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SpiritDIOCESAN CONVENTION PREVIEW • ST. ANDREW’S TURNS 100 • JAMAICAN HOMEBUILDING

Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri

MISSION- PALOOZA!Fall 2012Volume 4, No. 4

Spirit

2 SPIRIT, FALL, 2012

PUBLISHER:The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

WEB SITE:www.episcopalwestmo.org

E-MAIL:[email protected]

PHONE:Editor’s Cell: (816) 213-1639

FAX:(816) 471-0379

EDITOR:Hugh Welsh

Spirit is published quarterly by the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri

420 W. 14th St.Kansas City, MO 64105

SUBMISSIONS/LETTERS:Spirit welcomes submissions of news

articles, photographs and letters to the editor on topicsof interest to the diocese. Submissions should include the writer’s name, e-mail, mailing address and phone

number and are subject to editing.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:Hugh Welsh, Spirit

The Rev. John Spicer, St. Andrew’s, Kansas CityAngela Crawford, Administrative Assistant to

Chuck Franklin, Diocesan AdministratorThe Rev. Dr. Steven Rottgers, Assistant to the Bishop

for Congregational Vitality

4 Editor’s LetterIn early 2012, Minda Cox (St. Alban’s, Bolivar), born with no arms or legs, spent six months in Botswana for an intercultural studies degree requirement at Southwest Baptist University. Any journey into the third world is without its comforts. For Cox, this meant she’d be deprived of her key benefactor: an electric wheelchair.By Hugh Welsh

In July, the communications subcommittee of the West Missouri Futuring Task Group sponsored a communications workshop focusing on Web sites, social media and Internet advertising. By the Very Rev. Lauren Lyon

7 Improving Parish-level Communication

6 Gleanings from Around the DioceseUnfortunately, the Church’s answers to its problems cannot be pulled miraculously from a hat like a rabbit, according to the diocese’s Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Vitality. His alternative: a ponder box. By the Rev. Dr. Steven R. Rottgers

ON THE COVER: A band performs at St. Paul’s in Kansas City during Missionpalooza 2012. Photo by Donna Field.

A peek at all that is up-and-coming around the diocese: Kirkin’ of the Tartans, the Greater Kansas City Healing Conference, the Diocesan Gathering and Convention, the Diocesan Youth Gathering, ordinations to the priesthood and a matching grant deadline for ministries that meet Millennium Development Goal guidelines.

8 The Agenda

5 Bishop TalkGeneral Convention was defined by community. The bishop hopes the same is true of the Diocesan Convention.By the Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s message to the Episcopal Church on General Convention.

9 Rip and Read

13 Bishop Howe on General ConventionThis past summer’s General Convention was Bishop Barry Howe’s ninth overall and fifth as bishop. The Diocese of West Missouri’s Seventh Bishop wasn’t as enamored with the Convention’s hot-button topics as he was the Church’s position on Israel and Palestine. By Garland Pollard

SPIRIT, FALL, 2012 3

Among the work sites during Missionpalooza 2012 was Don Bosco’s Youth Development Center, where volunteers engaged in one-on-one reading exercises. Submitted photo.

St. Andrew’s originated in the back room of a Brookside grocer in 1913. One hundred years later, the parish’s rector celebrates its past and the promise its future holds. The 100th anniversary will be commemorated in January with a new hymn. Its writer shares his inspiration. By the Rev. John Spicer and the Rev. Adrian Low

20 St. Andrew’s Celebrates its Centennial

Fourteen presentations will be offered at this year’s Diocesan Gathering — from the mysteries of discernment to congregational how-tos to the future of religion. Diocesan Convention will yield a new budget, elections to Standing Committee and Diocesan Council and settle 15 resolutions, including one clarifying the diocese’s position on health insurance for its employees and another that would organize St. Mary Magdalene (South Kansas City) as a parish.

10 Diocesan Gathering and Convention

14 Be it Resolved...Much was at stake during the 77th General Convention: the Church’s structure; whether the Church would ink itself to the Anglican Covenant; trial use of a rite for same-gender blessings; equitable health care for all Church employees. A glance at each of these resolutions — and five others pertinent to the diocese.

16 Mission: AccomplishMissionpalooza is a weeklong event each summer that unites youth at the dioceses of West Missouri and Kansas in community action at work sites throughout the Kansas City area. Missionpalooza’s impact is deep felt: both in the communities it serves and the volunteers themselves. By Hugh Welsh

From June 24 to July 10, Rasheed Hobbs (Church of the Resurrection, Blue Springs) led his Blue Springs High School football teammates to Harmons, Jamaica, where they built hurricane-resistant housing. The trip would condition Hobbs and his teammates more than any two-a-day practice. More importantly, it would acquaint them with a people whose lives are no game. By Hugh Welsh

22 One Church Engaging the World


MINDA COX (ST. ALBAN’S, BOLIVAR) WAS born without arms or legs. Yet, ability — not disability — is her trademark. I met Minda at my first Diocesan Convention in 2009, when I bought a few prints of her watercolor paintings. The portraits I purchased, which Minda painted by placing the brush between her chin and shoulder, are vignettes of her native India. In December 2007, Cox visited her biological parents in Kolekebailu, a village in India’s Udupi district. Her portraits from the India trip show women in solitary roles, grinding spices with a mortar and pestle or balancing baskets full of produce on their heads. Their garments are vibrant shades of green, purple or red. Whether Indian or Amish, another culture of interest, women are always busy in Minda’s paintings. The same principle governs Cox’s outlook on life despite her lack of inherent mobility. She is seldom inactive, even when not aided by an electric wheelchair. From January to July, Minda was deprived of her electric wheelchair while in Botswana, whose Anglican diocese shares a companion relationship with West Missouri, for an intercultural studies degree requirement at Southwest Baptist University. Her service project was at St. Peter’s Daycare Centre, a daycare and preschool facility for orphans and children in extreme poverty located outside Botswana’s capital of Gaborone. Minda’s humor about her disability is revealed in her attempt to help during naptime. “When it was time to put the children down for their afternoon naps, I went and tried to help. Let’s just say that wasn’t the best idea,” Minda blogged. “One of the children kept getting up and wanting to play with me or would just try to sit up on their mats and watch me move around. Needless to say they did not get much in the way of sleep, and I reassured the teachers I won’t be around during the nap hour anymore.” Botswana is known as a “nation of orphans” due to an AIDS epidemic, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Minda. “I see firsthand and day after day what poverty and loss of family members have done to so many of these children. Some are already HIV positive, and others have had family members die of this terrible disease. Some are actual orphans, and all of them are starving for love and affection, which they seek from everyone, including me! It’s also good for them to see someone who is disabled serving with them.

Editor’sLetter by Hugh Welsh

It helps them understand that others have also suffered, that there are all sorts of different sufferings in the world, and yet no matter what, we can all find peace and joy and purpose in Christ,” she blogged. During her stay, Minda wanted to communicate in a language Botswanans could understand — their own. She learned to speak and write basic Setswana: “I like to see how God speaks in this culture,” she blogged. “And I really love listening to the Setswana language on the streets, and hearing the rhythms within each word or phrase.” Minda is yet to convert any of her Botswana experiences to canvas. I anticipate her talent with watercolor will offer a vigorous representation of a culture foreign to most of us — but not to Minda. Minda’s blog can be accessed at www.mindacox.com.

KATHRYN SPICER, A PARISHIONER AT ST. Andrew’s, Kansas City, and a college freshman, has been appointed by the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies, to serve as a member of the Joint Nominating Committee for a Presiding Bishop. This is the group that will interview candidates and select a slate of nominees to stand for election as the next presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Each presiding bishop serves a nine-year term, and the election will take place at General Convention in 2015. Spicer was part of the youth delegation from West Missouri at the 2012 General Convention. While there, the West Missouri youth met with Jennings. Later, each youth wrote Jennings a note thanking her for spending time with them. “Kathryn’s note was so outstanding that I immediately thought of her for this appointment,” Jennings said.

