificat Center, a retreat facility operated by the Congre-

gation of St. Joseph, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, where the group stayed.

Bell said the diocese’s campus ministry program encourages young adults to participant in mis-sion opportunities, either at home or abroad.

This helps them, he said, “re-main mindful of our interconnect-ed humanity and call to serve ‘all’ while bring especially compas-sionate toward the poor, hungry, sick and otherwise vulnerable.”

The students engaged in a variety of volunteer activities. At ESS they worked the front desk, prepared and served at the

hot lunch program, helped with paperwork in the representative payee program, observed in the teen intervention and adolescent anger management programs, and cleaned the parking lot.

At Breakthrough Club they socialized with staff and members with mental illness, and visited several vocational training sites.

At the Open Door students packed food boxes for weekly distribution to families and pre-pared daily food bags for walk-in clients.

Bell said experiences such as this allow young adults to embody God’s love in “challenging situ-

ations that they might otherwise avoid out of ignorance and/or fear.”

Plans for 2013Bell said this first “thelo” week

was so successful that two are planned for 2013 — one in Janu-ary and another in August. They again will work with ESS and with EWARM, as well as a program of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Dear Neighbors.

He has begun working with Deacon Fran Wheeler, chair of the diocesan Outreach and Mis-sion Committee, with the goal of training a team of clergy and lay leaders from across the diocese who can support and lead future mission experiences.

He said, “The vision is that ‘thelo’ will become a viable, self-sustaining mission opportunity regularly offered several times a year.”

Beyond that, Bell said the week led to some exciting preliminary discussions about creating a site in Wichita for the Episcopal Service Corps, a federation of service programs for young adults in the Episcopal Church that

Participants in ‘thelo’

Kayla Bush, University of Kansas

Mike Flaigle, Wichita StateTristan Holmberg, Butler

Community CollegeAndrew Leigh-Bullard,

Emporia StateMichelle Pauley, Emporia

StateDaniel Troop, University of

KansasAbby Olcese, KU campus

intern

focus on diverse communities of people working for social justice, deepening each person’s spiritual awareness and discerning a future vocation, developing leadership skills through servanthood.

Bell said ESS, EWARM and the Congregation of St. Joseph want to create a program of ser-vice in which five young people would live intentional community.

He said he hopes a program plan can be in place before the end of the year, leading to applica-tion for recognition as an official Episcopal Service Corps site. v


Around the diocese � St. John’s, Abilene memori-

alized its Pentecost celebration, filled with parishioners wearing various shades of red, in a photo for the parish newsletter, The Carillon.

� Trinity, Arkansas City’s Montessori pre-school had 43 students last school year, and pre-enrollments for the coming year already are coming in.

� Trinity, Atchison has a new seal for use on church publica-tions. It features symbols for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as a triangle denoting the Trinity.

� St. Mark’s, Blue Rapids re-ceived a set of ceramic Stations of the Cross as a gift from Robin and Tom Foley. They were used for the first time on Good Friday and now are on a wall in the parish hall.

� St. Paul’s, Clay Center opened its summertime Kids Café on June 11. The program provides a hot lunch to any young-ster in town who stops by to eat. Volunteers prepare and serve the food as part of a parish outreach commitment to feeding the hungry in the community.

� St. Paul’s, Coffeyville wel-comed Bishop Dean Wolfe June 20 for a Celebration of Total Min-istry. The service commissioned all the ministry teams in the parish as well as the ministry of the vicar, the Rev. Antoinette Tackkett.

� St. Andrew’s, Derby recruited volunteers for a summer choir while the regular singers took a much-deserved vacation break. Those who play instruments also were encouraged to participate.

� St. Martin’s, Edwardsville had a busy morning on June 10 —

a clean-up of its stretch of nearby highway, a Vestry meeting and then church. The congregation has adopted a stretch of highway and is responsible for trash pick-up several times a year.

� St. Andrew’s, Emporia ob-served the centuries-old Feast of Corpus Christi (which celebrates the institution of Holy Commu-nion) on Trinity Sunday with an outdoor procession that displayed the Blessed Sacrament. A mon-strance for the display was given by parishioner Gary Mason, and a canopy that was used was created by parishioners Millard Harrell and Deborah Cotterman.

� Epiphany, Independence asked for donations for its food pantry, which has seen an increase in requests for help during the summer months. Non-perishable items are needed, as well as pa-per goods and soap. There’s even room in the freezer for frozen items.

� Covenant, Junction City said a special thank-you to those who serve at the altar each week with Acolyte Recognition Day on May 13.

