Grateful to receive a Roanridge Trust Grant!

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In January, Missioners Terri, Adrien, and Michelle submitted an application to the Roanridge Trust for a grant to dive more deeply into our Becoming #Beloved Community initiative.  Roanridge is specifically designed to provide training programs for church leadership in small-town and rural areas, on various topics (as designed by the grant requestor), while giving special attention to the Five Marks of Mission:

  1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

  2. To teach, baptize, and nurture new believers

  3. To respond to human need by loving service

  4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society

  5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Our EDNIN grant application grew out of our Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) initiative, which allowed us to hire Missioner Adrien Niyongabo (thanks to a 2017 United Thank Offering grant!).  Missioner Adrien spent his first eight months with the Episcopal Church in Northern Indiana sharing the concepts of ABCD and listening deeply to the various faith communities he visited.  These fruitful conversations have revealed a deeper need for healing, for reconciliation, in our communities as a whole.

The Roanridge Trust grant, administered through the Domestic and Foreign Mission Society, will allow us to develop training for our clergy and lay leaders so that they can create a process for Becoming #Beloved Community that is specific to their own contexts. Maybe this means more reading groups, or deeper conversations around sharing our stories of reconciliation and healing.  Maybe we will utilize the concepts of Becoming #Beloved Community and customize them for our context in ways we haven't dreamed of yet!  We are THRILLED and HONORED to have received this vote of confidence and to have this opportunity.  

Stay tuned for more details this summer!  Thank you Roanridge.

What is Project Resource 2.0: An Update from Camp Allen in Texas

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Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Episcopal Church in Northern Indiana!

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Risen Christ!

Last week, I had the privilege of gathering with bishops, priests, deacons and lay persons from 20 dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church to rekindle our passion for the important work of stewardship and its essential role in the life of our faith communities.  This initiative is entitled Project Resource 2.0 and is sponsored by the College for Bishops, the Episcopal Church Foundation and the Development Office of the Episcopal Church.  For several years in Northern Indiana, we have had a group of people called Faithful Stewards, who have tried to encourage the work of Stewardship among us!  I want to thank Linda Buskirk (Trinity - Fort Wayne), Meg Moss (Christ the King - Huntington), Pamela Harris (St. Andrew's - Valparaiso), Chuck Lewis and Steve Wilson (St. Andrew - Kokomo) , Fr. Paul Nesta (St. Paul - LaPorte) and Bishop Frank Gray for committing themselves to participating in this conference AND bringing it back to share throughout our diocese. 

The initiative focuses on three areas of stewardship:  1) the Annual Pledge Drive; 2) Planned or Legacy Giving and 3) Capital Campaigns.

You will be hearing more about our learning and our hopes in assisting every faith community in Northern Indiana to embrace more and more intentionally to important work of stewardship in all its aspects!   In the meantime, please enjoy the video below, recorded at the end of our time together.

Easter blessings,
Doug

March For Our Lives - March 24th 2018

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Included in this post is an invitation from Dean Brian Grantz to join us in a March For Our Lives on March 24th at one of two locations.  Please prayerfully consider how you would like to be part of this youth-inspired movement.
***** ***** *****

Greetings, Dear Colleagues in Ministry.

There is a ground-swell of activity being initiated by young people in the wake of the horrific Ash Wednesday shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. On Saturday, March 24, rallies will be held in Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, and many other US cities to demand action in the face of an ongoing epidemic of gun violence. I suspect, along with many others, that this is a critical moment in our national dialogue, so with the blessing of Bishop Sparks, I began investigating the possibility of coordinating participation from our Diocese in these rallies, particularly - but not exclusively - among Senior High youth and young adults.

I feel compelled to say - at the risk of preaching - that while we tend to debate our epidemic of violence as a gun issue along well-trod partisan lines, I believe violence is a profoundly human problem that is exponentially exacerbated by guns. That's a thornier conversation, to be sure, but avoidance of it is killing our children, and countless more besides. There are no easy answers or simple solutions - regardless of how many memes pop up on Facebook suggesting otherwise - and the full spectrum of opinions on the nature of the problem and what should be done about it is likely present in every one of our congregations. But in this moment I simply ask who, if not the Church, is called to stand with those whose hearts are inclined to keep the law "Thou shalt do no murder" as a fundamental tenet of our society? Our presence, our witness as disciples of Jesus, is monumentally important.

The current details are as follows:

Washington, D.C. - Register here.

