A Letter to the Province (Archbishop)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
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Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I am home now from participating in my first Executive Committee meeting and provincial staff retreat. I was grateful for the time spent with both groups, and I was impressed by the character, faith, and gifts of the people who serve our province.

This Provincial Letter is the first of an ongoing series of quarterly letters that you will receive from me, God willing. My goal is to provide you with regular updates regarding life in our province from my perspective.

The Constitution and Canons of our church contain this remarkable statement: “The fundamental agency of mission in the Province is the local congregation.” (ACNA Const. Art. IV.1; Canon I.6.1) My aim in the years ahead is to keep that statement before the various bodies and dioceses of our province. The evaluative question for us all will be, “how does this (whatever it is that is under consideration) support the local congregation in her mission?”

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Two aspects immediately come to my mind when I think of supporting the local congregation. The first is our shared responsibility toward the hard work of ensuring that we have healthy congregations. And the second is like unto it, our collective duty to ensure that we have healthy clergy (and clergy families).

With regard to healthy churches, in late August, the Provincial Office published a sample safeguarding policy for our bishops and our dioceses. You may find the sample policy on our website here here. This document accompanies the Title I canonical revisions that were passed at our most recent Provincial Assembly.

With regard to the development of healthy clergy (and clergy families), I am pleased to inform you that we (the province) have very recently secured a Lilly Endowment grant to develop province-wide programs to support, develop, and encourage the financial health of our clergy. You will hear more about this in the coming months.

My first priority post-election has been to secure a Chief Operating Officer. I am delighted that Deborah Tepley has accepted this position. You may read more about her here. She is uniquely qualified and gifted to serve and help lead the province at this time in our common life. Deborah begins her role with us on September 9th. At that time, we will work together to assess and develop our provincial priorities and staffing needs.

I have almost completed a series of individual Zoom meetings with the diocesan bishops of our province. I’ve given them a number of questions for prayerful consideration, and their responses have shaped our conversation. I expect that I will be able to share a summary of what I have learned in a later Provincial Letter.

Another area of immediate focus has been to assess and develop our provincial communications. Specifically, I desire to have more regular and more informative communication within the Province, especially from the Provincial Office, to our laity and clergy. This letter is a first step toward accomplishing this goal. I have also asked our communication office to proactively seek and tell the stories of gospel life and mission taking place in our parishes and dioceses.

Lastly, a word about the work of the Court for the Trial of a Bishop. The last few years have been difficult and frustrating years for our province. Having served on the court for the Todd Atkinson trial, I gained perspective on how our disciplinary process works. Of particular interest was the discovery that our court is only able to entertain one trial at a time. Given the timeframe for the investigations and subsequent presentment processes, including the appeals to the Tribunal, being far longer than anticipated, by the time Atkinson trial was ready for adjudication it was first on the court’s schedule. Practically, this means that the matters before the court concerning the Diocese of the Upper Midwest have been awaiting the completion of the Atkinson trial.

With the Atkinson trial complete and the election of a new court at our recent Provincial Council, the +Ruch trial is now before the court. In August, I affirmed Archbishop Beach’s appointments of Mr. C. Alan Runyan, Esq. as the Provincial Prosecutor as well as the Honorable Tad Brenner as legal advisor to the court. (Canon IV.5.2.3) I have sworn in and commissioned the new court. I also asked the court to consider publishing regular updates as motions are ruled upon. I am very pleased to tell you that the court has agreed to issue updates on their work. You will find these updates here on our provincial website. I commend to your prayers all those affected and this process.

Please know that this letter comes with gratitude for our shared ministry and my continued prayers.

Yours in Christ,

+Steve