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Letter from the Chair

Advent 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose Incarnation we celebrate with great joy, whose coming again we anticipate by his grace without shame or fear, and whose continual coming to us in friend and stranger, word and sacrament, is the source of our great hope and confi dence. Welcome to the search for the 10th Bishop of Georgia!

“Discerning the one mind for one mission” expresses our intention and expectation for this event in the life of the Diocese of Georgia. We earnestly desire to be of one and the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:1-5) that will empower us to pursue with enthusiasm the mission of our Church - restoring all people to relationship with God and each other in Christ. That mission requires sound episcopal leadership, and thus we address this profile to all those who care about mission and ministry in this diocese.

The information in this profi le is only a snapshot of the Diocese at this moment as we begin the search for our next bishop. It attempts to articulate how we see and understand ourselves, the challenges before us, our aspirations for the decade to come and the qualities we seek in our new bishop. Our profi le is built on information gained through structured conversations in convocational town meetings and through a diocesan wide opinion survey of Church members. This learning process has been our fi rst step toward building the consensus of heart, mind and spirit that will move us forward in a shared mission and ministry. Next we will meet, talk with and learn from those who might be called to be our next bishop. Finally, prayerfully, we will elect the tenth Bishop of Georgia and begin what will be a challenging time together if we are to grow in our discipleship and numbers in this diocese.

At the end of this profi le are guidelines and a form which you may use to nominate possible candidates for Bishop of Georgia. We will receive nominations until January 15, 2009. After that date we will begin the research and interview process. Please visit our website for updates and more information at www.georgiabishopsearch.org. Please mail nominations to the Bishop Search Committee at 2230 Walton Way, Augusta, Georgia 30904.

With your prayers and by God’s grace, great days await us in the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithfully,
The Very Rev. Robert D. Fain

Welcome to the Diocese of Georgia

The Diocese of Georgia spans the southern portion of the state from the rolling farms and piney woodlands in the west to the marshes and coastlands in the east. We are home to 70 parishes and missions diverse in size, theology, liturgical style, wealth and race. As an introduction to our diocese, we offer you six brief vignettes throughout this profile of some of the many vibrant congregations that comprise our diocesan family.

The geography of the Diocese is broad, spanning 32,994 square miles. The distance from the Diocesan House in Savannah to our westernmost congregation is 285 miles by car, a 5 hour and 45 minute drive. Our northernmost congregation is 218 miles from our southernmost. The rest of the state of Georgia belongs to the Diocese of Atlanta, and we are also neighbored by the Dioceses of Central Gulf Coast, Florida, South Carolina, and Upper South Carolina.

Parishes & Missions

Of our 70 congregations, 39 hold parish status, and the remaining 31 are missions, one of which is poised to attain parish status by 2009, and two others moving toward parish status in 2010. We also maintain several chapels throughout the Diocese, some of which serve particular mission goals such as Korean outreach and student ministry. According to 2006 parochial reports, the congregations of the Diocese fall into the size categories shown in the following chart.

Thirty of our congregations are located within 20 miles of cities with populations of 40,000 or more, and the other 40 congregations are situated in suburbs, county seats, and rural towns. Seventeen of our congregations are currently without full time clergy, though most vacancies are being served by supply priests, interims and, in one instance, a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

During our listening sessions throughout the Diocese, we heard from a number of clergy and laypersons who feel rather isolated given the geographical breadth of the Diocese and the location of the Diocesan House in Savannah. This sentiment was echoed in our survey in which five out of six convocations listed the issue of “effectively serving a diocese too large for one bishop located in Savannah” within their top seven concerns for our next bishop. Not surprisingly, the responses on this issue were strongest in the Albany and Southwestern Convocations, those most distant from Savannah.

Evangelism and outreach were other prominent issues in our conversations across the Diocese, with particular concern for our changing demographics and emerging populations. Four out of six convocations ranked this challenge among their top seven concerns for the future. Growth trends among African-Americans as well as foreign-born persons of Asian and Hispanic descent are relatively high in several pockets throughout south Georgia. Significant changes are also occurring throughout both our urban and rural communities in age distribution, socioeconomic standing, predominant family structuring, and overall population density, all of which challenge congregations to respond creatively to meet the spiritual needs of their new neighbors.

Non-Parochial Ministries

The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia is home to several nonparochial ministries, most of which hold young people as their missional focus. Attached to Good Shepherd Augusta is Episcopal Day School, which serves children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The Diocese has also begun to sharpen its focus on college ministries, installing part time ordained chaplains at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, and Savannah College of Art and Design. Movement is afoot to reinvigorate the chaplaincy at Valdosta State University as well, and other congregations throughout the Diocese are striving to serve the students at neighboring community colleges without the aid of a diocesan chaplain.

