Shortly before he was consecrated Bishop of South Carolina on Jan. 26, the Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence predicted that the Diocese of South Carolina would “light a torch” for internal reform of The Episcopal Church during remarks at diocesan convention.

A few days before the House of Bishops’ spring retreat March 7-12 in Texas, Bishop Lawrence spoke with a reporter about reform and maintaining the enviable growth record begun under the 16-year tenure of his predecessor, the Rt. Rev. Edward L. Salmon, Jr. Bishop Salmon accompanied Bishop Lawrence to the first House of Bishops’ meeting since his consecration.

Between 1996 and 2006, average Sunday attendance in the Diocese of South Carolina increased by 22 percent and the number of baptized members increased by 20 percent. The diocese also reported gains in attendance and members during the past five years. Only the Diocese of Tennessee grew faster during that time.

While admittedly still new to the diocese, Bishop Lawrence credited the enviable growth record to a tradition of raising up leaders from within. Bishop Lawrence compared the classical pastoral ministry training model of clergy education emphasized in South Carolina favorably to the “therapeutic/social activist ministry model” that he believe predominates elsewhere.

“One of the things that has gone wrong with The Episcopal Church during the past 40 years is its cultural amnesia,” Bishop Lawrence said. “Does the church of the past have anything to tell us about our situation today?” Sin and its ripple effects are no different today than they were in Jesus’ time, he concluded.

Bishop Lawrence has previously said he will wait a year before making any major changes in South Carolina. That said he has a low tolerance for weak, uninspired preaching.

“I feel unabashedly comfortable talking about my personal experience with Jesus Christ,” he said. “We [as a church seem to] get all tied up arguing about whether Jesus is the only way to God. He is God.

“The trouble with so much preaching in The Episcopal Church is that it resembles a new moralism. We ought to oppose the war. We ought to support the Millennium Development Goals … It’s a religion of nagging.

“Our preaching needs to be faithful to the gospel of the lordship of Jesus Christ. When our preaching is faithful, the Anglican/Episcopal tradition is more than capable of reaching our culture for Christ.”

Steve Waring

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