Strategery 101: Principle Two [Part II]

In the last essay, I described what I believe is the foundation for change within our church and within any entity or organization—discovering that 20% of the church that believes as you do *and* would be willing to take some action, if they only knew one another.  I described the Worst Possible Scenario for one hapless band of adventurers in which their rector search process, bishop search process, and the entire Anglican Communion fell apart—and I hope that scenario revealed why, even in the worst of times, it’s best to be together rather than isolated.  [At the very least one gets people to whom one can complain and rant.  ; > ) ]  And I described why I didn’t think it is particularly helpful to try to convince vast hordes of Worthy Opponents of the senselessness of their cause.  I closed with an ominous question which was, how do we find our allies?  What if our unit is hiding?  And is there a secret handshake or password whereby we recognize such people?

I promised 10 or so ideas for helping you find fellow [but hiding] brave and courageous Roistering Episcopal Adventurers in your parish or diocese.  And below are 13 for your perusal and reflection and, hopefully, action.

1.  Do a little flag planting in your parish and/or your diocese.

Somewhere along the way, in order for “hidden Roistering Episcopal Adventurers” to come out from the woods, someone has to stand up, plant a flag, and sing out into the fog of battle and confusion.  Why not you?

Now, most Episcopalians are generally reserved, quiet souls, not given to “singing out into the fog”, much less “planting flags”.  And if you are one of those 9 out of 10 Roistering Episcopal Adventurers who does not naturally plant flags “in public” [I can just hear some of us now: “I planted a flag in my closet, in a quiet and modest manner.”] I refer you to Principle One of our series—REPENT.  ; > )

Seriously, it will be impossible to gather together any allies if none of the allies know *where to gather* in order to meet one another.  Hence the need for a flag, planted fairly high up, perhaps on a grassy knoll, so that everyone can see it.  Planting a flag simply involves somehow, in a public setting, clearly and forthrightly setting forth your opinion or offering factual information about what is confronting our parishes, dioceses, and national church.  It does not have to be loud, or ugly, or angry.  It simply must be in a public, mixed setting of Episcopalians.

Almost inevitably, you will be one of the few to do this—stand and plant a flag on a hill. 

One of the side effects of flag-planting is, of course, that certain of our Worthy Opponents in the crowd will feel threatened and angry over such a stance.  Most of the time, they depend on people *not speaking up* in meetings.  They depend on a sort of uneasy, troubled silence to settle over a crowd of Episcopalians as various of the traditionally minded in the group [often the vast majority in the room] wonder if they are the only ones that disagree with the stances of the national church, and then are cowed into silence and after the meeting scuttle away in despair.  So let me assure you that the consequence of your speaking out is that your flag—or mainly you yourself—will get figuratively “shot at” as Worthy Opponents attempt to silence the dissent. 

Prepare yourself for that side effect.

But the other side effect from your flag planting is that 1) certain traditionally minded Episcopalians will be heartened, realize that “I’m not the only one that thinks this way”, and gingerly speak up, and 2) certain others will approach you after the meeting or event is over—usually furtively and under cover of darkness—and let you know how much they approve.

I recall a time that I spoke up at a public meeting, and was so shell-shocked with horror that in order to recover I skulked back to the back of the room to sit on the floor near the “food tables”.  Presently, while others were speaking, a woman got up from the audience, drifted back to the back of the room too, and circled me ominously, rather like a shark, I thought.  I tried not to make eye contact.  ;

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Finally, she moved in closer for the kill, leaned over me, and said, in a hushed whisper . . . . "I think like you do."

My spirits suddenly revived! And we went out for coffee and conversation that night.

Where does one flag plant? Why, at conventions, at open meetings, at hearings, at deanery or convocation meetings, in small groups, in Sunday Schools, and any number of other venues.

Sadly, this means that you must attend such gatherings -- even while knowing that you will generally be outnumbered, since remember, our Worthy Opponents relish the political process in the Episcopal church. For them, going to a hearing on a Friday night is a lot like your going to a neighborhood cookout.

No matter. Show up faithfully and consistently, speak up gently and persistently, and you will find allies.

If there are *never* any meetings for you to show up at and flag plant -- then bite the bullet and mail some useful information to your entire parish. And sign your name to a sticky note on the packet stating how useful you found the information.

