The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
September 2007

Bishop's Reflections

A few years back I was told about an incident that happened at one of our larger Salt Lake churches. A new couple had attended the main service one day, and at the coffee hour following, asked the parish administrator what were the expectations of members of this congregation? The administrator who told me this story said she was flabbergasted—no one had ever raised that question before and she didn't know what to say.

This report stayed with me because I wondered what it would say about us if the reply was "We have no expectations of our people." I am sure the administrator in question found something to say, other than that, but the question remains interesting to me.

Do we in fact have expectations and just hope that people will pick them up by osmosis? Or, are we so anxious for new members that we fear any articulation of expectations might put them off our church?

Or, do we use the gentler word, 'norms,' and reserve the occasion of speaking to them to vestries or other smaller groups?

Or are they to be found in the mission/ vision or hopes/plans category.

Perhaps our expectations are just 'there,' embedded in our life together, but they only show up as we quietly reject people who don't live up to them?

Recently I have noted that some congregations are becoming rather more direct and open about their expectations, whether or not they call them that. One of our churches openly proclaims their 'principles of community,' listing such things as direct and honest communications among its members; being open to change; and seeking forgiveness when one has hurt another member.

In another church the members have been asked to sign a covenant with one another—not the kind of covenant that some in the Anglican Communion have in mind—but a commitment to attendance, to spiritual growth, and to giving of time, talents, and pledged income to the church.

I find this a very positive development in our communities—in the first place because it is locally formed and adopted, not something laid down by some larger body.

Clear exceptions to this are our baptismal and ordination vows, which do lay out expectations in their distinctive ways. The creeds being part of these vows, they are 'doctrinal' in a sense, but a further requirement of shared belief, would be unhelpful in building community—and indeed would run counter to what most of us like about the Episcopal Church.

The Diocesan plan, "Living Boldly," also specifies areas where growth (or we might call it 'maturation') is encouraged.

Some communities have embraced these cornerstones, and even the Millennial Development Goals, among their own goals and aspirations. Are these, and/or the newly articulated policies, the same as 'expectations,' even though they don't emerge from local communities? Does this go to our nature as Episcopal rather than congregational churches?

I would love to hear back some of your thoughts about this matter of expectations that go to the health and vitality of your congregations. We always call this newspaper a "Dialogue" but it rarely is.

What about making a major effort toward an exception to this practice? What do you observe as unarticulated expectations of members of your congregation? What would you propose as such expectations? From your perspective are expectations a sign of caring about your community, or a worrisome restriction of some kind?

Speak up friends—your publisher listens!

Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish

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