OPEN THREAD: Brainstorming On Practical Ways For Those Staying In TEC To Differentiate

The idea of partnering with churches of other traditions who believe the gospel is a great start.  If there is a regional Alpha effort, that is a great place to begin.  You start putting Alpha signs and banners out front, and everyone who is familiar with the program will know that you are not “that kind” of Episcopalian.  This has the added benefit of evangelism and making sure that the people in your parish actually know the basics of the Gospel of Christ. 

Along the same line is to invite guest speakers to your parish who are known to uphold the orthodox Christian faith.  Send press releases to the local fish wrappers.  Heck, your diocesan news letter might even put something in, sending the signal to orthodox people with revisionist rectors that you are a different place, and they might find refuge with you.  You can find these speakers from organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, Anglican Frontier Missions, Gospel For Asia, etc. 

Use non-Episcopal Sunday School curriculum that is orthodox in content and make sure that it is mentioned on web sites, Facebook pages, news letters, etc.  This does not work as well for VBS because even revisionist parishes recognize the the Episcopal VBS curriculum will ensure that children find the church boring and irrelevant. 

All of these things will differentiate your parish.

Great first comment, Observer145—very helpful.

Perhaps Communion Partners would open its membership to the laity.

Anglicanism has all sorts of devotional societies. Anglo-Catholic priests, for example, have the Society of the Holy Cross. Ummmm, Societas Sanctae Crucis.

I haven’t read the whole Anglican Covenant document yet (because I knew it was DOA anyway, despite the spin that 815 put on it), but if it is just something that catholic, orthodox, and commonsense Anglicans believe anyway as a matter of course, then why not adopt it ourselves? TEC doesn’t want it? Forget them! Why not become Covenant Churches (CC) within TEC? A denomination within a denomination…or sort of a different ‘order’ of Episcopalians?

The Diocese of South Carolina could lead the way on this…over time, other conservative dioceses and parishes might follow. There is always the chance that her imperial majesty will call this rebellion or something, but if it is being done within the national church, there isn’t much legally she can do. Also, this is 2012, not 2008…she might be more concerned about looking like an aggressor. And with a double-mortgage on 815, I’m not sure what credit they have left to finance new lawsuits.

Also, in the next 5 to 10 years, as TEC’s national structure (and the structures of the dioceses who have completely aligned themselves with 815) collapse through bankruptcy and scandal, this would lead the way for CC to open up talks with ACNA, and the two together could create a new national body…but one focused on prayer rather than political activism, and organized around a federation…not the structure that TEC is becoming.

Just a thought.

Clergy state calmly and clearly, by redundant communications (announcements, bulletin, newsletter, website, etc.), that you will not perform SSUs, Communion of the unbaptized or whatever latest TEC innovation comes along.  Don’t harp on it.  Don’t get nasty in sermons.  Don’t wring your hands.  Just make it clear, “What they’re proposing ain’t of God, and I am going to keep it out of here while I’m here.”

Certainly work constructively with your Vestry to endorse orthodox practice (not “vote on it.”)  Obviously, if you have a hostile or divided vestry, this is not an option.  But if you’ve built up faithful leaders, they can join you in stating sober refusal to wallow in the mud.

Make clear that what you are working for is the spiritual protection of the congregation.

Isn’t this precisely what the AAC was designed to do - serve as a focal point around which Christian Episcopalians could unite and find fellowship?

I might suggest spending time for pastor(s) and vestry to read Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer. The book really hit as an acute diagnosis on where Orthodox leadership is stalled in Episcopal and former Episcopal churches. Then read Transformation by Bob Robert’s, Jr followed by some serious inner-soul searching and repentance. Finally read Planting Growing Churches by Aubrey Malphurs or Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer. Essentially Episcopalians have developed a really inward focus and very corrupt view of being the Church. We have a 1-2 generations that have an incorrect perception on what it means to be a follower of Christ. Unless you are willing to break that cycle and bring transformation, any other effort will be in vain. Not what you might expect to hear but certainly my experience and why I felt a compulsion to leave; it was of no value to me to stay where things would remain the same.

My ideas on the subject prior to my own exodus were similar - lash together as many folks as possible into a Methodist-like entity, and minimize your radar signature with respect to TEC.  I am also as you know,  a fan of traditional clergy as leaders of the movement as well as 501c3’s (since said clergy don’t eat leaves) that are not beholden to TEC. 

