An unaccredited seminary with neither buildings nor faculty — yet buttressed by a robust endowment — EDS is determining what particular offering it will bring to the church in its current iteration.

In the spring of 2023, EDS parted ways with Union Theological Seminary, through which it offered a residential, degree-awarding program. At the time of the announcement, the Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, the former dean, said the disaffiliation positioned the school to offer the kinds of “flexible formats, creative pedagogies, and innovative credentialing opportunities” students now seek.

A year and a half later, many questions remain as the school emerges from 12 months of strategic planning: Should the school seek reaccreditation? Does it need a faculty? What academic programs, if any, might it offer?

“We’re kind of flying the plane as we’re building it,” said Bucklin, who began in her role August 1.

Being unburdened by overhead costs gives EDS time to consider those questions and find the gaps in current theological education offerings, Bucklin said.

A 2015 EDS graduate, Bucklin succeeds Douglas, who served as dean from 2017 to 2023 and then as interim president until June of this year. Bucklin has served since 2018 as canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Northern Michigan in Marquette. She plans to keep working from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as dean of EDS.

As the daughter of the late Rt. Rev. James Kelsey, former Bishop of Northern Michigan, Bucklin grew up in a ministry family and was formed by the church. Kelsey’s tragic death in 2007 prompted Bucklin, who has a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, to reconsider her professional calling.

“It was one of those moments where life is just flipped upside down and you reevaluate everything,” she said.

She joined the staff of the Diocese of Iowa as a lay leader of children and youth ministry. In 11 years with the diocese, she oversaw young adult ministry, communications, congregational development, church planting, and lifelong formation.

She didn’t have ordination in mind when she enrolled at EDS.

“I really just wanted some good theological formation that would kind of put me at the same level as my clergy colleagues,” she said. “And then, part way through my education at EDS, I planted a little church and started needing those sacramental tools in order to live into my vocation. And, so, by the time I graduated I was on the ordination track.”

She was initially hesitant to pursue orders. Her father and other mentors had always affirmed the role of lay leaders, and that’s how Bucklin had envisioned herself living her calling.

“I didn’t want to change who I was, and I had seen that happen with others where they got ordained and all of a sudden, they [felt] they had to live into what felt intimidating in terms of the ‘mother knows best’ or ‘father knows best’ model,” she said. “And what I found was that I could still be Lydia while I was ordained. I could still be called into a ministry of reconciliation and healing, just in different ways as an ordained person.”

Since graduation, Bucklin has remained connected to her alma mater. In the past year, Bucklin has convened listening sessions seeking feedback from among the school’s 1,650 living alumni on what they found valuable about their formation at EDS, and the needs they have in their current ministries.

Bucklin said those conversations revealed gaps in the traditional theological education landscape, which is designed to equip clergy to serve in a different context than where many find themselves. In particular, Bucklin said there is a need in the church for training related to “community engagement in an intercultural context.”

“This model of one priest per congregation is no longer the norm for most places in the Episcopal Church,” she said. “… What we found is that there are a lot of needs that are really different for the church right now that the seminaries haven’t been able to keep up with, just because of the fast pace of the changing church.”

How EDS plans to meet those needs remains to be determined. Bucklin said it could look like offering certificate-granting continuing education programs. Another opportunity is in Clinical Pastoral Education, especially for students living in rural areas where the long distance to CPE placements are prohibitive, she said.

“EDS could partner with a diocese or with another school to offer a hybrid-remote CPE experience, where someone could find a local hospital or prison or chaplaincy location and then we would hold the online cohort to do the formation piece of it,” she said.

She also would like EDS to offer writing labs for up-and-coming scholars.

“It’s a hard time to be a scholar and theologian, especially for emerging scholars and theologians. I would love to find ways that we can support the writing and advancement of theological thought in fresh ways for those folks who are called into that ministry,” she said.

The school does not plan to resume a Master of Divinity program, the standard offering of a seminary.

EDS traces its origins to the 1974 merger of Philadelphia Divinity School and Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, both of which were founded in the mid-19th century. Facing declining enrollment and a deficit, the EDS board of trustees voted in 2016 to stop granting degrees at the end of the academic year.

The school sold its Cambridge campus and affiliated with Union Theological Seminary in New York City, allowing Episcopal seminarians to enroll in EDS’s Anglican studies program at UTS. The partners announced their disaffiliation in March 2023, halfway into the decade-long term of their agreement.

In its next chapter, EDS is well-positioned to host online learning groups, as the school was an early adopter of distributed learning, said Bucklin, who completed her M.Div. through the school’s hybrid program.

