Nathaniel is transferring to Vanderbilt University as a sophomore and Abigail is beginning her senior year at the College of Charleston.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Culture-Watch • Education

What a lot of disappointing commentary.

You have to distinguish between issues of law/rights and issues of prudence. What do the families of the victims think, what do those in New York think should be crucial questions to be answered if they choose that site to build a Mosque on at this particular time. In theology, there is a principle of subsidiarity--those closest to a problem issue are often best equipped to handle the decision about it and the responsibility for it--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall

Yes, I am still on vacation, I have been up in New York State visiting my Dad and IT HAS BEEN MUCH HOTTER HERE THAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA (go figure)--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Heard a sermon from a layman on the conversion of Paul, and saw a new couple about to be married welcomed into the church. They even had a moment in the middle where people were offered the opportunity to say what they were thankful with the rest of the family of God if they so desired--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * By Kendall • * South Carolina

I am being taken by the family to Toy Story 3--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Movies & Television

Being in the Episcopal Church these days means entering a vertiginous journey into the corruption of language. You see language which used to mean x, and in one Episcopal Church setting it is used to mean y, and then in another the same words mean z. One thinks immediately of the scene in Alice Wonderland (written as I hope you know by an Anglican deacon):

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

For a recent example of this manipulation of language to mean what it does not mean consider a piece on chastity by Richard Helmer .

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles • Instruments of Unity • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • Windsor Report / Process • * By Kendall • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Sacramental Theology

The schedule is here. The featured keynote speaker is the 2009 Dougherty Fellow Dr. Allen Guelzo, the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and a professor of history at Gettysburg College. Dr. Guelzo and I have corresponded but it was great to get a chance to meet him face to face this morning. His "Why Study History?" talk was very enjoyable indeed.

Tonight two music groups in which our youngest daughter Selimah is involved are part of a concert this evening to which we are looking forward--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Culture-Watch • Education

In case you hadn't surmised as much, I am a bit groggy from yesterday and it will take me a while to get back into the swing of things. Many thanks to all for the warm birthday wishes and of course, I disavow any knowledge of that strange person in all the pictures yesterday --KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet

In honor of Kendall's birthday, with help from Elizabeth Harmon, we've updated Kendall's biography.

About The. Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon

Born in 1960 in Illinois and raised in central New Jersey, Kendall Harmon is a graduate of the Lawrenceville School. He experienced meeting Jesus Christ personally at age eighteen. Kendall went to Maine where he attended Bowdoin College. He was an active communicant at St Matthew’s, Lisbon Falls, and a chemistry major at Bowdoin. He graduated, Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude, in 1982. He received seminary training at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1982 to 1984, and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, from which he graduated in 1987. He met his wife, Elizabeth, a nurse at Allegheny General Hospital, during this time. From 1987 to 1990 he served as Assistant Rector of Church of the Holy Comforter, Sumter, South Carolina, where their oldest child, Abigail, was born.


The Harmons moved to Oxford, England in 1990. There, Elizabeth worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital and their two youngest children, Nathaniel and Selimah Marie, were born. In 1993 Kendall was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University, defending a dissertation on some twentieth-century theological explorations of the doctrine of hell.

Upon returning to South Carolina in 1993, Kendall was called to St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Summerville. The current rector, the Rev Michael Lumpkin, called him to serve as Theologian - in - Residence, a position he held from 1996-2001. His ministry during this period emphasized preaching, teaching, and writing, particularly in the area of eschatology, or the study of the last things. For example, he taught in parishes in the diocese of South Carolina on the film “Left Behind,” noting that while it raises important questions its answers are desperately wanting.

Dr Harmon’s writings have appeared in various publications within the Church, including Episcopal Life, The Living Church, The Anglican Digest, Church Times, and the Church of England Newspaper. Outside the Church his commentary has appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. An edited section of his doctoral thesis, “Nothingness and Human Destiny: Hell in the Thought of C.S. Lewis,” appeared in The Pilgrim’s Guide: C.S. Lewis and the Art of Witness (Eerdmans, 1998).

Dr Harmon has served in many positions in the diocese of South Carolina, including those of member of the Standing Committee and Examining Chaplain. At the national level, he served as a deputy to the 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006 General Conventions.