Convocations

The Diocese is divided into six convocations along county borders. The Bishop appoints a dean over each convocation, and the clergy therein are expected to meet regularly in clericus. No doubt due to the size of the Diocese, listening session and survey respondents showed increased interest in broadening the role of convocations and empowering them as centers of education, combined mission efforts, and congregational support.

Clergy

According to current records, 151 clergy are canonically resident in the Diocese of Georgia. Twenty of them are retired, and 4 more retirees canonically resident elsewhere are licensed to officiate within our diocese. Fourteen priests currently serving the Diocese have been educated and ordained through alternative, non-seminary tracks, and 16 of our 37 aspirants and postulants are currently seeking holy orders outside of the traditional three-year residential seminary path.

Included in the active clergy are 33 deacons, who serve in the Diocese under the guidance of the Bishop. Our deacons are nonstipendiary. A relatively new gem in the Diocese of Georgia is the Deacon School for Ministry, a vehicle for lifelong training and theological education for our deacons.

Most of the clergy in the Diocese serve in parishes and missions; some serve as school, hospital and hospice chaplains or in other non-parochial ministries expressing their special gifts.

Our current bishop, the Right Reverend Henry Irving Louttit, Jr., was consecrated in January of 1995. During his tenure, we have also enjoyed the service of two assisting bishops: the Right Reverend Charles Kyser in 2003-2006 and the Right Reverend Rodney Michel in 2007-2008. Bishops Kyser and Michel supported Bishop Louttit on a part-time basis, primarily by assuming a portion of the episcopal visitations each year.

One of its clear strengths, the Diocese of Georgia holds an impressive record in raising up young priests, but retaining them in this diocese is a continuing challenge. Over the past decade, 30% of our ordinands to the priesthood have been age 35 and under, and nine more are currently pursuing holy orders. However, our retention rate of these young priests is 65%, far lower than most other dioceses with equal emphasis on young vocations. Presently, priests 35 and under constitute less than 5% of our total active presbyterate.

The Diocese of Georgia holds an annual clergy conference in the fall for all priests and deacons as well as an annual priests’ conference in the spring. Both conferences are intended to offer our clergy a time of reunion, respite, reflection, and worship. During his tenure, Bishop Louttit also instituted clergy days in his Savannah home, where priests are invited in small groups for lunch and an afternoon of conversation with the Bishop.

Striving for a Common Vision

Although our listening sessions and our diocesan survey revealed some predictable disagreements and divisions among us in theology, liturgy and culture, dominant sentiments everywhere confirmed how much we value the unity which our Episcopal faith commends to us.

Happily, differences did not dominate our research findings. Instead, almost with one voice we affirmed a wholly positive direction and commitment for the future of our diocese.

Developing and supporting vibrant and creative programs for our youth and college ministries emerged as the most important issue in the Diocese and in most congregations.

As seems the case elsewhere, we are losing our youth and college students to other denominations that have wellfunded, dynamic ministries for these important age groups, a fact which has probably contributed to declining membership of couples with young families in our congregations. And indeed, to declining membership generally.

Although diocesan sponsored youth programs were rated very high, our research tells us that geographic distances in our sprawling diocese limit the numbers of youth who can gather at one site (most often the Honey Creek camp and conference center) to participate in these programs. We have also learned that where we have dedicated resources (clergy, facilities, food) for programs on college campuses, we create a church home away from home for students—Episcopalians and others—needing a sanctuary, a spiritually nourishing refuge from the pressures of college life.

We believe these ministries to our young people can and do provide the entry point for future generations of Episcopalians. Our vision and our challenge for ourselves and for our new bishop include broadening the reach of our youth programs in order to serve all our parishes and creating and supporting college ministry in our many college towns. Having begun well, we are eager to fi nd new ways to provide the resources to take these ministries to another level.

The Diocese & the Bishops of Georgia

18th Century

On February 12, 1733, General James Edward Oglethorpe and his fellow settlers first set foot in Georgia on Yamacraw Bluff at present-day Savannah.

One of the first orders of business was to offer a prayer of thanksgiving, led by Dr. Henry Herbert, Georgia’s first Anglican priest. Shortly thereafter Christ Church was founded as the first church in Georgia. A crude wooden hut was built for worship services. A proper church wasn’t built until 1750.