Youth delegates Kathryn Spicer (St. Andrew’s, Kansas City), right, and Michaela Johnson (youth intern at St. Andrew’s, Kansas City) at General Convention.


Bishop Talk

By the Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

DEFINING COMMUNITY

One of the truths of life is this: human life is mostly lived out in community. “Community,” however, has several

definitions. Community is the civic jurisdiction in which we live. It’s the group of friends and family we hold close. It’s the neighbors who share our neighborhood. And we use the term to describe our church congregation, our faith community. The first band of Christians, the 12 Disciples, had learned about living in community from their Jewish heritage and became the first Christian community as they gathered around Christ. The glue of their community was the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus, the Christ, and they were close knit. Community, as we most often use the term — even as the first, Christian community of disciples exemplified the term — is all about things local and close in, but there’s also a broader idea of community that the Church celebrates: community writ large, as in were, and expressed by our Conventions, General or Diocesan. In July of this year, the General Convention, the highest, decision-making body of our Church, convened in Indianapolis. Over the 8 or so days that business was conducted, Deputies and Bishops dealt with over 400 resolutions. All who attended will have their own ideas about which of these were the most important. I have a list of 13, but that’s my list. What struck me most about this convention was the fell of community that prevailed. I found it remarkable. This and every General Convention is populated by people from all over the globe — literally — and by people speaking several languages. Some folks were highly conservative; some highly progressive; many occupying the middle of the road. For many reasons, this convention could have been a paradigm of dysfunctional divisiveness. It wasn’t. Of all the things that happened (including the

departure after the adoption of Resolution A049, “Liturgical Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships,” of the Bishop and Deputation of the Diocese of South Carolina) all the convention’s affairs were conducted with grace, genuine compassion, an authentic willingness to listen to the ideas of others, and a sense that our unity in Christ was a more crucial, overriding concern than any of the issues. Words come to mind such as: fair, even handed, balanced, collegial, functional vis-à-vis dysfunctional, respect, and concern. It was Christian Community writ large and at its finest. Now we are less than a month from our own Diocesan Convention (Friday and Saturday, November 2 and 3, at University Plaza Hotel, Springfield). It is the annual gathering for our diocesan Community – a family gathering of sorts. I invite each member of the diocese to attend. After all, no convention is for delegates only. The more our wider membership knows the way we do business and becomes versant with the issues before us, the more our diocesan community will be enhanced. Y’all come! And especially, y’all come to the Friday morning and afternoon Gathering on November 2. The Gathering precedes opening of Convention late Friday afternoon, and has 14 different workshop offerings. (Register online at our Web site, www.diowestmo.org.) In the Convention’s business sessions, we’ll act on 15 submitted resolutions ranging from canonical changes to approving employee medical benefits plans. These and other important matters are before us. As we deliberate, I pray that our convention will rise to the level of and match the same tone and tenor of General Convention. Come join in, and let’s make this convention an example of the right way Christians come together in community. Let this convention be a shining of example of how we live as the Beloved Community in Christ. P.S. A big thank you from me to retiring Deans Bill Fasel (Central Deanery) and Lauren Lyon (Metro Deanery). You have served your deaneries and your diocese well, and I personally appreciate your council and guidance as part of the Episcopal Ministry Support Team. May God reward you for this service to God’s Church.


AGING MYSELF FROM THE OUTSET, I remember watching the old “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” as one of my cartoon favorites. To introduce

this ongoing article/dialogue, I focus on the regular occurrence of Bullwinkle yelling, “Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat! Nothing up my sleeve!” He tears the sleeve off above the elbow, reaches into the

hat, pulls out a snarling lion’s head and stuffs the head back quickly. Then...with a surprised look Bullwinkle turns to the camera and exclaims: “I gotta get a new hat!” In my new role as Bishop’s Assistant for Congregational Vitality, I am quite aware that many in the Episcopal Church are looking for a rabbit pulled miraculously out of a hat, for answers, ideas, and solutions to special and everyday problems, challenges and gaps of creativity. It is not just challenging in your local congregation, but widespread in the diocese as well as the entire Church today. It would be easy to submit to anxiety, fear, and doubt, thus ultimately shutting down any form of creative thought and constricting the flow of the Holy Spirit. As a new priest working at a Youth Leadership Training Conference in South Carolina, I was introduced to the “wonder box,” a place where anyone could place any item during the seminar. Each night at chapel one of the clergy would reach in and pull out an item and then have only 30 seconds to launch into a sermon on how that item presented God’s presence into our world. I was the lucky one to go first. I reached in and — somewhat like Bullwinkle — pulled out a teenager’s training bra. With total panic/surprise, I launched into “The Church’s one foundation...” I vowed from that day that I would “prayerfully ponder/wonder” any future surprises and challenges that came into my life and ministry. Instead of just “wondering” and being stuck in my thoughts, I also

needed to formulate a plan of action/response. I, therefore, used the “ponder box” to launch many a children’s sermons, sermons that drew more attention from the adults each time I used my “ponder box.” I’m offering this continuing article as a “ponder box” for future sharing of what I see and experience during my travels throughout this great Diocese of West Missouri. If you think of something that works in your church, answering a question/challenge in the moment, I want to hear about it, and perhaps I may share it with the rest of you in the hope that someone may see how that thought or item can make the Holy Spirit known and present in their context. Instead of reaching into magic hats to pull out miracles (like rabbits or angry lion’s heads), then being surprised or disappointed with the results and wanting to change hats, I invite you to help me fill a “ponder box.” We can fill it with wonderful items to share that are provided by those who have pondered the wondrous works of how the Holy Spirit moved and worked in their midst. We won’t need another hat! We have the Holy Spirit!Ponderable Thought #1: Are your members card-carrying members? It seems hard for some people to open up and talk about their church, their faith, their Lord Jesus, so how do you break the ice? Think about this: Provide your members with calling cards that relay important information regarding your congregation’s name, its website, phone number, address, service times and even a simple map to its location. Encourage EVERYONE to take a cache and put them in their purses or wallets. While at meetings, socials, parties, on the sideline of a soccer game, or wherever, if someone opens their statements with, “I once went to church...,” “I no longer go…” or “I attended once…” they should be reaching for a card and saying, “Try mine!” while handing the card to them. Break the ice of evangelism and transform your entire congregation’s membership into card-carrying Episcopalians! Just an idea worth pondering!The Rev. Dr. Steven R. Rottgers is the diocese’s Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Vitality. He may be reached at [email protected] or 816-471-6161.