Dean Brian Grantz invites Northern Indiana Episcopalians to rally in Washington DC on Saturday, March 24, 2018. Interested high school students, young adults, and others are invited to stand with the youth of our nation against an epidemic of gun violence. We will depart from South Bend at 7 am on Friday, March 23, making stops along the toll road in Elkhart and Angola as necessary to gather our group. We will arrive in Washington in time for a prayer service on Friday evening at Washington National Cathedral, then go off to churches and hotels (as the group decides) for overnight accommodations. We will attend the rally in Washington, then follow a group-determined itinerary for our overnight stay, Palm Sunday worship, and return home on Sunday. Space is limited. Please register through Eventbrite so we may determine interest in traveling to Washington. Questions? Contact Dean Brian Grantz at dean@stjamessouthbend.org.

Indianapolis - Register here. 

Bishop Doug & Dana Sparks, Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of Indianapolis, and Bishop Bill Gafkjen of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the ELCA invited all interested Episcopalians, Lutherans, and friends to the March for Our Lives rally in Indianapolis on Saturday, March 24, 2018. Northern Indiana faith communities may organize groups or encourage individuals to stand with the youth of our nation against an epidemic of gun violence. We will gather at St. Andrew Church, Kokomo for pre-event prayers and ride sharing coordination at 7:30 am before departing for Indianapolis at 8:30 am. Overnight accommodation is available upon request at St. Andrew Church or at local hotels in Kokomo. Please register participants through Eventbrite so we may coordinate our presence at the rally. Questions? Contact Mrs. Tracy Rose-Love at edninmarchindy@yahoo.com.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Thank you so much for your leadership and ministry.

Brian
-- 
The Very Rev. Brian G. Grantz
The Cathedral of Saint James
South Bend, Indiana

Called to Beloved Community: Episcopalians and Lutherans Working Together

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Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Light for all People!

I want to share a video with you describing an ecumenical initiative with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), one of our Full Communion Partners.  In 2015, the General Convention of The Episcopal Church called us to focus on Racial Reconciliation and Racial Justice.  To that end, an initiative was developed entitled, Becoming #Beloved Community.  I shared this material with you in early November and invited us through the Advent season to engage in conversations throughout Northern Indiana, using the resources provided by the wider Church.  We had four conversations during Advent in Gary, Marion, South Bend and Fort Wayne.  These conversations offered insight and wisdom as we listened to one another's stories of race in our communities and churches.

By God's Providence, we came into Full Communion with our Lutheran sisters and brothers in 2000, adopting a working framework entitled, "Called to Common Mission."  Since my election as your bishop, I have reached out to my colleague in the ELCA, Bishop Bill Gafkjen, who serves as Bishop of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, in hopes of living more fully and practically into our full communion relationship.  Beginning in September, Bishop Bill and Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, the new Episcopal Bishop of Indianapolis, and I have been meeting regularly to again seek ways to live more fully and practically into our full communion relationship.  After prayerful discussion and at the invitation of our wider churches, we decided to embrace "Becoming #Beloved Community," as our first ecumenical initiative throughout Indiana.

The video is an initial conversation describing our hopes for this initiative.  We want to engage in StorySharing...which is "a practice that allows everyone to seek, name, and celebrate the loving presence of Jesus in our lives."  We realize that some of us may engage this process with some fear and trepidation.  But it is our hope that, in our sharing and listening, we may practice love, forgiveness and mercy.

As bishops, we have committed ourselves to identifying areas of our diocese or synod, to begin this process.  In Northern Indiana, I would like to begin this ecumenical initiative in Gary, South Bend and Fort Wayne.  Dates and locations for the StorySharing experience will be shared as soon as they are finalized.

I invite you to begin praying for this ecumenical initiative among Lutherans and Episcopalians in Indiana.  I also invite your reflections, suggestions and insights into the particular and practical ways we might walk together toward Becoming #Beloved Community.

Every blessing,
Doug Sparks
Bishop

“Racial Justice and Your Congregation”

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Bishop Sparks attended the “Racial Justice and Your Congregation” workshop offered yesterday by the Center for Congregations. Here are his Facebook comments:

“Grateful for the Center for Congregations...especially for the conference today entitled “Racial Justice and Your Congregation”...also grateful for my sisters, Cynthia Moore from St. Andrew’s Valparaiso, Katherine Hadow from St. Christopher’s Crown Point and Judy Gabrys, Patricia Hamilton and Harriet Rincon from St. Timothy’s Griffith. Becoming #Beloved Community!”
— https://www.facebook.com/ednin.org/

 

 

Discussion Questions for Chapter 3 of No Innocent Bystanders

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Craigo-Snell, Shannon and Christopher Doucot. No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice. Louisville, Presbyterian Publishing: 2017.