Since January 2002, Dr. Harmon has been serving as Canon Theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina and editor of the Anglican Digest , one of the largest circulation publications in the Anglican Communion. He is also assistant editor of the Jubilate Deo, the diocesan newspaper for the diocese of South Carolina, director of communications for the Diocese of South Carolina, and Assistant Rector of Christ/Saint Paul’s Yonges Island , South Carolina. Early in 2009 Kendall was appointed as the Anglican Communion Development Director in the Diocese of South Carolina. In his free time he edits the Titusonenine blog, a popular site for articles and discussion on religion, theology and culture.

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Kendall & Elizabeth at Kendall's ordination:






preaching as a seminarian at St. John's Johns Island SC



Kendall speaking at the Plano gathering, 2003:

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

More wonderful pictures celebrating Kendall, his lovely bride Elizabeth, and their family:

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Kendall's daughter Selimah got together with some of her friends from her acapella group to wish Kendall Happy Birthday:

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

As our family informant noted, Kendall can be very silly at times. Here are a few more pix from Kendall as he was growing up, with a few special shots celebrating Kendall's love of a good time, and his wonderful. infectious and well-known laugh! We've provided a few captions sent to us along with the pictures, but once again: creative caption submissions are welcome!


Kendall in elementary school:



Kendall is quite silly some times, here playing the "hysterical fan"



Kendall in high school:




He is known for his laugh - it is recognizable from a distance:

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

From Kendall's son Nathaniel:



we're hoping to get a higher resolution copy of this so that the text is visible - stay tuned

Update: Here's the text

Dad, You're 50! But remember it has its benefits:

-Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size

Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

See! It's not that bad!

Happy birthday - N

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Selimah, Kendall's youngest daughter has a lovely birthday greeting for her dad!

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Thanks to a wonderful "guest elf" within Kendall's family, who shall remain anonymous, we've got some WONDERFUL pictures of Kendall we'll be sharing throughout the day as part of Kendall's 50th Birthday Bash. Creative captions are welcome!










This is a photo Kendall's mother loved of her two boys: Randall and Kendall (Kendall
is the older on the right)



Early practice for ministry?? As our informant noted, this is Kendall playing with his brother,
but it looks like baptizing!

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

In honor of Kendall's birthday, we've put together a quiz to test how well you know Kendall. Answers will follow later in the day, and there may be some clues posted throughout the day. We elves are open to suggestions as to what prize to award the winner!

1) Where did Kendall grow up?

2) When did Kendall meet Christ personally?

3) What college (university) did he attend? Bonus points if you know his major?

4) Where did Kendall meet his wife Elizabeth?

5) How many children do Kendall & Elizabeth have? Bonus points for names....

6) What was the topic of Kendall's PhD dissertation? Bonus points if you can tell where he earned it.

7) How many times has Kendall served as a deputy to General Convention from South Carolina?

8) How many dogs do the Harmon family currently own? Bonus points for name(s) and breed(s).

9) What are some of Kendall's favorite hobbies? [lots of room for creative answers on this one!]

10) What are Kendall's current positions in the Diocese of SC?

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Abigail, Kendall & Elizabeth's oldest daughter, sent us her birthday message to her dad to share on the blog:

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Kendall turns 50 today!! To mark this occasion, we elves, with the encouragement and collaboration of certain of Kendall's close family members, are hijacking the blog today, totally unbeknownst to Kendall! We have lots of fun surprises planned, so check back often throughout the day.

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Comments are closed.

Kendall turns 50 today!! To mark this occasion, we elves, with the encouragement and collaboration of certain of Kendall's close family members, are hijacking the blog today, totally unbeknownst to Kendall! We have lots of fun surprises planned, so check back often throughout the day.

We'd like to invite all TitusOneNine readers to join in the celebration of Kendall's 50th birthday today. We encourage you to share your greetings, and best wishes on this thread. Even more, we would invite readers to share their appreciation of Kendall, a remembrance of some time you met him or heard him speak, a funny story... Help us all celebrate his life and ministry today by joining in!

Note: you can also honor Kendall by contributing to the open thread Kendall prepared for today and share your own favorite birthday memories.

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • Harmon Family

For the Easter season and a major special occasion in the family, I am taking Monday and Tuesday off from full blogging and will be back Wednesday. There will be one open thread each day--thanks--KSH.

Filed under: * Admin • * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet

Check it out.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Culture-Watch • Education

I don't often do this, but it would mean a lot to me if you would not simply read, but read, think and pray about this entry.