You will receive a few denunciations. But you will also receive some "thumbs-up" from non-flag-planting fellow Episcopalians.

2. Stop flag planting altogether.

Some of you have read the first idea and thought "harumph -- I love to flag plant and everyone just looks away and scurries for the door when I enter a room". ; >

)

If this is the case, I congratulate you.  You are the approximately one in ten Roistering Episcopal Adventurer who is a natural “flag planter”.  You are one of the few who enjoy speaking out, and frankly, if there were more of you in meetings there would probably be less of those strained, anxious silences.  [Note: I truly believe that Southern Baptists enjoy a ratio of 9 out of 10 as flag planters, but we’re in the Episcopal church, remember.]

But if you are a natural flag planter, than my suspicion is that your form of flag planting may resemble not so much “planting a flag in the hill” as hurling the pointy end of the flag into someone’s body, while doing a few war whoops and dancing around the corpse.  ; > )

You probably didn’t feel as if you did that.  You may have believed that you merely gently planted a colorful, banner, with the shield and crest and motto of a noble family on it, into a hill covered with violets and bluebells and climbing roses. 

But whether you were gentle or not—if your personality is “flag planting” than you may well have terrified your fellow shy Roistering Episcopal Adventurers into deeper hiding.

This leads us to one of the most difficult tasks that you—as a natural flag-planter—will ever do.  That task is to continue your circuit of deanery meetings, hearings, conventions, committees, vestry meetings, etc, etc, etc . . . and never say a public word.

This means that you will have to sit, hour after hour, while various Worthy Opponents stand up and speak sometimes vacuous or shrill or, frankly, clearly insane theology.  And you will smile vaguely and stare with deep interest and remain totally silent.  At the microphone time—silence from you.  If people know you, many of them will cast side-long glances at you, astounded that you have not yet spoken.  You yourself will have galloping blood pressure escalations, and frenzied clenching of your hands to the sides of the chair; you may believe that you are having a heart attack.  Facial tics may ensue.  [Keep smiling vaguely.]  But you must remain firmly planted.

This leads to a little communication principle that I have found to be quite constant over the years, in families, marriages, committees, and other groups.  If a person expresses doubt, concern, disagreement, then most people in the group can relax, sit back, and allow that person to *express the emotion or thought of the rest of the group*.  In other words, if you are always the one to “rise in disagreement with Worthy Opponent XY” then you have expressed all the disagreement felt by others in the group, and they do not then have to speak.  Why should they when you are carrying the particular emotion or stance of the rest of the traditionalists in the group?  In a strange way, your copious and forceful flag planting may produce a dysfunctional group or meeting, as others depend on you rather than take action themselves.  In classic communication theory, one calls this the “overfunctioner” [you, the natural flag planter] and the underfunctioner [the rest of the Roistering Episcopal Adventurers in the room].

I won’t guarantee that you will discover other Roistering Episcopal Adventurers.  But I will say that it is highly likely that others, in frustration and horror, will eventually speak out and plant a small flag.  They won’t speak up as quickly as you will want to—that’s why you’re usually the flag planter after all.  But eventually, they won’t be able to contain themselves.  Either that, or they will simply cease showing up to the events or meetings.  Should they speak, it is your job to jot down their name and approach them with an extended right paw of friendship at an appropriate time after the event.

3.  Accept the allies that God offers you.

Sooner or later, you will discover some folks in the pews next to you or in neighboring parishes who are officially Allies.  They are opposed to the shenanigans of the national church, and they are not simply opposed based on convenience [as in . . . our pledges went down or our capital campaign stagnated or our bishop may not get to go to Lambeth] but they are opposed based on theology, either that of a catholic sense of the church or an evangelical sense of the authority of scripture, or a combination of both.

At that point—at the point that you have a list of fellow Roistering Episcopal Adventurers in your parish or diocese—you will begin to tragically quibble in your own mind over the personality, gifts, forcefulness, speaking ability, reasoning ability, activity level, or some other noted defect in every single dang one of them.  In other words, you will raise your standards of what a “True Ally” really will do or offer.

