The People of the Diocese of Newark look within ourselves and offer reflection on our shortcomings and seek amendment of life.
The Word of God
Confession
- We thought that our spirituality would take care of itself, and so we find ourselves embarrassed and feeling selfish in wanting replenishment for our souls. Outside the context of our Sunday worship we are uncomfortable and feel inept in talking about our faith, hesitating to speak of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, we have not been able to use passionate and inviting language about our Christian lives either for ourselves or in reaching out to meet the spiritual needs of people in the world.
- Our Church membership continues to fall. We are not inviting the vast population in which we live. We are not welcoming the Christ in many of our neighbors who think we are exclusive, irrelevant, passé or boring. For some we are too radical. In trying to maintain vital congregations, reduced membership exhausts some, as they work desperately to make dwindling congregations function. Some congregations become lifeless and unfeasible. All of this has a negative impact on our diocesan life.
- In the past 33 years we have not responded effectively to the rising population in our region: the Diocese of Newark has lost 23,875 communicants (46%) and 23 congregations (16%). During the same period, the domestic dioceses of The Episcopal Church lost only 16% of their communicants and increased the number of congregations by 2%. We have not started a new congregation since 1989. Sixty-five of our parishes (57%) were founded before 1900, 100 (87.8%) by 1942.
- Membership decline is revealing our growing awareness and discontent with the fact that we often lack spiritual vitality, creativity, vision and direction.
- We are lean and strong for service, but are not equipped to actively invite, welcome, and share life with others.
- A few congregations are doing well (and some may be complacent), many congregations are struggling, a significant number have been incurring operating deficits, and some are in fear for their very existence.
- We lack a deep sense of relational communication among Bishop, diocesan staff, and congregations. Individuals (clergy and lay) and congregations feel disconnected from the Diocese and labor with a perception of unavailability. Some feel that only having confirmations in regional settings adds to this experience of distance.
- A vast number of people in the Diocese ignore what happens on a diocesan level (except when they are upset about something) because they have neither time nor energy to focus on anything outside their congregations or daily lives. Many do not understand the resources and opportunities for mission and blessing in diocesan life and work.
- Although we have a diocesan stewardship program in place, it is not widely embraced, which creates stress for the diocesan budget.
- In 2005 several diocesan staff positions were eliminated and outreach spending was reduced.
- While valuing the idea of ministry with and for youth, we do not commit significant financial resources to youth ministry on a congregational or diocesan level.
- We are challenged in defining local mission and aligning our resources (including our buildings) to serve our 21st century world.
- We recognize that our buildings are not aligned with 21st century population centers. There are a number of congregations in the Diocese of Newark within five miles of an average of 15 other parishes. Yet the fact is that the population around our churches has grown and radically changed over the years; there are as many or more people living near those churches as when they were built. We have to consider ways to align the location of our buildings and the mission of these congregations with the needs of the people who live near them.
- Many of our buildings are uninviting, extremely difficult and costly to maintain and have significant barriers to accessibility. Some buildings have serious structural defects. We need to discover ways to make them more appealing and useful for our mission.
- We acknowledge that we often do not work well together as congregations and we tend to become fearful, threatened, and defensive when we are encouraged to collaborate in ministry in regional contexts. A dimension of this reticence and anxiety is rooted in and visible in the isolation and segregation of our New Jersey self-rule local municipalities.
- Our historically black congregations continue to experience institutional racism.
- We have not adequately addressed oppression in all of its manifestations including race, gender, sexual orientation, and differing abilities.
Reconciliation
We earnestly desire to move forward and meet the challenges that face us. We welcome a Bishop who is a strong leader, spiritually confident and expressive, a visionary with a seasoned practice in equipping others for congregational development, a communicator and connector with whom we can collaborate in exploring and embracing change.
The Nominating Committee for the 10th Bishop of Newark
1802 Route 31 N • PMB 255 • Clinton, NJ 08809 USA