Top voices highlight important changes in the role of bishop. Compelling essays, written by bishops, other clergy, and academics from across the Episcopal Church, reflect the breadth of thinking on the history, current state, and future of the role of leadership within the denomination and the wider Anglican Communion. Topics include the transformation of the role over the last fifty years, a review of historic documents on the episcopacy, issues of race and gender, and the definition of ministry and leadership. This volume will be of interest to leaders across denominations as well as scholars.

Can the 'reality' of the Eucharist be maintained online? Author C. Andrew Doyle, in a well-researched and thoughtful study of both virtual reality and liturgy, argues that the Eucharist is not a formulaic rehearsal of words and rituals but an embodied and lived experience. This requires a shared place and presence. While the church should not shy away from virtual ministry, we should be wary of using the technological realm for the celebration of the Eucharist, an act that is an outward and visible sign of our spiritual union with God and one another. It brings us closer to friend and stranger for the transformation of individuals into unity in Christ. The context of the ritual-with people, objects, words, and all sorts of nuance-creates intimacy with God and each other. This unique book is especially timely and will be of interest to scholars, liturgists, and those interested in sacramental theology in the digital age.

Practical and theoretical instruction for mainline church planting. The Episcopal Church has recognized that planting new churches is a high priority through the Mission Enterprise Zones initiative, which provides grant funding for new worshiping communities, in partnership with dioceses. While there is significant literature and training available for church planters in evangelical contexts, very little is available for planters in the Episcopal/mainline context. This book addresses how to rise up and train leaders for the difficult task of planting new churches in the twenty-first century. It answers the essential questions, such as why should we plant churches, what models of church planting are most successful, what kinds of leaders are necessary, and what problems can be expected. Through the author's personal experience and interviews with diocesan experts and leaders in mainline denominations, it provides strategies, approaches, and problem-solving techniques.

* Popular author with broad appeal * New vision for shaping future church leaders The Church's mission is not dependent upon economic or worldly boundaries. The gospel will expand and grow where people respond to God's grace in their lives. The Episcopal Church, along with all denominational churches, is being forced to break out of old training models and traditions of ordination in this new age of mission. The Church must rethink formation of leaders (lay and clergy) to keep up with what God is already doing in the world. Participating in God's mission will press us to reconsider assumptions about the vocations themselves, and their shape for the future.

Episcopalians newly discovering their church home or long-time members who may have forgotten why they love the church will appreciate Unabashedly Episcopalian. Bishop Andy Doyle has mined the Baptismal Covenant and his own experiences leading the Diocese of Texas. The result is a heartfelt, smart and practical book that calls Episcopalians to wake up to the church s unique gifts and story, and equips them to share that witness in their neighborhoods and out in the world."

A must-read for Christians struggling with the present political conversation Citizen helps Christians find our place in the politics of the world. In these pages, Bishop Andy Doyle offers a Christian virtue ethic grounded in fresh anthropology. He offers a vision of the individual Christian within the reign of God and the life of the broader community. He adds to the conversation in both church and culture by offering a renewed theological underpinning to the complex nature of Christianity in a post-modern world. How did we get here? Is this the way it has to be? Are there implications for conversations about politics within the church? Doyle contends that our current debates are not about one partisan narrative winning, but communities of diversity being unified by a relationship with God's grand narrative. Crafting a deep theological conversation with a unified approach to the Old and New Testament, Citizen asks, what does it truly mean to live in community?

• Provocative readings of biblical stories, with thoughts on what they are saying to the church • Listens for critique rather than support, encouraging us to hear Jesus fresh Inside the Church, we are constantly and consistently reading the gospels through the lens of supporting our own institution and structure. This prevents us from hearing the critique Jesus offered in his own day and his emphatic and persistent call to be and do differently now (Matthew 23:1–12). Stories that will be covered include Widow’s Mite, Rich Young Ruler, Destruction of the Temple, Searching for the Lost Coin, Sower of the Seeds, Transfiguration, and the Great Commission. This book will flip the script of many Bible stories, allowing us to hear Jesus’ call to change as one that is directed at us rather than as one we should direct toward others.

Este libro sera bien recibido por personas recien llegadas a la Iglesia asi como personas episcopales de por vida quienes a lo mejor han olvidado por que aman a su Iglesia. El Reverendisimo Andy Doyle ha estudiado muy de cerca el Pacto Bautismal y ha incorporado sus vivencias como Obispo de la Diocesis de Tejas para presentarnos esta guia. Este es un recurso practico que nos invita a reconocer la historia de nuestra iglesia y los dones de la feligresia episcopal que a su vez prepara al lector para compartir su tesoro y dar testimonio en sus comunidades y en el mundo. Episcopalians newly discovering their church home or long-time members who may have forgotten why they love the church will appreciate Unabashedly Episcopalian. Bishop Andy Doyle has mined the Baptismal Covenant and his own experiences leading the Diocese of Texas. The result is a heartfelt, smart and practical book that calls Episcopalians to wake up to the church's unique gifts and story, and equips them to share that witness in their neighborhoods and out in the world.

Practical ideas for connecting and building communities of service. Bishop Andy Doyle understands that the church must change. Every day, he presides over parishes that are no longer vital, that have not adapted to the “VUCA” (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world of today — the world in which the church exists. The church still looks to hierarchies when it needs to build networks, and stays mired in arguments when it needs to find unity. With the experience of a bishop and the insight of a deep learner, Doyle points the way to the future with a vision for how we can learn, serve, and communicate with each other.