� St. Margaret’s, Lawrence in June offered a four-week study session based on the documentary film “I Am,” which chronicles a noted film producer’s struggles following a serious bicycle ac-cident in 2007 and features inter-views with notables in the fields of science, philosophy and faith.

� Trinity, Lawrence is provid-ing the location for a Taize service one Sunday evening a month during the summer. The worship service is a joint offering of seven area churches and features simple music, moments of quiet and Scripture.

� St. Paul’s, Leavenworth has a group that provides “manna from heaven” — actually, meals for people who are ill or in the hospital or who have experienced the birth of a baby or death of a family member. Volunteers are needed to help.

� St. Paul’s, Manhattan hosted its fourth annual Riley County Emergency Appreciation Day May 16. Meals were provided at the church throughout the day as a way to say thank-you to members of area police and fire departments as well as ambulance workers and first responders.

� St. Paul’s, Marysville joins with its sister parish in Blue Rap-ids twice a month for a potluck lunch after Sunday worship.

� St. Michael’s, Mission of-fered a weeklong arts day camp for children of the parish as well as students at elementary schools the congregation has adopted. Professional faculty members were recruited to offer classes in dance, music, theatre and art. The event was sponsored by the parish’s Horizons Arts Ministry.

� Ascension, Neodesha hosted its annual Ascension Day service on May 17, with members from Epiphany, Independence and St. Paul’s, Coffeyville joining in the service and the potluck supper that followed.

� St. Matthew’s, Newton in-cluded a survey in its June news-letter that asked members to assess hospitality efforts in the congrega-tion. It asked if members thought the church was welcoming to those who visit on Sundays.

� St. Aidan’s, Olathe had some help in serving its monthly dinner at the nearby Center for Grace —

three Girl Scout troops, who used the opportunity to serve as a way to celebrate the 100th anniver-sary of the founding of the Girl Scouts. The Scouts’ efforts were organized by parishioners Laurie and Jane Bush and helped serve 430 meals.

� Grace, Ottawa marked Moth-er’s Day by giving flowers to all women in church that morning.

� St. Thomas, Overland Park marked Pentecost with food and information. Those at the Sat-urday evening service enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and learning more about parish outreach ministries. Sunday morning saw a potluck lunch and kids’ activities, along with the chance to talk to repre-sentatives of a variety of parish ministries.

� St. John’s, Parsons is using a volunteer coffee hour this sum-mer, asking for weekly volunteers to make coffee and, if they feel so moved, to provide light snacks.

� St. Peter’s, Pittsburg has joined with other churches in town in building a Habitat for Human-ity house. A work day in May included installing attic insulation, shingling a storage shed, putting up soffits and making lunch for all the workers.

� St. Clare’s, Spring Hill has opened an after-hours emergency food pantry to serve the needs of people who can’t access other as-sistance during the day. The pantry at the church will be open on the third Tuesday of every month from 6 to 8 p.m.

� Grace Cathedral, Topeka commissioned its first group of Stephen Ministers on May 6. The group of 10 will provide confiden-tial Christian care and support to

Submitted photo

Wellington church celebrates 35 yearsMembers and friends of St. Jude’s in Wellington gathered

on May 1 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the church’s founding. The day included a special reception complete with a commemorative cake (above).

Among those in attendance was Bill Dennis, who was one of the charter members in 1977.

In addition to Deacon Kitty Shield, who leads the congregation, other clergy attending were Deacon Lee Allen of St. Christopher’s, Wichita; Deacon Patsy Abshier of St. John’s, Wichita; and the Rev. Betty Glover, Trinity, Arkansas City and Grace, Winfield. v

people going through a variety of life challenges.

� St. Luke’s, Wamego Guild provided scholarships to young people from the parish wanting to attend diocesan summer camp this year. Money from last De-cember’s “Cookies by the Pound” fundraiser helped with this need.

� Good Shepherd, Wichita is offering one Sunday service during the summer, and it will feature the combined efforts of the contemporary and traditional worship groups. So far plans call for Sundays featuring jazz and children’s music, as well as a Favorite Hymns Day.

� St. Bartholomew’s, Wichita marked Pentecost with a parish breakfast, a balloon launch, and red cake and punch after church.

� St. James’, Wichita said good-bye to the Rev. Tony Clark, a priest of the Church of England who had assisted at the church while on the staff of Friends University. He has accepted a call to a new ministry in England. He celebrated both services on June 3, and the congregation hosted a reception in his honor.

� St. John’s, Wichita has ap-plied to become part of the Com-munity of Hope, an Episcopal-based ministry that helps train lay pastoral caregivers based on a Benedictine model. The church currently has a pastoral care min-istry team of 11 people.

