A BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY once said that Christianity is a life to live, not a lesson to be learned. We take that as a quality that, beyond all others, we hope to see in our next bishop: the mark of a life given over to Christ, lived out in love and service to the world. We seek a bishop who will love this place in that world, this diocese called New Jersey.
God knows, we have had our troubles in the last years. Grappling with many of the same issues that the Episcopal Church at large is confronting, fighting the same malaise and indifference in a post-Christian world, we were confounded by difficulties and turmoils within our own borders. It is still too hard to analyze clearly where problems started, where outcomes could have been different.
Did
you hear it?
In the Voices of New Jersey section of this web site, you heard
the unedited, real-life comments of people throughout this diocese,
from the northwest valleys to the southern shore. If we’ve done
our job well in this profile, you’ve felt the energy, the love,
the will to reclaim the great spirit that has been characteristic
of the Diocese of New Jersey.
But if you read at all carefully, you undoubtedly sensed our pain. We trust you to respect our honest appraisal of our diocese at the present time—and the challenges facing us.
Are you willing to be a candidate for Bishop of New Jersey? Is your spirit big enough to tackle the work that lies ahead? Is your heart big enough to love us, even at the times when we may seem unlovable?
The brave heart that is not discouraged, the hopeful heart that makes the best of all things: this is the heart needed in our next bishop. If you can consider giving much of yourself, your time, your abilities—spending and being spent, not sparing of your strength or your substance—and counting it all as a joy, then for God’s sake, allow your name to stand as our next bishop!
We
are ready—are you?
We are ready for hard work—and ready for joy. This is not a
diocese that can bear another experience of separation between its
people and its bishop. The Diocese of New Jersey wants an active,
energetic, straightforward, honest, sound, talented and courageous
person as its next bishop. Perhaps you are that person. If you think
that God is calling you here, you will find welcoming hearts.
We are very grateful for your interest in our diocese and our search for the eleventh bishop of New Jersey.
May God be with us all!
O Holy Spirit, Whose descent upon the followers of the risen Lord on the day of Pentecost created His Church, inspire anew that Church in this diocese as we prepare to elect a bishop. Grant Your wisdom, we pray, to the search committee, candidates and electing convention, that the person called to be bishop will lead us into fuller witness to the love, power and joy of Jesus the Christ, who with You and the Father lives and reigns, one God for ever and ever. Amen.