by Rev. Dr. Jim Warnock
I thought it would be a good idea to write a bit about our relationship with our Kenyan congregation, known as All Saints Goshen. Shortly after I came here, Fr. Paul Karume came to a service. He wanted to know if he could use our space for his own congregation. Over the next few months I and the Bishop’s Committee talked this over with diocesan officials and Bishop Greg. We were excited to receive them, effectively providing an entirely new place of worship for a fine group of people.
For the first few years they were essentially renters. That relationship changed at our last diocesan convention. There are several African congregations in the Diocese of Olympia, generally split between Sudanese and Kenyan. They had been designated as “mission stations” by Bishop Greg. Last year a new diocesan resolution designated them as “missions,” the same status held by our All Saints.
This is a good thing, but it changes our relationship with Goshen. We are now both missions in the Diocese of Olympia. Fr. Paul’s group will begin paying diocesan assessment next year as we do. He will have the dubious pleasure of filling out an annual report in January, and we are faced with many issues to resolve. Who pays the bills which we now share and how should we divide them? How do we handle scheduling of the facilities?
I’ve been interested in a.i. since I watched Star Trek while in high school. I envied Spock his tricorder but never thought I’d have one. Now I do, more or less, with my folding smartphone. It carries an AI, Gemini, which I’m finding useful (not in writing sermons or articles!). I asked Gemini about two missions sharing the same facility. She (a knowledgeable friend informed me that insiders refer to AI in the feminine, although others consider this a dangerous humanization of a machine) found some, and also uncovered a “memorandum of understanding” which defines how that works. It’s been approved by our b.c. and Fr. Paul has expressed satisfaction with it. It now needs to be approved by the diocesan chancellor and probably other people, but I think it will work. I’ve included it in the next segment, below. Ask me any questions you might have and please let me know what you think.