� Grace, Winfield Daughters of the King is helping a local church provide meals for those in need. Once a month members supple-ment the church’s main dishes with side items and have invited the congregation to assist on other days. v

St. Andrew’s, Derby, offered some cuddly comfort in the form of more than 200 stuffed

animals to students at Oaklawn Elementary School after an April 21 tornado damaged the school and many of the homes in the area.

For the past two years the school has had a relationship with Oaklawn through Wichita’s Communities in Schools program. So after the tornado struck, the Rev. Tom Wilson, St. An-drew’s rector, said they put in a call to see what they could do to help.

The school’s social worker said that most of the students’ immediate needs were being met by other groups. Wilson asked if there might be any “wants” instead of “needs” they could fulfill, and she suggested providing stuffed animals.

School officials reported that 202 youngsters had been affected by the storm, so the church put out a plea for some help. Four days later they had 208 stuffed animals.

Parishioners provided many that were new or gently used, and the church purchased the rest with money donated for the project. One high school sophomore, whose mother works with a

parishioner, donated 23 of her own stuffed ani-mals to help comfort the affected children.

Wilson said St. Andrew’s has worked since 2010 with Oaklawn and with Cooper Elementary, schools with a significant population of at-risk students, with 75 percent of the children at each school qualifying for free or reduced school meals. Most of the other schools in the area are more affluent.

To help these students and their families, the parish has undertaken a variety of efforts, includ-ing feeding students on weekends during the sum-mer, staging a clothing drive for students and their family members, and providing Christmas gifts for all first and second graders in both schools.

The church also provided grocery store vouch-ers to 50 families at Easter so they could purchase needed food, in partnership with a local Lutheran church.

Wilson said the parish wants to continue and expand its involvement with Oaklawn and Cooper. Church representatives meet with the school social workers every month to see how they can help. v

Derby church offers stuffed comfort to more than 200 young tornado victims


People

Clergy newsThree deacons ordained on June 2 have

received their one-year internship assign-ments from Bishop Dean Wolfe.

Deacon Peggy Flynn will spend two weeks a month at St. James’, Wichita, and the other two at her home parish, St. John’s, Wichita.

Deacon Sandy Horton-Smith will split her time between St. Mark’s, Blue Rapids, St. Paul’s, Marysville and her home parish, St. Paul’s, Manhattan.

Deacon Rex Matney will work at St. Paul’s, Clay Center, as well as his home par-ish, Church of the Covenant, Junction City.

The Rev. David Jenkins, who was ordained a transitional deacon on June 2,

has been appointed as pastoral leader at the Church of the Covenant in Junction City, effective June 15. He will continue to serve as the state chaplain for the Kansas National Guard. He has been a member of St. Da-vid’s, Topeka. The Rev. Art Rathbun will continue to provide priestly support to the vestry and congregation.

The Rev. David Lynch, who also was ordained a transitional deacon on June 2, has been named curate at St. James’ in Wichita, effective July 8. He graduated in May from Virginia Theological Seminary. Before leaving for seminary, he was a member of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission.

The Rev. Tom Miles retired as rector of St. Paul’s, Manhattan at the end of June. He had served the congregation since 2002. A farewell celebration took place June 9.

The Rev. John Seville has been named the interim priest at St. Paul’s, Manhattan, effective July 15. Seville most recently has been the interim at St. Paul’s, Ivy, Va., and he has served as an interim in other parishes in Virginia and Illinois. He is the brother of the Rev. Joe Seville, who was rector of St. Thomas, Overland Park from 1989 to 1996.

The Rev. Amanda Eiman, the outgo-ing assistant rector of St. James’, Wichita, will be married at that church on Aug. 3. Her fiancé is the Rev. Christopher Bishop,

a priest from the Diocese of Pennsylvania.Bishop William Smalley, the eighth

bishop of Kansas, now is canonically resi-dent in the Diocese of Indianapolis, where he has lived since his retirement in 2004.

The Rev. Clarence F. “Dutch” Stolz died on June 11 in Lawrence at age 87. He had served as rector of Trinity, Atchison (1959-1969); campus minister at the Uni-versity of Kansas, Lawrence (1969-1973); and senior canon at Grace Cathedral, Topeka (1973-1982). A memorial service celebrating his life took place June 14 at Trinity, Lawrence, and his ashes were buried in the Memorial Garden at Trinity, Atchison. v

Bishop Seabury Academy News

Submitted photoThe 20 members of the 2012 graduating class of Bishop Seabury Academy, an Episcopal secondary school in Lawrence

Bishop Seabury graduates 20

Bishop Seabury Academy said good-bye to 20 graduating seniors at its commencement ceremony on May 25. The Episcopal-based secondary school in Lawrence had a stu-

dent population during the most recent academic year of about 175.Dr. Don Schawang, Bishop Seabury’s head of school, said that

all of the graduates will be attending some kind of higher education institution in the fall.

