Most gracious and loving God, we come to you this morning as your church, gathered under the roof of this magnificent cathedral to do what we often refer to as the business of the diocese; to celebrate the mission of our churches and our people and to experience the exquisite joy of our successes and to bear one another’s burdens as we are challenged by the financial realities of the cost of discipleship during hard economic times.
 

This year we acknowledge the pain of so many of our parishioners who find themselves out of work, and for  others not of our congregations but of the communities that we serve who are also jobless, without homes, who may be ill and without health insurance, heartbroken and who experience a hopelessness that is numbing to the soul.
 

Reinvigorate us as a servant church that has as its mission the making of new disciples for Jesus Christ. And as a mission driven servant church, continue to prick our consciences and redirect our resources so that we will be less focused on our own parish’s physical needs and more focused on how we as congregations and  the diocese can continue to learn how to give ourselves and our resources away in service to others.

Help those of us who gather as leaders of this marvelous diocese and who represent our congregations at this convention to remember that this year we are not here to do business as usual, but with courage to reaffirm our discipleship in Jesus Christ. In that discipleship help us with the many challenges that our congregations face, and have us remember that it is the power of the living Christ, known to us through the real presence of the Holy Spirit, prayer, the sacraments and the gathering of your servants in community that will give us the courage to generate new insights and fearless wisdom that will lead us to envision new models of what we mean by “church;”  models which no longer  enslave us to our buildings and their maintenance at the expense of being the Gospel and living  as  radical communities of faith and discipleship, dedicated to mission and outreach that befits the teaching of the risen Christ.
 

Help us to claim the truth that we are not a maintenance driven church but a mission centered church that will have to make hard decisions and great sacrifices in the 21st Century if we are to reverse the perception of the world that we are more concerned about preserving our past and what we have, rather than what you would have us become. Help us to be a leaner, more supple, more responsive and more courageous church, where “church” is defined as a gathering of the faithful rather than the building in which the faithful gather.

May we begin our journey in this direction today, begun with your help and sustained by our faithfulness, living well into the Good News of your son. Help us to recall through our collective memories the path forged by recent diocesan conventions where we have been challenged by our guest preachers and presenters to rise to the occasion of what it means to be “church” in the 21st century. AMEN
 

Each year your parochial reports are forwarded to the diocese, where they are reviewed and then forwarded to The Episcopal Church Center in New York. There they are recorded for trend analysis and archived for study as our diocese and its parishes are compared with other dioceses and their parishes. Attendance trends are studied, as are the records of a parishes pledge status and what percentage of its net disposable income is dedicated to the mission and ministry of the diocese. Also studied is a parishes financial health based on overall giving by its parishioners, and other additional sources of income; the numbers of those “hatched, matched and dispatched;” the number of those who are in church school and, well…you who are rectors and treasurers know the drill in filling out the Parochial Report.
 

Having been a rector and having worked with dedicated parish and cathedral treasures over the years, parochial reports are not a whole lot of fun to fill out and then to get to the diocese in a timely manner. But they do tell us how a parish is doing and how the diocese is doing. The parochial report is a measure used by The Episcopal Church to report out whether a diocese and its parishes are collectively growing, shrinking or just holding their own. The form of evaluation that the Episcopal Church uses is a standard business model that is similarly used to measure secular corporations and institutions. This model is the tie that binds the church, the diocese and its parishes to the secular culture of defining success and failure.

Using the business model, I guess I would have to say that the Diocese of Washington does not measure up as a very successful institution, and many of our parishes could also say the same. Parochial reports filed by the parishes of our diocese for the most part tell a story of no real measurable growth in membership within the last 12 years. Financial giving has been stagnant. The budget that supports the missionary work of the diocese to its congregations, schools and our mission outreach beyond our borders has been stagnant as well. Any financial growth has come primarily through the Bishop’s Annual Appeal and from the generosity of individuals, some who are not even Episcopalians. There has been no strong upward trend in pledged giving to the diocese by our congregations. And we have not received any large, unexpected financial gifts from those who have remembered the diocese in their Wills or in large, unrestricted gifts received from the living to preserve our outreach ministry to our Episcopal Schools, our Campus Ministries and our outreach to an exploding Spanish speaking community that resides within our geographic boundaries.
 

Frankly speaking, using the business model of measuring success, stagnancy or failure, then collectively we have not been very successful.  Numbers are one way of telling a story, whether we like it or not! And we need to pay attention to the story!
 

