When I got to Augusta I found a group of Episcopalian clergy who invited me to a weekly text study. The Episcopal church and the ELCA are in full communion with one another, meaning that in all the important theological things we are in agreement. So, about 15 years ago the two denominations decided that we would both be open to shared ministry with one another. Until recently that has been more theory than practice with the exception being that clergy from one denomination might serve a church from the other denomination.
Soon, my new colleagues began to talk about their congregations. They talked about how none of the five Episcopal churches in the area could afford full time clergy and how each church had a few kids but none had that critical mass you need to support a vibrant youth program. They talked about how their congregations were aging, how expensive it was just to heat their buildings and how they lamented not being able to do as much community outreach as they knew our area needed. They told me how their Bishop had asked them to start talking about partnering and maybe merging so they could together focus on ministry rather than always just working for survival. They told me how sad it was for their people to think of giving up historic buildings, how frightening it was for them to consider sharing control of a church with others they didn't know but also how the possibilities that opened up if they didn't have to live on the edge financially were really exciting. They told me they had concluded that if they merged with one another they knew they would need to settle together in a neutral location and not in one of their existing buildings but they didn't know where that might be. Most of it sounded very familiar. Not just familiar to Prince of Peace's situation but also to the situation of most of mainline Christianity in our country today.
They asked me if I would come to one of their K-5 meetings (short for the Kennebec Valley 5 Episcopal Congregations) as a neutral observer and I did. At the same time, we decided to put on a joint Ascension Day service. The Episcopalians asked me if Prince of Peace would be willing to host it because we would be seen as "neutral ground" by their members. I was happy to do that and as you know we worshiped together and found out that not only do we have similar styles of worship, we all like food and fellowship as well!
Then, on the Saturday after Ascension Day, while we were in our Healthy Congregations Workshop, all five of the Episcopal church vestries met (they call church council a vestry) for one of their regular meetings with their bishop. I am told that coming together at Prince of Peace for Ascension Day is thought to have created a breakthrough for the K-5 and at this meeting they decided to do something different. For one Sunday a month for the next five months they would move their individual worship services from their own churches and combine them in one location. Each month they would meet in a different church on the third Sunday and worship together. After they had gone through the rotation, they would meet again and see where everyone was and how it had felt to be together.
Here's the part where it gets personal to us, really interesting, a tiny bit frightening but also sort of exciting… all their clergy and all their vestries also unanimously decided at that meeting that they would invite Prince of Peace to be a part of both their ongoing discussions about doing ministry together, including the possibility of us merging with them, and to join them in this worship rotation plan.
When they told me about this invitation, I emailed our church council's executive committee and our head Deacon to ask them to think and pray about this and for us to talk more in person on Sunday. So on Sunday, after we had reflected on our Healthy Congregations Workshop, I asked those gathered from our council, our deacons and the others who were there from our congregation what they thought. It wasn't anything official, but finding out how folks felt was the first step in deciding how to respond to this invitation. The consensus was that talking was a good idea, but perhaps moving our worship from our sanctuary to another church one Sunday a month for the next five months was not something we were ready to do. I thought that was very understandable, after all, the five Episcopal congregations had been working up to this idea for a year and we had been thinking about it for only five minutes! Nancy Merrill from our deacons and Tom Benn from council agreed to go with me to the next K-5 meeting which was on Tuesday, June 10, 2014 to explore this invitation a little more.
At that meeting I suggested to the K-5 an idea our worship committee had agreed to earlier that day; that instead of Prince of Peace taking part in a joint worship that moved every third Sunday to a different location, that they consider all coming to Prince of Peace for all the joint services. Each month a different congregation would plan and lead the worship but they would all happen at Prince of Peace. They really liked that idea! The only hang up was that a couple of their congregations had already started planning special worship services for when everyone came to visit their churches. For example, Christ Church in Gardiner was planning an outdoor, public worship on the village green with a special guest preacher and St. Matthews in Hallowell was planning a special service since the third Sunday of September fell on St. Matthew's Feast Day this year.
It was a truly remarkable meeting. All five Episcopal congregations really worked hard to include us. They were so very understanding that we hadn't had time to get our minds around not having worship in our space and all of us wanted to honor the special plans that some were already making because they were excited to play the role of host for the others. We were momentarily stuck, but only because each of us wanted the best for the other. In the end, the idea we all worked out is the following:
- The five Episcopal congregations will move their worship on the third Sunday of each month for the next five months to a single location. Worship will begin on those third Sundays at 9:30 a.m.
- The location will be selected in turn by each of the five congregations and could be either at their own church or at Prince of Peace. It would be their choice. As of the meeting, St. Mark's and St. Andrew's indicated they would like to try to take their "turn" at PoP.
- Prince of Peace will continue to have worship in our sanctuary on every third Sunday as usual. If one of the Episcopal congregations wants to take their turn at PoP, they will be invited to plan and lead worship that day.
- On the third Sundays, members of PoP will be invited to either worship at PoP or travel to the location where the joint worship is happening as they wish. (The first will be at Christ Church in Gardiner on July 20, 2014)
- On the days that the joint worship is hosted at Prince of Peace, worship would begin at 9:30 a.m.
- This message is being sent by email, the postal service to those who don't get email and is being made available as a hard copy at church.
- On July 13 I will use the sermon time to introduce this to the congregation from the pulpit and I hope you will make every effort to attend.
- Following worship on July 13 we will gather for further questions and conversation as a congregation in the fellowship hall.
- On July 27th I will again host another opportunity following worship for further questions and conversation.
I believe the Holy Spirit is working powerfully in this. That fact does not take away all the very understandable and completely legitimate concerns and fears that will arise as we consider this. It also doesn't change the need for our congregation to continue to do the healing work it has started. This is huge. The growing "most likely" scenario that seems to be developing from the meeting in which we were included is that three or perhaps four of the Episcopal congregations are likely to agree to move to the Prince of Peace location. In that vision, it would mean officially closing their three congregations as well as ours and forming a new Lutheran/Episcopal congregation. That newly formed congregation could potentially worship about 200 people every Sunday. It could be staffed by one full time Lutheran pastor and one full time Episcopal priest. That would not change "whose" we are, but it would fundamentally change "who" we are in many ways.
That vision opens up many exciting possibilities for service, youth and family ministry, worship and outreach but it also means working intentionally to discover who we have become together and what specific mission God is calling us to as this new expression of the Body of Christ. It is both exciting and a bit frightening at the same time and therefore is obviously not something to be done in a hurry. At the same time it seems unwise to ignore what seems to be the workings of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Therefore it is important to remember that at this point we are only agreeing to conversation, prayer to discern God's will and moving the start time of our worship on those Sundays where we host everyone to 9:30a.m. It is also important to keep in mind that the vision is constantly evolving and things will most certainly continue to change as our conversations and experiences together develop. I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit might give us courage to walk this path and see where it might lead. Please add this to your daily prayers and talk about this out in the open. Plan to attend the July 13 and/or July 27 events and please think about and ask any and all questions you might have, being clear with both the things that excite you and the things that concern you.
I am very excited to turn the page with you and discover what happens in the next chapter of this story!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Erik
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