Other than not flag planting, I would say that this is the primary difficulty amongst groups of Roistering Episcopal Adventurers—the deep disappointment in and lack of the ability to “work together” amongst us Roisterers.  Inevitably you will sit at some hearing or meeting and you will wonder where all of your allies are.  Or . . . should many of them be there . . . you will wonder why they are not speaking out.  Or you will wonder why they cannot agree with your incredibly brilliant strategic planning.  Or you will be shattered at their level of ignorance in theology or scripture or political strategizing.  Or you will violently disagree with one of their insane plans.

I considered an alternate wording for this principle: “Recognize that your allies will disappoint you terribly.”  More than any other group of people in the Episcopal church, your allies will break your heart.  You expect Worthy Opponents to be their usual frothing-at-the-mouth activist selves—they are often somewhat lovable too.  You expect that the Beloved Moderates will be “moderate”.  But when you find a real Roistering Episcopal Adventurer—that’s where your expectations are often bamboozled and disappointed.  They will do crazy things that ruin plans or meetings or elections or debates.  They will sit and stare vacantly into space in public meetings while you are hung, drawn, and quartered by Worthy Opponents.  They will often speak when they should have held their peace and remain stone cold silent as Ozymandias, when they should have been engaged in vigorous defense of the gospel.  Even if you have agreed on a course of action—they will run off and do something entirely different on the spur of the moment.  They will forget meetings and deadlines, fail to get their General Convention resolutions in on time, and all sorts of other dreadful horrors.

If you are struggling with deep disappointment in your parish or diocesan allies—you recognize that they are “legitimately Roistering Episcopal Adventurers” but they just don’t get it—I will submit to you that, though they have perhaps failed you and Jesus in some way, they are God’s gift to you at this time.  They may not have your gifts at speaking or conflict or planning [or whatever else you dream makes the best sort of ally] . . . . but they do have gifts.  And God is working within them, through His Spirit, to shape the person He dreamed of before they were conceived but that the world, the flesh, and the devil—the slings and arrows of the world, and the insults of man—marred and harmed.  Rather than go into a long rant about this, I’ll refer you to my essay defining Roistering Episcopal Adventurers for further detail.

Your job is to help them grow as people—even when they do not “meet your needs”—and forgive them for their imperfections.  Your job is, further, to take note of their gifts—the gifts with which God has endowed them —and encourage those gifts, even when they may not be what *you want*.  As I ponder my allies, I think of the one who is a prayer warrior, the one who patiently does financial planning, the one who is a whiz bang at planning events [but who will certainly never speak out at a meeting], the one to whom I go for counsel and advice, the one who *does* show up at all meetings and who speaks up [sometimes a bit forcefully], the one who quietly sits at home and mails me information he discovers—useful information too. 

I am asking that you look over your list of allies, and that you recognize their gifts, take note of where they might grow, and recognize that those are exactly the people that God wanted you to have so that you may work together and help to shape one another into the people God wants you to be.

If you have specific needs for talents and personalities that you don’t now have, then cast yourself on your face to God and ask Him.  And in the meantime, thank Him for the people He has led—and will lead—your way.

4.  Be a social butterfly.

The next several ideas below will involve places for researching your shy “Roistering Episcopal Adventurer” allies.  But undertake that research with the knowledge that you will need to be a “social butterfly”, which does not come naturally to some of us.  You will—as you discover your allies—need to work to solidify relationships with them.  That means lunching, and suppering, and wining [not whining], and dining, and coffees, and teas and cookies and cigar smoking porch conversations and small group meetings and little trainings and special speakers, and all sorts of stuff.

If you’re like the hobbits from The Lord of the Rings, Pippin and Merry [whom you may recall, desired to have “elevenses” and “afternoon tea” and “second breakfasts” during their adventures] you’ll enjoy this idea.  But you will need to engage in regular contact with your allies. 

This also means emails, and phone conversations, and carrier pigeons, and smoke signals.

In other words, whatever it takes to get to know others, and work together, and learn together, and connect, and become loyal allies, and finally to form a cohesive, active, healthy group—that’s what you will need to do.

5.  Find some “ally parishes” in your diocese.

If you are “all alone” in the fog, the very first place I would check would be the AAC affiliate parish pages for your state [though the diocese of each is listed], and the Network parish pages for your diocese.  Then I would move towards scoping out the parishes in your diocese that may offer the Alpha course.  It’s possible, of course, that a parish can offer the Alpha course and be ravingly revisionist.  But most ravingly revisionist parishes will use the Via Media course [you know, the course that the leftward fringe came up with to attempt to counter the wild success of Alpha].