February 8, 2018—Chapter 3: Resources for Being an Ally

1. What did you think about Doucot and Craigo-Snell’s description of anger as an expression of hope? What work might you need to do in order to accommodate such an understanding of anger? What beliefs or practices might you need to adjust? 

 

2. the Rev. Dr. Lewis Brogdon remarks that “It is hard to get allies to even acknowledge that they have a lot of homework to do.” Craigo-Snell and Doucot go on to name some of that homework:

As allies, we must begin by learning about the day-to-day experiences of people who are not in the dominant culture. We must learn how interactions with the police unfold when the person pulled over is African American. We must learn about the obstacles faced by LGBTQ adolescents. We have to, in effect, relearn the world. (77)

What homework do each of us have to do? What opportunities do we have to test our understanding of this homework? How might we adjust our selections as a reading group in order to help us to this homework and testing?

 

3. Doucot and Craigo-Snell explore the intersection between humility and prudence by saying that:

If the largest part of prudence is to “get our cousins” rather than attempting to “save” those who are oppressed, another part is discerning when the privilege afforded us as members of dominant communities can be leveraged in support of marginalized groups. While allies should not seek the spotlight, it would be foolish to miss an opportunity if we are already in one. (82)

Who are your “cousins”? Where is your “spotlight”?

 

4. In exploring the virtue of temperance, Craigo-Snell and Doucot observe that:

White people often advocate organizing without realizing that this means some people must be willing to be organized. Or, more likely, without imagining themselves in the role of “organized” rather than “organizer.” Following the leadership of marginalized groups has proved so difficult for allies that an unfortunate philosophy of allyship has emerged that emphasizes the need for allies to “take leadership” from organizers from within the marginalized group with which they are allied. (89-90)

When have you found yourself wanting to organize folks who are unwilling to be organized. What motivations might they have had for resisting your well-meant attempts?

Calling Out Casual Racism

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If there's anything that really bothers an Episcopalian, it's the possibility that we're being rude (and yes, I would include using the wrong fork in this category!). So when it comes to calling out our friends and family when we see them engaging in microagression, we find ourselves in a bind: do we violate our "never criticize another person in public" policy or do we let the moment pass in silence, thereby appearing to condone the behavior?

What's microagression, you ask? Microagression is a casual, indirect, and sometimes unintentional act of discrimination. Because microagression often is practiced through condescension, the perpetrator may intend to be kind. That makes calling out the microagressor that much more difficult. Luvvie Ajayi addresses microagression in the Ted Ideas Interview, "Why We Need to Call Out Casual Racism."

In reading Ajayi's interview, I am reminded that we speak of Jesus the one who for our sake was made to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Perhaps this Lent, we likewise need to practice becoming "rude" so as to participate in the greater courtesy of God. 

Discussion Questions for Chapter 2 of No Innocent Bystanders

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Craigo-Snell, Shannon and Christopher Doucot. No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice. Louisville, Presbyterian Publishing: 2017.

February 8, 2018—Chapter 2: "Getting Ready to Be an Ally"

1. Craigo-Snell and Doucot are a Presbyterian and a Roman Catholic respectively. Does their account of sin as “not a negative evaluation of humanity but rather a positive affirmation that we have a God-given vocation to love” match up with what you have been taught to believe about sin and/or what you have actually come to believe? How does their account change the way you think about conversations you’ve been in with regard to race?

2. Doucot and Craigo-Snell describe humanity’s “large-scale make-missing” as a condition in which:

As we grow and develop within such fallen human communities, we are shaped and influenced by them. We learn their prejudices, imbibe their violence, and take on their misshapen values. By the time we are able to make free, individual, moral choices, we do so badly. Our freedom is compromised by our cultural conditioning, our individual choices take place in contexts determined by the larger society, our options are limited by unjust social structures, and even our moral compasses have been poorly calibrated in our sinful world. We retain our individual agency—our capacity to act—yet we are also bound by original sin. (60)

In what way and to what extent does this account tell the story of your own experience of systemic racism? In what way and to what extent does this account fit with your theology of baptism as a sacrament through which God cleanses us from original sin?

3 In what way have you experienced the difference between confessing sin and admitting guilt (62) in your own experience of racism?

