An Introduction by Bishop Alan Scarfe

AN INTRODUCTION TO 

Changing the Conversation: a third way for congregations by Anthony B. Robinson

By Alan Scarfe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa

As we enter into another season of Lent, I am inviting us to engage a book together. This is not intended to replace the various Lenten study projects that have been organized locally around the diocese, but to be a personal online project stimulated by weekly blog reflections which can be found on the Diocesan web-site. I suppose I am hoping it will be something that will also get us more familiar with our social media presence as a Diocese which now includes my weekly visitation sermon and a reflection on the congregations I visit. It may also introduce more of us to our own face book page and even to the study offerings of the eSeminary. So I am hoping for more than one accomplishment than us simply spending time together in virtual study.

The Diocesan book I have chosen is Anthony Robinson’s Changing the Conversation. Dr Robinson will also be our Baptismal Living Day speaker on April 5th, which will also be the final weekend of the blog reflections. Please look out for the invitation and registration information for the Baptismal Living Day which will be held at St Timothy’s Episcopal Church in West Des Moines. Once again I ask that you consider bringing a team from your congregation who can take the ideas presented and create a potential strategy for your congregation’s development. As the book title indicates, the writer asserts that in our anxiety and concern for the growth of our congregations, we are asking the wrong questions and need to change our conversation topics. He looks at the changing context of our society and the Church in the world and begins by seeking to alleviate our anxiety by insisting that change is all around us and much of what we are facing comes from issues much larger than ourselves.

Having said that, it also holds that we have much responsibility for our own growth. That involves taking seriously God’s call on our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ, and our need for inner attention to the life of the Spirit. Robinson asks us about leadership and purpose, and the importance of being directed outwards in our sense of service and mission. These are not new ideas, and you have probably been told these things before in different ways, but it is the way he makes them accessible to us and our communities that I found helpful. Some congregations have studied the book after I first drew attention to it last year. We have a lot to learn from how you might have applied some of the principles already in follow up to your study, and so I invite you too to participate and join in the conversation. I trust that we all will find it to be the right one.

+ Alan Scarfe