Simply enter your zip code in and search on a radius of 150 miles.  All sorts of churches of varying denominations will come up.  But you may strike it lucky and find an Episcopal parish that offers Alpha in your diocese.

Should you find an AAC parish or Network parish in your diocese, by all means, hop into your car and take a road trip on a Sunday morning.  I would be honest and frank with parishioners and clergy about my intentions in visiting such parishes.  I’d explain that I am isolated and am looking to get in touch with people of like mind and thought that this parish might be the place.  You may even find some folks who will point you to some allies in your local area—you just never know.  Often, people at AAC and Network parishes are very plugged in to connections in other areas.  Should you decide to visit an Alpha parish, you may want to be a little more circumspect.  But still . . . I’d take the opportunity to reach out and connect with people.

6.  Find some ally clergy.

You will also want to reach out specifically to clergy who are known to be traditional.  Often—but not always—they also have their “ear to the ground” and can connect you with other laity or clergy in your local area.  And at least you’ll know *one* person—a clergyperson—in your diocese!  I would not be at all shy in approaching a clergyperson by phone, setting an appointment, and asking for an hour or so of his time for spiritual counsel and encouragement and advice, or simply offering to take him for coffee or lunch somewhere.

Often, there will be Network clergy in a diocese who either don’t have parishes [perhaps retired] or who do have parishes, but those parishes have not chosen to join the Network.  So make certain you check out this listing of Network clergy..

You may also want to try calling Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry or Nashotah House, and explain to them your situation and ask them if they know of any alumni in your diocese.  It’s certainly worth a try!

Finally, of course, there is the fabulous petition that David Roseberry put together for orthodox clergy to sign prior to this year’s General Convention.  They don’t offer that list to the public, I understand.  But if you have done your homework, and wandered around, it is highly likely that you will know a clergyperson who has signed the petition.  Make contact with him and ask him if anyone from your diocese signed the petition.  Each clergyperson who signed the petition has a full listing and an individual priest may be able to point you in the right direction.

7. Peruse letters to the editor in Episcopal publications.

This is great fun.  First of all, very few traditional Episcopalians take the trouble to write an Episcopal publication.  So when they do, the tone and content of their letter makes their stance quite clear.  I’ve discovered plenty of great traditional laypeople who have taken the trouble to write a letter.  So you would do well to painstakingly go through back issues of The Living Church and Episcopal Life, and scout out any letter writers from your diocese.  The Living Church letters are, I understand, only in the print versions; Episcopal LIfe archives their letters online.  And yes—I’ve been back through *years* of issues.  ; > )

Also—a much more global publication [still revisionist, though], but still possibly fruitful, is Anglicans Online.  Check out their letters as well, through back editions; they have archived each issue, and you’ll need to check on the letters in each issue separately.

8. Peruse letters to the editor and articles in your local and state newspapers.

This one is lots of fun as well.  Most state and local newspapers covered—sometimes cursorily and sometimes thoroughly—at minimum the General Conventions of 2003 and 2006.  And most of those issues are still available online.

Go to the web site of your large city newpaper and your state newspaper.  Surf back to the August 2003 issues.  And note that most of those stories on “local reaction” interviewed people from *both sides* of the issue.  Take note of those who are quoted as traditional sources—and give them a phone call.  It can’t hurt!  Do the same for the month of the 2006 General Convention.  You will be amazed at the reactions from clergy, senior wardens, and laypeople that reporters can dig up, local to your diocese.  Even the secular liberal media are generally *significantly* fairer than some diocesan publications that are, after all, usually attempting a propaganda push, working to convince Episcopalians that everyone in a diocese agrees and that there is no dissent.  ; > )

9.  Check out various online petitions for leads.
Lay online petitions have been pretty much constant over the past three years.  I’ve mentioned the fabulous Appeal to the Primates which, as I brooded at 2:00 in the mornings during late 2003, grew before my eyes, and finally caused me to snap and “411” signatories from my diocese.  Tragically, that first petition is offline.  I’ve always longed to have a copy of it, even if only for historic significance.

But here are three much smaller—but excellent—petitions that you can check out for leads.