He said the class exhibited a variety of talents, including “artists who wish to pursue careers in musical and theatrical arts; some of the strongest athletes we have had at Seabury, several of whom are on track to play professional basketball; and quite a few business majors.”

He said that seven of the graduates are international students, staying in Lawrence either with host families or with relatives other than their parents. He also noted that 14 of the 20 had spent all five years of their post-elementary education at the school.

Bishop Seabury Academy, which opened in 1997, is an official institution of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. It serves students of a variety of faiths in its mission to “promote individual academic growth and character development through an excellent education rooted in moral principles.”

It is named after Bishop Samuel Seabury, the first bishop in the Episcopal Church to be ordained after the split from the Church of England after the Revolutionary War.

Award honors contributions to spiritual lifeAn annual award

to a Bishop Seabury Academy junior who has aided in the school’s spiritual life has been renamed the Bishop’s Torch Award to recog-nize the important work it represents.

It is a trophy featur-ing a flame.

This year it went to Raquel Dominguez for her help with and enthusiasm for chapel services. v

The Rev. Patrick Funston presents Seabury junior Raquel Dominguez, with the Bishop’s Torch Award.

From Twitter to zombies, author explores religion and culture

Author and scholar Elizabeth Drescher will speak at the Bigger Bible Study at St. Michael and All Angels in Mission on July 23 and 24.


Elizabeth Drescher didn’t start out to look at what zombies can teach the church — but popular culture images like vampires and the

living dead actually say something critical at a time when religious institutions are trying to connect with young people.

Drescher, professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University and author of two books on digital media, will explore that theme when she speaks July 23 and 24 at the “Bigger Bible Study” sponsored by St. Michael and All Angels in Mission. Her talks are scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and advance registration is required.

In a telephone interview with The Harvest, Dre-scher was quick to point out that her background isn’t in digital media. “I’m a medievalist,” she said, “so you wouldn’t think that’s what I’d be up to.”

She said her dissertation looked at the spiritual lives of ordinary believers in late medieval England, when the rise of books affected the way average people engaged not only their culture but their faith. “It changed the way people thought about religious authority, their responsibility to their own spiritual lives, and how that connected to each other, the church and church leaders,” she said.

She believes it was these changes that helped usher in the Reformation.

Digital media fits the Episcopal ChurchIn recent years she again was looking at trends in

the spiritual lives of ordinary believers, and she saw that a new technology was having a big effect — this time, digital and social media.

That exploration led her to write her first book, Tweet if You ¤ Jesus, which looked at why churches should be involved with digital media at all.

Her work convinced her that this new medium was a good fit for the Episcopal Church and other mainline Protestant churches. “We were spectacu-larly bad at broadcast media,” she said, noting that it wasn’t just lack of funds that hampered its use. It was better suited to shouts from televangelists, she said.

But digital media is different, and its emphasis on connection and relationships “is more like our culture and values.”

She and Lutheran Pastor Keith Anderson recently authored Click 2 Save, which she said is a how-to manual to help churches get involved with social media.

So, what about zombies?Drescher said recently she’s been intrigued by

the rise of images in popular culture of zombies, vampires and werewolves and what they might have to teach the church.

Her conclusion? Stories about these supernatural beings have value to young people because they are

stand-ins for the big questions about life and death. But because the church isn’t able to reach young

people with answers, they are seeking them in other places. Right now, it’s zombies and the like.

“Young people have big questions about these things, and for a variety of reasons they aren’t en-gaging them in traditional religious institutions,” she said. “But they are struggling to make sense of these questions.

These images “express something about what people think about the meaning of life,” she said, noting that the popular Hunger Games book series and movie “are profound mediations on poverty, economic justice and abuse of power.”

The irony, she said, is that these are exactly the questions the church has always been able to help answer.

“These topics are our stock in trade,” she said.But just as the church had to adapt to the new tech-

nology of the printing press, it needs to acknowledge that people seek God through new digital channels.

To begin to better understand that, she suggests there needs to be more listening. “Just listen to the experience of others, and don’t be defensive.” v

¤

Elizabeth Drescher at St. Michael’sDrescher will lead the plenary session at the

Bigger Bible Study on July 23 and will teach the class on July 24. Both begin at 6:30 p.m.

Advance registration, with a small fee, is required for both events. For information, visit the church’s website, www.stmaa.net.


