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A BISHOP WHO ARTICULATES A
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A BISHOP WHO INVITES COLLABORATIVE DECISION-MAKING
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 Our
next bishop oversees fifty congregations, fourteen seasonal or
institutional chapels, two diocesan schools, and about seventy active
clergy. The diocese is divided into six convocations with the diocesan
office located in Concord within two blocks of the New Hampshire State
House. Local control versus state control continues to be a hot topic in
our state, and this is evident in how New Hampshire Episcopalians view the
authority vested in our bishop. Robert Frost expresses this tension in his
poem “Mending Wall” by declaring, “Something there is that doesn’t love a
wall,” and ending with the line, “Good fences make good neighbors.” New
Hampshire Episcopalians display both traits within a complex state
character.
In the coming decade, we hope that our bishop invites our partnership by directly and openly addressing the tensions between self-sufficiency and community, northern and southern areas, rural and urban congregations, rich and poor churches, and liberal and conservative elements in our state and diocese. In particular, people in the Diocese of New Hampshire do not desire increased bureaucracy, top-down programming, or unilateral decision-making by the bishop. We seek a person who leads from a deeply rooted spiritual life and works with us to outline our vision for the future and to identify strategies that can be implemented locally. |
Sunday Worship AttendanceAverage for 2001: 5282 Episcopalians
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The
New Hampshire tradition has emphasized shared leadership in the diocese
and has invited collegial and collaborative decision-making. Our bishop
should foster the building of genuine relationships with congregations,
made feasible by the size of our diocese. We want our bishop to be aware
of local activities, individual concerns, congregational strengths, and growing
edges. We hope that our relationship with our next bishop will be one of
mutual affection, respect, and love. The diocese has prospered under
faithful and capable people, and our bishops have been down to earth and
unpretentious. We expect our bishop to possess a healthy sense of humor.
No one would describe a bishop in this diocese as a prince of the Church.
As one parishioner wrote, “We don’t want our bishops to take their mitres
to bed with them!”
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