Ponder

Box

By the Rev. Dr. Steven R. Rottgers

GLEANINGS FROM AROUND THE DIOCESE


In July, the Communications Subcommittee of the West Missouri Futuring Task Group organized a workshop devoted to Web sites, social media and Internet advertising. Those who couldn’t attend in person were able to participate in

another way: via video conferencing. By the Very Rev. Lauren Lyon

IMPROVING PARISH-LEVEL COMMUNICATION

On Saturday, July 14, parishioners gathered from all areas of the diocese in two locations and by remote connection for a

workshop on Internet marketing and parish Web sites. Kevin Fullerton and Brendan O’Shaughnessy of Springboard Creative led the group through a discussion about building online presence for congregations. The second half of the workshop was a hands-on introduction to ekklesia360.com, a platform for building Web sites that is in use by Episcopal Church congregations across the United States. The workshop was organized by the communications subcommittee of the West Missouri Futuring Task Group in response to requests for communications assistance from the diocese voiced by parishioners attending last year’s Shaping Our Future forums. The conference was supported by a grant from the Congregational Development Commission — Urban/Suburban. The July 14 workshop was the first offered by West Missouri in multiple locations. The two presenters led the workshop from the computer lab at the Kansas City Art Institute. A group at Christ Church in Springfield attended via video conferencing. Several others connected via the Internet from their homes and offices. A recorded version of

the workshop will be posted on the Internet and accessible through the diocesan Web site, www.diowestmo.org. Remote access was a special focus of this workshop. Making video conferencing a simple and readily accessible option for diocesan meetings and presentations is among the goals of the communications subcommittee. Members of that subcommittee began meetings this summer with Bishop Martin Field, diocesan

staff members and others with interest in electronic communications to consider various options for a new Web site for the diocese. Among those options is ekklesia360.com, which was introduced at the July 14 workshop. Another platform under

consideration is Digital Faith

(digitalfaith.org). Digital Faith could provide a major step forward for West Missouri in electronic communications capability at the diocesan level. It is also capable of facilitating communications between congregations, diocesan committees and work groups far beyond the level that now exists. More information about various options for congregational Web sites, the diocesan Web site and other electronic communications will be offered in a workshop at the Diocesan Gathering. The Very Rev. Lauren Lyon is rector of St. Mary’s in Kansas City.

The communications workshop was held Saturday, July 14 at the Kansas City Art Institute. The workshop was also streamed online. Submitted photo.


THE AGENDAUpcoming events around the diocese

Kirkin’ of the Tartans Sunday, October 28

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Springfield The Scottish St. Andrew’s Society of Springfield will host the Kirkin’ of the Tartans, which has its origins in the 18th century. Scotland in the mid-18th century saw the English parliament and monarchy ban the wearing of tartans or kilts by Highland clansmen. A latter-day legend has it that clansmen would carry small pieces of the banned tartan cloth to the Church (Kirk) and the clergymen would slip a blessing into the service. The special service — the Rev. Steve Wilson, rector at Grace Church in Carthage, will deliver the address — is free and open to the public. All are welcome, regardless of heritage. An article written by St. John’s (Springfield) parishioner Todd Wilkinson may be accessed at www.scottishtartans.org/kirkin.htm.

Ordinations to the Priesthood Saturday, December 1

Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City Deacons David Angus and Greg Morgan (both Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City) will be ordained priests on Saturday, December 1. Angus is the former service manager at Wyandot Center, Wyandotte County’s designated community mental health center offering an array of services for people facing mental health challenges. Morgan was a teacher of French, history and economics before pursuing a call to ordained ministry and cites Education for Ministry as key to his development.

Diocesan Gathering and Convention Friday, November 2, to Saturday, November 3

University Plaza Hotel in Springfield The Diocesan Gathering Friday, November 2, will feature 14 presentations on a host of topics suitable for everyone. Later that day, the Diocesan Convention will bring delegates together to determine the diocesan budget, elect candidates to Standing Committee and Diocesan Council, decide 15 resolutions — including one that would recognize St. Mary Magdalene, a congregation in South Kansas City since 2003, as a parish and another that would dissolve the Church of the Ascension in Springfield — and hear various committee reports. Also, Bishop Martin Field will announce his first Bishop’s Shield Award recipients.

Submitted photo.

Millennium Development Goal Grants Deadline: Wednesday, October 31

Any congregation can receive up to $500 in matching funds from the diocese if it funds an overseas ministry that meets Millennium Development Goal criteria. Last year, 11 congregations received matching grants totaling $5,500. All grants must be approved by the Diocesan Council. Forms, which include a list of deanery representatives who can be contacted for questions, are available via the following address: www.diowestmo.org/parish_resources0.aspx.

Diocesan Youth Gathering Friday, November 2, to Sunday, November 4

Christ Church in Springfield The Diocesan Youth Gathering (formerly the Diocesan Youth Event), coinciding with the Diocesan Gathering and Convention, is an annual opportunity for youths (grades 6 to 12) throughout the diocese to convene in fellowship, fun and Christian learning. Breakout sessions will include prayer through art, music and meditation as well as games and community service. The event will conclude with a Zombie Rave. More information is available via the Youth Ministry’s site: www.wemoyouth.org.

Healing Conference Monday, October 29 to Wednesday, October 31

St. Andrew’s in Kansas City The International Order of St. Luke the Physician (OSL) and the OSL chapter at St. Andrew’s in Kansas City are sponsoring a healing conference themed “Kingdom Healing.” It will feature the Rev. Mike Endicott as its speaker and teacher. Endicott, from South Wales, is founder of the Order of Jacob’s Well, a branch of the Christian Church. The presentations will focus on Jesus’ many acts of healing. Anyone seeking healing is urged to attend, but everyone is welcome: both the curious and the questioner. For more information, contact St. Andrew’s at 816-523-1602.


RIP & READArticles from the Episcopal News Service

Presiding bishop’s message to the church on General Convention“THE GENERAL CONVENTION, WHICH TOOK place in Indianapolis in July, offered new and creative responses to the call of the gospel in our day. We saw gracious and pastoral responses to polarizing issues, as well as a new honesty about the need for change. General Convention addressed a number of significant issues that will impact the life and witness of this Church for years into the future – and they include many more things beyond what you’ve heard about in the news. The way we worked together also represented a new reality, working to adapt more creatively to our diverse nature as a Church. It is that way of creative engagement that ultimately will be most transformative for The Episcopal Church and the world beyond it. On issue after issue, the resolutions addressed by General Convention emerged in creative responses that considered, but did not end in, the polarized positions expected as we went into Convention. People listened to the movement of the spirit and discerned a way forward that was mutually upbuilding, rather than creating greater divisiveness or win-lose outcomes. The hot-button issues of the last decade have not been eternally resolved, but we have as a body found creative and pastoral ways to live with the differences of opinion, rather than resorting to old patterns of conflict. There is a certain expansive grace in how these decisions are being made and in the responses to them, a grace that is reminiscent of the Elizabeth settlement. We’ve said as a Church that there is no bar to the participation of minorities of all sorts, and we are finding pastoral ways to ensure that potential offense at

the behavior or position of another is minimized, with the hope that we may grow toward celebrating that diversity as a gift from God. If we are all sinners, then each of us may be wrong about where we stand. Human beings, made from humus, become Christlike when they know humility. Major issues addressed at General Convention included approval of a trial rite for blessing same-sex unions. It may be used in congregations beginning in Advent, with the approval of the diocesan bishop. Bishops are making varied responses to the rite – a prime example of this emerging reality of local adaptation based on context – something which is profoundly Anglican. The decision to provide a trial rite for same-sex blessings was anticipated by many across the Church – some with fear and trepidation, others with rejoicing, and yet others with frustration that more would not be offered. The decision of General Convention may not have fully satisfied anyone, yet it has provided more space for difference than most expected. The rite must be authorized by a diocesan bishop, which permits bishops who believe it inappropriate to safeguard their own theological position. Some of the responses by bishops with questions about the appropriateness of such rites in their dioceses show creativity and enormous pastoral respect for those who support such blessings. The use of this rite is open to local option, in the same way we often think about private confession: “all may, some should, none must.” General Convention also produced creative responses to a number of other challenging issues – in particular, peacemaking in Israel-Palestine, the Anglican Covenant, and the call to restructure The Episcopal Church. The resolutions adopted reflect a higher level of investment in the health of diverse opinions and positions in the Church than we have seen for a long time. We can celebrate a bit of “growing up into the full stature of Christ” and the kind of welcome we claim to exemplify: “The Episcopal Church welcomes you,” whoever you are and wherever you stand. As a Church, when we’re at our best, we earnestly believe that that diversity helps to lead us toward the mind of Christ. The call to restructure the Church is a response to growing grassroots awareness that we must change or die. I’ve heard it put this way, “It’s not a matter of tradition or change – tradition IS change!” We live in an age of rapid change, and if we are going to be faithful to our baptismal work of going into the world and proclaiming the gospel, our methods and support systems also need to change.” The full text of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s speech can be accessed at: episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/08/03/presiding-bishops-message-to-the-church-on-general-convention/


Tips for a Better Sunday SchoolPresenter: Judy Kile Time: 10 to 11 a.m.

