PAROUSIA – GOD’S VISION FOR THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH ON THE EASTERN SHORE.
Parousia is the name of the ten-year vision cast by the leadership of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton and adopted by Convention in 2019. This vision is revisited frequently by our leadership teams for goal-setting, and the history of its development is encapsulated in the Pastoral note below. Parousia was presented at the Diocesan Convention 2019 and continues to inform the direction of the diocese.
“Parousia isn’t a prescription, rather it is a permission to be creative and to take the risk, as God took a risk when his son Jesus was sent into the world to be Savior and Redeemer; to try new and innovative ways of being church, more open to and trusting of the Holy Spirit to guide God’s church toward new and transformative ministries… It encourages the church to be innovative and bold in our call to access new models to shape and form lives for the Kingdom of God.” – Bishop San, taken from the last of three Blog posts about Parousia.
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Bishop’s Pastoral Note – Originally Published October 2017-Revised January 2018
DISCERNING TOGETHER OUR COMMON LIFE AS A CHURCH
The 149th Diocesan Convention acknowledged that our baptismal call points us to see ourselves as a church mandated to live and serve the Mission of God (Missio Dei). The Anglican Communion has for the past two decades interpreted that the church does not have a mission, but rather, the church is called to live into the Mission of God. Thereby, the church becomes the transformational phenomenon through which God redeems the world in Jesus Christ. The Convention concluded then, that we would move forward as a:
PRAYER CENTERED CHURCH + MISSION-SHAPED DIOCESE
Following Convention, on April 1, 2017, over 40 members of the diocesan family gathered at Old Wye, Wye Parish, to reflect on two critical areas in our diocesan life in pursuit of God’s Mission: VOCATION & IDENTITY.
The first of those tasks was to listen to the Spirit’s voice and seek God’s guidance in leading us to consider our vocation as a Church on the Eastern Shore. The process was defined by intensive, constructive, objective, respectful and prayerful conversation. In the end, what emerged was an overwhelming conviction that God is calling the Diocese of Easton to be a place of inclusion of all God’s children where love, service and sacrifice are the defining characteristics.
WELCOME ALL – SHARE JESUS’ LOVE – SERVE THE WORLD (John 13: 35) View the Poster
From there we held up ten (10) specific MINISTRY IMPERATIVES that should ultimately define our work as a PRAYER CENTERED + MISSION-SHAPED DIOCESE. These ministry imperatives collectively embody the Episcopal Church’s Five Marks of Mission, the Discernment Resolutions as presented from recent years of Diocesan self-reflection, the Jesus Movement as defined by Presiding Bishop Curry, and our biblical responsibility enunciated in 1 Corinthians 12 & 14, Ephesians 4, Romans 12, 1 Peter 4, Matthew 22: 37 (the Great Commandment), Matthew 28:19 (the Great Commission), and our Baptismal Covenant. View the Identity Poster
View the names of the pilgrims that worked on the project as a community activity on behalf of the wider diocesan family.
Together in Christ’s service,
Bishop Santosh Marray