From health crises to political and cultural divides, faith communities have long had to grapple with the unique ways these issues impact houses of worship.
The new bishop of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina will have his plate full when he assumes leadership of the diocese’s 53 congregations in 2022 amid a backdrop of COVID-19, racial and political divides nationally and locally, and an ongoing decline of church affiliation.
Nonetheless, the diocese is confident that all of its three candidates for bishop are up for the job. That assurance has a lot to do with the fact that the South Carolina diocese believes its next religious leader has already been selected by God.
“We went into this without an agenda,” said the Rev. Jason Collins, rector for St. Paul’s Church in Conway and head of the diocese’s search committee. “We felt like the Lord has already chosen our next bishop.”
The final three candidates for the top clergymen position are:
- The Very Rev. Charles F. “Chip” Edgar III. Edgar is the planting pastor, rector and dean of The Cathedral Church of the Apostles (Diocese of the Carolinas) in Columbia, where he has served since 2004. During that time, Edgar oversaw the growth of the church from a core group of 25 to an average Sunday attendance of nearly 400. He also served as the rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, Ill. 1997-2004. Edgar has been married since 1989 and has five children.
- The Rev. Robert C. “Rob” Sturdy. Sturdy has been the Anglican chaplain to the Corp of Cadets at St. Alban’s Anglican Chapel at The Citadel since July 2017. He served as associate rector at St. Andrew’s in Mount Pleasant from 2012 to 2017 and served as the rector at Trinity Church in Myrtle Beach from 2008 to 2012.
- The Rev. Christopher S. “Chris” Warner. Warner has been the rector of the Church of the Holy Cross, Sullivan’s Island and Daniel Island, since 2015 and served as associate rector from 2002 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2015. He successfully led Holy Cross in a transition from a “seeker” model church to a relational and discipleship model church. He has been married since 1993 and has three children.
The candidates were chosen during a long search process that began with the initial diocesan approval at the Diocesan Convention in 2020.
The committee sought a candidate that reflected New Testament Scriptural standards that call bishops to serve as shepherds, good stewards and godly managers, Collins said.
The search committee, a mixture of clergy and laity, was chosen by a diocesan election during the winter of 2020 and has met regularly by Zoom and quarterly in person.
The next step in the process is to host a series of “walkabouts” in mid-September at various locations throughout the diocese for candidates to meet and greet parishioners.
The diocese’s Special Electing Convention is scheduled for Oct. 16 at Christ Church in Mount Pleasant. Afterward, the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America would need to approve the election at the College of Bishop’s winter meeting in Jan. 2022.
The new bishop coadjutor will be consecrated at the Diocesan Convention March 2022. The selected person will spend a “season” with the diocese’s Bishop Mark Lawrence, the current bishop, before officially becoming the diocese’s next bishop.
“Our process is very democratic,” Collins said.
The future top clergyman of the diocese will have to find effective ways to communicate the Gospel amid changing times, said the Rev. Shay Gaillard, rector of St. Helena’s in Beaufort and head of the diocese’s Standing Committee.
This becomes particularly important when considering the decline in the number of people attending houses of worship.
In 2020, 47 percent of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, according to a Gallup poll. That number is down from 50 percent in 2018.
The Anglican Diocese has been working to plant new churches in growing metropolitan areas in the state, Galliard said.
That must continue if the diocese wants to be positioned to continue sharing God’s love, he said.
Reach Rickey Dennis at 937-4886. Follow him on Twitter @RCDJunior.
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