"I've always been impressed that we are here, surviving, because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds." ~On the English people

Of course, said Gandalf. And why should not they prove true? Surely you do not disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!
--(J.R.R. Tolkien's character) Gandalf

The Lord of the Rings is about how men, including the humblest of men, choose to act in the face of moral urgency and engulfing peril. It is about the power of humility, the wisdom of mercy, the glory of self-sacrificial valor, the false glamour of evil, the workings of grace, and above all, the necessity of faith. Put more plainly, LOTR screenwriter Phillippa Boyans says it's about goodness -- an idea that leaves many moderns skeptical and confused. "We come from a generation that has never had that question put to us," she said in an interview. "It was put to the generation of World War I. It was put to the generation of World War II. 'What are you prepared to do?' 'Are you going to hold on?' 'Are you going to keep going?' 'Do you have to live?' 'Is this a world worth fighting for?' All of this is in there."
--Rod Dreher

I will take comments, but only ones that wrestle with the content here and its call for courage, faith and hope. Many thanks--KSH

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Books • History • Poetry & Literature • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

May I take this opportunity to wish all blog readers a blessed and happy Christmas 2009--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas

Somehow our son Nathaniel made the crew team at Boston University. The whole family has come to see his event this morning beginning at 8 a.m.--woo hoo! KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Culture-Watch • Sports

I have a slew of emails and telephone calls asking what I think of this latest development. Herewith a few thoughts for starters.

(1) It represents a huge indictment of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Many people question Rome's motivations, but I believe Rome, which has been watching Anglican developments like a hawk in recent years, wanted Anglicanism globally to succeed. Their response to the Windsor Report, for example, was quite favorable. This move to me shows they do not believe the Anglican moment in history to help global Christianity can take place sufficiently under Rowan Williams.

(2) It represents a sweeping judgment on Anglicanism in particular. Rome believes, as John 17 says, that the world may know the gospel if Christians are one as Jesus and the Father are one. Such a unity is only possible through a church with catholic order and evangelical faith. Rome has watched global Anglicanism evolve and has seen the Instruments of Unity be used repeatedly, over a period of time, and they have judged that Anglicanism itself is not and will not work for the cause of real global Catholicism going forward.

(3) It repesents a judgment that the real story going forward is between Rome and the East. Do not underestimate the significance of the fact that in this present unusual "arrangement," if I may call it that, Rome has drawn the line at Episcopal celibacy. That is a gesture Eastward, among many other things.

(4) It represents a sense that only an external action will have any benefit to Anglicanism going forward. Let us not kid ourselves. Rome put a lot into ecumencial conversations with Anglicans because they believed that more internal mechanisms and persuasions were possible. Now, in their judgment, they are not. They don't see a future of greater Anglican unity they see one of greater Anglican splintering. At this level, it represents a shout which one wonders if any Anglicans will hear--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * By Kendall • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

I have been travelling and am in Northwest Arkansas for the Anglican Digest Annual Board meeting. Please pray for us--many thanks.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Latest News • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * By Kendall

Abigail is a junior at the College of Charleston, Nathaniel a freshman at Boston University, and we just dropped Selimah off at The Hill in Pennsylvania. So it is just Elizabeth and I and the dogs, cats and birds, and sooner than we necessarily were ready for.

When I saw Mary Hays at the memorial service in Pittsburgh for Alex Heidengren recently, she said of the empty nest stage "It is great!" and I am trusting her to be right but like all transitions there is loss as well as gain. The good news is we are not in charge--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family

Anyone else fell this way? I do love the fall but boy it has come too quickly somehow.

Filed under: * By Kendall

Elizabeth and I dropped our son Nathaniel off at Boston University yesterday to begin his freshman year. Where does the time go--KSH?

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Culture-Watch • Education

There has been much posted on the blog about this. Put "South Carolina" into the "search" function on the right if you need to review the posts. I will obviously be preoccupied today--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • * By Kendall • * South Carolina • * Theology

In the year 1849 I was stationed at Baton Rouge, and married Miss Frank E. Stuart, whose honored sons and one living daughter now rise up and call her blessed.

Passing over several years in which I was engaged as the pioneer of temperance and prohibition work, I found myself the pastor at Macon, Miss[issippi], during the war, where a singular episode occurred.

