Beloved Siblings in Christ,

Earlier this month, the nomination and application period for the bishop search process closed, and your Search Committee is pleased to report we received a robust number of applications to be our next bishop. You should be proud of the interest taken in our little corner of the Church. This speaks to the health and strength of our diocese financially, programmatically, and the many ways creative and faithful ministry is being done across DioSWVA. It also speaks to the prayerful engagement over 500 of you gave to the creation of the diocesan profile by participating in the listening sessions, affinity groups, and the survey. Our diocese is in a good place and it’s evident the Holy Spirit is on the move.

Having received an exciting response from many gifted applicants, we are moving into our next phase of discernment. Your Search Committee will spend time in prayer, conversation, interviews, a retreat, and more as we seek to discern who God might be calling to stand for election as our next bishop. This is a confidential process, but we ask for your support in the following ways:

• We ask that you please include the bishop search prayer into your daily prayers.
• We ask that clergy and lay leaders also add this prayer into the liturgical life of our worshiping communities on Sunday morning.
• We ask that congregations spend time reviewing and discussing the profile so that they may gain new insight into who we are as a diocese and be prepared to discern with these candidates once a slate has been presented for election.

Please pray for us, for the candidates, and for our diocese as we navigate this liminal period in our common life.

Blessings,

 

The Rev. Sarah Lusk

Chair, Bishop Search Committee

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A Collect for the Election of Our Bishop

Creator God, whose Church lives beyond the walls of buildings and the boundaries of cities, we ask that you guide our work as the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia moves together through a transition of leadership. We pray for patience in dialogue and wisdom in discernment, that the richness of our diverse voices, from farmland to small town, mountain to downtown, will be valued and heard. We pray for the person who will be elected as our next Bishop, for all those who are in discernment, and for the people of this diocese, so that the work of spreading God’s love in southwestern Virginia and beyond will grow and flourish in the years to come. In the name of your incarnate son we pray. Amen.

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Search Committee – The Next Phase of Discernment Email