We seek a rector who has a strong liturgical presence, who does not shy away from controversy or the difficult questions of the Jesus movement. We also seek a rector that will be a spiritual shepherd in guiding us to meet the needs of our growing congregation.
We hope our next rector will be a communicative leader who helps us become better servants of our region, to form more diverse allyships with religious, philanthropic, and civic organizations that make our community more equitable, and to help us plan our next capital campaign to help develop our physical sanctuary for more activities than Sunday worship.
Our administrative staff is small and mighty, and our congregation’s talents are underutilized. We seek a motivator and connector to help our congregation become more visible to one another and to our rapidly growing community of the Grand Strand (one of the fastest-growing regions of the country).
If you also seek a congregation that will engage in active dialogue, be ready to work, and help spread radical love, we hope you’ll join us.
You can also view our OTM Profile.
Liturgical Presence
In our brief history, we have been honored with skilled preachers and reverent celebrants at the altar. Our parish craves and is gratified by worship leaders that are graceful, wise, and provocative.
Our next rector will find that homilies are consumed, discussed, (occasionally!) critiqued, and that the preacher is given due respect by our attention and reflection. Some listeners will be theologically sophisticated, seeking nuanced exegesis. Some will be unchurched or newly re-churched, seeking comfort and welcome in the message. Some will appreciate wit and irony; others will want anecdotes and affirmation. All in all, however, our next rector will find in the homily a space to connect with an earnest and generous congregation that is eager to learn and grow.
Outside the homily, our worship has been traditional, with forays into alternative prayers and canticles as the seasons require. Our next rector would be wise to study the context of our combination of orthodox liturgy and progressive ministry. When the schism came to the Diocese of South Carolina in 2012, our former bishop and his following clergy took special care to tear down the unifying elements of The Episcopal Church in order to make the case that the diocesan bishop had magisterial authority. Chief of these elements to be de-legitimized was The Book of Common Prayer, especially and including the familiar formularies and eucharistic prayers. Those self-styled “Anglicans” held up the 1928 prayer book as theologically sound and the 1979 prayer book as a product of progressive theology.
As a worship group and later a mission church, St. Anne’s viewed weekly liturgy as derived from The Book of Common Prayer as a core part of our heritage, and a unifying element in a time of dissension and diaspora. And, practically speaking, we had so many supply priests that there was no good way to innovate in liturgy. The old familiar, rather than being worn out by use, became a refuge, even as we had uncertainty about our fiscal viability and physical location.
This is not to say we are inflexible and hide-bound when it comes to worship. A skilled rector will know how and when liturgical changes are appropriate and invigorating. But for St. Anne’s the liturgy has had a particular and peculiar centrality to our identity as a congregation.
Finally, whatever one thinks of homilies and liturgies, we seek a rector who is committed to missional worship. We don’t want or expect to file out of the church on Sundays satisfied and comfortable; we hope to be charged through worship to minister in our community and the world. St. Anne’s views liturgy as the vessel of The Great Commission, not an end unto itself.
Spiritual Wisdom
Because St. Anne’s was formed by the laity and was lay-led for much of its formative years, we do not seek a rector-as-CEO, but instead a rector-as-shepherd. We are a worldly church, perhaps too worldly, with an educated and privileged membership that is prone to self-satisfaction and even occasional self-righteousness. Rugged independence and pragmatism served us well as we grew up against daunting odds, but we crave a rector who will call us to our higher selves and lead us to be more thoughtful, prayerful, and humble.
This may be an odd thing to put in a parish profile, but we are an odd church. Many of us know how to be Episcopalians. We can be more Episcopalian than thou, as it were, because we wanted to create an outpost for our denomination in a community that ranges from indifferent to hostile to forms of Christianity that are radically inclusive. That mission has cultivated strong, dedicated, and self-confident lay leaders; we’ve never lacked for talented Wardens, and competent vestries.
But no lay leaders, no matter how well-informed, can replace the priestly function. Our next rector will find that the growing spiritual needs of our community are yet to be met, and that we have a great deal of work to do to become true brothers and sisters to each other and servants of Christ. We need a deeper, more active engagement with the Holy Spirit. We seek a rector who can foreground spirituality as a necessary priority of a healthy Christian community.
Administrative Skill
St. Anne’s is brimming with opportunity and energy, and its direction will require a deft hand at organizational leadership. Our vestry is excited to begin a capital campaign, and we seek a collaborator on that journey. We seek experience and energy, to help us discern: Are there new ministries we should establish, and old ones that warrant review? We are well-governed, but could we be more efficient, more transparent, and more responsive to our brothers and sisters?
As a one-clergy congregation, St. Anne’s needs a rector who can handle the operations of the parish, in partnership with the Vestry, so that we can take advantage of all that lies before us. Administrative and leadership skills that motivate congregants to use their gifts and abilities to move the parish mission forward would be valued in the new Rector.