Update from Reunification Discernment Committee Following July 28 Meeting

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The Reunification Discernment Committee held an in-person meeting on 28 July, 2023 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kokomo, IN. In attendance were the twelve members of the committee which consist of both clergy and laity along with Bishop Doug Sparks of the Diocese of Northern Indiana and Canon Brendan O’Sullivan-Hale who represented the Diocese of Indianapolis as Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows is currently on sabbatical. The meeting was facilitated by the Reverend Jennifer Adams who is serving as consultant for our process.

Bishop Sparks offered an opening prayer and reflection. The committee then spent some time reconnecting through conversation around what each member has enjoyed most and what has been most surprising in their work to this point. They reviewed their charge and the discernment process and next steps before breaking out into their four working teams (Programmatic; Organizational; Episcopate; Other Dioceses & Our History). 

Each team was asked to:

  1. Summarize the team’s work to this point.

  2. Discuss what stands out from the work done thus far. Are there themes emerging?

  3. Discuss next steps.

  4. Organize any questions the team may have for the committee.

After lunch the teams reported back to the committee and then walked through an exercise naming “Positives,” “Potentials,” and “Concerns” in response to these team reports. It was noted that within both dioceses there are “myths” about the other that it will be important to address and that there is significant opportunity to learn from each other.

The committee discussed how “listening sessions” might best be organized and scheduled and began to plan for presentation to and engagement with this Fall’s diocesan conventions . It was decided that members of the committee (representing both dioceses) will present at both of the Diocesan Conventions this Fall in order to experience one another’s gathering and offer mutual learnings and support while also enhancing communication among members of the dioceses.

We ask for your continued prayers as we continue the work of discernment and look forward to our upcoming conventions.

Faithfully, 

The Rev. Clay Berkley, At-large Ms. Joan Amati, At-Large
Mr. Evan Doyle, Diocesan Council The Rev. Canon Jodi Baron, At-Large
Mr. Paul Kincaid, Standing Committee Mr. George Eastman, Standing Committee
The Rev. Canon Ted Neidlinger, Diocesan Council  Mr. Greg Seamon, Executive Council 
Ms. Brenda Rigdon, Diocesan Council The Rev. Allen Rutherford, Executive Council
Ms. Stephanie Pawlowski, At-large   Ms. Katherine Tyler Scott, At-Large
The Rt. Rev. Douglas Sparks, Bishop

(The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville Burrows, Bishop is on sabbatical)

Update on Church Buildings for Collaborative Partership

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August 1, 2023

Submitted by Brendan O’Sullivan-Hale, Canon to the Ordinary for Administration and Evangelism, Diocese of Indianapolis and Linda Buskirk, CBCP Project Director

With a final flurry of tours and community meetings at Episcopal churches all over the state of Indiana, the Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships (CBCP) project reached a major milestone at the beginning of May. Teams from congregations, diocesan staff, Indiana Landmarks, and Partners for Sacred Places have now visited and documented the shareable spaces of every Episcopal church building in the state of Indiana.

The goal of the project, funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. through its Thriving Congregations initiative, is to encourage congregations to open their buildings deliberately, seeing them as assets to be shared with the wider community. The site visits were the culmination of a process that helped congregational teams invite community leaders into their buildings to think creatively about how they can fill gaps in each church’s geography.

The tenor of the visits was as varied as the buildings themselves. At St. Thomas/St. Tomás in Plymouth, the CBCP team invited representatives offering diverse perspectives from government, social service agencies and the arts. Since the Site Visit, St. Thomas/St. Tomás chose to partner with a local performing arts school to use its historic parish hall and downstairs rooms to offer music lessons, recitals, and “Mommy and Me” classes. Also, the local health department will schedule quarterly health fairs targeted to the Hispanic community.

Often in CBCP, the Site Visit experiences revealed the power and blessings of convening community conversations. That was true at St. Paul’s Mishawaka. Community stakeholders who came to that Site Visit discussed the needs of women and families in crisis, food insecurity, and education. Mishawaka Mayor David Wood and others helpfully clarified the advantages and assets of St. Paul’s location as new neighbors, including the United Way, move in and make long-term investments nearby.

CBCP is now offering practical tools to make it easier for congregations and potential space sharers to connect. The dioceses of Northern Indiana and Indianapolis are partnering with Venuely, a non-profit provider of a web-based tool for scheduling and managing space sharing. Its functions include calendar, reservation, and payment services that make it easy for churches to let potential users know what spaces are available and when. The CBCP partnership is the first time Venuely has offered its services outside the New York City metro region. The service will be offered to all congregations at no charge, beginning with a pilot group of nine churches, including two in EDNIN: St. Augustine’s, Gary, and Trinity, Michigan City.