Location: Arkansas Room Christian Formation is a lifelong process, one that begins with our baptism and continues into our old age. We have a responsibility to provide vital, quality opportunities for formation in our churches. The goal of this workshop is to improve such offerings for children. The workshop will look at the qualities of a good teacher, stressing “formation” rather than “information.” We will set goals for forming disciples and suggest specific programs, methods and techniques to achieve them. The workshop will be practical for any sized Sunday School and is suitable for lay or clergy leaders.

Starting a Community of Hope MinistryPresenter: The Rev. Beck Schubert

Time: 10 to 11 a.m. Location: Kansas A Room

Community of Hope International (COHI) is “A School for God’s Service.” COHI’s Mission is creating and sustaining Christian communities of volunteer lay pastoral caregivers around the world. The COHI program trains lay volunteers to participate in their congregation’s pastoral care team. We will share with you how several parishes use this “School for God’s Service” and will work with you, as you develop what best fits your congregational needs. Among the differing places in which a Community of Hope Center can offer a pastoral care ministry are homes of the homebound, nursing homes, retirement homes, hospices, hospitals and outpatient clinics.

Revealing the Mysteries of DiscernmentPresenters: Bishop Martin Field,

The Very Rev. Dr. Bill Fasel, The Rev. Jason Lewis Time: 10 to 11 a.m.

Location: Kansas B Room All Christians are “ordained” for ministry by virtue of baptism, which among many rich layers of meaning (e.g. the washing away of sins, a welcoming into membership in a local congregation and the greater Church, the sacramental adoption by God, etc.) is also an anointing for ministry. All this happens at baptism. Still, persons sometimes feel called to one of the further ordained orders of ministry: deacon or priest. This interactive workshop will both lead participants to a greater understanding of the process and allow them to suggest improvements and changes.

The Diocesan Gathering — Friday, November 2, at the University Plaza Hotel in Springfield — will offer 14 presentations, including tips for a better Sunday School; an update on the Palapye Project with our companion diocese,

the Diocese of Botswana; and Celtic spirituality, worship and prayer.

THE NINTH DIOCESAN GATHERING

The Future of Religion in an Electronic CulturePresenter: The Rev. Bill McVey

Time: 10 to 11 a.m. Location: Kansas C Room

It has been suggested that religion and the formation of spirituality will increasingly become primarily right-brain. Marshal McLuhan argued that, in the postmodern era, the print-and-linear dominated left brain no longer governs the formation of Western spiritual consciousness. Judaism, Christianity and Islam will be examined as exemplars of a cultural patriarchy grounded on the authority of the printed word. These monotheistic religions are based on an imageless Father deity whose authority shines through His revealed Word and is sanctified in its written form. This prepares the way for the kind of abstract thinking that inevitably leads to codes, dualistic philosophy, and objective science, the signature triad of Western culture.

Celtic Spirituality, Worship and PrayerPresenter: The Rev. Sidney Breese Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Location: Arkansas Room The spirituality of the Christian Celts has special appeal for many of us today who are concerned about the ecological survival of our planet, the revitalization of our churches and the quality of our own spiritual life. Part of the great spiritual hunger that is sweeping the West is the revival or interest in Celtic spirituality. This workshop will touch on the historical origins and some main characteristics of this particular form of spirituality and prayer. You don’t have to be Irish or a Celt to appreciate this spirituality or its implications for prayer.

“To Strive to Safeguard the Integrity of Creation and Sustain and Renew the Life of the Earth”

Presenters: The Rev. Larry Lewis and Carla Klein Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Location: Kansas A Room Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) is a national organization with 39 state chapters and 14,000 participating congregations. Our speaker, Carla Klein, Columbia, serves as Clean Energy Coordinator at Renew Missouri. She is responsible for the current ecumenical efforts to organize a Missouri IPL. This session’s host, Fr. Larry Lewis, Osceola, has long advocated for Care of Creation ministry. A national organization, IPL educates and helps communities of faith become models of energy efficiency, utilize renewable energy, and lead by showing a strong example of stewardship of Creation.


Our Companion Diocese of Botswana: New DevelopmentsPresenters: Companion Diocese Committee

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Location: Kansas B Room

Since 2008, we’ve shared a dream with our companion diocese, the Diocese of Botswana, concerning the proposed child care center in Palapye, Botswana, but attempts to acquire a larger tract of land dragged on and fundraising temporarily faded. Now new plans for using the land around the church of St. Mary Magdalene are re-energizing the effort. Sandra Zarins and Minda Cox will share their recent experiences in Botswana and Melissa Bolden will reflect on her time there and her involvement in the developing plans.

Creating an Effective Web Site for Your CongregationPresenters: The Very Rev. Lauren Lyon and

Walker Adams Times: 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. / 1 to 2 p.m.

Location: Kansas C Room Eighty-five percent of prospective visitors to your church will look at its web site before they step through the door. Although this percentage may vary between the regions of our diocese, the gap is closing quickly. How well is your congregation served by its present web site? Does the site give your prospective visitors an optimal and accurate presentation of what your church has to offer them? This workshop provides examples of how web sites can build interest among prospective visitors to your church, what kinds of information should be on your site and offers a variety of options for hosting and content management.

Healthy Congregational Problem SolvingPresenters: The Revs. Tim Coppinger and Edie Bird

Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Location: Arkansas Room

Conflict is a normal, inevitable part of life in the church. Working well with conflict leads to healthier congregations, stronger relationships and more creative work. In this practical hands-on workshop, you will learn the difference between creative and destructive approaches to interpersonal conflict. Some basic mediation and problem-solving skills for churches will also be demonstrated using case studies.

The Spirituality and Best Practices of LeadershipPresenter: The Rev. Dr. Steven Rottgers

Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Location: Kansas A Room

Leadership is not about titles, status, power, uniforms, or the office with a view and big desk! It’s about relationships, relationships, relationships and relationships! The important question is: “with whom?” To answer that sincere and important question, you have to know, “Who are You?!” Who you are inside regarding values, hopes, dreams, vision and your historic story has a great deal to tell about who you are and what makes you tick. After discerning that, the next question arises: “What are you being told, and are you listening to a passionate call?”

Hunger Relief: Living Out the CovenantPresenters: John Hornbeck, Judy Lane,

Murrel Bland and Michael Davis Times: 1 to 2 p.m. / 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

Locations: Kansas B Room / Arkansas Room The Episcopal Hunger Relief Network (EHRN) is a growing area of emphasis and impact for EpiscopalCommunity Services (ECS) and for the dioceses of West Missouri and Kansas. John Hornbeck and others with ECS will facilitate your exploration of hunger relief as a core ministry of the Episcopal Church. We will consider hunger’s true impact in our communities. And we will take a frank look at feeding ministries as a method for living out our baptismal covenant and building church community.

Health Insurance: The Proposed Diocesan Plan and its ImpactPresenter: The Very Rev. Steven Wilson

Time: 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Location: Kansas A Room

Beginning January 1, 2013, the Episcopal Church will enact major changes in health insurance policy. This presentation is designed to explain the insurance options available, so as to provide for informed voting. The first resolution sets a diocesan policy regarding which employees and dependents are required to be insured through the Denomination Health Plan (DHP). The second resolution offers one of the plans from the DHP.

Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders Through Campus MinistryPresenter: Elizabeth Marshall-Belcher

Time: 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Location: Kansas B Room

Wouldn’t it be exciting if there were new people in our church community who brought a new energy, a wish to be involved, curious minds and a desire for growth in their spiritual journey? This is what our students in Campus Ministry bring — an infectious energy, a curious spirit and a wish to make a difference in the world. We will learn how to create programs and environments where students are invited to examine, question, learn and grow without judgment. Explore ways your congregation can be involved in the work and life of this exciting ministry, even if you do not have an institution of higher learning in your community.

Growing Your Congregation: How to Attract and Welcome Visitors to Your Church

Presenter: The Very Rev. Lauren Lyon Time: 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

Location: Kansas C Room Hospitality to visitors involves everyone at a church — not only the clergy, the greeters or the members of the Vestry. It requires planning, preparation and teaching along with ongoing attention and care to be sure that every Sunday morning visitor has the best possible experience at your church.


Under discussion at Diocesan Convention — Saturday, November 3 at the University Plaza Hotel in Springfield — will be 15 resolutions, including ones that would dissolve the Church of the Ascension

(Springfield), organize St. Mary Magdalene (South Kansas City) as a parish and address the insurance plan for diocesan employees. For full text of the proposed resolutions, click the “Gathering and Convention 2012”

link on the diocesan Web site, www.diowestmo.org.

THE 123RD DIOCESAN CONVENTION

Dissolution of the Church of the Ascension

The bishop and Standing Committee have

consented to the sale of the Church of the Ascension (Springfield) property “in the best interest of the diocese.”

St. Mary Magdalene’s Organization as a Parish

The congregation of St. Mary Magdalene

(South Kansas City), founded in 2003, has applied to be organized as a parish in the diocese.

“To Pray in the Spirit at All Times”

The resolution encourages the diocese’s

parishes and congregations to thank God, pray for and support the many, largely unheralded and underappreciated members of our communities who love God and the Church, who live in faithfulness and righteousness before Him and who support their church, community and country as well as the various worldwide outreach programs with their time, their talents and their finances.

Diocesan Council Powers

The resolution clarifies the Diocesan

Council’s duties and work in the missional areas of the diocese.

Ecclesiastical Definitions

The resolution states that “Definitions,”

Article XVIII of the Constitution of the Diocese of West Missouri Constitution, should be removed.

Parishes in Crisis

The resolution authorizes the ecclesiastical

authority to be more proactive, and less reactive, with parishes unable to meet minimal canonical obligations.

Annual Meeting Dates

The resolution states that annual meetings

should be able to accomplish their objectives in the stated time frame.

Annual Meeting Quorums

Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all

quorum, the resolution insists that an annual meeting be a reasonable percentage of average Sunday attendance.

Ecclesiastical Discipline

The resolution will allow the diocese to fully

conform to the Episcopal Church’s canons.

Honorary Canons

The resolution states that, while the diocese

has honorary canons, failing to note their existence and job descriptions could suggest that the bishop has the power to appoint persons to the vestry and/or chapter of the cathedral.

References to Publications

The resolution states that whenever the

words “Constitution and Canons” or “Journal” appear in regards to a particular publication, they be capitalized and italicized.

Diocesan Convention Rules of Order

The resolution modifies the Rules of Order

to adapt them to current, normal use and to correct some anomalies.

Composition of Deaneries

The resolution amends the appendix to the

Canons “Deaneries of the Diocese of West Missouri” to list congregations in name only without any regional affiliation.

Quorum for Diocesan Council

The resolution changes the Diocesan Council

quorum for business from “seven” to “a simple majority of the members.”

Diocesan Insurance Plan

The resolution addresses specific points

of diocesan policy that the Church Medical Trust requires in order to provide appropriate insurance for our employees, by defining the limits of coverage that apply in this diocese.


The Rt. Rev. Barry Howe, Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida and Seventh Bishop of the Diocese of West Missouri, saw progress for the Episcopal Church at its 77th

General Convention. “First, I see that the planning has been done very, very well,” says Howe, who retired in 2011 after 13 years as West Missouri’s bishop. By Garland Pollard

BISHOP HOWE ON CONVENTION

Bishop Barry Howe has attended nine General Conventions, four as deputy and five as bishop. At this past summer’s convention,

Howe says, there was ample opportunity for fellowship and a sense of respect for time. While resolutions on budget and same-sex blessings made the most news, Howe is most pleased about the church’s constructive position on Israel and Palestine. Before General Convention, there were talks of boycotts of Israel, though the Presiding Bishop favored engagement. This moderate approach has been affirmed. “I see a whole lot less tension,” Howe says. “I think that is a very good sign.” Howe is active in overseas mission and evangelism; he is a board member of both the Episcopal Evangelical Society and the American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem. He says that the comparison with South Africa was not accurate; instead, a boycott of Israel would punish Palestinians. “It’s freed from a lot of the politics,” Howe says, “with much more a sense of the involvement in the people there.” Howe has been vocal in the House of Bishops concerning the Middle East. For instance, in a vote on support of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, he advocated that the funds go through the American Friends of Jerusalem, which has controls already in

place to ensure the funds are properly accounted for. Howe said the Episcopal Church Center discussed moving its offices to Kansas City more than a decade ago. Whether they move from New York or stay, it needs to be carefully considered. “They need to be very careful about where they do go,” Howe says. Howe recognizes the need to consider the cost of maintaining a headquarters in Manhattan, though he said this sort of talk has been ongoing for 30

years. To him, the cost is not just about the value of the building, but of doing business in New York City. “To go to New York even for a meeting is so costly,” Howe says. Howe has a long familiarity

with Southwest Florida, as he was Dean of St. Peter’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg for 11 years. At Convention, Mary Howe received honors from the Episcopal Church Women at their 47th Triennial Meeting as one of their Distinguished Women. Mary Howe, a Cornell-trained nurse, has been active in many of the parishes across her former diocese and also with St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City. Garland Pollard is the Diocese of Southwest Florida’s director of communications.

Bishop Barry (right) and Mary Howe at General Convention. Submitted photo.


This summer’s General Convention, in which half the deputies were serving for the first time, included resolutions affirming a positive investment in the Palestinian Territories, celebrating

a decade of ecumenism with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, relocating the Episcopal Church Center headquarters and initiating a dialogue between the Episcopal Church

and the Mormon Church “for the interreligious purposes of friendship, goodwill and mutual understanding.” None, however, was more significant to our diocese than these nine resolutions.

Although convention declined to take a position on the Anglican Covenant, it affirmed a commitment to building relationships across

the Anglican Communion, especially through the Continuing Indaba program, a Biblically based and mission-focused project designed to develop relationships that create the space for dialogue. After considering eight resolutions, the General Convention’s committee on world mission recommended adoption of two resolutions on Anglican Communion relationships and the Anglican Covenant, a document that had been intended as a way to bind Anglicans globally across cultural and theological differences. The resolution acknowledges that, following extensive study and prayerful consideration of the Anglican Covenant, there remains “a wide variety of opinions and ecclesiological positions in The Episcopal Church.” It also calls for the presiding bishop and the president of the House of Deputies to appoint a task force “to continue to monitor the ongoing developments with respect to the Anglican Covenant and how this church might continue its participation.”

Anglican Covenant

In a historic move, convention authorized provisional use of a rite for blessing same-gender relationships. “The Witnessing and Blessing of a

Lifelong Covenant” rite will be available for use starting December 2 (the first Sunday of Advent), but clergy will need the permission of their bishop under the terms of the resolution. The resolution calls on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music “to conduct a review process over the next triennium, making clear that this is a work in progress,” the Rev. Ruth Meyers, deputy of the Diocese of Chicago, told the deputies. She chaired the convention Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music Committee’s subcommittee on blessings and the SCLM. The resolution directs the SCLM to include “diverse theological perspectives in the further development of the theological resource” and to invite responses from throughout the church as well as from the Anglican Communion and the church’s ecumenical partners.

