Our Priorities
In May 2017, The Episcopal Church announced “Becoming Beloved Community: The Episcopal Church’s Long-term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice.” It was not another program; it was a path for all of us to follow.
As outlined by the Church, Becoming Beloved Community has a focus on racial healing and is comprised of four components: tell the truth; repair the breach; proclaim the dream; and practice the way of love. There is no short cut on any of these paths; indeed, as the Church’s Becoming Beloved Community logo depicts, the path is so circuitous and winding, it comes to resemble a labyrinth. It is an apt analogy, because while the journey on a labyrinth may take many turns, if you keep on it, eventually you will find the center.
The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina is already on that journey, and we easily recognized ourselves and the mission work to which we’re dedicated in the path outlined in Becoming Beloved Community. In looking at what has been accomplished in recent years and where we want to go in the years ahead, it became clear the path we were already on meshed with the one outlined by the Church.
And so it is a path we continue to follow. Continuing our work in the area of racial reconciliation and healing remains a focal point. In addition to that, we are guided by four other priorities that support, complement and intertwine with that reconciliation work. They build on our answered call to be part of the Jesus Movement, recognizing its call to unity through mission and movement more than church structure and the institution. They keep us on our road to Galilee, where we continue to go out in the world, seeking out our neighbors and increasingly seeing the importance of “being with others” as well as “doing for others.” If the Jesus Movement is the journey and Going to Galilee the map, our work in Becoming Beloved Community is our mission.
In the unfolding and expanding of our mission, there are many expressions of how we accomplish our goals. There are models both traditional and innovative. One size does not fit all. The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of North Carolina is a “God-send” - in the apostolic definition of the word that is it God who is sending us – to our state and to the wider church. And while the Church’s Becoming Beloved Community is rooted in four priorities, ours is rooted in five.
