Episcopal Church dioceses in Michigan are a step closer to merger
Two Episcopal Church dioceses in Michigan are considering merging into one regional body. The final decision is pending approval by the denominational leadership later this month.
At a special convention held in March, the Diocese of Eastern Michigan and the Diocese of Western Michigan voted to approve a merger to become the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes.
The decision to combine the dioceses received 85% approval from Eastern Michigan delegates and 82% from Western Michigan delegates. It will next go before the 81st General Convention as resolution C025, which was recommended for approval by the General Convention’s committees on Governance & Structure in late May.
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Katie Forsyth, communications officer for both dioceses, told The Christian Post that the decision to merge followed five years of discernment.
“As a result of this long-term discernment, the facilitating committee came back with a recommendation that juncture would make the new diocese a better steward of resources (finances, people, and more), give us more tools and routes for the formation of disciples, and would better equip us to lead in the changing church — more adaptive and attuned to the realities of modern life,” she said.
According to Forsyth, the Primary Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes is already scheduled for Oct. 18-19 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. At this convention, the new regional body will consider adopting a new Constitution and Canons.
“For the last several years, the dioceses have been aligned in operations and programming as much as possible except for areas required to remain separate (financials, legal status, etc.),” Forsyth told CP. “This intentional ‘practice’ has given us some experience already with operating as one on the ground and with near total bi-diocesan staffing.”
As part of the unification efforts, the Joint Standing Committees of the regional bodies created several “working groups” focused on handling areas like staff organization, finalizing a constitution and canons, and episcopate ministry.
“A formal bishop search is expected to commence sometime following the Primary Convention of the new diocese in October,” Forsyth added, noting that both dioceses are being overseen by a parttime assisting bishop, the Rt. Rev. Gladstone Adams, III, while the Joint Standing Committees “hold the ecclesiastical authority.”
The Michigan dioceses are not the only local bodies of the Episcopal Church that are considering merging, with final approval expected at the General Convention.
Last month, the Episcopal dioceses of Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee voted to become the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin, with the Rev. Matthew Gunter expected to lead the new body.
Known as the Episcopal Wisconsin Trialogue, the merger process has often been identified as a “reunification” since the three dioceses were initially founded as one body in 1847.
For his part, Gunter stated in an April 2022 video that “the world is changing” and “the Church, as we are right now, is not ready to engage with the realities and the people shaped by them.”
“We need to adapt,” he said. “With two of the bishops of the dioceses in Wisconsin retiring at the end of 2020, we have an opportunity to take a fresh look at how we are organized.”
“To become one diocese, not just to create a bigger version of what we have been, but to look at what it might mean to reconfigure ourselves and organize ourselves as a diocese, so that we can be about mission.”