George Woodliff, faithful and theologically astute priest in the Diocese of Mississippi, wrote this excellent piece on Rediscovering Christian Orthodoxy in Episcopal Anglicanism—and all sorts of traditional Episcopalians signed on to it [at the beginning of the document].  Check it out to see if anyone from your diocese came across it and signed it.

Fearless blogger Brad Drell has posted and highlighted this petition regarding the Schofield presentment for a while—we’re in the 800s on signatories and there are names from many many dioceses.

Finally, more than 700 people signed the statement of disassociation from the decision of the Executive Council of the Episcopal church to join the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. 

10.  Hang out at blogs and listserves.

Often, blogs and listserves will higlight news from particular dioceses.  And often those threads capture a lot of interest from people in that diocese.  If you note a comment from a person in your diocese, don’t hesitate to “sing out into the fog” and post a comment asking for a connection.  Over at Kendall Harmon’s site, the webelves will email a commenter with a request for contact for you.

I would also do a quick search for blogs in your diocese.  They’ll often be smallish, personal reflection type blogs.  But one never knows.  Someone may be blogging in your diocese who is an ally.  Simply try out a few blog search engines and type in the name of your diocese [or sometimes state] in quote marks [as in “Southeast Florida”] the word “diocese” and the word “episcopal”.  That should start you off . . . but you’ll need to experiment.  For instance, over at Technorati, you may search on “blog comments”, which will reap a host of returns, or “blog directory”, which considerably narrows the field.

If you should come across some “niche” blogs that feature a traditional Episcopal blogger in a specific diocese, please email the staff at Stand Firm so that we may consider highlighting it for others.

Naturally, hang out here at StandFirm!  ; > )  One nice feature is that if you are a registered user, you may email commenters through the StandFirm site [Log in and click ‘Your Account’ then go to ‘Private Messages.’ - Greg].  But also try Brad Drell’s excellent blog.

There is also a listserve—“Apostasy”—that is a fruitful place for networking.  There are separate state connections listserves that are not very active—but “sing out into the fog” on yours [after you sign up] and you will often get private email responses.  Simply introduce yourself and your purpose, and ask for conversation with people in your area, either by your private email or on the list.  Know that if you join, there will often be “rowdy” discussion and there will be lots of people from other Anglican bodies and other denominations entirely who will sometimes heatedly demand that you leave ECUSA and join them wherever they are!  ; > )  If you have already done your research on other denominations and determined that you are an Anglican, and if you have determined, after further research, that you will be camping for a while longer in the ECUSA branch of Anglicanism, then you’ll stay focused on your networking goal and meet some great people too. But the conversation is usually in the spirit of comradeship and good fun—and the monitors and founders of the listserve are careful to keep discussions and people “on track”.  Pay special attention to their databases of “Members Locations” and “Reliable Anglican Parishes”.  Those are fruitful places to discover both individual and Episcopal parish allies.

11. Join the AAC as an individual.

You’ll receive their print newsletter which not only provides editorial comment and news and analysis—but also usually provides a “case study” of efforts by laypeople to reform and renew in their area.  Just as important, the AAC’s Affiliates Administrator will be a good person for you to chat with, as you try to connect with others in your area.  Tell her I sent you!  ; > )

[Note: we lowly laypeople cannot join the Network as individuals—or I would send you there too!]

Don’t forget to also sign up for their weekly email newsletter.

12.  Attend any regional AAC, Network, ACI, or Mere Anglicanism events in your area [Tier Two registrants have “connections groups” at Mere Anglicanism events].  This is a great place to meet people in your region.  Even national events are great places to meet people from your diocese, as many dioceses hold lunches and small group meetings at such events.

13.  Consider attending Episcopal Witness for a training.

Episcopal Witness is a great antidote to the problem we all have of knowing one another only “through cyberspace”.  Furthermore, the program acknowledges that most Episcopalians—even the Roistering Episcopal Adventurers—are not lurking on blogs.  They’re sitting unhappily in their parish pews—and many of them have NEVER heard of StandFirm or Titusonenine or other blogs.  Episcopal Witness trains traditional Episcopalians to meet, converse with, inform, and connect with other traditional or moderate Episcopalians in isolated parishes.  The program was founded by Bill Boniface, who wrote Leaving the Shire and A Senior Warden’s Lament.  The AAC profiles and sponsors upcoming Episcopal Witness trainings, and you may contact a “real live human” through this email contact.

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