The Pleasure of Each Other’s Company: A Curriculum For ...

The Pleasure of Each Other's Company: A Curriculum For Total Common Ministry in the

Diocese of Olympia.

Compiled by The Rev. Irene Martin

Funded by a grant from the Roanridge Foundation, 2008. Diocese of Olympia, P.O. Box 12126,

Seattle, Wa. 98102 -0126.

Table of Contents

Issues and Background of Total Common Ministry in Diocese of Olympia...2 Ministry Requirements according to National Canons, 2006...5 Gifts...7 Learning...9 Opportunities/Challenges...11 Questions and Issues for Discernment...13 Recommendations for consideration...16 Sources cited...18

Issues and Background of Curriculum ...20 Introduction...21 Acknowledgements...22 Prayers...23 Linear Thinking and the Circle...24 Good Sense, Ground Rules and Guidelines...27 Stewardship of Time...27 Stewardship of Money...28 Stewardship of Self...28

Curriculum...30 Outline for Each Year of Curriculum...30 Curriculum by Subject Area Holy Scriptures...31 Anglican Church History, including the Ecumenical Movement...34 Church History and Background...36 Liturgy and Worship...37 Spiritual Development and Discipline (Faith and Prayer)...40 Human Awareness and Understanding (Pastoral Care)...42 Theory and Practice of Ministry...44 Cultural Competency (Studies in Contemporary Society)...46 Christian Ethics and Moral Theology...49 Christian Theology, including Missionary Theology and Missiology...51 Gifts Discernment and Spiritual Formation...53 Canons...55 Homiletics...56

Resources for Total Common Ministry...57 Other Resources...59 Other Curricula...59 Appendix One: Strategic Plan for Mutual Ministry in the Diocese of Olympia...61 Appendix Two: Evaluation Sheet for each Module...64 Appendix Three: Recommended Reference Resources for Small Churches...65 Appendix Four: Curriculum Circle Chart...67

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The Pleasure of Each Other's Company Issues and Background of Total Common Ministry in the Diocese of Olympia Situated in western Washington State, the Diocese of Olympia reflects great diversity in its geography, economic background, population and its 103 congregations. Its location, the Pacific Northwest, is home to the nation's largest percentage of unchurched residents. It is bordered on the east by the Cascade Mountains, on the south by the Columbia River, on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north by Canada. In the south is Clark County, the fastest growing area in the state during the past fifteen years. The southwestern coastal communities usually have either fishing or tourism economies or both, with low incomes, high unemployment rates, and negative social statistics. The Seattle/Tacoma area is an employment hub, with current population at 3,043,878. Its traffic congestion problems make it a dividing line between the northern and southern parts of the Diocese. Puget Sound has several small island communities with numerous summer visitors but smaller winter populations. Inland from Interstate 5 small rural communities depend upon logging or agriculture. Twenty-three percent of Western Washington's population is made up of people of color, with the fastest growing group being Hispanic. In the early 1990s the Diocese of Olympia began development of a Total Common Ministry (TCM) program. Several small rural congregations went through a period of discernment, study and spiritual development. Local clergy were ordained and teams were developed comprised of both clergy and lay leaders. Total Common Ministry is now established in South Bend (pop. 1807), Westport (2137), Elma (3060), Montesano (3312), Cathlamet (565), Allyn (1400) and Castle Rock (2150), small communities that

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are both rural and remote. The TCM teams meet semiannually for retreats, continuing education, and updates on TCM.

The Strategic Plan for Mutual Ministry in the Diocese of Olympia, January 2008, produced by the TCM congregations of the Diocese, articulated the values implicit in TCM (Strategic Plan: 2008, 1). In addition to the Baptismal Covenant, which expresses our Christian values, the following four values were listed:

1. We recognize the value of a circle, as opposed to a hierarchy. It represents community, the body of Christ, and is both visual and visceral in its impact.

2. Everyone is valuable. Everyone is equal. Everyone has a ministry. 3. Every church has in it every gift necessary to be the church of God in the location

where it is. 4. Every congregation has worth, no matter its size or finances. The changes in the national church's ordination canons in 2003, which eliminated the Canon 9 track towards ordination in favor of a more standardized program of preparation, presented a range of problems to the small churches involved with TCM. While several churches desired to call new teams, in fact no curriculum was in place to provide a framework for learning. Little information was available about how these congregations' needs might be met under the new rules, nor about how the rules might affect the relationships of non-seminary trained clergy with the larger church. Even more troubling was the fact that the ordination process introduced the idea that preparation "shall take place in community," (Constitution and Canons: 2004, 64, 68) but did not, in fact, explain how that was to happen, or what that community entailed. Significantly, for the TCM congregations, the norm has been that preparation takes place within the local

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church community and involves a group of persons, not all of whom are going to be ordained. In the past, recognition that each person in the group had different gifts and education led to training that was group/community oriented. While frequently ordination to the diaconate and/or priesthood would occur with one or more members of the group (though this did not always occur), in fact the training offered was community-based.

The question that arises now is, "How does the new canon work in terms of community/group training?" The canon's stated preference is for preparation "in community," but the requirements for ordination to either the priesthood or diaconate will now drive or at least greatly influence the training programs for TCM, and provide less flexibility than in the past. One item of concern is the stated preference for a Baccalaureate degree or substitute academic education as a prerequisite for undertaking a program of theological education leading to Holy Orders. TCM by its nature recognizes that the group itself holds the gifts, and that not all will have the same gifts or education. Success in developing ordained leadership under the new Canon will require flexibility on the part of Diocesan officials with regard to educational requirements that may not be available or achievable in rural areas or in ethnically based churches.

The recognition by the Episcopal Church of the need to reach out to ethnic communities has led to a need for training for leadership in ethnically-based churches. The requirement for a B.A. or similar academic work may be more difficult in such congregations. There is also a need for orienting congregations to the fact that the Episcopal Church is now more diverse and multi-lingual, and to learn about what that means in the context of the Pacific Northwest and their own communities. As pointed out

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