But is the business model of measurement the only way to measure growth and success? For instance, how might the diocese and our parishes measure up using other models?
 

Locally, how well are the individual parishes in the diocese doing in their pastoral care and ministry to their parishioners and those in the community that are in need; the hungry, those suffering from illness, the unemployed, and those and who are victimized by homelessness, violence, poverty and oppression?

How many parishes in the diocese have active outreach programs that are both local and global in scope?

How many congregations in our diocese are centers of joyful worship, stimulating fellowship programs and educational opportunities that draw in seekers, teenagers and young adults?
 

How are the diocese and its congregations responding to rapidly changing demographics that provide them with new opportunities for worship, outreach and community building?
 

Is the diocese divided by controversy and turmoil or is it able to find the via media that allows for the voices of all to be heard and respected?
 

How do the diocese and its congregations engage the challenges placed before them and before God’s people; the challenges of responding to domestic and global hunger, pandemic disease, global poverty, natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake, homophobia, racism and misogyny?

How well do our congregations translate the complexities of the Old and New testaments and in particular the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the lives of their congregants and the secular world?
 

What is the disposition of the people in the diocese?  Do they seem to take pride in what the diocese represents and what it is able to do for them and their congregations? Is the diocese a unifier or a divider?
Does the diocese, being based in the Nation’s Capital play a larger role in the domestic and global concerns of our nation and The Episcopal Church? And should it?
 

All of these questions and the answers to them, and others that might come to mind ought to be a significant part of the measuring process of how our diocese and our congregations are doing. For these questions and the answers to them are important. And in my opinion they are just as important as the business model of measuring success. But unfortunately the business model of success defined by the number of members we have and the amount of money in our budgets is how we are forced to measure our success and future as a church.
 

From my perspective, I think this diocese and our congregations that I love so much, and that have fed my soul are models of success in a different way. And the denominational church and its critics that use membership numbers and dollars pledged solely to define either success or failure are really missing the mark and misreading how success is defined by the Gospel. 
 

As a diocese we have an excellent Spanish speaking ministry that is both evangelical and mission driven; led by hard working and spirit filled clergy-missioners. And yet paying attention to the numbers, by June of 2011, unless we can come up with a significant infusion of funds from our congregations or other sources, Diocesan Council will have to make hard decisions about the future configuration of this dynamic ministry. And it is a ministry that has grown rapidly in 7 of our congregations and has received The Episcopal Church’s recognition as one of the faster growing mission centers of Spanish speaking ministry in the United States.  Canon Simone Bautista our Latino Missioner was recently named by the Presiding Bishop as one of two new chaplains to the House of Bishops; an office he will hold for the next three years. This is a great honor bestowed upon Simon and reflects recognition by the presiding Bishop of the great work accomplished by this diocese in a relatively short period of time in reaching out to the Latino-Latina community.
 

Approximately 40% of our congregations have large numbers of parishioners who come from the Caribbean Basin, Central and South America and from West and Central Africa. This diversity enriches our understanding of the Anglican Communion and brings resources to our congregations that our dynamic in scope. And yet it stretches the resources of our congregations; a stretching that other monochromatic dioceses and their congregations do not have to address.
 

Many of our congregations have missionary projects under way in Central and South America, Haiti, American Indian Reservations, in New Orleans, Mississippi, in the District of Columbia and in other towns and cities in the diocese, as well as in Africa and the Middle East. The diocese has a new companion partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. We continue our work in Mozambique to address the rise in infant deaths from malaria; in Swaziland and South Africa in developing prevention programs to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, providing micro financing for small businesses, addressing human rights violations, and generously providing financial support and facilities that enhance educational programs for children. Many of our parishes continue their mission work in Honduras.
 

Much of this global mission work is funded and supported by our local congregations, the diocese and funding generously provided by private individuals, our own United Thank Offering, Episcopal Church Women, African Palms, and through USAID and the President’s Malaria Initiative.
 

The diocese has an aggressive program that supports our 21 Episcopal Schools, many of them financially supported and located within the congregations of our diocese.  4,994 students are enrolled in these schools that range from pre-school through high school. These schools have 1215 staff members and faculty and most of these schools have at least one Episcopal chaplain. The work of Canon Hannibal was initially responsible for establishing the new Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys across the Anacostia River in Ward 8 of the District. The Walker School is a model for Episcopal Urban Ministry and its design is now being duplicated by other dioceses in the United States.
 