As the colony grew, so did the need for additional parishes. In 1736, Gen. Oglethorpe established a fort at Frederica on St. Simons Island. Religious services were held, which eventually resulted in the formation of Christ Church Frederica. In 1750, St. Paul’s was created in Augusta, then a frontier town. The American Revolution soon threw the Church into a period of turmoil. Most of the clergy left and laymen sometimes preached in the churches. The fortunes of the churches wavered as control of the churches varied between the British and the colonists.

The end of the Revolution and adoption of the Constitution marked the end of the Church of England in America. But Anglicanism did not die, as the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America was organized to take its place. It would be many years, however, before Georgia’s churches were officially aligned with the new national church.

19th Century

The early years of the nineteenth century were not good years for the former Church of England churches in Georgia, as they usually lacked resident clergy. Christ Church in Savannah was the only consistently active church during this period.

Episcopal supervision came primarily from the Bishop of South Carolina. Finally, in 1823, the national Episcopal Church established the Diocese of Georgia with Christ Church Savannah, Christ Church Frederica and St. Paul’s Augusta as its parishes. Eight Episcopalians met as the first Diocesan Convention and drafted a Constitution and Canons for their new diocese.

The Church grew slowly but steadily in the years that followed. Until 1840, much of the interior of the state was in the hands of the Creek Indians. As settlement of the interior progressed, new churches were added. Christ Church Macon, was established in 1825. In 1834, Trinity Church Columbus was founded. Grace Church Clarksville soon followed. In 1840, the 18th Diocesan Convention elected the Reverend Stephen Elliott, Jr., of South Carolina, as the Diocese’s first Bishop. He was consecrated Bishop on February 28, 1841, in a ceremony at Christ Church Savannah.

One of Bishop Elliott’s special interests was bringing Christianity to the slaves. The churches served thousands of slaves, with hundreds being confirmed by Bishop Elliott. In several congregations slaves made up the majority of the communicants. Christ Church Savannah and St. John’s jointly established St. Stephen’s as a Chapel for Negroes in 1856. Bishop Elliott was also concerned with higher education in the South and was one of the founding bishops of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.

By the start of the Civil War, the Diocese of Georgia had grown from the six parishes that had called Bishop Elliott twenty years earlier to 28 parishes, with the total number of communicants having grown from 300 to 2,000. But the war took a heavy toll on the Church. Congregations were decimated, and many church buildings were left in very poor condition, several wholly destroyed.

In declining health for several months, Bishop Elliott died in Savannah on December 21, 1866. He was buried on Christmas Day. Elected as the second Bishop of Georgia on May 11, 1867, the Reverend John Watrous Beckwith was consecrated on April 2, 1868 at St. John’s Savannah. Despite the pains of Reconstruction, there was significant growth in the Diocese of Georgia during Bishop Beckwith’s episcopacy: from 31 churches to 53. In order to deal with issues concerning the sheer size of the Diocese, a convocational system was developed during this time.

After the death of Bishop Beckwith, Reverend Cleland Kinloch Nelson was elected as the third Bishop of Georgia and consecrated at St. Luke’s in Atlanta on February 24, 1892. Bishop Nelson chose Atlanta to be his cathedral city, as it was the capital city of the state. He embarked on an aggressive campaign to bring the Episcopal Church to towns large and small throughout the state. Twenty missions were added in the first dozen years following Bishop Nelson’s challenge.

20th Century

At the 1905 Diocesan Convention, held in Macon, Bishop Nelson addressed the growing problems of the geographic breadth and administrative grind of the Diocese. His solution was to divide the Diocese in two, a suggestion that was eventually approved in 1907. The southern portion of the state retained the name of the Diocese of Georgia (it also retained the numerical sequence of its conventions) and the remainder of the Diocese became the Diocese of Atlanta. As Bishop Nelson elected to remain in Atlanta as the Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta, the Diocesan Convention elected the Reverend Frederick Focke Reese, D.D. as the fourth Bishop of Georgia. He was consecrated at Christ Church Savannah on May 20, 1908.

Bishop Reese’s episcopate was marked by an emphasis on improving diocesan finances. As in prior (and future) years, efforts were put forth to expand the Episcopal Church into more rural areas. Much of the Diocese’s mission work was focused on the area’s African-Americans.

In 1934, the Right Reverend Middleton Stuart Barnwell of Idaho was elected as Bishop Coadjutor of Georgia. Upon the death of Bishop Reese in 1936, Bishop Barnwell became the fifth Bishop of Georgia. He served for eighteen years, through World War II and beyond. During Bishop Barnwell’s episcopate the Diocese ended the distinction between “white and colored Churchmen” in the constitution, canons and the official references.