Same-gender Blessings

BE IT RESOLVED...

Based on the Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission and the categories of administration and governance, the budget for the Episcopal

Church in the 2013-2015 triennium was adopted unanimously by the 77th General Convention July 11. The budget is balanced at $111,516,032, compared to $111,808,350 for the current triennium, and comes with a small surplus of $30,000. The five marks: — To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom — To teach, baptize and nurture new believers — To respond to human need by loving service — To seek to transform unjust structures of society — To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

The Church Budget

The resolution provides members of the Joint Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop, who are elected by both houses, a

structure and process for their work, which includes interviewing candidates and selecting nominees for election as the next presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Each presiding bishop serves a nine-year term. The election will be held at General Convention in 2015.

Joint Nominating Committee


Of the almost 400 resolutions submitted to General Convention, more than 90 related to structural reform. Most of those resolutions

were similar in nature and it was the work of the structure committee at convention to consider the legislation and make its recommendations. Applause and cheers erupted July 11 as a resolution calling for the creation of a task force to re-imagine the workings of the Episcopal Church in the 21st century sailed unanimously through the House of Bishops. A day earlier, deputies also had passed the resolution unanimously. The legislation creates a special task force of up to 24 people who will gather ideas in the next two years from all levels of the church about possible reforms to its structures, governance and administration. Its work will culminate in a special gathering of people from every diocese to hear what recommendations the task force plans to make to the 78th General Convention. Its final report is due by November 2014. Bishop Stacy Sauls, chief operating officer for the Episcopal Church, praised the work of both the structure committee and convention. “My hope has always been that we would begin to have a conversation and the church embraced that. The conversation became a movement of hope for the future of the church.” He added that the people of Episcopal Church have realized – and the institution is getting it – “that we are standing on the brink of an unprecedented moment; have seen it as opportunity rather than threat.” The budget assumes $73.5 million in commitments from the church’s dioceses, nearly $4 million less than that in the current triennium. That total is based on keeping at 19 percent the amount that the church asks dioceses to contribute annually to the church-wide budget.

Structural Reform

General Convention passed a resolution that will give dioceses and parishes an additional three years to meet the requirement that

they provide parity in health insurance cost-sharing between lay and clergy employees. That deadline now is extended until December 31, 2015. Dioceses and parishes still must offer health insurance to employees through the Church Medical Trust by the end of 2012. It also requires the Medical Trust to continue to explore “more equitable sharing of health care premium costs.” The resolution submitted by the Diocese of West Missouri requested that the implementation date be postponed until the Medical Trust creates “a single, unified national plan for the entire Episcopal Church with no variance in premium costs from diocese to diocese, thereby eliminating dramatic cost differences for similar health insurance coverage between dioceses and regions of the Episcopal Church.” The resolution was not approved.

Denominational Health Plan

Establishment of a Churchwide Development Office for the Episcopal Church to solicit major gifts and other resources.

The office will be under the direction of the Presiding Bishop and the Chief Operating Officer in consultation with the Executive Council.

Churchwide Development Office Establishes “mission enterprise zones” and offers dioceses a matching grant of up to $40,000 to redevelop congregations with a special emphasis

on groups traditionally underserved by the Episcopal Church.

Mission Enterprise Zones

Affirms the Episcopal Church’s teaching that Baptism is the norm for those who wish to receive Holy Communion.

Convention rejected both a resolution that requested the Episcopal Church spend the next three years studying its theology that underlies access to Holy Baptism and Holy Communion and one that would have allowed the church’s congregations to “invite all, regardless of age, denomination, or baptism to the altar for Holy Communion” by eliminating Canon 1.17.7, which says “no unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.”

Access to Holy Communion

MISSION:ACCOMPLISHMissionpalooza, an annual weeklong youth event in Kansas City dedicated to community service and Christian fellowship, has become a model for what youths from different congregations and dioceses can accomplish given a work place and a task. But, according to Randall Curtis, youth coordinator for the Diocese of Arkansas and Province VII, Missionpalooza supersedes any visible impact it may have on a community: “It is not so much the work the young people do, but giving them a heart for service,” he says.

At Missionpalooza 2012, youth volunteered at such work sites as Bishop Spencer Place (top left; bottom right) and St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, Kansas (top right; bottom left). Submitted photos.


MISSION:ACCOMPLISH

WHILE DAYS WOULD be spent volunteering, evenings would be devoted to worship and fun activities. St. Paul’s in Kansas City, Missouri, would be Missionpalooza’s host parish, one of the few in either diocese able to accommodate the youth’s needs; it has fulfilled the role ever since. Missionpalooza would be available exclusively to students in grades nine to 12. Curtis says about 50 youths, mostly from the Kansas City area, attended Missionpalooza its inaugural year. The Rt. Rev. William Smalley, Diocese of Kansas’ eighth bishop, was actively involved in the first Missionpalooza, participating in a game of trash ball that ended with Smalley body checking a ninth grader. “All in the name of good fun,” Curtis says, laughing. Most evening activities were held on St. Paul’s campus, except for Saturday, when youths were transported to the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Southmoreland Park. Missionpalooza’s formula hasn’t changed much since 2001; its participation now averages more than 75 youths from all areas of both dioceses. “Missionpalooza has proven to be a difference maker in the lives of teenagers and a community,” Curtis says. SEVENTY-THREE TEENAGERS from the dioceses of West Missouri and Kansas participated in Missionpalooza 2012 from July 16 to 22. Youths’ days were divided among nine work sites. At Bishop Spencer Place, a retirement community offering all levels of care, youths staged a play for residents in the skilled nursing unit. Youths prepared and served meals to the hungry and homeless at Kansas City Community Kitchen. Delayed projects were accomplished at St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, Kansas, and St. Paul’s in Kansas City, Kansas. Missionpalooza, however, is

STORY BY HUGH WELSH

RANDALL CURTIS, FORMERLY A YOUTH MINISTER AT ST. ANDREW’S in Kansas City, was among Missionpalooza’s founders in 2001, though he credits the Rev. Gar Demo, then associate rector at St. Michael’s and All Angels in Mission, Kansas, and his wife, the Rev. Kelly Demo, as the “founding father and mother.” Curtis’ wife, Sandra, then a youth minister at St. Peter’s in Kansas

City, and Liz Toombs, then a youth minister at St. Paul’s in Kansas City, were also a part of Missionpalooza’s formation. The group, cooperating with Episcopal Community Services, a cooperative network of anti-hunger ministries in the dioceses of West Missouri and Kansas, met every two months for a year planning Missionpalooza, which would allow youths to choose their work site from five mission areas: the elderly, the hungry, children, animals or homebuilding.

about more than checkmarking tasks.

