Candidate Process Updates

Dear Friends in Christ,

Alleluia Christ is risen!  In this joyful Eastertide the search process for our next bishop is continuing apace, summoning us to what new thing God is inviting us to in our life together.

Recently, the Search Committee met with finalist candidates in-person at what is known as a search retreat.  We spent time in worship and interviews, enjoying meals and conversation as we got to know one another and listened for the Spirit in our midst.  Soon, the Search Committee will be meeting to discern who we believe the Spirit is calling us to put forward to the Standing Committee as our slate of candidates for election by the diocese.  We ask your prayers, that we would be open to the Spirit’s leading, drawing on a wisdom greater than our own.

To serve as a bishop is a calling: candidates are not in a competition.  To feel called as a bishop is no small thing and to consider being named to a slate is not a trivial matter.  We ask your prayers for these candidates as they discern if they are called as a bishop and if they are called as bishop in this diocese.  We invite your prayers for those who will be asked to be part of the slate: may God surround them with discernment and wisdom, courage and joy.  We also invite your prayers for their families and for their congregations; it is not a light matter to leave the people one serves.  

We also ask your prayers for those we discern are not to be part of a slate.  I have nothing but gratitude for the candidates who have entered this process and believe that God is calling each of them to their unique place of service in this church for the good of God’s people.  May God bless them in their ongoing calls and may their participation in this process not have been in vain, trusting that God drew them to this process for a reason, even when the end is different than imagined.

As you await more information from us, a reminder to submit questions for the Meet-and-Greets and to plan to attend one or more in July.  The electing convention is in Erie on August 8.

In this season of our diocesan life and in this season of Easter, let us hold fast to joy, to our shared mission in the gospel, and to the promise that the Spirit is doing a new thing among us, raising up a new leader to shepherd us. 

Faithfully,
Melinda Hall, Chair

Bishop Search Committee