National and international newsAnglican news briefsEpiscopal News Service

� L.A. bishop says his leukemia is in remission: Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles announced in a May 24 letter to his diocese that his doctors have declared his acute monocytic leukemia to be in full remission, and that they hope for a complete recovery. He underwent several more rounds of chemotherapy in the weeks following his announcement. Each series of treatments had to be followed by a period of rest and recovery, he wrote, some of which was spent at the hospital and some at his home. Because of the nature of the treatment, which destroys infection-fighting white blood cells, he had to spend most of that time in protective isolation.

� Bishop Stanley Ntagali elected archbishop of Uganda: Bishop Stanley Ntagali was elected the 8th archbishop of the Church of Uganda on June 22 during a meeting of the House of Bishops at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe. Ntagali received a two-thirds majority in a secret ballot, in accordance with the church’s constitution. Ntagali was consecrated a bishop on Dec. 19, 2004, and has served as the bishop of Masindi-Kitara Diocese.

� Interfaith leaders work toward Middle East peace: A landmark three-day Christian-Muslim peace conference in Beirut concluded June 22 on a hopeful note by issuing an appeal to reli-gious leaders and institutions to collaborate on promoting human rights, self-determination, peaceful coexistence, and non-violence, particularly in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Bishop John Chane of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington announced the agreement to the more than two dozen delegates representing Episcopalians and Anglicans; Roman, Armenian, Melkite and Maronite Catholics; and Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. The meeting, second in a planned series of four, broke new ground on several fronts.

� Pennsylvania diocese to aid flooded neighbors: The Dio-cese of Bethlehem has received a grant from Episcopal Relief & Development to implement a plan intended to help residents of West Pittston still recovering from last September’s flooding, while also preparing Episcopal churches in the region to respond to future disasters. The grant comes in addition to other assistance and resources. This grant, combined with funds provided by the 68 churches of the diocese, will assist the recovery of the West Pittston area and the establishment of a regional disaster recov-ery and outreach center owned by the diocese and run through a coordinated effort among the Luzerne County regional parishes.

� Barbara Campbell named Connecticut’s first ‘diocesan poet’: Barbara Campbell of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in New Britain has been invited by the bishops in the Diocese of Con-necticut to be the first “Diocesan Poet.” But don’t think of this as some stuffy, distant appointment. “We invited Barbara to tap into our inner poet and claim a creative expression of our faith,” said Bishop Suffragan Laura J. Ahrens, who took the lead on this effort. “By calling her ‘Diocesan Poet’ we hope she’ll help all of us, as a diocese, to claim our collective poetic voices,” she said. Campbell understands her new role is more of an instigator than a distant expert, although she does come with credentials as a published poet. She also is a retired high school and college teacher.

� Thomas Logan, eldest serving African-American priest, dies at 100: Services were held May 11 and 12 for the Rev. Canon Thomas Wilson Stearly Logan, Sr., 100, associate priest of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia, who died May 2. The eldest serving African American priest in the Episcopal Church, Logan was a civil rights pioneer and a long-term leader of the Conference of Church Workers Among Colored People (CCWACP), which was the precursor to the Union of Black Episcopalians. Logan served as rector of Calvary Church Northern Liberties in Philadelphia and was named rector emeritus when he retired in 1984. Logan was ordained to the diaconate in 1938 and to the priesthood the following year. He served churches in Yonkers, N.Y., and in New York City and Philadelphia. Later in his career he went on to earn doctorates in divinity and theology and also received two honorary doctorates. Logan was born in Philadelphia on March 19, 1912, one of eight children of a minister and a teacher. In 1938 he married Hermione Hill, who survives him. v

Bishop Dean Wolfe was one of 102 bishops of the Episcopal Church who on June 6 signed a letter to President Barack Obama asking for

his intervention in cuts by a United Nations agency to a hospital in Gaza run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Ahli Arab Hospital is due to lose half its funding after financial support was withdrawn by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on June 1. It operates on an annual budget of about $2.4 million, of which UNRWA had provided about $1 million.

Led by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the bishops’ letter to the president said the U.N. agency’s action could have “disastrous con-sequences for the more than two million residents of Gaza, already living in conditions of profound humanitarian need.”

The bishops wrote that “It is the only facility of its sort in the Gaza Strip that is not run by the Hamas government and as such, it is able to provide care without any outside interference or political calculation.” They said this makes its continued operations “in the inherent interests of the United States government.”

They wrote that the UNRWA’s decision, after nearly two decades of partnership with the hospital, comes “without public justification … and threatens to debilitate the hospital, its 120-person staff, and the many thousands of Gazans who rely on it for primary and urgent care and treatment.”

Founded as a mission of the Anglican Church in 1882, the hospital became a part of the diocese in 1982. Today, it is among more than 30 institutions run by the Jerusalem-based diocese. It serves about 42,000 outpatients and 4,800 inpatients each year and runs specific programs for children and the el-derly. It provides services in general surgery, general medicine, gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, and orthopedics, among other areas.