“In a lot of ways, that cutting-edge, different way of doing theological education has been part of the EDS story, she said. “Now we’re seeing more seminaries that are doing that, but that’s definitely part of my hope for what we continue to do, is that we make theological education accessible to people.

“I think there will always be a place for the residential seminaries and that standard three-year program, and I think it’s a ‘both/and,’” she added. “I wonder where those gaps are that EDS can, in a noncompetitive collaborative way, work together with other seminaries and formation programs in diocese and supplement what’s already out there.”

At a time of decline in the church and among seminaries, Bucklin’s outlook on theological education is expansive. As many schools are downsizing or eliminating programs, EDS has resources to share, she said.

“I take that responsibility really seriously in terms of how we can be generous and, in hospitality with the other seminaries, how we can share resources,” Bucklin said of her school’s $80 million endowment.

Similarly, as parishes are increasingly unable to sustain a full-time priest, Bucklin said it’s time to equip more laypeople for the work of the church.

“What this shift in the church has resulted in is the need for not just ordained folks to talk about theology and to use their gifts for ministry, but really … for everybody digging in to use our baptized gifts for collaborative shared ministry.”

Without buildings to maintain or faculty to support, administrative costs at EDS are low. The school’s sole footprint is the office space it leases at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. In addition to Bucklin, the staff includes a director of programming and operations, a director of strategy and operations, and a part-time office assistant. The school is seeking a communications manager. The next high-priority hire, Bucklin said, is to bring on someone to oversee theological formation and develop curriculum.

After a month at the Lake Delaware Boys Camp, campers have returned home. The staff, too, have left for the summer. And for the first time in over four decades, camp directors Fr. Adams and Sue don’t need to rush back three hours west to resume parish ministry in Geneva, New York.

“We are, for the first time, I think, experiencing what being retired is like,” said Sue. “It hasn’t quite hit yet.”

Jim closed out his career of 43 years as rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Geneva, a town of 13,000 people in the Finger Lakes Region, just before camp began in July. It’s a remarkable tenure when compared to national pastoral tenure averages, which are estimated around five and seven years.

Jim’s longevity at the parish has lent the stability needed to develop and grow thriving ministries, of which St. Peter’s is home to many: a nonprofit community arts academy, four active choirs, well-attended Adult Christian Education classes and a weekly free meal program. It has kept the congregation strong and stable at a time when many churches across the Northeast have seen major decline.

Sue has served as Jim’s partner in ministry, both as St. Peter’s church administrator and a leader of its various ministries. Since 1988, the couple has also run Lake Delaware Boys Camp, an academy-style summer camp that offers — in addition to the customary summer camp activities of sports, zip lines, swimming, and overnight camping — a Drum and Bugle Corps and daily chapel services from the Book of Common Prayer.

While churches led by long-tenured clergy can run the risk of stagnancy — and, often, decline — throughout his career Jim innovated as he remained rooted in a single community.

“In Pentecost, the Old Testament readings from Joel talk about your young people having visions and old men dreaming dreams, and I think that’s true for parish ministry — to have visions and dream dreams,” Jim said.

Jim attended Nashotah House Theological Seminary in the late 1970s, when former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey taught ascetical theology.

“I remember him saying that, as a parish priest, you can never expect the commitment of the congregation ever to be any greater than your own,” Jim said. “And so that stuck with me, that the commitment to the gospel, the commitment to Christ, the commitment to the parish, was at the core of leadership.”

Upon graduation, Jim completed his curacy at Christ Church in Cooperstown, New York. He served there for three years before accepting the call in 1981 as rector of St. Peter’s, described by his bishop at the time as “a parish with a distinguished past and a questionable future.” Founded in 1853 by the first bishop of Western New York as an Episcopal mission, the church had fallen on “some hard decades” amid the wider economic decline of its region, Jim said.

“The bishop said, ‘We can give it three years and see what happens,’” he said.

Jim and Sue quickly “fell in love” with St. Peter’s and were captivated by its history. They also sensed parishioners were eager to grow, Jim said.

“It was a small congregation at the time that really wanted to grow spiritually and really wanted their church to thrive, so they were totally open to change and to new visions,” he said.

Jim started offering Bible studies, and parishioners showed up in large numbers.

“It was a real time of spiritual renewal for the congregation and for us,” he said, adding that Christian education and Bible studies have remained a core part of the church’s life over the decades.

Five years into his ministry at St. Peter’s, Jim spearheaded a large capital campaign to renovate and restore the church’s gothic architecture in accord with the original design, while also creating a space suited for worship according to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

The result was a downtown campus better positioned to serve the community, and the church began channeling its energy and resources into local mission. Looking to strengthen the parish’s connection to the local community, Sue launched a weekly event called Neighbors Night, openings the doors to area children to enjoy a free meal, games, and fellowship.

