The next three years...

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Members of Colorado Springs congregations reached out 
to the community for "God's Work. Our Hands. Day"as the church—together. 
Pictured is a just a portion of the 200+ who participated.
My last blog reflected on my first three years serving as bishop in the Rocky Mountain Synod. So what about the next three years? My commitments may sound familiar, but they are certainly informed by the experiences of these last three years.

Advocate for healthy leadership: I continue to believe healthy leaders help shape healthy communities of faith.  By healthy I mean a commitment on the part of our rostered and professional church leaders to tend to the care of their physical, emotional and spiritual life, as well as to grow in self-awareness and understanding.  Healthy leaders are called to model what it means to live a life grounded in God’s grace, in all its fullness.

Accompaniment of congregations and ministries: Within our way of being church as the ELCA, accompaniment is a great description of the role of a synodical bishop — it captures both the responsibility and the restrictions inherent in the role.  The bishop is called to serve as a pastor to the whole synod, called to accompany pastors/lay rostered leaders, congregations, and ministry partners alike.  I’ve already mentioned my commitment to promoting healthy leadership. As the landscape in which we are called to be church continues to change, I am committed to accompanying our congregations and ministries through the challenges and changes we all face as well. Oftentimes there are no simply answers for the stresses or strains that a community of faith might be experiencing. But to navigate the waters together is part of the gift of being the church.

Church Better Together: I remain convinced that the time is right for us to be more intentional about our connectedness and collaboration as the Body of Christ. The days when one single congregation could seek to be all things to all people are past. I envision:

  • a life together shaped by deeper relationships and organic networks rather than structured programming
  • a life together informed by a shared vision for bearing witness to the gospel through our unique Lutheran lenses rather than a stand-alone stance among congregations
  • a life together that embraces an expansive and creative view of how the Spirit is calling us to participate in the work God is about in our communities and in the world.  

A bishop has limited authority to “make things happen," but a bishop does have the power to convene, the opportunity to cast a larger vision, and the ability to help “connect the dots” between congregations and ministries. These are gifts I hope to offer to our life together.

I covet your prayers for my staff and myself in these next three years as we continue to serve with you in ministry. I also welcome hearing any particular ideas you have about how this second half of my term as bishop might prove fruitful.

Yours in Faith,
Bishop Jim

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank you Bishop for your guidance,vision and compassion for this ELCA family we call the Rocky Mountain Synod in your first 3 years. Thank you for sharing what might await us in these next 3 years as you continue to model these visions.
2:50 PM
Jan Eriksson-Persson said…
May I remind our colleagues that healthy leadership and ministry grounded in grace precludes the behaviors of slander, libel, and defamation that some of us have experienced here. Whether spoken or written, in public or relatively privately (that grow to have public impact), our words (as the lesson from James last week reminded us) are powerful. Words that impugn one's reputation, competence, standing within the community, based upon hearsay, falsehood, opinion, or those simply traduced for personal advantage, or in malice, or vindictively, without clear proof, (by the speaker or writer, not based upon hearsay), are against the law; they are statutory violations of our First Amendment rights. Further, every instance of such behavior is actionable, not only the initiating or first defamatory statement. Every time such slander or libel is passed along, it is actionable in the courts of civil law. The Separation Clause generally does not protect such speech. Generous remedies have been rendered to those harmed by slander, libel, that is, defamation. I would hope that we are people motivated more by Gospel than by Law, in this as in other instances. However, as the "new creation," my prayer is that we are indeed moved by the command of Christ of love of neighbor and by the power of the Holy Spirit to do what is right. This models healthy behavior within the community of Christ --- both to laity and to our colleagues. And it builds up, rather than breaks down, the body of Christ. I pray we will be grounded in grace and stop such behaviors, however compelling they seem, and let our words be good and true. Sincerely in Christ, Jan Erickson-Pearson
12:57 AM
Jan Eriksson-Persson said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
8:41 AM
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