“WHAT DO YOU want to be when you grow up?“Before the summer of 2011, Sophie Poppie’s (St. Paul’s, Kansas City) answer would have been vague. She knew her strongest subject was science and that a career in medicine was a possibility. “I thought I wanted to be a doctor,” she says. “I just didn’t know what kind.” Poppie chose Operation Breakthrough as her work site at Missionpalooza 2011. The center’s mission is to help children living in poverty develop to their fullest potential by providing them a safe, loving and educational environment. The experience shaped Poppie, particularly an image she took with her. It is a snapshot of Savannah, a preschooler who broke into tears upon learning Poppie would leave her following Missionpalooza. Poppie softened Savannah’s angst by photographing her and vowing to save it to her phone. The promise was unbroken. “Savannah wanted me to remember her,” Poppie says. “I always will.” This fall, Poppie will study pediatrics as a pre-med major at the University of Denver. “Last summer, I learned how much I like working with kids,” says Poppie, who again volunteered at Operation Breakthrough during Missionpalooza 2012. “And how much I want to help them.”For Caroline McKnight (St. Anne‘s, Lee‘s Summit), the rationale for returning to Operation Breakthrough was less career oriented. “I love babies,” McKnight says. “Today, I got burped on twice by twins, and it was glorious.” The volunteers at Operation Breakthrough spent their mornings as classroom assistants for preschool-aged children and their afternoons completing various projects, from


tidying the library to moving furniture.Youth leader Amanda Perschall, who teaches high school history in Lebanon, Missouri, values Operation Breakthrough as a facility that benefits the whole child — at no cost. “There’s a dentist, a health clinic and a food pantry,” Perschall says. “It helps the community in so many ways.” According to Emma Fuller (St. Michael’s, Independence), Operation Breakthrough lends a human face to poverty. “Everytime I look at a kid here, I understand they come from a hard circumstance,” says Fuller, who has volunteered at Operation Breakthrough during the past two Missionpaloozas. She’ll be a senior this fall at Truman High School. “Here, they’re not a circumstance; they’re people.” Cherayla Kennedy (Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City) volunteered at Operation Breakthough because she was refused her preferred work site, Wayside Waifs. “I like little kids. They’re fun,” Kennedy says. “But they’re not animals.” She was denied Wayside Waifs, a no-kill animal shelter whose purpose is to place animals in responsible homes, due to familiarity. Following her service to Wayside Waifs during Missionpalooza 2011, Kennedy approached its administrators about volunteering there after school, on the weekends or on vacation. She has since accumulated 271 hours of service. “I’ve loved animals — dogs, cats, horses — since I was little, and I love to

draw them,” says Kennedy, who decided to be a veterinary technician based on her volunteer work at Wayside Waifs, where she feeds and waters the animals, clips their toenails and assists with adoptions. “Wayside Waifs showed me how my love can be my career.”

MARY NGUYEN CAME to America weeks after Saigon fell to Communist forces on April 30, 1975. She and her husband, an engineer for the government of South Vietnam, were among the tens of thousands of Vietnamese airlifted by the U.S. government to Guam. She was later moved to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas before establishing residence in Kansas City. A heart attack claimed her husband’s life just a few years after settling in Kansas City. Nguyen raised twin boys on her own, both of whom made the U.S. military a career. “This country has been very, very good to us,” says Nguyen, who works as a seamstress at a bridal shop several blocks from her home. “We are not Vietnamese Americans; we are Americans.” She tells this story to a group of hushed teenagers during lunch at Don Bosco Senior Center, which offers recreational activities, meals and programs for adults 60 and older and adults with disabilities. The teens listening to Nguyen selected Don Bosco as their Missionpalooza work site. In addition to the senior center, Don Bosco’s centers include ones designated for English as a Second Language, family support and youth development. Nguyen often visits the senior center. “My


Volunteers at Don Bosco (left) and St. Michael and All Angels during Missionpalooza 2012. Submitted photos.


friends are here,” she says. Nguyen cannot travel to Don Bosco on her own. She is without a car and lives miles away. “They are nice to pick me up,” Nguyen says. “I am grateful.” Today, the bus Nguyen depends on was cleaned by a group the same age as her grandchildren, high school students who “don’t know the letters B, C, D or F,” she says, winking. “Gram mama won’t let them.” Nguyen’s academic demands don’t only apply to her grandchildren. When one of the teenagers confesses to having a B on an otherwise unblemished report card the previous school year, Nguyen says, “If I make a mistake on a bride’s gown, as minor as it may be, that bride will notice it, if not immediately then one day. And her wedding will be perfect no longer.” Cleaning the buses and porch, along with emceeing a game of bingo, were among the tasks on this day for Missionpalooza volunteers at Don Bosco. “The kids were eager to get going this morning. The heat didn’t bother them in the slightest,” says Debbie Topi, Don Bosco’s activities coordinator. Youth leader Kyle Miller (St. Anne’s, Lee’s Summit) has volunteered at Don Bosco for the past

four years during Missionpalooza. “I love the people here,” he says. “The staff and people who come here are great.” Miller’s muse at Don Bosco is a woman by the name of Josephine. Each year, the two meet to exchange stories from the previous year. She knows all about his years at college and his job at Worlds of Fun. He knows all about her children and grandchildren. “By volunteering here, my hope is that the kids will take this experience back to their communities,” Miller says.

CURTIS, WHO LEFT the Diocese of West Missouri in 2002, started a similar mission week in rural Arkansas called First City in which youth from five churches are involved in a sports camp, vacation church school and winterizing homes. His goal is to transmit the Missionpalooza concept to the provincial level, which represents twelve dioceses across seven states, where 300 youths could descend on Dallas or Kansas City. “Missionpalooza is the Baptismal Covenant lived out,” he says.

Volunteers at Kansas City Community Kitchen during Missionpalooza 2012. Submitted photo.


St. Andrew’s (Kansas City) 100th anniversary, scheduled for January 20, 2013, will be as much about the parish’s humble beginnings, when its congregants worshipped in its first rector’s home and the back room of a grocery store, as

its future stake in the Brookside community.

ST. ANDREW’S CELEBRATES ITS CENTENNIAL

St. Andrew’s, Kansas City, has a lot to celebrate these days. The congregation has just called its 12th rector, discerned a new vision and mission and

is kicking off a year-long celebration of its centennial – including a visit from the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, on November 25. St. Andrew’s first met for worship on January 19, 1913, in the home of its rector, the Rev. Charles Weed. A few weeks later, worship moved to a back room of Kansas City grocer Fred Wolferman’s store. In those days, the sounds of horses sometimes competed with the sounds of prayers and Scripture readings. Today, nearly 100 years later, St. Andrew’s is still a vital part of Kansas City’s Brookside neighborhood, and it’s seeking ways to strengthen that connection. “Looking back, we see a parish that’s always been gifted at proclaiming Good News boldly, even if it might have been seen as ‘the country club at prayer,’” said the Rev. John Spicer, rector. “Looking ahead, we know we’re being called to build on our heritage and share God’s love with our neighborhood and the world around us.” In September, St. Andrew’s welcomed Spicer as rector with a Celebration of Common Ministry. The celebrations continue this fall as the parish begins a year of centennial events. First will be St. Andrew’s Sunday, marked November 25, with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori presiding and preaching. That day, two additions to the parish’s worship life will make their debut: a centennial banner made by St. Andrew’s Banner Guild and a new hymn honoring

the parish’s patron saint. The hymn comes from a contest whose entrants included hymn writers and composers from across the United States and around the world. The winning poet is a priest from England (see related story, p. 21), and tune submissions are still being judged by a parish committee. After the hymn debuts in November, St. Andrew’s will use it throughout the centennial year. The 100th anniversary celebrations will continue with a historic Eucharist January 20, 2013, reflecting how the congregation would have worshipped in 1913. Other events will include outreach projects, musical

presentations and speakers, such as Kansas City’s Dr. Harold Ivan Smith discussing his soon-to-be-published book on the faith of Episcopalian Eleanor Roosevelt. The centennial year will conclude with a dinner and dance marking St. Andrew’s Sunday in November 2013. St. Andrew’s is also discerning how it might mark its renewed

sense of mission to its neighborhood, supported by special fundraising that would kick off in the centennial year. The congregation is currently completing work from a capital campaign, begun in 2010, that restored the church’s building and grounds. “We’re listening to parishioners and our community to hear what needs in our Brookside neighborhood we might be called to help meet,” Spicer said. “We’ve received lots of input from parishioners through group meetings, surveys and listening sessions; and we’re studying what people in our neighborhood perceive the needs to be. It’s inspiring to see how we’re being called to live into our vision of shining Christ’s light into our families, our city and our world.”

