This week's reflection is offered by Loren Dixon, Director of RenewalWorks. 

Episcopalians often report that they value serving within their churches and in the broader community. Serving is a key characteristic of Episcopalians, and an important part of their church life, as confirmed through RenewalWorks data from over 400 Episcopal churches. Currently, 47% of Episcopalians report they serve those in need outside the church once a month or more.

Conversations with church teams reiterate this focus. Episcopalians want their churches to serve the needs of their communities and often – to be seen as a leader in this role.  

Cally Parkinson, a consultant for congregations and author of Rise: Bold Strategies to Transform Your Church describes eight archetypes that reflect church personalities. Episcopal parish data taken in total shows that nearly 30% of Episcopal churches surveyed by RenewalWorks present in an archetype called Extroverted. 

This church personality reflects parishioners with an impressive and strong sense of serving the local community, strong satisfaction with the church and church leadership, and members committed and energized by church opportunities provided for community service. At the same time, these churches also show parishioners with a lower commitment to understanding core Episcopal beliefs and spiritual practices. 

In some cases, the focus on serving has overtaken the idea of an individual's personal relationship with God.

The opportunity for Extroverted churches is to shift the focus away from volunteering to the notion of ministry or service as a spiritual practice, and an expression of discipleship rooted in scripture and liturgy. There are many ways to do this but often the simplest is to ensure that all church activities integrate worship, prayer and scripture into each offering. 

Within outreach activities, small changes can reorient and refocus. Examples from RenewalWorks churches include adding time for a group prayer for the those who you are serving before meal preparation, or inviting local first responders to a Sunday worship service and blessing. Then there are changes made in the context of a church with a large resale ministry - a shop that was important to their community and staffed by church volunteers. At the completion of the volunteer shifts, a quiet sharing time was implemented. Volunteers now come together to offer a prayer or a reflection on how they felt God at work in their ministry. It was a small change, and one that did not require staff or financial consideration, but it grounded the volunteer time as discipleship. 

I invite you to ask a few questions:

How is your serving grounded in your faith? 
How can your church activities be an instrument for God’s healing in the world?
Are there ways that your outreach can be refocused on a love of God and neighbor?

As we say in the Holy Eucharist at the end of the Sunday worship, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”.