— Episcopal News Service v

Bishops ask for president’s help in Gaza hospital funding cut

An injured child is treated at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. The hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Photo by ACT International

Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs

Information based on preliminary data from the 2011 parochial reports show an increase in Epis-copal Church revenue and a moderation of recent

declines among Episcopal congregations.C. Kirk Hadaway, officer for congregational re-

search and author of the report, said, “Some churches are growing, fewer churches are seeing large declines in membership and attendance, and many dioceses are seeing gains rather than losses in gifts from their congregations and returns on investments.”

He said the key items for his projection are aver-age Sunday attendance, active baptized members, plate and pledge giving, and gifts and assessments to dioceses by congregations.

Among the key elements of the report indicate:

� An expected 95 percent of domestic congrega-tions will have filed the 2011 Parochial Report.

� Average Sunday attendance will show an improvement in 2011.

� While 2011 will witness a decline in member-ship, it is the lowest since 2002.

� Plate and pledge giving is expected to rise by around $12 million, or +0.9 percent in 2011.

� Gifts and assessments to dioceses by congre-gations suggest an increase of .04 percent in 2011.

“The last three years should not be considered the ‘new normal,’” Hadaway said.

“This is not to minimize the declines in mem-bership and attendance since 2002, nor the loss of income in the last several years…Still, there are signs of improvement in terms of membership, attendance and finances.” v

Report shows positive trends in church statistics

Ogé Beauvoir becomes Haiti’s bishop suffragan

Haiti Suffragan Bishop Ogé Beauvoir

Episcopal News Service

The Rev. Canon Ogé Beau-voir, dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary in

Port-au-Prince, became the Dio-cese of Haiti‘s first bishop suffra-gan May 22 during a service in the diocese’s open-air cathedral.

Beauvoir was elected Nov. 25 on the second ballot with 68 lay votes and 25 priest votes. The election took place at Ascension Church in Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.

Close to 1,000 people attended the four-hour long ordination and consecration service that was led by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. The Rev. James

Cooper, rector of Trinity Wall Street, New York, where Beauvoir once worked, was the preacher.

Among those attending the ser-vice were a number of Episcopal Church bishops, as well as a rep-resentative of the Roman Catholic Church in Haiti and, reportedly, a high-ranking Vodou priestess.

Beauvoir, who was born in Gros-Morne, Haiti, earned his university and seminary degrees in Montreal. He was received into the Episcopal Church in March 2000.

Beauvoir was a program asso-ciate in the Trinity Grants program from 1999 until 2004. He has been an Episcopal Church-appointed missionary to Haiti since 2004. v


Racing toward IndianapolisKansans head to 77th General Convention, where critical votes await


When deputies and bishops gather in Indianapolis for the 77th General Convention, a series of

critical votes await them, based on resolu-tions that already have been presented to the General Convention Office.

They include: � A proposed trial rite for blessing

same-gender relationships. The Stand-ing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in response to a mandate from the 2009 General Convention, created a proposed liturgy and supporting documents for such blessings. They released the information early this year to give people time to study and discuss it. If adopted, the rite would be used for a three-year trial period, with a report to the 2015 Convention on how it

was used. � The Anglican Covenant. The contro-

versial document, intended by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as a way for the various parts within the Anglican Communion to define its life together, will face a final vote this year. It was proposed in 2009 after five years of discussion and requires votes by all 38 provinces of the Communion to take effect. A section outlin-ing disciplinary measures for churches that don’t follow expected norms is the portion that troubles Episcopal Church opponents.

� Restructuring the Episcopal Church. Bishop Stacy Sauls, the church’s chief oper-ating officer, last year proposed calling for a special commission to look at how to make the church’s structure less cumbersome and expensive. A slew of resolutions have been offered on the topic.

� Churchwide health insurance plan. In

2009 General Convention mandated that by 2013 all dioceses and parishes provide health insurance through the church’s Medical Trust to lay employees and clergy working at least 20 hours a week, with the same coverage offered to all. Expectations of reduced costs haven’t materialized, and the cost of adding lots of new people, mostly lay employees, to the plan could have big dollar implications. Several op-tions to amend the requirements or delay or eliminate the mandate have been proposed.

� 2013-2015 budget. Budgets always can

be tricky, but especially will be this year. Executive Council adopted a proposed budget earlier this year, but after it was printed members said it wasn’t what they had intended. Bishop Sauls provided an up-dated version June 1, and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took the unprec-edented step of offering another alternative on June 21. It’s up to the deputy and bishop members of the Program, Budget and Fi-nance Committee to come up with a final three-year budget to present to Convention in the meeting’s final days. v

Some of the deputies and alternates to General Convention from the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas pause for a photo during a meeting in January to discuss upcoming legislation they’ll consider when Convention meets July 5-12 in Indianapolis.

They are (front row, from left) Mike Morrow, the Rev. Juli Sifers and Steven King; (back row, from left) Joe Mitchell, the Rev. Craig Loya, Deacon Steve Segebrecht, the Rev. Betty Glover, Bob Skaggs, the Rev. Gail Greenwell, Harriet Duff and Teresa Rogers.


Committee assignments

These Diocese of Kansas deputies have been named to General Convention committees that will consider resolutions referred to it during the meeting and make recommendations on action to be taken:

� Larry Bingham: Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music

� The Rev. C ra ig Loya : Structure

� Mike Morrow: Canons � Bob Skaggs: Church Pension Fund

� The Rev. Juli Sifers: Small Congregations

K a n s a s d e p u t i e s a n d alternates who aren’t a member of a committee will monitor the work of other legislative committees.

Big issues are on the docket before Convention starts


The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas is sending four lay and four clergy deputies,

along with the first alternates in each order, to the 77th meeting of General Convention in Indianapo-lis July 5-12. One clergy and two lay alternates also are attending at their own expense.

Half of the deputies will be first-timers, including three of the four clergy and one alternate. But veterans have 11 previous Con-ventions between them, meaning there will be both wisdom and fresh perspectives among the Kansas deputation.

Here is information on those attending from the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.

Lay deputies � Larry Bingham: This will

be Bingham’s seventh Conven-tion, where he has been named a member of the Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music. He is a member of St. Mi-chael and All Angels in Mission.

� Mike Morrow: Morrow will serve as chair of the Kansas deputation at his fourth Conven-tion. As in 2009, he will be a member of the Committee on Canons. He is a member of St. John’s, Wichita.

� Bob Skaggs: This will be Skaggs’ second Convention, and he’s been asked to serve on the Church Pension Fund Committee. He is a member of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission.

� Natalie Vanatta: This will be Vanatta’s first time at Conven-tion, and she has volunteered to track the work of the Committee on Education. A member of St. Luke’s, Wamego, she has been in Boston since last August as a Micah Intern in an Episcopal

Service Corps program through the Diocese of Massachusetts. She works as the Sunday school coordinator at the Church of Our Savior in Arlington, Mass.

� Steven King: This will be first alternate King’s first Conven-tion, where he will monitor the National and International Con-cerns Committee. He currently is a student at Virginia Theological Seminary and a postulant for the priesthood in this diocese. His home church is St. Margaret’s, Lawrence.

Clergy deputies � The Rev. Craig Loya: This

will be Loya’s first Convention, where he’s been named a member of the Committee on Structure. He serves as the diocese’s canon to the ordinary.

� The Rev. Juli Sifers: Sifers

will be attending her second Con-vention, having been first alternate in 2009, and she will sit on the Committee on Small Congrega-tions. She is rector of St. Aidan’s, Olathe.

� Deacon Steve Segebrecht: This will be Segebrecht’s first Convention, and he has agreed to monitor the World Mission Com-mittee, a good fit, given his work as founding director of the Kansas to Kenya ministry. He is a deacon at Trinity in Lawrence.

� The Rev. Betty Glover: This will also be Glover’s first time at General Convention, and she will track legislation moving through the Social and Urban Af-fairs Committee She is rector of Trinity, Arkansas City and Grace, Winfield.

� The Rev. Matt Zimmer-man: As first alternate, this will

be Zimmerman’s first time at Convention. He serves as rector of St. Margaret’s, Lawrence.

Bishop Dean WolfeBishop Wolfe and his wife,

Ellen, also will be attending, where he will take his place in the House of Bishops. He also holds the second-highest position in that body, having been elected vice president of the House of Bishops at the 2009 General Convention.

Also attendingThree alternates have volun-

teered to attend General Conven-tion and monitor legislation while there. Third lay alternate Harriet Duff will track the work of the Evangelism Committee. She is a member of St. Michael and All Angels, Mission. Fourth lay alter-nate Joe Mitchell will sit in on the

Want to keep track of what’s going on at General Convention? Visit a special General Convention page on the diocesan website with links to deputy comments, legislation, news and more:

www.episcopal-ks.org/news/genconv

Ecumenical Relations Committee. He is a member of the Church of the Covenant in Junction City. Second clergy alternate the Rev. Gail Greenwell will monitor the Ministry Committee. She is rector of St. Michael and All Angels, Mission.

