episcopal churches?

[Gray Temple]

Hi, Chris -

> I am in dialogue with an Episcopal church (Anglican, usa) that is about to
> get a new rector (priest).  The church also has a large bugetary shortfall
> to deal with.  My sense is that, though it is a strong and indeed a vibrant
> church, a number of their projects no longer match what has heart and
> meaning for the church members.
>
> Does anyone have experience using OST in a church in similar circumstances
> (new leadership, financial pressures)?  I would like to have some
> stories/testimonials to share with the church vestry.  There's not much in
> the "church/religious" category of OS Stories on OSW.org.

I'm an Episcopal priest and a lurker on this list.  I got trained last
spring by Harrison and Katrina Petri and have been using OST in various
parish settings ever since.  Time constraints being what they are, I
have yet to be able to one "pure" -- yet even with seemingly violent
modifications of the process, all of our results have been favorable and
culture-changing so far.

Two examples:

1. Between the resignation of our previous youth director and the
employment of her successor, our youth groups were run by a collection
of volunteers from the previous administration and somewhat anxious
parents.  I convened the kids, their parents, and their supervisors on
two consecutive Sunday afternoons for about 3 hours per meeting (pizza
provided) and opened space for them, promising that whatever they
arrived at would be the actual youth program until the arrival of a new
director -- and that the new director would be interviewed on the basis
of his/her agreement with those results and that approach.

Despite severe time constraints, it went off like a charm.  Kids were
reporting that they had "never felt listened to" until this event.  The
new director bought into it, which has greatly smoothed her transition.

2.  Each early summer right after the Feast of Pentecost our parish has
a series of renewal-oriented events for all ages, culminating in an
intensive weekend.  This year the committee asked me to present two
evenings back to back on personal spiritual renewal -- a "revival" so to
speak, in an Episcopal accent.

I did it in Open Space.  Explaining that if I succeeded in launching
revival by my presentations the result risked dependency on my own slant
on things. I opened the space for people to discuss what their actual
needs were in the area of personal spiritual renewal.  The hardest work
I did in the parish last year was to sit still without intervening once
they got started.  Bottom line: attendance grew from one evening to the
next; the group out itself through "revival" with a high level of
immediate satisfaction and long term impact.  Based on that, our men are
planning their spring retreat as an OS event.

Episcopal/Anglican churches, while not so overtly "Father knows best" as
some denominations, nevertheless manifest top-down tendencies. It's
important for that reason to get their rector on board and agreeable to
any outcome in advance.  That can be done by specifying initial boundary
conditions in advance: e.g. "The following matters are NOT on the table
for modification" -- though even there you can expect surprises.

Let me know how this goes.  I'm quite excited about the promise of OST
as a spiritually integral procedure for the internal renewal of
Episcopal parishes -- indeed for the denomination itself.

Gray Temple (the Rev. Canon)

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