The Mississippi Legislature, driven out of Jackson by the Federal army, took refuge at Macon. In the course of legislation, a bill putting all ministers in the State up to sixty years of age in the army, and favored by Governor Clarke, passed to its third reading, before the final vote was taken. Hon. Locke Houston, speaker of the House of Representatives, invited me to open the session with prayer.

In the course of the prayer I invoked the Divine Father: “Have compassion on the members of the Mississippi Legislature, who, without the fear of God before their eyes, have laid violent hands upon the ordained ministry of Thy church, placing carnal weapons in their hands, bidding them to go forth to war as instruments of wrath and blood, instead of messengers of love and peace.”

“O Lord, for this wicked act, which stands out in all its gloomy isolation without any parallel among the civilized nations of the earth, we invoke pardoning mercy.”

Read more...

Filed under: * By Kendall • Harmon Family • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • State Government • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Methodist

Because the blog went caput this series was not able to be finished. But did you notice how almost no aspect of the ecumenical dimensions of our decisions came into play, esepcially in the two highly publicized decisions?

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * By Kendall • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations

I honestly cannot remember a time in my life in the Episcopal Church where I have read more mistakes in less time than in the last two to three weeks. Please do not believe everything you read and make sure to fact check and research material, a point we have stressed time and again on this blog.

A case in point is this recent piece by Diana Butler Bass. I enjoyed Dr. Bass' Standing Against the Whirlwind : Evangelical Episcopalians in Nineteenth-Century America which was well written and researched (and is quite relevant to our present time by the way), and so was baffled to see such a poorly written piece by her on Beliefnet.

The relevant section of her article for our purposes reads this way:

The Anglican Church of North America, the umbrella group for conservative Episcopalians who have left their denomination over women's ordination and full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons, has long claimed over 100,000 members. Recently, they admitted that only 69,000 persons in 650 churches in the USA and Canada have joined their association. There are 2.2 million Episcopalians in the United States and approximately 1 million in Canada. Thus, the conservative group--the one that has garnered so much media attention in recent years is a very small percentage of the entire North American Anglican membership--some 2% of the total. And with their rigid opposition to women's ordination, it is hard to imagine that this group will find much appeal with young North Americans.

Now for the record, I am not in ACNA. Certainly her description of the reason for the departure of ACNA is not one ACNA would agree with just for starters. It is over issues of Christology, marriage, the authority and interpretation of Scripture, the nature of the church, and the standards of Christian leadership that this controversy is fundamentally about.

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Data • * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Media

Do Episcopal parishes teach the basics?

When I finished seminary in 1987 I came out with youthful idealism, energy, and too much arrogance, among many other things. I also believed I needed to be unapologetic about teaching and preaching on the most basic questions.

For example, I taught for two years through the Book of Acts. What was the gospel they were proclaiming I wanted to know. What was their understanding of mission? Who did they think Jesus was? What did they believe about the church?

After three years in the parish where I served my curacy, I left the parish (and the country) to pursue a doctorate. This allowed me the luxury of reflecting on many things, including my three year curacy.

My deepest conclusion: I had failed to be basic enough. I had made too many assumptions. I had used too much Christian vocabulary without defining terms. The bottom line was my instinct was right but my implementation left a lot to be desired.

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Adult Education • Preaching / Homiletics • * Theology

Back on July 16th the Presiding Bishop and Bonnie Anderson wrote Archbishop Rowan Williams about the General Convention. (An ENS article on this is here). This, however, in a flurry of confusion inside the Episcopal Church's leadership as to exactly what had occurred, even though such confusion was not shared by the majority of the mainstream media and the Episcopal Church activists for the new theology of human sexuality, was not enough.

So on July 17th the Presiding Bishop and Bonnie Anderson wrote Archbishop Rowan Williams again about the General Convention. (An ENS article on that is there).

Can anyone name a time previously in Episcopal Church history when this has occurred? It not only looks desperate but it speaks poorly to the level of clarity in what is being done. If you need to explain your explanations, if you need to use words and then more words to explain your words, the issue of what you are actually doing and why comes even more strongly to the fore. Let your yes be yes and your no be no as a standard is being missed, and for a Christian community that is a very sad thing indeed--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson • Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * By Kendall

Note from the elves: this was written and published on July 15th, when TitusOneNine was having technical difficulties. It was posted to the backup blog and also at Stand Firm, and released to various other news outlets. Since not all TitusOneNine readers will have seen it, we are reposting it today, as well as posting it in proper chronological order with all the other entries for July 15th that we are importing from the backup blog.

