Disciple: Becoming Beloved Community
Diocesan priorities for 2018
By the Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman and the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple
In May 2017, The Episcopal Church announced “Becoming Beloved Community: The Episcopal Church’s Long-term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice.” It was not another program; it was a path for all of us to follow.
As outlined by the Church, Becoming Beloved Community has a focus on racial healing and is comprised of four components: tell the truth; repair the breach; proclaim the dream; and practice the way of love. There is no short cut on any of these paths; indeed, as the Church’s Becoming Beloved Community logo depicts, the path is so circuitous and winding, it comes to resemble a labyrinth. It is an apt analogy, because while the journey on a labyrinth may take many turns, if you keep on it, eventually you will find the center.
The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina is already on that journey, and we easily recognized ourselves and the mission work to which we’re dedicated in the path outlined in Becoming Beloved Community. In looking at what has been accomplished in recent years and where we want to go in the years ahead, it became clear that the path we were already on meshed with the one outlined by the Church.
And so it is a path we will continue to follow in 2018 and the coming years. Continuing our work in the area of racial reconciliation and healing will remain a focal point. In thinking through the wide scope of our work, however, we have defined four other priorities that support, complement and intertwine with that reconciliation work. They build on our answered call to be part of the Jesus Movement, recognizing its call to unity through mission and movement more than church structure and the institution. They keep us on our road to Galilee, where we will continue to go out in the world, seeking out our neighbors and increasingly seeing the importance of “being with others” as well as “doing for others.” If the Jesus Movement is the journey and Going to Galilee the map, our work in Becoming Beloved Community is our mission.
EXPANDING THE MISSION
In the unfolding and expanding of our mission, there will be many expressions of how we accomplish our goals. There will be models both traditional and innovative. One size will not fit all. The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of North Carolina will be a “God-send” — in the apostolic definition of the word that it is God who is sending us — to our state and to the wider church. And while the Church’s Becoming Beloved Community is rooted in four priorities, ours is rooted in five.
1. Engaging in deeper dialogue and multi-layered conversations around the dynamics of difference with particular attention to race, political tensions between left and right, and the economic divide
Anyone who has taken the training provided by the Racial Equity Institute (REI) or Seeing the Face of God can no longer believe that racism is simply a matter of personal opinion or behavior. It is a deeply rooted systemic problem, and as we learn more about it, we also have started having conversations and listening to how systemic racism has impacted — and continues to impact — communities of color and, indeed, all of us.
We will go deeper into these conversations to increase our understanding and to find common ground from which we can forge new paths and move forward together. We will develop and provide resources for answering anger with peace to help build bridges across political and social divides. And we will continue to forge partnerships and collaborations on every socioeconomic level so the face of the Diocese of North Carolina reflects and supports all the people of North Carolina.
2. Support for vulnerable congregations
We define vulnerable congregations as those who feel vulnerable. This can be a congregation of any size, and it will be the congregations who decide they feel vulnerable; it is not something that will be decided for them. The life of a congregation does not follow a linear path; it is cyclical, and we understand how at certain points on the curve it can feel as though you’re going backward instead of forward. So this priority is about helping congregations who are struggling discern the where and why of their struggle. We — your bishops — will help with that discernment process on our visitations, and then follow-up teams will be formed based on the gifts needed to uplift the congregation.
3. Missional collaboratives that will be regionally cultivated
The power of this priority has already been proven many times over in our diocese. Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte started as a hub for refugee services and has evolved into a partnership of churches in the Charlotte convocation and a multicultural community of friends. Christ’s Beloved Community, the fully partnered church plant between the Diocese of North Carolina and the NC Synod of ELCA, began as two-by-two knocking on neighbors’ doors and has now blossomed into a beautiful missional community that recently celebrated its first confirmations. Church of the Advocate in Chapel Hill entered into collaborative ministry first to build PeeWee Homes on their campus to help housing-insecure neighbors and later to work with partners to help with hydration challenges faced by farmworkers.
These are but a few examples of the collaborative work happening within our diocesan borders. A great many others are in the exploration and planning stages with more to come. All will be based in relationships, work to engage both secular and worshiping communities and focus on diversity in its leadership.
4. Lifelong Formation
To live the gospel to the fullest means it must be part of our daily life. The work of lifelong formation has long been underway in this diocese, but to go even deeper, a task force led by the Rev. Ginny Inman is developing ways to help us integrate Christian formation into our daily lives in ways that are guided by five principles: that it be intergenerational, relationally based, creative, adaptive and highlight the role of liturgy.
5. Reconnecting to the Land
We were blessed to travel in September to Alaska to attend the House of Bishops meeting. Both of us were profoundly affected by Episcopalians whose ancestors have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, struggling to bear the Light of Christ as well as defend the dignity of their tribes and the integrity of their sacred land. It was a deeply felt reminder of our responsibilities to the land on which we live, and the imperative we all must feel and answer to protect the Earth and work to restore its declining health.
We have incredible leaders already doing amazing work in environmental areas, and all of them stand ready to teach us, guide us and involve us. Nativity, Raleigh, has multiple initiatives that will be guideposts for us, including Zero Waste Church, Restoring God’s Earth and a new project involving carbon farming, an innovative new approach to pulling carbon from the air and returning it to the soil. Our Chartered Committee on Environmental Ministry has developed several tools and offerings to help individuals and churches alike reduce their carbon footprint, and more are coming.
With so much momentum already in place, we will continue to work in the area of eco-justice, legislative advocacy and the development of ecumenical and interfaith partnerships.
It is impossible to list in this limited space all the powerful work being done in the Diocese of North Carolina. So know these priorities are not written in stone. They are a work in progress. For the work, in large part, is already in progress, and it is work rooted in our Holy Baptism and led by the Holy Spirit. It is work that needs our focus and resources so that it may continue to grow in the gospel promise of Becoming Beloved Community.
The Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman is the XII Bishop of North Carolina. The Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple is the VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina.
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