Upon Bishop Barnwell’s retirement in 1954, the Diocesan Convention elected the Very Reverend Albert Rhett Stuart, D.D., Dean, Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans, as the Sixth Bishop of Georgia. Bishop Stuart’s episcopacy was marked by efforts to end segregation in the churches, the introduction of prayer book reform, and the founding of new missions. During his episcopacy, Camp Reese on St. Simons Island, which had become outdated and was suffering from encroachment from residential construction, was sold and a new camp and conference center was built on a 140-acre tract at Honey Creek in Camden County. The chapel at Honey Creek was dedicated on April 30, 1960, in memory of Bishop Barnwell, who had died in 1957.

The Right Reverend George Paul Reeves was elected coadjutor in 1969 and became the Seventh Bishop of Georgia upon Bishop Stuart’s retirement in 1972. The issues of the ordination of women to the priesthood and the “new” Book of Common Prayer were at the fore during Bishop Reeves’ episcopacy. During this turbulent time, Bishop Reeves permitted the continued use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in a number of parishes and provided a home for those who disagreed with actions of the national church. Continuing to this day, the Cursillo movement also came to the Diocese of Georgia at the invitation of Bishop Reeves.

The Right Reverend Harry Woolston Shipps became the Eighth Bishop of Georgia upon the retirement of Bishop Reeves in 1985. During his episcopacy, women were first ordained in the Diocese. He also accepted into the Diocese the Reverend Stan White, a former Assemblies of God minister, who brought with him his entire congregation, which is now the Episcopal Church of Christ the King in Valdosta.

21st Century

The Right Reverend Henry Irving Louttit, Jr. became the Ninth Bishop of Georgia upon the retirement of Bishop Shipps in 1995. Bishop Louttit has continued his predecessors’ practice of granting sufficient flexibility so that Episcopalians across the theological spectrum can find a safe home within the Diocese. Despite the fact that the parishes of the Diocese reflect the same breadth of opinions, including disagreements, found elsewhere within the Episcopal Church, Bishop Louttit’s pastoral practice has sustained the sense of family that has marked the Diocese of Georgia. Bishop Louttit has also continued to emphasize the importance of youth programs in the Diocese, and along with the traditional summer camp programs, the Diocese sponsors a full schedule of Happening and New Beginnings weekends.

[Chart: Financial Position Analysis 2003-2007]

[Chart: Participation & Giving Trends 1997-2007]

[Chart: Response to Diocesan Asking 2003-2008]

The Mission & Ministry of the Diocese of Georgia

The last several decades have presented significant ministry challenges for many Christian denominations including the Episcopal Church. Traditional barometers of effectiveness such as membership, giving patterns, and worship attendance give evidence that suggests institutional decline in these denominations. During the same period however, the Diocese of Georgia has been able to hold and maintain, at about the same levels, its life and ministry. We are grateful for the episcopal leadership over these decades of cultural and ecclesiastical change that has brought the Diocese to a position of relative stability at this time, giving us a good foundation on which to build a stronger effort in the decades to come.

Conversations as well as survey responses within our diocese indicate wide and divergent understandings of what a diocese exists to accomplish, what the mission of this particular diocese ought to be, and what ministries might logically proceed from or be enhanced by a shared understanding of that mission. Our sense is that something different from business as usual will be necessary if the Diocese is to do more for the work of Christ in South Georgia than can those ministries that emanate from individual communities.

We hope that our next bishop will be a person who brings energy and passion to the work of discerning and discovering new ways to be a diocese and do the work of a diocese in the second decade of the twenty-first century.

We give thanks that the Holy Spirit is tangibly at work in all of our congregations as they make their witness serving others in their communities. The following offers a sample of the ministries that make up our shared work as the Diocese of Georgia.

Diocesan Youth Ministries

Ministry with young people has long been a priority in our diocese with a dedicated paid position of diocesan Youth Activities Leader supported by a Youth Commission made up of 14 young people from around the Diocese. In addition to Summer Camp, Happening, and New Beginnings weekends, our young people organize, host, and attend numerous other weekends throughout the year, all designed to develop a strong sense of Christian community and leadership.

Education for Ministry

Education for Ministry (EfM) is a four year study program for theological education offered by the School of Theology of the University of the South. For more than thirty years, our diocese has been a strong partner with Sewanee in this program, multiplying the number of EfM groups and providing an annual opportunity for mentor training for at least the last twenty years.