Recently, CBCP attracted national media attention. In a Slate.com article about the growing problem of empty and abandoned churches, CBCP offered a counterpoint to a fatalistic view about the future of church-owned properties. “We owe a debt to our ancestors,” Indianapolis Canon Brendan O’Sullivan- Hale is quoted as saying, “The church did a good job of acquiring prime real estate, and there’s value to communities in real estate being controlled by an organization without a profit motive.”

For more information about CBCP, contact Project Director Linda Buskirk.

Reunification Discernment Leadership Team

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15 February 2023

Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings in the Episcopal Church in Northern Indiana!

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

As Bishop Jennifer and I promised in our video shared with all of you on Monday, 30 January 2023, regarding a discernment process focused on the possibility of reunification with the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, it is with a sense of joy and hope, to announce the leaders who will be part of the discernment team from our diocese.

The Rev. Clay Berkley, St. David's, Elkhart (member at large)

Mr. Evan Doyle, Gethsemane, Marion (Diocesan Council)

Mr. Paul Kincaid, St. Paul's, Munster, (Standing Committee)

The Rev. Canon Ted Neidlinger, Christ the King. Huntington, (Diocesan Council)

Mrs. Stephanie Pawlowski, Trinity, Logansport (member at large)

Mrs. Brenda Rigdon, St. Anne's, Warsaw, (Diocesan Council)

I also want to take this opportunity to share with you those leaders in the Diocese of Indianapolis that Bishop Jennifer has appointed:

Mrs. Joan Amati, St. David’s, Bean Blossom (Executive Council)

The Rev. Canon Jodi Baron, Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis (member at large)

Mr. George Eastman, St. Paul’s, Richmond (Standing Committee)

The Rev. Allen Rutherford, St. John’s, Mount Vernon (Executive Council)

Mr. Greg Seamon, Trinity, Lawrenceburg (Executive Council)

Mrs. Katherine Tyler-Scott, St. Paul’s, Indianapolis (member at large)

Our joint discernment will be facilitated by the Rev. Jennifer Adams, who serves as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Holland, Michigan. Rev. Jen, as she prefers to be called, brings a wealth of experience serving and leading as a priest in the Diocese of Western Michigan and the wider church and Anglican Communion.  Bishop Jennifer and I believe she will guide us well as she has experienced the collaborative relationship between the dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan and as she is facilitating a reunification discernment between the dioceses of Bethlehem and Central Pennsylvania.

The first meeting of the Reunification Discernment Team will take place on 17-18 March.  Bishop Jennifer and I will participate in this initial retreat time along with the leaders of both of our dioceses, facilitated by Rev. Jen.

I invite you to continue to pray for all of us…as we open our lives to the new possibilities that God may be inviting us to consider.  I conclude with a sentence from scripture that has helped to form and fashion me as a follower of Jesus,

“Glory to God whose power, working within us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine:  Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.  Amen.”  Ephesians 3:20,21

Every blessing,

Bishop Doug

(he/him/his)

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
VIII Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana

Letter from Bishop Doug Regarding Reunification Discernment

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Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana,

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

After more than a year since initial conversations with members of the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council, Diocesan Missioners and with Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, I want to share with all of you via a press release and a video, news about the forming a discernment group for the purpose of exploring the possibility of reunification into one diocese and Episcopal presence in the State of Indiana.

Bishop Jennifer and I have been committed to working together since we began ministry as bishops in 2016 and 2017 respectively.  It seems right at this time, to move the conversation and discernment into a public space, inviting others into the work of discernment, to imagine what the Holy Spirit may be calling us to do as we continue to engage God’s Mission throughout the state of Indiana.

Please uphold this initiative in your prayer and know that as the discernment group is formed, Bishop Jennifer and I, along with our Missioners and Canons are committed to keeping you informed along the way.

Every blessing,

Doug

(he/him/his)

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
VIII Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana

Read the full press release.

Final CBCP Cohort Underway!

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The fourth and final group of Episcopal Congregations participating in the Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships project (CBCP) is underway. Cohort 4 participating congregations are located as far south as New Harmony and as far north as Angola, and communities of all sizes in between.

CBCP helps Episcopal congregations in the state of Indiana increase vitality and service to their mission and ministry by making the most of their buildings and other assets. The project is a collaboration of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana and two not-for-profit agencies: Partners for Sacred Places (PSP) and Indiana Landmarks. It was funded through a Thriving Congregations Initiative grant from Lilly Endowment.

Each of the four CBCP cohorts include lay and clergy teams from congregations in both dioceses. Teams range in size from two to eight people. CBCP Teams provide leadership “on the ground” in their congregations. They participate in trainings (both online via Zoom and in person), carryout assignments and keep others at their church informed about CBCP activities. A full listing of participants in each Cohort is found in the table below.