“It began with that handful, eight to 10 kids every Wednesday night, and we’d have some fun songs and games and crafts and a Bible story — just planting some seeds — and we’d have a snack,” Sue said. “And then after several months we realized that for some of the kids that was going to be their dinner, so we asked people from our church to provide a pot of soup. As our numbers grew, then we had a retired teacher, who was a member of the parish that loved to cook, and he cooked a full dinner for the neighbors. We’d have up to 100 kids.”

The ministry continues today. The church now delivers meals — a response to COVID — often accompanied by crafts and school supplies. The change in model has given volunteers more insight into the transient living situations of some neighborhood children and allows the church to serve the entire family, Sue said.

“It’s been really important to the parish,” she said. “A number of years ago, a member said to me, ‘If Jesus belonged to St. Peter’s, he’d be volunteering at Neighbors Night.’ It became highly recognized and appreciated in the whole community throughout the years, and as St. Peter’s has continued to grow and develop and thrive, it has become more and more recognized as a real important asset to the community.”

Inspired by a sabbatical spent at Salisbury Cathedral in the early 1990s, Jim realized the next opportunity for St. Peter’s was to build a great music program. The parish then hired a recent graduate of the University of Cambridge as the church organist, choirmaster, and youth director. That seed of a music ministry would eventually grow to include three youth choirs and an adult choir.

“It was, again, the parish being willing to hear about a dream and them being willing to carry it out and support it,” Jim said.

In the early 2000s, the Adamses began pursuing their next dream: opening an Episcopal parish school. After touring 20 Episcopal schools throughout the country, the couple saw a more pressing need in the community for arts education that was accessible to students, regardless of their families’ ability to pay, and St. Peter’s had the resources to meet that need.

“We already had great musical people on staff, and we have these great big buildings that were inspiring places to make music,” Jim said. “Again, the parish got behind it and there was a lot of seed money that had to go into it.”

For the first few years, St. Peter’s Community Arts Academy ran on a deficit, but the parish continued to invest in the program until it became sustainable, Jim said. Today, it serves over 300 students. St. Peter’s held a successful $2 million capital campaign for a new building, with funds coming largely from outside the parish. Through a collaboration with the Geneva City School District, the arts academy offers lessons for free to public school students who might not otherwise be able to afford them.

Sue has led the arts academy as executive director, in addition to her work as parish administrator.

“We didn’t do rest very well,” Jim said. “We took two sabbaticals in the 43 years, and one led to us starting choirs and the other led to us starting the school.”

There were plenty of opportunities to take other jobs over the years, including some at “very attractive parishes,” but Jim said he always felt there was more work to be done at St. Peter’s.

“We kind of made the decision that, instead of looking to move to a larger church or a bigger position, it was going to be much more rewarding to try and make St. Peter’s a great church,” Jim said. “And so that became our goal: to make St. Peter’s a great church rather than to climb a ladder.”

Some studies, including a 2014 survey of the Episcopal Church, show a bell-curve relationship between clergy tenure and church growth. A congregation is likely to grow gradually through a priest’s initial years with the parish, with the likelihood of growth beginning to decline after five years. Clergy age is also associated with parish growth, the same study found. The rate of congregational growth was highest among parishes with a priest 39 years and younger, with rates decreasing accordingly with older priests.

Still, Jim remains convinced of the value of an effective long-term pastorate. Membership and attendance at St. Peter’s have been remarkably stable, even as the town’s population steadily declined. Even after a pandemic slump common to many churches, attendance at St. Peter’s in 2022 was 85 percent of what it was a decade before.

Often when churches reflect on their golden age of growth and stability, it was under the leadership of a long-term pastor, he said.

“None of [St. Peter’s initiatives] could have happened if we hadn’t been there that long,” he said. “It was long enough, several times over, to have a dream, and then make that dream become a concrete goal. It takes years to accomplish those things. I don’t think any of those things could have happened without the long-term trust.”

He shares the credit with St. Peter’s vestries, which grounded his big dreams in practicality and found the resources to execute them.

The search is now underway at St. Peter’s for its next rector. Sue and Jim plan to remain in Geneva and, after giving the parish space during the transition, they say they might make their way back to its pews.

“If whoever the next rector is is comfortable to invite us to sit in the pew, that might be on our radar,” Sue said.

