On May 10th-11th, clergy from the Episcopal Church in Delaware, the Diocese of Easton in Maryland, and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe will join together via Zoom for a first-of-its-kind collaborative clergy conference to explore leadership in today’s evolving church.

Using his newly released book, We Shall Be Changed: Questions for the Post-Pandemic Church, The Rt. Rev. Mark D.W. Edington, Bishop-in-Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, will serve as guest speaker and facilitator for the two-day Conference.

“The book is what prompted us to contact Bishop Edington,” explains the Rt. Rev. Santosh Marray, Bishop of the Diocese of Easton.  “We were blessed to sit next to each other years ago at the House of Bishops gathering and so it felt natural to invite him to speak at our annual clergy conference.”

The Episcopal Church in Delaware joined the conversation soon after thanks to a well fostered collegial relationship between the neighboring Dioceses (Easton & Delaware). “The post-pandemic conversation is essential to the pursuit of God’s call to us as leaders of the Church,” acknowledged the Rt. Rev. Kevin S. Brown, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Delaware. “We are looking forward to sharing this conversation with colleagues beyond our Diocese.”

The presentations from Bishop Edington will bring into focus several topics from the pages of his book, including the leadership demands of the next church and addressing the reality of inequality in churches – asking the question, “are we one church in mission?”.

One important feature of the conference will be the intentional time given to the clergy to talk with colleagues from other dioceses.  They will reflect upon their reading of Bishop Edington’s book along with his keynote presentations, bearing in mind their own unique parish and geographic contexts. This intentional discussion time will give all of the participants an opportunity to see how ideas are being implemented across the wider Church.