Highlights of the CBCP experience include:

  1. Public Value Tool – Developed by PSP, the online Public Value Tool walks users through a seven step process to determine the dollar value of the contribution their congregation and its building(s) make to the community. This is a new dimension of impact many church leaders have never considered, let alone possess an easy way to determine.

  2. Site Visits - The Site Visits provide fresh perspective and insights from Partners for Sacred Places and Indiana Landmarks, and experiential learning that “connects all the dots” from training session lessons. CBCP teams have expressed joyful delight as they found, sometimes to their surprise, that community stakeholders were impressed with their story and quite willing to discuss collaborative possibilities. (See reflection section below for examples).

  3. Buildings, Mission, and Community Partnership Report (sometimes referred to as the “Parish Profile”), which compiles data and insights about each congregation as gained through CBCP activities, an overview of indoor and outdoor spaces and current space-sharing strategies. It also includes recommendations for moving forward to implement lessons and partnership opportunities gained through CBCP training and the Site Visit.
    Rose Anne Grasty, a member of the team of St. Timothy’s in Indianapolis, sums up one important CBCP insight this way:
    “Most of us are learning that the space that we have is not ‘Sunday space’ – It is space for the use of God’s children. That may mean something entirely different than what is has meant in the past. Especially us lifetime Episcopalians have to see things very differently and open ourselves up to the world around us. Think about the early churches. They had other uses besides worship. Our churches are not just sacred facilities to be used on Sunday morning or traditional uses like AA. We can provide our space for new
    uses. We just need to open up!”

    For more information, contact Linda Buskirk, CBCP Project Director at Linda@buskirksolutions.com.

    Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships Project Participation by Cohort
    69 faith communities
    332 team members
    Cohort 1

    1. Good Shepherd, West Lafayette
    2. Holy Family, Fishers
    3. St. Alban’s, Indianapolis
    4. St. Francis In-the-Fields, Zionsville
    5. St. John’s, Mount Vernon
    6. St. Matthew’s, Indianapolis
    7. St. Stephen’s, Terre Haute
    8. St. Thomas, Franklin
    9. Christ the King, Huntington
    10. St. Andrew, Kokomo
    11. St. John the Evangelist, Elkhart
    12. St. Paul’s, LaPorte

    Cohort 2

    1. Trinity, Anderson
    2. Trinity, Bloomington
    3. Canterbury House, Bloomington (I.U. campus)
    4. St. Philip’s, Indianapolis
    5. St. Timothy’s, Indianapolis
    6. St. Peter’s, Lebanon
    7. St. James, New Castle
    8. St. Michael’s, Noblesville
    9. St. Paul’s, Richmond
    10. St. James, Vincennes
    11. St. Alban’s, Fort Wayne
    12. Trinity, Fort Wayne
    13. Gethsemane, Marion
    14. Trinity, Michigan City
    15. St. James Goshen
    16. All Saints, Syracuse

    Cohort 3

    1. St. John’s, Bedford
    2. St. Paul’s, Evansville
    3. St. Andrew’s, Greencastle
    4. Church of the Nativity, Indianapolis
    5. St. Paul’s, Indianapolis
    6. Christ Church, Madison
    7. Grace, Muncie
    8. St. Mark’s, Plainfield
    9. St. Augustine’s, Gary;
    10. St. Barnabas-in-the-Dunes, Gary;
    11. St. Christopher's, Crown Point;
    12. St. Paul, Munster;
    13. St. Stephen's Hobart;
    14. St. Timothy's, Griffith.
    15. St. John of the Cross, Bristol
    16. St. Francis, Chesterton
    17. Grace, Fort Wayne
    18. Cathedral St. James, South Bend
    19. St. Anne’s, Warsaw

    Cohort 4 (Recruited in 2022; Orientation Held Nov. 30, 2022; training begins January 2023)
    1. St. David’s, Bean Blossom
    2. St. Christopher’s, Carmel
    3. St. Paul’s, Columbus
    4. St. John’s Crawfordsville
    5. St. Augustine, Danville
    6. All Saints, Indianapolis
    7. Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis
    8. Trinity, Indianapolis
    9. St. Paul’s, Jeffersonville
    10. St. John’s, Lafayette
    11. Trinity, Lawrenceburg
    12. St. Mary’s, Martinsville
    13. St. Paul’s, New Albany
    14. St. Stephen’s, New Harmony
    15. St. Luke’s, Shelbyville
    16. Holy Family, Angola
    17. St. David’s, Elkhart
    18. Trinity, Logansport
    19. St. Paul’s, Mishawaka
    20. St. Thomas/Santo Tomás, Plymouth
    21. St. Michael & All Angels, South Bend
    22. St. Andrew’s, Valparaiso