Failure

I’m always reluctant to discuss pride, as I have a full portion of it myself, but that is what we are seeing in the determination by 815 that anyone other than Anglicans get the use of an abandoned church building.

They are failures. All of the talk about how ‘numbers don’t matter’ and ‘quality over quantity’ can not hide the dwindling of the church that is under their care. Every time a church closes, that truth gets hammered home to the bishop of the diocese as well as the national office. When a viable church votes with its feet, I think that stings them even more.

The fastest growing diocese in the US is South Carolina. If I were leading a shrinking diocese, I'd want to know what's going on in South Carolina. But South Carolina may be problematic. Their current bishop is known for being a troublemaker.

So, why not study Tennessee? They are the number two fastest growing diocese. Why not have a commission go and study what these dioceses are doing right? It's the logical, responsible thing to do.

The gutsy, bold move would be to admit that they don’t have a solution, that their processes have failed. And to step aside. But their pride gets in the way and they can not do that. They are prepared to ask for Divine assistance, but they are not yet ready to listen to God’s advice, much less His commandments.

I do not know what God’s plans are. I do know that if He intends to renew the Episcopal Church, He will break our pride and our hearts first. My prayer is that the time will be short and swift.

{This post was first posted in an abbreviated form, here}