Report from Diocesan Convention 2024
11/7/2024
By Walt Cooner
St. John’s Centreville’s delegation -- Fr. Kevin Laskowski, Deacon Steve Busch, and Lay Delegate Walt Cooner -- were among approximately 500 Episcopalians who attended the Diocese of Virginia’s 230 th Annual Convention 7-9 November 2024. Held for the second year in a row at the Fredericksburg Convention Center, the overarching theme were captured in six words The Right Reverend E. Mark Stevenson has embraced since becoming our 14th bishop in 2022: LOVE JESUS; EMBODY JUSTICE; BE DISCIPLES! Bishop Stevenson opened the proceedings with his pastoral address during Evensong at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday in Fredericksburg’s historic St. George’s Church.
Friday opened with a powerful hour-long presentation, “The Gospel and the Gift of Tears,” presented by self-professed “Bapti-costal” Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel, and Professor of Homiletics and African and African American Studies. Reverend Powery wove threads of lectionary and song into an address on the meaning, importance to and effectiveness of lamentations among enslaved populations in the ante-bellum South as well as their continuing relevance in worship among congregations in the United States today.
After a brief e-check of our voting devices, Dr. Powery presented a second address that was a theological reflection on the origins, role and power of Spirituals entitled “The Gospel and the Gift of Song.” It, too, was well received.
Thursday afternoon was divided into two tranches of workshops and discussion groups.
Deacon Steve participated in the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) Session hosted by staff members of the US EMM. The EMM welcomes refugees, educates communities, and mobilizes congregations to advocate for the protection and rights of all refugees and migrants. EMM is one of 10 national agencies responsible for resettling refugees in the United States in partnership with the U.S. Government. It introduces assigned refugees to U.S. culture including language classes, job training, placement in supportive locations, and housing. They also facilitate their becoming U.S. citizens.
Steve also attended The Rev Shirley Graham-Smith’s Small Church Vitality session. As the Diocese of Virginia’s Minister for Church Vitality, you may recall that she recently visited St. John's and led a discussion with the Vestry. At this standing room only session, the first question from an attendee was, “How do we define Small Church?” The consensus held that if one’s average Sunday attendees (ASA) is less than 60, you meet the threshold. That said, two-thirds of the churches in the Diocese of Virginia qualify. ASA alone does not determine the vitality of a church. Vibrant churches share four key characteristics: 1) promoting an individual’s growth in relationship with God; 2) building relationships among individuals that deepen their experience of God; 3) following the outward action of Jesus, i.e., going beyond their church, to the “other” (as part of God’s reconciliation of all things), and creating interdependent relationships with communities, organizations, and businesses in their “neighborhoods;” and 4) using missional purpose to support their survival. She provided a list of “markers” that indicate a church’s vitality. It is not just ASA, endowments, or dollars in the bank. According to these markers, St. John’s vitality is strong, although we do have our share of areas to improve.
Walt covered Ashley Graham-Wilcox’s Caffeinated Church, a website crafted by an ecumenical group of Denver-based churches to enhance parish best practices and branding for more effective communications and outreach. The session was an introduction to a website of the same name that St. John’s may find useful. The Diocese of Virginia endorses the platform and has negotiated a reduced subscription for interested parishioners.
Having served as U.S. Air Attache to the Republic of Sudan, Walt also chose to attend former U.S. Special Envoy and DC-based Episcopalian Dane Smith’s Crisis in the Sudans: How the Church Can Help. In his capacity as Executive Director of American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans (AFRECS), Smith shared a comprehensive account of relief efforts, tribulations of the Church in Africa writ large, initiatives to support the Episcopal Church in South Sudan & Sudan (ECSSS), and its growth in both countries. Acknowledging that the current Archbishop of South Sudan, the Most Reverend Justin Badi Arama, is a dynamic force for good in the southern republic, Dane Smith made a compelling case for Virginia parishes to support both AFRECS and Bishop Arama’s initiatives. A DC-based United Methodist lay preacher, this former diplomat and his wife Judy have been making quarterly visits to both countries—in recent years primarily to South Sudan since the current civil war in the Muslim-dominated northern country make it precarious for any “outsider” to visit. Indeed, the situation in the (northern) Sudan is so dire that Christians there are fleeing southward and its Bishop, the Right Reverend Ezekiel Kondo, often operates from a site in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Attendees found it surprising to learn that the two Sudans are home to more Episcopalians today than the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA) has on its rolls—and the number in Africa is growing rapidly. As a point of reference, the ECUSA reports just over 1.5 million Americans call themselves Episcopalians.
We closed late Friday afternoon with Holy Eucharist at which Rev. Powery delivered the sermon and our Assistant Bishop, the Right Rev. Gayle Harris, served as the celebrant.
Saturday was the de facto business day of the conference and, aside from the elections of lay and clergy members to the Diocesan Standing Committee, was free of contention. Two each clergy and lay candidates were elected to fill vacancies for 3-year terms on the Standing Committee (aka the Bishop’s Council of Advice). In the Bishop’s absence, this six-person committee exercises ecclesiastical authority over the Diocese of Virginia. Members of Convention elected two clergy and two laypeople to serve on the Standing Committee: Ms. Lauren Breeden (The Falls Church, Falls Church), Ms. Margaret Jones, (St. Mark’s, Richmond), The Rev. Daniel Johnson (Christ Church, Spotsylvania), and the Rev. JT Thomas (Emmanuel, Greenwood).
The Diocesan Missionary Society and Virginia State Real Estate Partners also had openings, but the number of candidates did not exceed the available vacancies.
This year, the Convention considered but three resolutions:
- R1: The Rev. Joe Hensley, St. George’s Fredericksburg proposal for a More Welcoming and Inclusive Language for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing passed. It direct the Diocese to review language in current/future resolutions or canons to change references to those with hearing loss from “deaf and hearing-impaired” to “deaf or hard of hearing.”
- Courtesy Resolution (CR)1: The vestries of Grace, Stanardsville and Piedmont, Madison sponsored this resolution honoring the life work and ministries of the late Lay Pastoral Leader John Robert “Bob” Thomas.
- CR2: The Diocesan Bishops and Staff sponsored a resolution commending Lynn Gray, known to the camp community also as “Nurse Lynn,” for her 18 years dedicated service and ministry for The Diocese of Virginia as a camp nurse at Shrine Mont Camps.
The 230th Annual Convention proposed and passed a 2025 budget of $6,529,000, a $441,400 increase over last year’s budget. Two items accounted for the budget increase: an anticipated rise in parish pledges and a more advantageous financial return on investments. Annual Convention expenses and a slight bump in Mustard Seed/Small Church Revitalization Gants are the only noteworthy expense increases we expect in 2025.
All duties performed in “record time” (according to Bishop Stevenson), the Convention adjourned at 11:30 a.m., an hour earlier than expected.
Click here also for the Diocese of Virginia's recap of events.