Episcopal Church Women members from Kansas attending the ECW Triennial meeting in-clude Kansas ECW board mem-bers Beth Criss, June Mendenhall, Bev Winston, Marilyn Milhon, Daria Condon and Lonnie Isaak.

Director of Communications Melodie Woerman will be a member of the official Episcopal News Service team for the third time, reporting on the House of Deputies.

Others Kansans also will be at General Convention in a variety of roles. All can be spotted by the large felt sunflower pins that have become the diocese’s trade-mark. v


By the Very Rev. Steve Lipscomb

Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” Mark 4:26-28

During the time of Jesus, there were many people who had grown tired of

waiting on the kingdom of God to arrive.

Some of these, the Zealots, had decided that the time had come to take matters into their own hands. If God wouldn’t bring in the kingdom, then they would do it themselves. They were tired of waiting.

Much like the Zealots of Jesus’ day, we Christians have almost from the beginning believed that it was up to us to bring about the kingdom. And after studying church history for 24 years, quite frankly, I am amazed that Christianity hasn’t managed to turn the whole world against Christ.

In an effort to speed the kingdom’s coming and ensure its growth, we have, through the centuries, taken it upon our-selves to convert the world to Christianity. And in the process we have abused, oppressed, tortured and even killed people who have stood in our way or disagreed with our views.

The Crusades, the Inquisi-tion, the Salem witch hunts and Nazi Germany all were atrocities committed in the name of Chris-tianity and to speed the coming of God’s kingdom.

The fact that the church has

survived at all, I think, bears truth that the Holy Spirit was and is at work, sometimes despite the church and our often twisted views of what Christian-ity is really about — which is Christ-like grace and acceptance and love.

Jesus’ parable of the farmer and the seed reminds us today, just as it did the people of his own day, that the kingdom of God, and its coming and its growth, is the work of God that comes in God’s own time and in God’s own way.

Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a farmer who plants seed and then goes about his life trusting that the earth will do the rest. The farmer doesn’t know how the seed grows, nor is that his concern. He merely sows and then waits for the harvest. Everything in between is up to nature and out of the farmer’s control.

The point of the parable, of course, is that the kingdom of God does not depend on human intervention. Its growth takes place totally outside the realm of human endeavor or understand-ing.

This can be a hard pill for Christians to swallow. We can’t imagine God doing anything without us. We can’t imagine anything growing without our implementing plans and pro-

grams to monitor its growth. We can’t imagine being “out

of control,” because being out of control means having to put the same trust and faith and confi-dence we have in ourselves in someone or something else. And that’s risky business, even when that someone else is God.

But that is the whole of it. The key to our understanding what the kingdom of God is like lies in our understanding that we do not and cannot make it happen, and in our trust and faith that God can and does make it happen — that the kingdom of God is happening, all around us, all the time.

This is not to say that our role is totally passive. By preaching and teaching, by loving one an-other and working for social jus-tice, by witnessing through our Christ-like words and actions, we are sowers of the seed. But we do not decide how or where or when those seeds grow.

We are not called to convert, we are called to proclaim and to trust the Holy Spirit to do the rest.

The kingdom of God will come. The one who has begun the good work will see it to completion.

Steve Lipscomb is dean of Grace Cathedral in Topeka. This is an excerpt of a sermon he preached on June 17, 2012. v

We can’t imagine God doing anything without us. We can’t imagine anything

growing without our implementing plans and programs to monitor its growth.

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Diocesan Calendar

The mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas is to gather, equip and send disciples of Jesus Christ

to witness to God’s reconciling love.

Sharing the Good NewsReflections on faith and life

September 2012July 20128 Southeast Convocation

pre-convention meeting, St. John’s, Parsons

Southwest Convocation pre-convention meeting, Trinity, El Dorado

18 Council of Trustees meet-ing, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

22 Northeast Convocation pre-convention meeting, Bishop Seabury Acad-emy, Lawrence

Northwest Convocation pre-convention meeting, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

5 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Indianapolis (through July 12)

17 Council of Trustees meet-ing, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

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For the latest news of the diocese, full calendar listings, and more, visit the diocesan website:

www.episcopal-ks.orgWant to make a secure online donation

to the diocese? Visit the website and click “Donate now.”

Follow the diocese on Facebook:EpiscopalDioceseofKansas

and on Twitter:EpiscoKS

The coming of the kingdom is God’s work, not ours

August 20124 Safeguarding God’s

Children training, Grace Cathedral, Topeka

11 Safeguarding God’s Chil-dren and Safeguarding God’s People training, St. John’s, Parsons

NOTE: Bishop Wolfe will be out of the diocese on sabbatical from the end of July until mid-October

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The Harvest, May-June 2012

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