Dear Friends,

The prayer book in the Outline of Faith asks this question...

Q. Who are the ministers of the Church?

A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops,

   priests, and deacons.

              Page 855 in the Book of Common Prayer 1979 

We find ourselves in what I believe is a "teaching moment" as the Diocese of Central Florida prepares to elect a new Bishop on November 19, 2011 at a special convention.  (for details on the election of the next Bishop in for the Diocese of Central Florida go to: http://bishopsearch.cfdiocese.org/ ) 

In the season of Easter we will spend our Adult Christian Formation time on Sunday mornings (10-10:45am) looking at ministry and leadership in the church.   We are blessed to have Father Thomas Buchan, a patristics scholar, beginning these sessions with the historical and structural formation of leadership in the church and giving us a view of how and why the various ministries lay and ordained developed over the centuries. 

I will follow these first couple of sessions on May 15th with a discussion and teaching on "calling".   Over the years I spent a great deal of time helping youth ministers discern their calling and helped in placing many of them in churches in our diocese and around the country.  On May 22nd Pastor Robin will lead a class on Women in Ministry and the development of Women's Ordination.  On May 29th Deacon Dick will teach on the Role and Ministry of Vocational Deacons in the Church.    

I will will be ending the class in a final session on Sunday June 5th with a detailed look at the process in Central Florida and how we will move toward the election of our next diocesan bishop.   This is a chance to learn about our polity and structure, how our church is governed and to heighten us to prayer as we move to a new era of leadership for our church.   I hope and pray you will engage in the discussion.