Associate Rector's Report

A REMOTE OPPORTUNITY

2023 was a momentous year. And not only because the Nuggets won their first-ever NBA championship.

Following my wife’s call as the Rector of St Thomas Medina, we embarked on what might be a first in the Episcopal Church: an Associate Rector serving as a remote member of the pastoral staff.

Fr Terry and I originally envisioned this as a transitional, short-term, 6-month arrangement. I would remain on staff in a half-time capacity: overseeing Christian education and formation (with a renewed emphasis on whole-life discipleship), piloting our use of Practicing the Way resources for preaching and online/in-person small groups, and flying back to Denver bimonthly to celebrate the sacraments, preach, teach, and lead workshops.

The model proved effective, as I was able to:

  • preach regularly;

  • organize preaching, practice, and small-group discussion series on Sabbath (January) and prayer (April/May), with well-attended Saturday workshops;

  • coordinate special offerings, like our ‘Jesus through Medieval Eyes’ visit to the Denver Art Museum with Dr Grace Hamman (October);

  • pioneer a new parish partnership with St Gabriel’s Cherry Hills and Epiphany Denver for a summer (June – August) series on the Holy Spirit and an Advent Quiet Day (December);

  • attend our parish summer mission trip to international partner El Hogar in Tegucigalpa, Honduras (June)

I also began to experience firsthand what it’s like to be a fully remote, online member: joining worship every Sunday from Seattle with my kids, experiencing our digital offerings in a whole new way.

While mutually beneficial, the arrangement was––we thought––temporary. Fr Terry began a search for a new, full-time Associate Rector for Whole-Life Discipleship; I began discerning where God was calling me in the Diocese of Olympia (which led to my current appointment as a quarter-time Vicar of St David Emmanuel, Shoreline, WA).

BIGGER THINGS ON THE HORIZON

The 6-month experiment, though, proved remarkably fruitful. Terry and I began to wonder whether it might be possible to both sustain and broaden my position, continuing to develop our digital engagement for congregational connection and community outreach. It was this that led us to the Lilly Endowment Thriving Congregations Initiative, which seeks to support churches as they seek to “draw on practices from their theological and ecclesial traditions to adapt their ministries to the demands of their changing contexts.”

Episcpal New Service article, December 19, 2023

We applied for a grant to Lilly Endowment Inc. and, to our astonishment and delight, were awarded a $1.123 million dollars in support of a project called “The Narthex: Developing Digital Capacity for the Analog Church.” In a year of pioneering firsts, this might well be the most significant (aside from that Nuggets championship––did I mention that yet?).

What began as a 6-month transitional experiment has now morphed into a 5-year project to create a network of 31 peer-mentoring parishes committed to online engagement without compromising our primary mission as rooted, local, sacramental, liturgical, “analog” churches.

At every step along the way, God has done what God does best: leading us with his faithful, loving providence. I am reminded of Proverbs 16.9: “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

So we embark on this next chapter in the life of our church, trusting in the Spirit to guide us along the way.