1999
Robert Raymond Hansel
What You Already Have is All You Need: A Description and Assessment of the Lay-Led St. Brigid’s Episcopal Ministry in Batersville, Indiana
This thesis documents the first four years of a new-start congregation in Batesville, Indiana. Diocesan Mission Strategy set out to see what would happen if all of the “standard wisdom” regarding demographics, property ownership, funding, and ordained leadership were totally ignored in setting up a new church. St. Brigid’s was conceived, from the beginning, as a lay-led ministry (with a group of retired or extra-parochial clergy serving as sacramentalists only) meeting in a rented chapel, determined to use all their resources in the service of others instead of acquiring institutional security for themselves. Total Ministry principles are shown to be practical and feasible basis for any situation considered “marginal” according to traditional norms and standards. The theological model follows the New Testament feeding miracles: take what God has already provided, prayerfully commit it to God’s service, offer it fully for those in need, and it will always be enough.