The average number of groups across the Diocese in any given year is 19 or 20, and so at a minimum 115 participants are enrolled in the program, often many more. The groups, almost all multi-level (years 1 – 4), are spread around the Diocese so that most congregations have access to at least one group. To date, a total of 391 EfM students have graduated through the Diocese of Georgia.

Perhaps our most unusual EfM group is one recently formed at Pulaski State Prison, a maximum security women’s correctional facility in Hawkinsville. The group has a dedicated mentor who enters the prison on a weekly basis to offer leadership for the program, and all participants’ fees are paid voluntarily by churches throughout the Diocese.

Our Companion Dioceses: Belize and the Dominican Republic

Under the direction of a commission and led by diocesan clergy, we have sponsored numerous mission teams to Belize and, more recently, to the Dominican Republic, including adults and youth from parishes in our own diocese as well as several from adjacent Alabama and Florida dioceses. Our recent work has focused on building and supporting a church and a school, both now fully operational, in the village of El Pedregal in the mountains of central Dominican Republic. Several churches in the Diocese of Georgia have also launched independent medical and other mission trips to Belize, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. In 2004, the Diocese welcomed the Right Reverend Julio Holguin of the Dominican Republic as keynote speaker at Diocesan Convention, and the Right Reverend Philip Wright of Belize will be the featured speaker in 2009.

Prison Ministries

Prison ministry thrives in our diocese through the work of a number of priests, deacons, and laypersons who bring gospel words and work to institutions across our part of the state. Clergy members visit local jails during “preacher call” time, talking and praying with the inmates and donating paperback Bibles. They also visit local and state prisons bringing Bible study, Christian yoga, theological discussions, EfM, Eucharist, and even an occasional baptism.

Kairos, a Christian weekend event for adult inmates, is offered with regularity, as is Epiphany, a similar weekend for incarcerated youth. Epiphany first came to Georgia in 1999, begun by a deacon at Good Shepherd and lay member Our Savior Augusta, who convinced youth detention center officials to allow the weekend ministry of good food, good words and good music to come to the facility. “No human being is disposable” is the message of every Epiphany team member who goes “inside” to reassure these young people of God’s love and forgiveness.

Last summer at Honey Creek camp another inspired ministry, Kamp Phun, was launched with support, donations and leadership from throughout the Diocese. This fun summer program offers children of inmates a unique opportunity to experience the adventure of summer camp within the context of God’s abiding love.

The Jessye Norman School of the Arts

Begun as a Head Start program at St. Paul’s Augusta, the Jessye Norman School of the Arts (JNSA) is part of the nonprofit Rachel Longstreet Foundation, founded by the people of St. Paul’s in an effort to meet the needs of area youth disadvantaged by physical and economic challenges. This foundation was also responsible for the installation of the first fully handicap accessible playground in Georgia, a place where children of all abilities can play side by side.

Named for acclaimed opera singer and Augusta native Jessye Norman, JNSA seeks to provide talented and interested youth, despite physical or economic disadvantage, with a broadranging, professional-quality fine arts education. It is the goal of JNSA to nurture and develop young citizens to respect and appreciate art in its myriad forms and to recognize the role and value of the arts in society.

Since its beginning, JNSA has expanded to include students from ten different area middle schools and high schools. Dance, drama, music and visual arts are taught five days a week from 4 to 6 p.m. at no charge to students in keeping with Jessye Norman’s own belief that “it is through the arts that many people find their souls.”

Cursillo

Cursillo in Georgia is a vibrant renewal ministry for adults with two four-day weekends led each year primarily by the laity. The “fourth day” reunion groups organized in many parishes offer Cursillo participants throughout the Diocese ongoing opportunities for continued community focused on discipleship and prayer.

Episcopal Youth & Children’s Services

The Episcopal Youth and Children’s Services assists children with medical needs and also provides tuition grants and scholarships to young people for college, vocational school, and diocesan summer camp at Honey Creek. For the year 2008, the generosity of the people of our diocese enabled EYCS to grant over $72,000 to the care and education of our youth.

The Unseen Guest Ministry

The Unseen Guest Ministry, hosted and supported by St. Thomas parish, prepares meals for AIDS patients and their families in Savannah. Made possible entirely by volunteers and financial gifts, this ministry has served over 50,000 meals over the past 10 years.

Harmony Square

Located in Brunswick with strong ties to the people of St. Mark’s, Harmony Square is an ecumenical, multigenerational school that exists to alleviate the effects of generational poverty by providing people with tools for growth. Harmony Square launched phase one of its vision for the community in October 2006 with Harmony Kids Learning Center for children 6 weeks old through pre-kindergarten. The learning center now enrolls over 80 children. Phase two, Harmony U, slated to open in January 2009, will offer extensive, tuition free programs in cooking and construction with the goal of equipping adults living in generational poverty with the targeted, marketable skills required to earn a living wage.