4. Where and how do you find yourself called to deploy creativity and faith in “deciding how we go about repairing our societal structures”? (69)

A Journey Towards Becoming Beloved Community with Bishops Bill, Doug, and Jennifer

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Bishop Bill Gafken of the Indiana-Kentuck Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, and Bishop Doug Sparks of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana gather to discuss Becoming Beloved Community, a journey of Racial Reconciliation.

Bishop Bill Gafken of the Indiana-Kentuck Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, and Bishop Doug Sparks of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana gather to discuss Becoming Beloved Community, a journey of Racial Reconciliation.

An Invitation to Vestry Resource Day: 3 March 2018

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Video - Bishop Doug with Fr Dan Layden and Jordan re: Invite Welcome Connect

Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Episcopal Church in Northern Indiana!

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, the Light for all people!

I want to personally invite every elected lay leader, every evangelist and every clergy person, in fact, every person who is committed to our 36 Faith Communities thriving!  This Vestry Resource Day is for YOU!

There is a proven process developed over the last few years called:  INVITE, WELCOME, CONNECT.  I believe it is an essential tool for all of us in our commitment to the Five Marks of Mission, especially Mark 1 - proclaim the Good News and Mark 2 - teach, baptize and nurture new believers!

The Rev. Myles Brandon, who serves at St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas is returning to our diocese to help facilitate our learning more about this important tool for evangelism.  You can visit their website by clicking here https://stjuliansaustin.org/ .  For more information regarding INVITE, WELCOME, CONNECT you can click http://www.invitewelcomeconnect.com/.

I'll see you there on Saturday, 3 March at St. Anne's in Warsaw!

Register here.

Doug

Discussion Questions for Chapter 1 of No Innocent Bystanders

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Craigo-Snell, Shannon and Christopher Doucot. No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice. Louisville, Presbyterian Publishing: 2017.

January 25, 2017—Chapter 1: Understanding the Struggles for LGBTQ Equality and Racial Justice

1. Craigo-Snell and Doucot cite Theologian Willie James Jennings in arguing:

that the severing of identity from geography—separating who people are from the land they inhabit—was vital to the social construction of race. Only when large groups of people moved from one place to another—across countries and continents—did it became possible and useful to identify them not primarily on the basis of geographical ties but on the basis of skin color. (30)

Their point is about the history of race as a social construction, but we can also ask this question about the way in which the social construction of race works in our own lives. What roles do either geography (town, school district, etc) or skin color play in your identification of others?

2. Pages 30-37 outline a history we have heard about in other texts we have read. What surprised you in this account? What are you seeing differently than you did a year or so ago?

3 In speaking about segregation, Doucot and Craigo-Snell say that crossing “the boundaries that divide us and seek[ing] out mutual relationships with African Americans . . . does not mean that the ultimate goal of allyship is having more black friends. Because racism is structural and systematic, it cannot be undone without significant changes in policy, law, and concrete practices” (44). How is this statement in tension with church practice as you experience it?

4. How do you see the obstacles of welcome, relationship, classism and guilt at work in your own experience? Do they work differently for LGBTQ issues than they do for racial issues?

 

Discussion Questions for Forward and Introduction of No Innocent Bystanders

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Craigo-Snell, Shannon and Christopher Doucot. No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice. Louisville, Presbyterian Publishing: 2017.

January 11, 2017—Forward and Introduction

1. When the Young Men’s Leadership Group from Hillhouse High School speaks at nearby Yale University, “What can Yale students to do help you?” is the first question they receive. How did you feel when the question was met with “stone faced” silence? How did you feel when the Hillhouse students began to respond?

2. How did you feel when Shriver reported that “Some of those leadership group young men went on to college, and some finished high school. But some ended up in jail too: the odds against them didn’t change much because of our group”? Were you expecting a happy ending? Why or why not?

3. Craigo-Snell and Doucot remark that:

many white people in the United States—particularly those who are middle-class—have found that stepping into the role of ally in the movement for LGBTQ liberation is easier than stepping into a similar role in the movement for racial justice. (3)

Has that fit your own experience here in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana? When have you found yourself tempted into “appalling silence” with regard to either issue?

4. How helpful is the privilege of car ownership as a lens through which to view systemic racism?

5. What was your reaction to encountering a discussion of grace in the midst of a conversation about systemic racism?

6. A number of the activists advising on this project expressed concern about the term “ally,” particularly because “the ally has the option to step out of companionship with the minoritized person.” How might we use the problematic nature of the term “ally” as a way of acknowledging our privilege rather than denying it?