“We ended with so much mutual love and admiration and appreciation between pastor and people there. That meant so much to us and leaves us feeling so fulfilled,” Jim said. “During that last year, there were a lot of tears, but also a feeling of real gratitude. It was not contradictory for them to be sad at the thought that we were going to be retiring but yet knowing it was time and looking forward with excitement to the future.”

A Reading from Acts 4:4-12

4 But many of those who heard the word believed, and they numbered about five thousand.

5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are being asked how this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. 11 This Jesus is

‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
    it has become the cornerstone.’

12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

Meditation

The story of Ananias and Saphira is not a passage on which I typically spend much time meditating. In fact, when making my way through the book of Acts, I prefer to read it quickly and not dwell on it for very long. 

At the beginning of this passage, we read about the early believers’ generosity, their pooling of resources and distribution to those in need. In the very next chapter, we read this account of stinginess, a couple holding back just a little bit of their earnings for themselves. The radical open-handed posture of the early church has already begun closing off. The act of withholding, in and of itself, doesn’t seem to be what triggers Peter’s severe reaction, but rather the couple’s methodical scheming and dishonesty.

I’ll be honest: I don’t know what to make of what comes next. I never have. But reading the text plainly, I know that two people sinned against their community, lied about it, faced censure, and dropped dead. If we read our whole Bibles, we know that these two things can be true: God is merciful beyond our wildest imaginations, and He takes sin seriously, often beyond the bounds of our comfort. In light of that, each week we acknowledge this truth before approaching his altar: “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Ghost, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy Holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Lauren Anderson-Cripps is director of communications and marketing at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and writes for a variety of publications, including The Living Church. Lauren lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Sam, and their dog, Tennessee Jed. 

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Ibba – Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
Christ Church Christiana Hundred, Wilmington, Delaware

A Reading from Acts 4:13-31

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.14 When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. 16 They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it.17 But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18 So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; 20 for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 21 After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

23 After they were released, they went to their own people and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, 25 it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:

‘Why did the gentiles rage
    and the peoples imagine vain things?

26 The kings of the earth took their stand,
    and the rulers have gathered together
        against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

27 “For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”31 When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Meditation

Have you ever been so consumed by something that you can’t not talk about it? At various times in my life, topics of fixation might have been a work project or a particularly good book. I’m now the mother of a six-month-old, so any conversation is an opportunity to talk about my son’s sleep patterns, his favorite books, and his preference for banana over avocado. These are the things that consume me. I can’t not talk about them. 

In today’s passage, we read about Peter and John being so compelled by the resurrection of Jesus that they can’t help but talk about it, even in the face of hostility: “For we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” For these men, the only faithful response to what they have witnessed is to share it with anyone who will listen. Whether in the temple courts or in jail, addressing Jewish leaders or a beggar, they speak with boldness. They can’t not talk about it. 

In response, we see two different reactions: the people praise God for the miracle they’ve witnessed, while the leaders see it as a threat to be neutralized. Both responses show the power of the message. 

We can’t control how the Gospel is received, but we must be faithful in our proclamation. How might we become so consumed with Jesus and his saving work that we too can’t keep from speaking about it? 

Lauren Anderson-Cripps is director of communications and marketing at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and writes for a variety of publications, including The Living Church. Lauren lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Sam, and their dog, Tennessee Jed. 

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Ibadan South – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, Florida

A Reading from Acts 4:1-12

1 While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, 2 much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the word believed, and they numbered about five thousand.

5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are being asked how this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. 11 This Jesus is

‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
    it has become the cornerstone.’

12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

Meditation

As far as redemption arcs go, Peter’s is among the best in all of scripture. Let’s back up to just weeks before this encounter with the Jewish leaders: Peter shrank in fear and abandoned Jesus when pressed, thrice denying his friend. He counted the cost of following Jesus and found it too high.  

Today’s story represents a total 180. Peter is bold, courageous — reckless, even — in his response to the Jewish leaders. He’s counted the cost and recognizes Jesus to be worthy of his obedience. To what can we attribute this transformation?

Peter has witnessed Jesus’ sacrifice, he has encountered the risen Lord, he has experienced the Savior’s forgiveness, and he has received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Having been so changed, Peter now fulfills Jesus’ command to heal the sick and boldly declares Him to be the “only name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” 

It is one thing to do good deeds, but it takes courage for us to declare the name of Jesus. May we count the cost and, like Peter, find Him to be worthy. 

Lauren Anderson-Cripps is director of communications and marketing at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and writes for a variety of publications, including The Living Church. Lauren lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Sam, and their dog, Tennessee Jed. 

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Ibadan North – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Trinity Episcopal Church, Asheville, North Carolina