When the Church Gathers

On October 24 and 25, the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes gathered in Saginaw, Michigan for our second Diocesan Convention. I was there! A lot happened.

This isn't a full recap. It's just my own view. But first, some background...

What's a Diocesan Convention?

The Episcopal Church is organized into dioceses, which are geographic regions. My diocese includes most of Michigan's lower peninsula. At Diocesan Convention, representatives from all churches in the region gather. Our work is to learn, discuss, pray, and decide.

Every church in the region elects representatives. Every clergy member active in the region also has a vote. Generally, decision-making requires a majority. The biggest decisions require a majority of both the clergy and the lay members, each voting separately.

Diocesan Conventions generally include workshops, fellowship, worship, and business. This year, our Convention was blessed with the presence and wisdom of our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Sean Rowe.

This Convention had three highlights for me, and one big takeaway.

Highlight 1: We Launched A New Program

For me, a major highlight of Convention was the official launch of the Holy Ground for Whole Communities program.

This new program is being launched with funding from the Lilly Endowment. It was my third try to get funding to start a program like this and I am thrilled!

Holy Ground is currently accepting applications from churches in our diocese. Once it launches in January, it will be a three-year pilot project helping churches see, hold, and use their properties to engage their communities and bless God's Creation.

Over a decade ago, I listened to God tell me that the place I then lived was meant for more. My next ten years following that call to start Plainsong Farm taught me that God was right.

That journey started with a single step in a direction I didn't yet understand. This program launch feels a little bit like that too. I don't know where God is leading us yet. I just know I have amazing companions on the journey. Dr. Jess Kidder is our Program Manager, Emily Ulmer is with us from Plainsong Farm, and Karen DiLossi from Partners for Sacred Places. I am confident that churches will receive much from this fabulous team.

Highlight 2: We Created New Conversations

Friday morning, workshop sessions gather smaller groups to reflect together.

This year, I was involved in presenting two workshops. In each, I found myself saying things I had never heard said aloud before.

We Remembered a Forgotten Man

As Convention opened, I participated in a session on The Episcopal Church and Indigenous Communities led by the Rev. Sr. Diane Stier of St. John's in Mount Pleasant.

Sister Diane's goal was to continue the conversation that began at last year's Primary Convention, which was held at Soaring Eagle Hotel in Mount Pleasant and included plenary and workshop sessions by the Director of the Ziibiwing Center for Anishinaabe Culture and Lifeways.

In this workshop, for the first time in a public setting, I talked about the Rev. James Selkirk, whose story has been lost and forgotten over the last two hundred years.

As we know, before European-Americans came to live on this continent, it was the home of many indigenous communities. When the United States government grew in power in the 1800's, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed with the support of many Episcopalians. One of Michigan's indigenous leaders, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish, said "no" when he was told he and his people needed to go west.

Like other indigenous people who wanted to remain, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish's community needed settlers willing to help them stay where they lived. The federal government provided funding for "missions." (I find myself remembering the words of one of my seminary professors: "that's the way they thought back then.") The Episcopal Diocese of Michigan took this funding. And Bishop Samuel Allen McCoskry appointed Rev. James Selkirk to serve God alongside the people now known as the Gun Lake Tribe.

James Selkirk said "yes" to this appointment. Then he gave the work the rest of his life. First, he listened to the community's leaders to identify the land where they would want to live. He purchased that land on their behalf. He moved there himself, then invited them to come too. They did.

This community stayed in Michigan. They passed down tribal leadership across generations through church structures for over a hundred years before gaining the recognition of the federal government.

This is due first and foremost to the leadership within their community. But it is also due in part to James Selkirk, who was a supporter of and companion to their community.

The bishop was not faithful in providing the promised funding. Selkirk stayed, even though he didn't consistently get paid. The diocese seems to have mostly ignored him even during his lifetime. Eventually, he re-affiliated with the Methodists. The Episcopal Church simply was not there for him.

I have been digging into his background for years. When I was doing ministry on the margins, I could relate to his experience.

These days, as the Episcopal Church is working to understand our past, I hope both to uncover and share more of his story.

We Discussed Difficult Data

My second workshop session invited participants to reflect on numeric growth. This workshop was developed with members of our diocesan Ecclesial Vitality Task Force from the spring of 2025.

Every year, every Episcopal Church must file a "parochial report" summarizing activities for the prior year. Churches report how many worship services were offered, how many people attended, how many people gave financially, and more.

In 2025, eight churches did not file by the deadline. So, we reviewed 2024 data from 90 of our 98 churches.

Very rarely is data from these reports made public with an eye to increasing engagement in the life of discipleship. In fact, I've never seen it done before.

In mainline Christianity, it is often true that even leaders feel awkward talking about numbers. But in church, numbers are people.

We are mandated by Christ to care for people. Counting people is noticing when they show up. Noticing when people show up is part of caring for them. At least, this is my view – and why I believe data review and analysis is part of ministry.

This workshop included a worksheet for participants to fill out, discussion time at tables, and a chance to share takeaways in the large group.

I was the person scribing as people shared their takeaways. During this workshop I realized something: we had no idea what metrics we most valued.

This shouldn't have surprised me – we had never talked about this before! But it is an essential conversation for Diocesan Council in our near future.

At the end we asked people to give us a green piece of paper if they felt more hopeful, a yellow one if they felt less hopeful, because of their participation.

There were 9 yellow cards and 43 green ones. I understand both sentiments – and I'm glad that a strong majority went out encouraged.

(I'll be writing more about this after I review the participant worksheets.)

Highlight 3: We Passed a Landmark Resolution

Resolutions are the ways the church decides on things. And this year, the Rev. Jared Cramer of St. John's, Grand Haven, decided that we needed to make some decisions about standing with immigrants and refugees. For this I give thanks to God.

The full text of this resolution is here (scroll to the second page). It is long and it has many references both to Scripture and to previous decisions of the Episcopal Church. It is worth reading.

I knew this resolution was coming. As the time approached I found myself nervous. I hadn't signed onto it because as a diocesan staff member, it is my job to support the Convention whatever it decides. But in my heart, I was on board.

There was no debate. When the time came for a vote, there were only green cards.

I am so grateful for Jared's leadership and for a church which has taken a public stand for the gospel value of hospitality to the stranger and welcome to the refugee.

As Exodus 22:21 says,

You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

As Matthew 25:31-46 makes clear, disciples of Jesus Christ are to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, care for the sick, and welcome the stranger.

These gospel values can be lived out even as we reform our immigration policy and process. People must be treated humanely and due process must be followed.

A Good Word from our Presiding Bishop

In his keynote conversation on Friday night and his homily on Saturday morning, Presiding Bishop Rowe encouraged us to stand firm on gospel values. To be clear about what discipleship means. And to take action to make our witness evident.

"Don't worry about the future. Make the future God's problem. Do kingdom work today."

It was what I most needed to hear.

Too often I find myself concerned for the direction of my country and my church.

Too often I worry about what I can't predict nor manage nor control.

But God's reign is here. God's reign is now.

And God is still seeking me and you as co-conspirators for justice and mercy, compassion and truth.

I was exhausted by the end of Diocesan Convention, but looking back I am deeply grateful.

There's a lot to do based on what we did together. I am excited to begin again.

What questions or reflections do you have about Convention?