You’ll need a lot of regional leaders to make the rounds to talk about your ultimate goals however.  You need to be clear that you want to stick around for the treasure, and you need to articulate how it could be preferable to the headaches that come with leaving.  Also, you need to be clear why you think the ACNA is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Grass-roots laity don’t always “get it.”  They’re enmeshed in raising families and their Protestant DNA is screaming along with their expat friends to leave. 

So, I would suggest that such a conference ought to task itself with calling and sending some promoters for various regions in the country. 

http://elderoyster.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/the-third-way-part-ii-some-food-for-thought/

I think “differentiation” would be tough for most of our under educated congregants. Plus it would be demonized by the raving revisionists and explained away by the moderates so that the people in the pews, who are after all the ones who most need differentiation, will shy away.

I like the idea of supporting vestries and parishes that do differentiate, but there are scores of individuals in moderate parishes who need direct support to better be able to differentiate themselves, and that will not come from their divided vestries and liberal or moderate clergy.

Form a prayer group from those who have a vision of a renewed church. Pray. Commit to work for the evangelization of the local congregation. There are pagans in the pews. Bring in orthodox speakers. Do Alpha. Send folks to Cursillo. Form home bible studies and small groups. Learn how to study and pray together. Ignore the criticism.

Be involved in as many educational opportunities as possible.  One of the things we need to really think about is the question “are there some theological issues that we are missing the boat on that have contributed to this?”  I heard an Anglican (former TEC) clergy make a very good point that he believed that one of the big problems in the mainline denominations - TEC included - is that they are churches that teach the Law instead of Grace.  When the mainlines were still “orthodox”, they taught legalism - “do this, follow that, obey this” and you are a good Christian.  In America today, there are two competing legalistic/Law-based versions of Christianity.  One is hyper-fundementalism, but the other is liberal Christianity.  Liberals cling to legalism even as they try to ditch those parts of the Law they don’t like.  If you are a liberal and you want to be able to justify yourself and the Law says “don’t do x” when you want to do x, then you need to find a way to circumvent the law.  Thus, he argued that the underlying issue in TEC is that it is a church of the Law instead of a church of Grace.  This bland legalism also forms the basis for American civic religion, otherwise known as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. The solution of course, is to preach Grace.  We are all slave to sin, and are all saved by unmerited grace.

I think that if we are part of conflicted/moderate/liberal parishes, then we need to understand that we are fighting a much bigger, much wider battle than just weird sexuality policies.  The weird sexuality heresies are really symptoms of a much wider malaise.  Often people don’t get that.  Thus, it’s not always about fighting or arguing over sexuality issues.  Often, if you can convert people to the Christian Gospel instead of bland Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, you have accomplished a big part of the battle.  So simply doing all you can to preach the basic Christian Gospel is a big part of differentiation.

James W, your phrase “bland Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” is just such a perfect descriptor of so much of liberal Protestantism… 

What was Kendall’s famous line from his speech at Plano about how the therapeutic gospel has replaced the Cross?  Something like this.. (not his Plano talk, but similar):

And the thing that’s so insidious about this ethos, this therapeutic Jesus. We’ve gone from sinners in the hands of an angry God to patients in the palm of a satisfied therapist. ...

The trouble is that isn’t the gospel because that gospel has no cross; that gospel has no sin; that gospel has no call to transformation.

(from here:http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/8457)

I think you are totally right in your recommendation to preach grace!  Amen.

Some “orthodox” TEC parishes advertise themselves as Orthodox Anglican communities or something similiar. In small, rural missions, how one is perceived in the community is more important than national image. Therefore what one does and says in ministerial alliance meetings, from the pulpit especially in well-attended community funerals, positive community involvement and the like are very important.  If we be Christian other Christians will recognize us as Christians.

We are building an Orthodox Anglican Community and our principle challange is education on the basics and ecclesiology…we had a presentation last evening on the Creeds and passed out a book that discusses why the creed is so necessry in this progressive Christian era.  We meet monthly faithfully and we want to develop apologists to effectively evangelize, yes evangelize, those legions of snoozing episcopalians…  I think we have about three years to build the group to a meaningful size within our comminuity

Ralph at #3, that is so true.  Strong churches are built on strong laity.  If the clergy operate largely independent from the laity, or vice versa, you have cut your strength in half before the battle even starts.

So network with your laity as well as your clergy.

- On all publications, under the church name, insert “Following Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life” or something along those lines. 
- Require couples (man and woman only) to go through 6 months of Marriage Mentoring before they can get married in the church and tell them they can’t shack up before the wedding.
- Reduce your pledge to the diocese and direct it to Gospel ministry. 
- Partner with an orthodox inner city church from a different denomination.

RE: “- On all publications, under the church name, insert “Following Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life” or something along those lines.”

That’s a pretty awesome and quick way of differentiation.

Develop/don’t sever strong relationships and partnerships with the local ACNA folks.  I love how South Carolina does this.

Join the 15 bishops who signed the Indianapolis Statement by having your parish leadership affirm/adopt it.  http://www.communionpartners.org/?p=356
The advantage of doing this over writing your own is that the Indianapolis Statement provides a very good common rallying point.

[comment deleted—off topic; we’re all looking forward, not back]

#20 this thread is about practical suggestions, not dismissing the effort.

All the suggestions above assume you have some levers to pull at the parish level at least.  Eventually, before I left, enough of the folks I trusted in leadership on the vestry to hold some sort of line against the bishop and his minions were replaced by revisionists, or enough to hold a majority at least.  There was a sizable minority of us left, but the tide had clearly turned.  What then?

Trinity Episcopal Church in Pass Christian, MS, lists themselves as “Trinity Church (Episcopal)” on their website and prominently displays links to the American Anglican Council and Stand Firm.  Pretty good ways to differentiate.  That’s what led me to them when visiting the Gulf Coast.

Bill2:  Differentiation means many different things and depends on the context and what you are called to do.  I am in a small, rural/town congregation that has an orthodox priest but a very mixed congregation.  In the mix are some ill-informed-and-not-wanting-to-be-further-informed conservatives, many let’s-not-rock-any-boats moderates, and some moderate liberals.  In NO WAY is this any sort of conservative bastion.  I fully acknowledge that it is extremely unlikely that this congregation is going to become a conservative bastion.  But that doesn’t mean that I can’t differentiate and do things.  We now have a senior warden who is conservative and is becoming informed.  I do lay preaching and Sunday School teaching and they learn grace.

Now, I would also say very clearly that I don’t have kids.  If I did, I would not raise them up in anything other than a robust, conservative bastion within TEC (of which there aren’t any in reasonable driving distance).  Thus, if I had kids, I would be called to leave TEC.  My duty to my kids would come first.  But I don’t, and I take care to get fed spiritually and hear the Gospel through non-TEC streams.  That leaves me ready and able to contend for the Gospel in the dry, drought-stricken wilderness that is TEC.  Things look bleak now, but you just never know what God will do next (other than not contradict Himself, I suppose I might add!).

Don’t fall into the trap that you can “win” politically in TEC right now.  You can’t, and there is no use trying unless you are fortunate enough to be in a conservative bastion (in which case you should be strengthening the defenses).  But if you realize that the tide has turned against you in your parish, that just means that you are in a different stage of the battle.  Good parishes will be brought down.  There is still much destruction that will come.  The invading army has routed the defending troops and left them leaderless and riven by factions.  There is still much looting and destruction that is still to come.  But we need to think of what will be left in 10, 20, or 30 years.  What seeds can we plant now that will produce fruit then?  It may be that you realize that your part in the battle calls you to depart from TEC, and that is what many will realize (but your task in that case is not the subject of this thread).

Now, I would also say very clearly that I don’t have kids.  If I did, I would not raise them up in anything other than a robust, conservative bastion within TEC (of which there aren’t any in reasonable driving distance).

In terms of parishes I have visited in the state of Michigan in the last 10 years, and that would be a fair number, even those that are fairly “conservative” (there is only one I have personally visited that actually is conservative- both clergy and laity- there may be others, I just don’t know what they are) use Sunday School and other formation materials supplied by the diocese or TEC, so the #1 thing to do to differentiate is:

1. Form your own Sunday School (and Adult classes) separate from the official TEC parish programs.  If you are in an orthodox parish, make a point of going to listen in periodically on what the teachers are teaching- just because you are in an “orthodox parish” does not mean the Sunday School teachers, after all their required training from the diocese in inclusiveness and Baptismal Covenant misinterpretation, are teaching orthodox Christianity to your kids.

TEC got where it is because the revisionists have been volunteering to teach Sunday School, serve in the vestry, take time off work to be convention delegates.  Their job is to turn your nice little conservative parish into a nice really tiny and exclusive revisionist parish.  They have proven very effective- and as a result, you now have 141 bishops voting for gay marriage, 80% of parishes under revisionist rectors, and in some dioceses, the term “conservative” refers to those who insist that gay couples get married rather than just living together.

Bill2,

RE: “There was a sizable minority of us left, but the tide had clearly turned.”

I’ll tell you what one group did in a parish I know of.

They began a prayer group—that prayed faithfully for the parish for 20 years.  They also later began a men’s group that grew and grew and grew.  They meet once a week at 7 a.m. to study and learn together and have done so for many years now.

Then the leaders of the prayer group and the men’s group asked to have Alpha—and the rector declined.  After several years of begging, they went to the rector and let him know they would be having it at another member’s house. He caved—they had it at the parish, and it was quite successful [the rector took full credit for his brilliance].

Then the men’s group started putting on events with outside speakers.

I’m not going to tell you the end of the story—it’s pretty incredible and, faithless as I am, I could never have imagined such an amazing one—and honestly . . . it’s not the end, for this parish, it’s the beginning.

This parish was long-gone. It had had a succession of -10s and -7s on the revisionism scale—one of its old rectors you’d recognize, and he is still as blood curdlingly awful as he was then. A real loony-tunes. 

I mean—he could have reached Spongian heights had he had the organization skills, but blessedly, he didn’t.  Still, he has achieved notoriety for his anti-Gospel beliefs, and he has done for another parish, what he did for this one I’m describing [that is, plummet it into the ground].

So at any rate . . . maybe you need to take counsel with the one or two others who are like you and try to think of what to do. My own bias is to go down working. I just don’t like standing around [or lying around, rather] waiting to die.

To differentiate in this world’s TEC, two main things will get attention the quickest and are the easiest: 

1) - money - don’t just withhold money from the diocese - it may be difficult for your church to do that without repercussions, if you can get your vestry and rector to agree to do it, which may be difficult in and of itself.  Withhold pledge and plate money from your local parish - but give to specific ministries within the parish that have to be kept separate, like beneficence fund for the poor; capital fund (if there is one); flowers and altar guild; youth retreats; men’s club; ECW; DOK; Brotherhood of St Andrew; ushers; building and grounds; Alpha; Cursillo; orthodox speakers, especially during Lent - anything that is not a part of the budget.  That way, you still help maintain your parish, but none or little of your money goes to the diocese, because that is usually only based on “on budget” collections.  (Give $1 per week or total of $365 for each day of the year, so it can’t be said you aren’t pledging, and you still get a vote a parish meeting)  When you clergy come to you about your small pledge explain to them your reasons.  If they don’t come to you, then that’s ok, too, because after awhile, they’ll leave because their pay will be cut from pledge withholdings - or they will start to differentiate, too, in which case you can set up a separate off budget fund to help them out financially. 

2)  begin and grow a men’s ministry - I’m sorry, but even the PB at a meeting of the Brotherhood of St Andrew down by Mobile, AL stated that the church has become “too feminized” - her words, not mine.  There has been a tremendous loss of men in the church since the early 1960s, and priests and bishops in today’s TEC do not care for churches “run by men,” as I have heard mine described.  Mine has differentiated itself in this way, and we are left alone by the diocese and we are known as one of the few conservative churches in a liberal diocese, which has brought wonderful growth and many young families.  We are spreading our outreach tremendously, and many of us believe that our church will one day be a bedrock from which the diocese will reorganize itself, after the final push off the cliff from the liberal reappraisers.

Billy:

I mark a lot of our main tithing (once a month when I get paid) as “rector’s discretionary fund” because that church chest is sort of ‘love offering’ for people outside of the pledges.

During the week (so my eldest daughter can still put a check in the plate) I mark a smaller gift (like $25) for music and usually request a hymn in the memo line. Not that three checks for $25 each is much to worry over, but should I put them down as ‘music discretionary fun” so that it is up to the management of the parish music ministry only, not some pencil-pusher at the diocesan office?

All-Is-True,

Check with your church treasurer or other financial person in the church about what goes on budget and what is off, and if you designate something in the memo line, if it will necessarily be spent on that item or ministry.  I belonged to a church that assured me in 2004, that we could designate on the memo line of my check “for local use only,” and none of our pledges would go to the diocese or the national church.  But I found out at the end of the year, that that restriction was completely ignored, at the direction of the rector, without telling any of us who had been faithfully paying our pledges under that assumption. 

I’m sure the rector’s discretionary fund is off budget, but ... today is not like the past.  When I was growing up, that fund was sacrosanct to help those in need.  Today, I’ve seen priests rationalize its use for clothes for the priest (not vestments - clothes), to take the office staff or others out to lunch, for education fees for priests’ children, and other things not related to beneficence.  So just be sure of your rector before contributing to his personal fund and that he is going to use “discretion” with that fund that you approve of.