Our full time college chaplaincies at Howard University, the University of Maryland and Bowie State are dynamic and far reaching in terms of their pastoral care and support of faculty and students. Our support work at three other universities in the diocese is ongoing and productive. If we had additional funding we could be a significant pastoral presence at the University of the District of Columbia as well as at Georgetown, George Washington University and Saint Mary’s College.
 

Many of our congregations throughout the diocese have excellent food pantry, and communal feeding programs that reach out to the least, the lost and the forgotten among us.
 

As a diocese I believe we have some of the brightest and best clergy and laity of any diocese in the country and even with an oppressive economy, our diocese is still a solid financial and human resources contributor to the domestic and global mission of The Episcopal Church.
 

From my perspective we have a diocese of 91 congregations made up of anywhere between 43-45,000 souls. A number of our congregations are small in size and struggle to make ends meet. At times they do not make ends meet! And this is of great concern to me as your bishop. And yet even the smallest of our congregations, and those that struggle to survive do good work; caring for one another, engaging the community they are a part of and doing their very best to participate in outreach, mission and ministry programs in their local community, the diocese and The Episcopal Church. 
 

For the first time in its history, the diocese has embraced and established the ordained ministry of the vocational diaconate. Under the direction and discernment of the Commission on Ministry and the Office of the Bishop this new ministry is being established to support the mission initiatives of the diocese and its congregations within the four counties of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
 

We may not be growing in numbers of communicants. And we may not have parishes or be a diocese flush with cash. And in truth a number of our congregations struggle to survive. But all of our congregations and people are doing God’s work in one way or another in a very challenging world. And though we struggle, we are congregations and a diocese that are making a difference in the lives of our parishioners and the communities that we serve.
 

And as the bishop of this diocese I am extremely proud of the leadership of our clergy and people who make a difference in the lives of thousands of people every week. And for that, if for no other reason we ought to recognize, claim and celebrate our successes as they are measured by the mission imperatives of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet we must not disregard the harsh realities and warning signs of other measurements that tell us a lot about the health of our congregations and the diocese and that can and will determine how we must engage the ministry of the emerging church of the 21st century.
 

And now as I conclude I wish to share with all of you recent conversations that I have had with Canon Cooney and our staff. When I was elected to serve you as your bishop, I made a commitment to serve for eight years. In June of this year I will have completed eight years of ministry among you as your bishop. Counting the rings on the tree I will be 66 in May. I have been ordained and have served The Episcopal Church for 38 years. It is now time to call upon the Standing Committee of the diocese to engage the canons of the church and begin the process that will eventually lead to the election of the 9th Bishop of Washington. So the question now arises, what might the timetable look like for this to happen?
 

It is my hope that the Standing Committee will be able to put in place a Search Committee some time in March of this year. The previous Search Committee in its detailed recap of the search that brought me to Washington highly recommended that the next Search Committee charged with the election of the 9th bishop have one full year of working together before the slate of finalists is announced. It is my hope that this recommendation will be followed by the Standing Committee.
 

My thinking on timing might be that there could be a special convention of the diocese called to elect the 9th bishop of Washington some time in June of 2011 with the consecration scheduled for either September or early October. I would also hope that I could spend a good month or so with the new bishop- elect before consecration sharing information necessary to make for a smooth and seamless transition in leadership. When and if this schedule can be put in place, I will be 67 years old. It will be time to elect a younger person to lead what I consider to be the best and one of the most influential dioceses in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. 
 

I call for this election not because of any health reasons, or because I am burned out or bored. I don’t know how any bishop could ever be bored serving this diocese. It’s a very lively place.  I love what I do and I deeply love this diocese. When the time actually comes to turn over the crosier to another it will be a very emotional time for me. And today is not a day for goodbyes or reminiscing, nor is it a time of sadness for me and Karen. It is a time to continue moving forward, engaging in the exciting work that God has called all of us to do as a mission driven diocese. Be prepared! I am going to work as hard as I can and continue to serve you with all the gifts God has given to me until the next bishop takes office. You will have me for better or worse in the stirrups for another 19 months, and in paraphrasing Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken” I will continue to follow that road, knowing that in faith, it will lead us to face with courage the challenges of becoming a new church for a new people in a new century. Thank you, and God Bless you all! 
 

The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane D.D.
Bishop of Washington
January 30, 2010

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Click here for press release announcing Bishop Chane's retirement