From Houston to the Great Plains

Greetings Redemption,

On Sunday I announced the happy news that our missionary district will be joining with churches from the Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast to form a new diocese stretching from Houston to Kansas. Though it is not how we expected it to happen, forming a diocese with a strong local presence in North Texas has been the goal of our journey through the three dioceses we have been a part of over the last five years. This is a great gift from God, both to us as a parish, and from our parish to Texas and the regions we now serve. I want to let you in on more details about what God is doing through this.

Anglicans worship together in a very special sense. We do so according to the pattern of the very earliest churches, who understood themselves to be fully united with all other bodies of Christians under the leadership of the apostles and their successors. Although we freely form our own parish culture and discern our mission from the Lord, Anglican parishes are not isolated islands of people. We act together in partnership across congregations. We are responsible and accountable to one another, we rejoice and mourn with one another, and most importantly, we go out on mission to our regions together with shared purpose and identity. This is why, when new jurisdictions form, it is always an expression of our shared mission and the unity of the Body of Christ. These structures, and all of the attending "summits, votes, synods, standing committees, etc. etc." may seem opaque or even "corporate" on first glance, but they are just ways of putting real obligations to our shared life and mission together as Anglicans; actually living our lives together instead of just leaving it as a nice aspiration.

We along with the other churches of our missionary district (GPMD) are entering into that shared life together with 15 churches in the Houston area and southern Louisiana. This past month our clergy were invited to travel to Houston and meet and pray together with the clergy of these churches. Joe and I were able to go, and we got to see firsthand that these are men and women that we can joyfully gather together with. After reporting back to our vestry, and with the full support of our current Bishop Alan Hawkins, we voted unanimously together with our sister churches of the GPMD to enter the new jurisdiction as it forms. Here is how that is currently happening:

Last month, our vestry voted to enter the jurisdiction if and when the group of Houston churches elects our own assisting bishop Paul Donison to be their new head bishop. Bishop Paul has already been an assisting bishop in our current diocese, assisting Alan Hawkins with bishops visits, and has performed the regular bishop duties for Redemption already for the past several years--easy to do since he is down the street from us! So for us, the move is not toward change but stability. The best question our vestry asked me is what will change for Redemption in this new jurisdiction, because the answer is even better: not much! Redemption has already been living organically into a life of healthy fellowship and shared mission with our sister churches in the GPMD under Bishop Paul's local guidance for a few years now. This "change" only confirms and affirms the healthy life and rhythms our church has forged over the past five years, and allows us to build on them without changing dioceses every two years or so. We can rejoice that we have found a permanent home.
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Anglicans also operate under spiritual authority, and I am happy to say that we have been the beneficiaries of the leadership of several gracious and wise bishops on our journey to where we find ourselves today: Todd Hunter, Foley Beach, Alan Hawkins, and now Paul Donison. I have been personally present, as each one of these men has encouraged us to move forward to forge our own jurisdiction, first in Texas, and then in an expanded vision given to us by Bp. Hawkins, up through the great middle of the country where ACNA presence is currently thin on the ground. Merging with the group of churches in Houston, (which is currently named the Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast or DWGC) was an effort put forward by Acting Archbishop Julian Dobbs for the sake of ensuring those churches are cared for spiritually at a time when they were unsure of their future. This past week, they all voted unanimously and with great joy to merge with us and elect Paul as their bishop. You can read in more detail about that here. Soon, our current Bishop Alan Hawkins will send a letter releasing us and the other GPMD churches to enter the new jurisdiction. On December 4-5 we will gather together with Alan and Paul for our annual Summit at Christ Church Plano, to celebrate as Bp. Alan passes the baton to Bp. Paul, and that evening for the ordination of our own Joseph Whitenton to the diaconate. This will be a special time, and I encourage you to come and celebrate with us, both at the summit and the ordination.

On a personal note, I am also feeling great hope and joy at these events. Part of my charge as Rector is to ensure that Redemption is cared for by good spiritual authority, and I can personally attest that Bishop Paul is just the shepherd for the job. Besides working to ensure Redemption's stability in a time of crisis, Paul and Monika have opened their home to Redemption's clergy on a regular basis, and they have also been personal supports, mentors, and dear friends to Lauren and me when we came to Redemption, and they still are today. The other part of my charge is to ensure that Redemption is part of, not just a jurisdiction, but a movement of mission to the lost. After being together with GPMD clergy as well as DWGC, I am thrilled and excited to think of the church plants and new ministries that will be reaching people across our regions.

As always, I am available to you if you have questions, concerns, or thoughts you'd like to share with me.