Statement of Kendall Harmon on Resolution D025

The passage of Resolution D025 by the General Convention of 2009 is a repudiation of Holy Scripture as the church has received and understood it ecumenically in the East and West. It is also a clear rejection of the mutual responsibility and interdependence to which we are called as Anglicans. That it is also a snub to the Archbishop of Canterbury this week while General Synod is occurring in York only adds insult to injury.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the BBC, the New York Times and Integrity all see what is being done here. There are now some participants in the 76th General Convention who are trying to pretend that a yes to D025 is NOT a no to B033. Jesus’ statement about letting your yes be yes and your no be no is apt here. These types of attempted obfuscations are utterly unconvincing. The Bishop of Arizona rightly noted in his blog that D025 was "a defacto repudiation of" B033.

The presuppositions of Resolution D025 are revealing. For a whole series of recent General Conventions resolutions have been passed which are thought to be descriptive by some, but understood to be prescriptive by others. The 2007 Primates Communique spoke to this tendency when they stated “they deeply regret a lack of clarity”on the part of the 75th General Convention.

What is particularly noteworthy, however, is that Episcopal Church Resolutions and claimed stances said to be descriptive at one time are more and more interpreted to be prescriptive thereafter. Now, in Resolution D025, the descriptive and the prescriptive have merged. You could hear this clearly in the floor debates in the two Houses where speakers insisted “This is who we are!”

Those involved in pastoral care know that when a relationship is deeply frayed when one or other party insists “this is who I am” the outcome will be disastrous. The same will be the case with D025, both inside the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

D025 is the proud assertion of a church of self-authentication and radical autonomy.

It is a particularly ugly sight.

--The Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is Canon Theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • * By Kendall

Just watch and listen at General Convention, especially to the leadership. Where does the problem lie? Almost always elsewhere. Other people or Provinces in the Anglican Communion, the reasserters in the Episcopal Church, and on and on it goes. Say what you want about Katharine Jefferts Schori's opening sermon (and I found many of the critiques wide of the mark), but the locus of blame was elsewhere.

And what do we have today as an example? The Bishop of Lexington, Stacy Sauls, saying in a press conference that the Archbishop of Canterbury's response to D025 was Rowan Williams fault! He doesn't understand what was being said! Ah.

Memo to the Bishop of Lexington: When Rowan Williams and Integrity Understand D025 to intend to repeal B033, the problem does not lie with them. It lies somewhere else, much closer to home.

Now these are only examples, and many more can be given. But do listen closely to the absence of TEC's self-criticism at General Convention 2009. The silence is deafening--KSH.

Update: The media briefing from today, July 13, had Bishop Michael Smith of North Dakota, Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington, Sally Johnson of Minnesota, Ernie Bennett of Central Florida, and Emily Morales of Puerto Rico. It is in this briefing in that you can hear Bishop Saul's comments. Go to this website then find the "On Demand" section and thereafter look for the "July 13, 2009 Media Brief" picture and click on it.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • * By Kendall

Having had a night to ponder and pray on it, this is my read of the attempt of D025. I think the reference in the floor debate to the "craft" of the resolution by the committee was revealing.

Whatever happened to principled theological liberalism [and blog readers know I do not like nor do I use this term]? If the House of Deputies leadership believes B033 should be repealed (and everyone knows that is the case), they should have the courage to repeal it.

They should also have the honesty to say what they are doing in unmistakably clear terms. The more frayed relationships get, and the more trust is in tatters, the more careful attention to precise communication matters.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC House of Deputies • * By Kendall

The Episcopal Church is an institution in long term systemic decline. Just take a look at the 1997-2007 change in membership numbers documented here or really read thoughtfully the State of the Church report (especially the charts, page 14, page 17, etc.) there.

So: Where is the strategic discussion of evangelism and church growth? A parish involved in healthy evangelism has three things: a good newcomers ministry, a good ministry to the unchurched, and a ministry to the lapsed. In most Episcopal churches if you are very blessed you will find a somewhat adequate newcomer ministry. That is all. What about the unchurched? What about church planting?--KSH

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Missions • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth