Episcopal Bp. Greg Rickel, other local Protestant leaders get creative about revitalizing their churches

Bishop Greg Rickel, head of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington, is preaching on this Easter Sunday at St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle. Rickel is one of several recently arrived heads of mainline Protestant denominations who are trying new ways of operating in a swiftly changing culture.
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
April 4, 2010

Excerpt:
Rickel gets that, nowadays, it's not enough for churches to say what they're against; they must convey a positive message of what they're for. He tries to guide church members into a clear understanding of who they are and what they have to offer so they can communicate that passionately, especially since so much of how churches grow these days is by word-of-mouth.

He tells an anecdote about a local professor who sent his students to St. Mark's. The students reported back, saying parishioners there "really believe in what they're doing. We just don't know what it is (they believe in)."

Rickel himself is liberal on many issues — in support of expanded domestic-partnership rights for gays and lesbians, and of immigration overhaul, for instance. He has ordained, and says he will continue to ordain, gay and lesbian clergy. He cherishes his denomination's embrace of a wide variety of viewpoints, and he decries the actions of conservatives who've left the church over disagreements about homosexuality and interpretation of Scripture. the rest

In the Olympia Diocese, which covers Western Washington, the number of Episcopalians declined from about 38,000 to 31,000 between 1985 and 2006 — even as the state's total population grew. Rickel's had to close one parish, and his predecessor two, because of dwindling numbers.