By Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan

Rt. Rev. Ed Salmon Guest Speaker at this Year’s All Clergy Retreat for Diocese of SK

Dec 28, 2010 | 11:58 AM

The Southern Gentleman and the Saskatchewan Clergy

the Right Reverend Ed Salmon, retired Bishop of South CarolinaThe Right Reverend Ed Salmon, retired Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, was the guest speaker at this year’s all-clergy retreat for the Diocese of Saskatchewan.

Bishop Salmon, who is currently serving as Rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, addressed the clergy in six sessions over three days, on the topic of “Mission in a Declining Church.” With his southern drawl and sweet but firm, gentlemanly way, he challenged us to keep Relationship central in our ministry.

Relationship, he said, is key. It is the very nature of our Trinitarian God, and it needs to be the basis of all we do and are. How do we move ourselves and our churches out of merely making theological statements, such as “Jesus is Lord,” and into spelling out the implications of that statement in all of our life and work? One reason for our declining churches, Bishop Salmon suggested, is that our relationships do not reflect the excitement and challenge that Life in the Spirit and the Lordship of Christ suggest.

But systems of relationships are everywhere, and when we walk through life and ministry unaware of them, they “own” us. Bishop Salmon challenged us to become especially aware of “tacit contracts,” unspoken and unbreakable bonds of expectations. They need to be identified and named, and the people involved in the relationships need to be made accountable to one another. For example, after a parish event, review what worked and what did not, and ask: Were the goals met? Were they identified in the first place? What can be improved next time?

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One factor contributing to declining churches, Bishop Salmon said, was a long-term failure to root congregations in the Scriptures. The Bible, he reminded us, is filled with stories that tell, over and over, of how God changes lives and people get excited. How can we articulate the life-giving Gospel, not a powerless one, or a narrow and punishment-filled one? As an example, he asked, given society’s trend toward couples living together, can we move from either ignoring on the one hand, or condemning on the other, into painting a more compelling vision of love and commitment in Christian marriage?

In another session, Bishop Salmon spoke of money-matters. Using some of the parables of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, he challenged us to see questions of money, generosity and stewardship as spiritual issues; money, Jesus warns, has power over us and easily becomes a rival to God in our lives.

Bishop Salmon noted that, in his half-century of ministry experience, no parish does any better than their leadership. We need good, healthy leadership. But every leader is strong in some things, and weaker in others. It is good, for us and for the parish, that a leader not do anything that someone else in the parish can do better. One way to address this, he suggested, is with an annual vision exercise for the congregation: review what is being done, what needs to be done but isn’t, and what is getting in the way.

The clergy at the retreat were very impressed with Bishop Salmon’s ability to speak challenging and hopeful, Spirit-charged words in the sweet, velvet-gloved way of a southern gentleman. May we learn to do likewise in our own cultures and contexts of ministry.