Strengths & Challenges

Every diocese has strengths and challenges unique to itself as well as some that are common to all. Effectiveness in diocesan ministry requires us intentionally and honestly to assess ourselves not just at times of episcopal transition, but regularly. While we interpret the data we have received to indicate that our diocese is stable as an institutional entity, valuing harmony and goodwill among ourselves, and “happy” if such a thing can be said, nonetheless we recognize that much work is yet to be done if we are to move beyond maintenance to mission.

First in any list of work to be accomplished is the setting out of a shared vision for and understanding of what the Diocese of Georgia is and, in the next decade, is called to be. The following represents our best assessment of some of our primary strengths and some of the challenges we see ahead.

Youth & College Ministries

Over the span of the last fifteen years, the Diocese of Georgia has supported one of the most active and robust diocesan youth programs in the Episcopal Church. With a youth commission and a paid diocesan coordinator tasked with offering a full menu of spiritual programs to our teens, we have enjoyed many fruitful seasons of large scale youth ministry in a diocese where most congregations lack the resources to provide youth ministries on their own. Through this diocesan venture, we have seen our young people bring friends to the waters of baptism, discern priestly vocations, and assume leadership positions on the parish, diocesan, and even national church level.

Our considerable pride in this brief legacy is tempered, however, by the realization that participation in many of these offerings is now on the decline. The momentum to which we have grown accustomed over the past decade is slowing, and there is an unmistakable sense of urgency among our clergy and laity to revitalize our youth programs by building on prior successes where possible, and imagining new initiatives where necessary.

Similarly mixed feelings exist on the subject of college ministry. We have rediscovered in recent years what is possible when resources, warm meals, and consistent ordained leadership are directed toward our college students, especially when offered in accessible, student-centered facilities. However, with only one firmly established chaplaincy, two new starts, and one recent restart—all of which utilize part time chaplains—the prevailing sentiment among our survey respondents is that we are not doing enough to reach the students on our doorsteps. With twelve public and private colleges/universities and thirteen community colleges all within our diocesan borders, the potential harvest is plentiful.

The Deacon School for Ministry

The Deacon School for Ministry is in its third official year. Established in 2005, the program has graduated a number of deacons. Currently, 16 candidates and postulants working toward ordination in this program are committed to attending eight different weekends over two years. Weekend course studies include required reading and group discussion in areas ranging from theology, homiletics, liturgy and diakonia to human awareness, pastoral care and spiritual development. Leading and teaching the school are the deacons of our diocese.

In addition to the work they are now doing to train and mutually support one another in the School, the 33 deacons routinely pursue their own ministries, including prison work, grief and bereavement counseling, hospital visitation, hospice chaplaincy, “Angel Gown” ministries, prayer shawls and blankets, youth counseling, addictions counseling, nursing home service, and many other good works across our diocese. Thanks to the fellowship and mutual support of the Deacon School, we have a sterling model for creative, dedicated diaconal ministry in the Diocese.

Liturgical Diversity

While the vast majority of congregations in the Diocese of Georgia continue the faithful and willing use the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, our bishops have countenanced a variety of liturgical response from traditional to more recent liturgies of our Communion. In 1974 St. John’s Savannah called as her rector the Reverend Dr. William H. Ralston, a distinguished university professor and founder of the Society for the Preservation of the Book of Common Prayer. Father Ralston wrote often and vigorously about what he perceived to be the theological shortcomings of the BCP 1979, and he used nothing but the 1928 BCP during his 25 year tenure.

Father Ralston’s curates were drawn to him because of a shared commitment to the more traditional theology encompassed in the 1928 BCP, as well as the inherent power of its language to stimulate and inspire the imagination. Two of those priests are now the respective rectors of St. John’s Savannah and All Saints Thomasville. Both parishes use the 1928 BCP; both are comprised primarily of young families attracted to the sense of the numinous embodied there; both have been and remain vibrant parishes of our diocese.

At perhaps the other end of the liturgical spectrum, on Easter Day 1990 the Right Reverend Harry W. Shipps and several assisting bishops confirmed two hundred plus souls who thus became Christ the King Episcopal Church in Valdosta. These faithful had been a non-denominational congregation whose minister, the Reverend Stan White, attracted to the Episcopal Church by its liturgy as well as by its doctrine of Apostolic Succession, sought to tie his congregation not only to the rest of the Communion, but to the teaching of the Apostles and Jesus himself.

