Bishop Search Survey Results
Dear Friends,
We are so grateful for the many of you who participated in the Listening Sessions and Survey hosted by the Bishop Search Committee. We are also deeply grateful to the nine churches who hosted these gatherings and to the other communities within our diocese who gathered for their own sessions including youth, clergy, and our Spanish-speaking community. From mid-December to early February, our committee hosted a total of 14 listening sessions receiving feedback from many, many members of our diocese. Additionally, we collected 248 survey responses. All of this information, including the sacred conversations in small groups and feedback received in the survey, will be on our hearts and minds as we begin conversations with applicants in the coming weeks. Thank you for sharing in this discernment with us! It is overwhelmingly clear that the Holy Spirit is alive and moving in this diocese through the ministries you all lead in your communities. It is this good and faithful work that has left us deeply grateful and inspired.
There are two main updates that we are sharing today that you will see below. The first update is much of the data from survey results and the second is a process update.
The Bishop Search Committee is sharing the survey results with you in order that we might move toward a collective awareness of what is on our hearts and minds in this discernment. In this data, you will see demographic information about the respondents, priorities we believe are important for our next bishop, and more. We have not shared the many questions and comments you all wrote for us but have read them and will keep them with us in our work. We also believe that sharing these results enables us to know more of the person we believe God is calling to be our next bishop. When we are praying for this process and when we are meeting candidates and even voting, we can remember some of this information as we seek the will of God in this process together.
The second update is a reminder regarding the steps in the timeline laid out by the Standing Committee at Diocesan Convention last fall. You may recall that early March is the date that the Diocesan Profile is set to go public, which begins the application period for those discerning a call to be our next bishop. We are on course to meet that timeline and, with the Standing Committee’s approval, intend to share with all of you and the worldwide Church our profile in early March. As we soon will enter that time of receiving applications, we are especially grateful for your prayers, just as we have been for these last few months.
We look forward to writing to you again soon to share this Diocesan Profile and are grateful for your prayerful support as we continue to discern together God’s call for the Ninth Bishop Diocesan of The Diocese of West Missouri.
As we begin Lent, we are holding you in prayer that it may be a holy and renewing season.
"O Creator God, giver of every good gift, look graciously on us in the Diocese of West Missouri and guide us as we discern our call of a new bishop. O Jesus, be present in our discernment, and lead us to a shepherd who will invite us to live out the Gospel every day. O Holy Spirit, inspire us with your wisdom, and kindle our hearts with the fire of your love, that we may be renewed as we prepare to welcome the ministry of our next bishop. This we ask trusting in You. Amen."
Faithfully,
The Bishop Search Committee
Questions?
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