The Rev. John Spicer, far right, and members of St. Andrew’s (Kansas City) unfurl a new banner. Submitted photo.


ARTSTHE YEAR MY WIFE AND I BOTH HIT 50, WE decided to go to Rome for Easter. Scrabbling through old DVDs recently, I came across our videos of the visit on Easter morning to St Peter’s in the Vatican, where the Pope held Easter Mass. It’s not really my cup of tea. I don’t know much Latin and my roots are Methodist. I’ll leave you to imagine!

The Pope walks in the “shoes of the fisherman,” Peter. It is Peter who gets the show on the road in Jewish territory as Paul does in Gentile territory. But what was it that persuaded Peter (originally Simon), the rough and ready, impulsive, married, slow-running fisherman, to meet with Jesus?

The answer, according to John’s gospel, was his brother, Andrew. “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah,’” John 1:41.

Andrew, having assured himself of the mind-boggling discovery, doesn’t simply stick with Jesus; instead, he goes home to tell his brother. Imagine, for a moment, the tension in his mind. It is like wondering what you might miss in an unmissable soap opera if, instead, you help clean the church. Leaving the Messiah behind to get his brother must have been a moment of self-sacrifice and powerful mission. Andrew doesn’t take no for an answer. John tells of the discussion but then says that “he brought him to Jesus.” This was compelling stuff!

I am no professional hymn-writer – just once in a while I get out the laptop and have a go. I have put together a small collection of 35 hymns over the years and realize that, in order to reach the numbers written by my hero Charles Wesley, I need to put another 5965 together in the next 20 or so years left to me. That’s nearly one per day. No chance!

Just before Christmas, I saw St. Andrew’s in Kansas City was to celebrate their centenary, and they were looking for a hymn. My middle name is Andrew, so that was as good

a reason as any. And Andrew is an undervalued character – when did you last hear a sermon on him? Bringers and enablers often are undervalued.

I enjoy writing hymns. Hymns often have a depth of theology. They try to take the singer on a passionate journey. They praise, teach and remind. They touch hearts. They hit the note.

I find the most important thing in hymn writing is time. Coming back to it again and again to refine and be re-inspired is crucial. A willingness to scrap good bits that don’t work with the rest, and start on them again is necessary. Stanzas fall out, sometimes easily, and the early

ones are often the best ones. Think too hard and it becomes perspiration rather than inspiration. Sometimes it is a struggle. I looked back at some notes:

What finished as: Inspired, impassioned, full of God/ The Baptist preached the word,/ And Andrew sensed his need to change./ In him, Your Spirit stirred/ Breathe into us/ Your great designs/ And wrestle with our crowded minds.

Started as: Inspired, impassioned, full of God/ The Baptist preached repent/ And open to the Spirit’s stimulation/ Andrew saw and heard,/ Breathe in us, Lord and fire our hearts/ And wrestle

with congested minds. So I usually start with telling the story in notes, then work out the meter and rhyme. Of course, when it all starts to congeal into a hymn, then the annoying rhymes don’t work, the meter doesn’t scan and it is in danger of losing the story. It just takes God and patience. The Rev. Adrian Low, a professor of computing education at Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom, is a clergyman in the Church of England and curate of the parishes of Alrewas, Fradley and Wychnor in Staffordshire.

DEBRIEFEDWHAT IS IT?

A Hymn for St. AndrewWHO WROTE IT?

The Rev. Adrian LowWHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of St. Andrew’s (Kansas City), a two-part contest was held in which entrants were to write a hymn, then a tune would be set to the text. The hymn will be performed for the first time at the parish’s anniversary kickoff November 25.


ONE CHURCH

ENGAGINGTHE

WORLD

Rasheed Hobbs knew a two-week mission trip to Jamaica would condition him for the upcoming football season and endear him to his Blue Springs High School teammates. He couldn’t have known the impression the country and its people would leave on him. By Hugh Welsh

Rasheed Hobbs (Church of the Resurrection, Blue Springs) starts at middle linebacker for the Blue Springs High School

football team. Hobbs’ senior season carries great expectations: individual accolades, scholarship offers, a state championship. Last season, Blue Springs missed the playoffs; their rival, Blue Springs South, a team they defeated, advanced instead and won it all.

“We just didn’t play up to our potential in that last game (a loss to Columbia Rock Bridge),” Hobbs says.

A mission trip to Jamaica, from June 24 to July 10, would bond Hobbs to his teammates more than any practice ever could — and set Blue Springs apart from its competition.

“I went because I wanted to be closer with my team,” Hobbs says.

As it would happen, Jamaica would be defined by more than the heat and humidity, the toilsome labor and lack of comfort. It would be about more than individuals unifying as a team.

“When it was done, we were like a family,”

Hobbs says. “All of us, including the Jamaicans.”For several years Blue Springs’ football team,

spearheaded by assistant coach Matt Marble, has traveled out of the country for missionary work. This marked the first trip to Jamaica as part of Won By One to Jamaica, a ministry in Harmons — a small, remote village in south central Jamaica — since 1989, when its founder, Henry Shaffer, visited the country to assist with reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Gilbert. Every year, about 700 volunteers participate in Won by One

to Jamaica. Tasks imparted to

Hobbs and his teammates included visiting the elderly as well as the mentally and physically handicapped at the Clarendon Infirmary. The ministry’s primary role, however, is constructing hurricane-resistant housing for the poor. Many families in Harmons reside in unsafe conditions or temporary

dwellings; while the ministry is responsible for

about 50 12- by 15-foot concrete homes each year, the need is quadruple that figure.

The homes, coupling Jamaican masons with American volunteers, are typically completed in five days, or one per volunteer team. The Blue Springs football team laid four foundations and built two homes; the most of any volunteer team ever.

“We were motivated by the Jamaicans as much

Rasheed Hobbs (second from right) and his Blue Springs High School teammates laid four foundations and built two homes during a two-week mission trip to Jamaica. Submitted photo.


as we were motivated by each other,” Hobbs says. “They are the hardest working people ever.”

The work wasn’t easy: heavy bags of maul (rock to mix with cement to form concrete) had to be relayed uphill without any machinery.

“I don’t know how many times I saw players jog up or down the hill so the next person in line didn’t have to travel as far,” Marble says. “It almost turned into a competition as to how much of the burden you could take off your teammate.”

For Marble, the “maul haul” staged an important virtue: empathy.

“How many times do we actively take on more work to relieve others of a heavy burden?” Marble says. “So many times in society, or our own lives, I believe it is exactly the opposite. Unfortunately, people go looking for ways to get rid of work and put it off on someone else. I know I am guilty of that sometimes.”

The maul, in this instance, would be used to lay the foundation to a house for Shirly, a mother of two who has been waiting for her house to be built by Won for One for four years. Shirly had

been living with 10 other relatives in a structure a quarter the size of an average American home. Hobbs and his teammates would secure the foundation; a couple weeks later, another team would build the house.

Among the Jamaicans Hobbs befriended was Kashka, a teenager who works in Harmons.

“He really grew on me,” Hobbs says. “He was working multiple jobs but would always go out of his way to ask us if everything was OK and make us laugh.”

Hobbs’ experience indeed bonded him to his teammates and subjected him to a workout far more tedious than any two-a-day practice.

“I’m breathing easy after Jamaica,” Hobbs says.The mission trip’s full impact, however, eclipses

those revealed during the upcoming football season.

“It reminded me that you can lose everything at any time,” Hobbs says. “And for the Jamaicans to be so upbeat despite their losses was really inspiring to me.”

Rasheed Hobbs (bottom, far right) and his Blue Springs teammates finish a foundation. Submitted photo.

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