Christ the King employs a variety of contemporary music as well as prayers and Eucharistic rites from Enriching our Worship, a supplementary book approved some years ago by General Convention, practices which apparently produce another type of “numinosity” with proven appeal to a sophisticated downtown (literally) population, as well as to numerous faculty and students at Valdosta State University. Father White writes that his parish is somewhat “hard to describe, perhaps even strange,” and yet in under twenty years his congregation has quite remarkably produced nothing less than nine priests.

Christ the King exists as part of the same convocation as All Saints Thomasville. Father White and the Rev. Frederick Buechner (rector of All Saints) have worked together happily for almost twenty years, and neither can imagine the Diocese of Georgia without the other. And our diocesan survey suggests that a strong majority of the 1979 BCP congregations appreciate and support others, like these, who wish to use alternative liturgies. We trust that whoever the Holy Spirit leads us to call as our next bishop will likewise value the wide but happy spectrum of liturgical diversity which we enjoy.

Honey Creek Camp & Conference Center

The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia Camp and Conference Center is located on Honey Creek in Camden County, Georgia. Known to most simply as “Honey Creek,” the camp and conference center is the spiritual hub of the Diocese. Comprised of the Chapel of Our Savior, 40 motel-type rooms, three dormitories, a dining hall, and various meeting rooms and ancillary buildings on 100 acres on deep water, Honey Creek is a place of extraordinary beauty. Operating year round, it hosts Cursillo, Happening, and New Beginnings weekends along with numerous other diocesan meetings and a summer camp. Honey Creek is also utilized by individual congregations, church groups from various denominations and other non-profit and business organizations.

While Honey Creek is a diocesan treasure, it also faces serious challenges, including substantial deferred maintenance and an accumulated deficit in excess of $600,000. The diocesan commission charged with oversight of Honey Creek has recently hired a new executive director and committed itself to raising the funds necessary to eliminate the debt and correct the maintenance deficiencies. Discernable progress has been made to date, especially in the area of maintenance. Although much work remains to be done, the commission is optimistic about the future of Honey Creek and its role in the Diocese of Georgia.

Racial Diversity

A general strength of the Diocese of Georgia is its diversity–social, economic, liturgical and theological. A special aspect of our diversity, however, has to do with the racial makeup of our congregations. Occupying the southern half of Georgia, where a large percentage of the general population is African-American, we have a significant minority of African Americans in our congregations, some of whom play important roles in diocesan leadership. Those new to the Diocese may be surprised to learn that of our 70 congregations, eight have their roots as African-American, representing an interesting and important chapter in our communal history. And although these congregations tend to be small, their presence has been and continues to be significant, both in the life of the Diocese and in the life of their communities.

Declining Membership

Members of the Diocese recognize that declining numbers in our congregations are reasonably a source of concern and a threat to the vitality of future diocesan work and mission. The Diocese is presently comprised of 70 congregations. Of these, 61% (43 congregations) had an average Sunday attendance in 2007 of 100 or fewer. This roughly correlates to the national average for the Episcopal Church for the same year, where 65% of 7,055 congregations had an ASA of 100 or fewer. While there are unquestionably strengths in those congregations, these statistics nonetheless pose a significant financial threat to the well-being and witness of both the congregations themselves and their dioceses. Declining numbers eventually result in declining financial resources for ministry as fewer pledging members eventually reach a ceiling on their giving. Fewer and fewer people cannot be expected to give more and more for the work of congregations, diocese and national church.

Clergy Retention

Declining membership creates a domino effect impacting other concerns for a diocese like ours, such as the challenge of deploying and retaining clergy to serve our congregations. Presently, half of the candidates in the ordination process within our diocese are being prepared for service by ways other than the three-year residential seminary track. This expedient has been necessitated by the financial inability of many of our congregations to afford a full time, seminary trained priest. Further, we are concerned by our inability to retain and place in our diocese the outstanding young clergy raised up and prepared for ministry by our diocese. These young priests are ready for a lifetime vocation of service in the Church, but declining numbers in our congregations mean too few parishes able to call and fairly compensate a young priest who must also earn a livelihood from the Church.

In the short term, the preparation and deployment of clergy in necessarily innovative ways will undoubtedly provide capable pastoral and sacramental leadership for those congregations unable to afford a full time priest. It remains to be seen however, whether this strategy, in the current American cultural context, will reverse the shrinking numerical size of more than half of our congregations.

Sexuality & the Diocese

The controversies regarding the ordination, marriage and blessing of the unions of gay and lesbian Episcopalians have had a predictable impact on people of all points of view in our diocese, including some members on both sides choosing to reduce or cancel their giving, or simply to leave the Church. In spite of their differences however, the clear majority remain faithfully committed to the life and ministry of their churches and of the Diocese. Our survey data affirm that we are conservative as a whole, but by no means of one mind on these issues. While a majority oppose, a significant minority support ordinations, blessings and marriages of gay and lesbian members. With rare exception, we continue in this Diocese to abide with and learn from one another.

Consistent with our tendency to live peaceably with our differences, the diocesan conventions of recent years have declined to engage controversial resolutions, and the Diocese has corporately followed a non-reactive path as the process of discernment unfolds in the Episcopal Church and within the larger Anglican Communion. The 185th Convention, meeting in 2007, did pass an amended resolution expressing the intent of the Diocese to remain a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, supporting the Windsor Process, and encouraging the involvement of the Episcopal Church in the development of an Anglican covenant. A 2004 diocesan canon also requires those in holy orders and in the ordination process to practice abstinence or confine their sexual behavior to marriage.

Only recently have these issues entered Church life at the Diocesan level, with a sizeable split in one congregation as well as the affiliation of a large portion of Christ Church Savannah with the Church of Uganda. The Diocese is currently in litigation for the Savannah property.

With both the upcoming General Convention and the possibility of action on a proposed Anglican covenant, the next Bishop of Georgia will need the wisdom and sensitivity of both a pastor and a theologian to shepherd the Diocese into the future.

The Tenth Bishop of Georgia

The people and clergy of the Diocese of Georgia have throughout a long history been blessed with the leadership of faithful and pastoral bishops. If the past serves as prologue to the future, such qualities will serve the tenth Bishop of Georgia well. Recent bishops, riding the wave of tumultuous social and cultural change, have sought to preserve and strengthen the Diocese with ministries and leadership styles promoting a strong sense of diocesan family and unity in the midst of changing and diverse points of view. Their wisdom has served us well.

Bishop Reeves, writing in the 1980’s, gracefully expressed his desire for and cultivated “harmony within the Diocese, a harmony made up of different notes.” And as recently as this year the Presiding Bishop observed that we are a model of inclusion and good will encompassing a broad range of convictions from those desiring continued use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer to members of Integrity. As confirmed in our diocesan wide survey, participants hold unity and harmony within the Diocese and within the Anglican Communion as not only desirable, but essential to the witness of the Church.

Our discernment process started in January 2008 with Bishop Louttit’s announcement of his intended retirement, requiring us to take a hard look at who we are and what we would like to become, trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide us. As we have traveled this road, we have acknowledged the changes that have occurred in our long and rich history and have come to understand better our shared values (and differences), our strengths and challenges, and our strong desire to remain united as a diocese within the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. From the nine listening sessions conducted with clergy, laity and youth, and from our diocesan-wide survey we gained a clearer sense of what we want to retain as well as what changes could and should occur. By all indications, clergy and laity alike are both concerned and excited about the future of the Diocese.

Profile of a Bishop

From our communal reflections we have begun to form an image of the person who will minister to and lead us into the future. We are looking for someone who will

• Be unashamed of the Gospel of Christ, convinced of the grace and usefulness of the Anglican approach to Christian life, and enthusiastic about growing the Diocese both numerically and in its discipleship.
• Be a game changer, a proven leader with the humility and grace to communicate and pursue with us a vision for shared mission and ministry in the Diocese of Georgia.
• Relate well to people of all ages, but particularly to young people, with a passion for strengthening diocesan ministry among youth and college students, enabling them to encounter Jesus Christ in life-changing ways.
• Be a person of prayer, both believing in and committed to the teaching of the historic creeds of the Christian church.
• Be interested in theology and capable of engaging the culture and the Church in conversation shaped by the Christian point of view.
• Be a consensus builder, maintaining and strengthening our sense of common life and common mission while respecting and honoring the diversity among us.
• Value the catholic nature of the Church and commit to maintaining our fellowship and place within the Anglican Communion.
• Have served as the rector of a parish and therefore understands the challenges and opportunities in a diocese of both small rural and larger urban congregations.
• Be an encourager of the clergy, colleague to clergy peers, mentor to younger clergy and pastor to all.
• Accept the challenge of making the ministry of the Bishop and the Diocese relevant to those in our congregations.

All this stated, we remain open to the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit who may yet surprise us all!