To My Beloved Parish Family,

I am writing today to add a personal note to the recent announcement from our rector, Steve Elkins-Williams, that has appeared in Crossings in the past weeks and is reprinted below.

As your Associate for Campus Ministry, priest, and friend, I want to give all of you in the parish community some background because this announcement that this next year will be a year of transition for me and for our campus ministry must come as a surprise and can cause some anxiety about what will happen next. All decisions have some intention and some consequence. It is important for me, because you are all so important to me, to describe a bit of the intention behind what has been announced in the Sunday Crossings. I believe that a comment made by a kind parishioner after the 7:30 service on June 1 helped make sense of some of this for me. This parishioner stopped at the chapel door and said, “Stephen, one of the things I have liked most about you is your openness to change.” I appreciate that remark because I think that, despite the value we place on ‘Old Chapel Hill' and all its wonderful memories and traditions, there is the side of Chapel Hill that has always been open to change. Students and immigrants, civil rights leaders and prophetic church leaders have helped shape that legacy too.

I hope that I can be remembered a bit for helping that legacy as well. I believe that there are some new vistas for Chapel Hill and the Chapel of the Cross and its campus ministry in particular. I have lobbied for some new visions for leadership and program for Episcopal Campus Ministry (ECM) for some time, and now it seems that our Lord and the parish leadership want that too. Both, I believe, say to me that God is ready for change. I have served both Baylor University and our Tarheel campus for a total of 18 of my 21 years of ordination as an Episcopal priest. I have spent almost two-thirds of my ordained ministry here at the Chapel of the Cross. Those have been good and growing and productive years of ministry. But all the while I have realized and respected the fact that this ministry, while entrusted to my service, is not “my” ministry—it is the Lord's and it has been entrusted to His Church to sustain. He has led our campus ministry through many decades and many changes, and He has enabled it to be what it is. He will continue to do so through new leadership far into a future we cannot control or see. We are a very old campus ministry, but we don't have to act that way! I trust that the Lord will enable some new ministry in my life as well. I am ready for His call and the changes and newness that He brings. My wife and son are ready to follow too, when the Lord says, “Come with Me,” whenever that might be.

I have been fortunate in my 13 years to have studied a lot of the 160+ year old history of this campus ministry. There have been many changes in the world since 1842 and many priests have served as chaplain and Associate here. I am the 14th chaplain since the Rev. (and later Bishop) Thomas Wright came here as the first Chaplain/Associate in 1931. Of those 14, my tenure has been the longest, having served over twice as long as any of my predecessors. I am proud of that continuity and proud of the history of my predecessors, and I shall be equally proud of the history of my successors as they come. My successor, who will come some time before next summer, will not be called to carry on Stephen's ministry (no pun intended!), but the new generation of this parish's ministry to UNC and that person will be called to support and value your student leadership, pastoral needs, and call to service. When that time comes, welcome that priest with open arms as you have welcomed me. Current students, in turn, will pass on their leadership to new students in the coming years as they have always done. So our rector has determined that we need to do everything possible to carry on and renew our campus ministry leadership at all levels—student, chaplain, faculty, parishioner, and parish staff. He has appointed a review committee of new and old campus ministry folks to attend to this task. It is called the “Fresh Look Project.” Let me assure you, as he will, that student input and participation will be honored and encouraged throughout. Not everyone will be on the “Fresh Look” committee, but its work and the work of the search committee that will look for a new chaplain associate will be made known to all. In essence, you all have a great opportunity to help shape the future of this ministry and I hope that you all will take every opportunity to do so.

In the meantime, I will remain fully engaged in my work here, preparing for the Fall and being available for students as always. I do not intend to be a ‘lame duck' chaplain and priest. As my discernment process moves forward I will be asking for your prayers and support, and I know it will be there. In a way I'll be graduating this coming year, along with some of our young adults! And like them, I will always hold Carolina in my heart. I welcome any comments and questions you may have about these changes. I love you all and all of you will be in my prayers for a peaceful and also exciting summer. As I hit the SEND button on this message, I am reminded that God hits the SEND button in our lives. I hope that the coming months can help us all embrace the Grace we need to say “Yes” when God calls.

Peace and Blessings,
Stephen

Crossings Announcement

I want to inform you about reviewing and discernment I and others have been engaged in concerning our campus ministry. With consultative help from the Rev. Bill Morley, Stephen Stanley and I have decided that this coming year will be a year of transition for him.
    While serving his fourteenth year as Associate for Campus Ministry, he will be discerning what God is calling him to and searching for a new position. Stephen and I have been having conversations about the timing of this transition for some time now, knowing that it was inevitably coming sooner or later. The demands of campus ministry are significant, and Stephen has already fulfilled them for more than twice as long as any predecessor! I am most grateful for the strong leadership and vision that Stephen has brought to the ministry of the Chapel of the Cross, and we owe him a great debt of gratitude. In this transition year, I want to celebrate his strong contribution to the parish’s ministry and to provide him as much support as possible in his discernment of future ordained ministry that will most benefit the Church, including him and his family.
    Over the summer an ad hoc committee, led by Vestry member Kevin Trapani with the consultation of Dr. Morley, will be assisting me in taking a fresh look at our campus and young adult ministry. I invite your reflections and your prayers.
– Stephen Elkins-Williams

Send items for inclusion in future "Cross Roads."
The deadline is the first Thursday of the preceeding month.