An Archdeacon Appointed

An Archdeacon Appointed

Bishop Northwood has appointed an Archdeacon, which is a role of recognition as well as a mark of honor. The role has been appointed to Deacon Larry Rieger of Saint Michael’s and All Angels Church, Virginia. He is being recognized for his dedicated service to his church, to his Diocese and previously, his district. He has served since it’s formation, on the Bishop’s Council as well as on the board of his local parish. He has been faithful in trivial tasks and matter of great import. Deacon Rieger has graciously accepted his new role and will be publicly installed in the Spring of 2022. The role is both a great honor and a great responsibility as our diocese has in mind a vision for further establishing the Kingdom of God in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Delaware. This is no small undertaking and the Archdeacon will be pivotal in this regard. Thank you Deacon Larry from the people of the Diocese of the Mid Atlantic for your continued service.

Deacon Rieger is the resident Deacon and parish administrator for Saint Michael and All Angels. He is a graduate of a Benedictine college (Belmont Abbey).  Separate from a secular bachelors and masters education, the Deacon also holds a Masters of Theology from Kings College, has completed his coursework at Saint Michael’s Seminary of the CEC. He was ordained to the ancient and apostolic order of the Diaconate on 24 June, 2017.

Deacon Rieger had a successful secular career, starting as an Infantry Officer in the 82d Airborne Division. He remained in the reserves both in the US and overseas before he transferred to the retired reserves as a Major. He served the Army as a civilian for 36 years before retiring in 2015 to pursue full time ministry work.

2021 Clergy and Wives Retreat Recap

2021 Fall Clergy and Wives Retreat October 7th-9th (Synopsis by Fr. Jeffery Welch)

Early in October this year our Bishop Rob Northwood hosted all the clergy and their wives of our Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic CEC at a Spiritual Retreat at Solomon Island’s Holiday Inn. The Lord gave us beautiful weather on the ride there and all through the Retreat. We were blessed with several guests especially our Patriarch Bp. Craig Bates and his wife Cathy and Rev. Dr. Bob Engle From World Vision and The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI).

Bishop Rob led us in Holy Communion Friday morning bringing us the first message through the sermon. He emphasized our Church’s mission to take the full gospel into all the world through signs and wonders as well as preaching and teaching. We do this because “our” Church is not ours!  It belongs to our Lord Jesus. As in the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well, we are called to find ‘key’ people who will help open up whole communities to the gospel.  He concluded that we needed to form small discipleship groups within the parish to minister and reach outside our parish.

Bob Engle taught the next two sessions. He shared his experiences as a World Vision missionary to the inner city (with his family) since 1982 and how God called him to learn different cultural languages. It was not always easy.  But just like Jesus’ example there is no ‘gain without pain’! His talks were filled with ‘truth nuggets’ such as “If you want people to learn to build a ship, teach them to love the lonely immensity of the sea;” All the while emphasizing we are in an invisible spiritual war between two Kingdoms; How the currency of the galaxy is souls; and Jesus is LORD of all. This means the Church is central to our Christian life, the gospel is the basis of discipleship, the Holy Spirit empowers us for action, and we need to embrace and share the Kingdom of God. He added there is no great commission without a great submission to Christ.

Our Patriarch Bishop Bates preached at the Holy Communion on Saturday morning as the Retreat ended. He shared extensively of his personal spiritual journey including how God led him into the CEC and it’s early growing pains (as any creature of God experiences). He emphasized our need to re-commit to all three “streams” of the CEC, particularly true revival through our evangelical efforts. He emphasized the priesthood of all believers, not just the ordained clergy, and that true revival comes from committed laity involved in liturgy, charismatic ministry and going out to make disciples of all nations (including differing cultures). He left us with this golden truth-nugget: We don’t bring people to Christ… we are to bring Christ to the people where they live.

Great fellowship was enjoyed by all at meals and times of relaxed sharing while seated outside each evening. It was a refreshing and wonderfully challenging Spiritual time. Thank you Bishop Rob.

New Deacons

The Diocese was reinstated a little over a year ago and already we are blessed. Two new deacons have been added to our clergy this past Saturday, Jul 11th. Deacon Samuel Foss and Deacon Caleb Northwood have completed years of study and ongoing discernment to pursue the vocations that God has placed on their lives.

In early 2017, a call was given to the men of the Mid-Atlantic Diocese (then district) to rise up and heavily consider the possibility of seminary and leading God’s people. Foss, Northwood, and nearly a dozen others responded. Since that time, the Mid-Atlantic Diocese structured Saint Stephen’s certificate program, a training environment for those interested in expanding their leadership capacity in their own church or considering holy orders through the CEC’s Saint Michael’s Seminary. The program, now a certificate administered by Saint Michael’s Seminary, was and is open to men of differing denominations and attracted men of all ages and backgrounds to further their learning and growth as spiritual leaders.

Both Deacon Samuel and Deacon Caleb completed two years of study with the certificate program, before continuing on to Saint Michael’s to pursue the necessary background for clerical ordination. Both deacons are excited to further the mission of the kingdom and to serve the people of God.

Are You On Mission?

Bishop Rob Northwood July 7, 2019

Christians are a people on mission. The Christian mission is to make visible the Kingdom of God while reconciling men to God and one another. The Patriarch has called us this year to focus on Convergence Evangelism. Jesus, in Luke’s gospel (chapter 10) sends out His disciples on mission, two by two, into the cities and into places He Himself was about to go. Not unlike John the Baptist, they, as forerunners, would go ahead and stir up spiritual things where He wanted to work.

The harvest is great. (Luke 10:2) There is a literal world of people waiting to hear the gospel-  The Good News. The news that God has brought salvation and is forgiving and is not angry. To understand the concept of this great harvest, you might imagine that suddenly you alone were responsible to go out and manually harvest every crop in your entire county. You would begin to realize the amount of labor required to bale each bale and cut every stalk by hand. The tricky thing about a harvest is that you MUST bring it in when it’s ready. It’s not going to stand in the field forever.

Herein lies the problem- the laborers are few. (Luke 10:2)  Jesus commands His people to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the harvest. He tells us to call for help. If we’re on mission, then we are all laborers. It’s His harvest. It’s His mission. He says, “Go your way, I’m sending you out as lambs among wolves.” (10:3) This is a battle of unusual combatants. You don’t usually see wolves being confronted by lambs, but rather the other way around. This teaching begins to sound like a sendoff into enemy territory. Jesus’ message is that you don’t need to take money and provision, but rather, you must learn to trust God to lead you to the place you must go and trust that He will provide. If you go to a house and there’s peace there, stay there. You are a laborer and a laborer is worthy of his hire. We aren’t paid by men, but by God. It’s His harvest.

Christians are to go and proclaim this fact: the Kingdom of God is here! Whether those who hear receive it or not, the fact is, the Kingdom of God has come. Heal the sick and tell them that the Kingdom of God is come. Healing is a big deal, especially if you’re the one that get’s healed. This said, in the kingdom, healing is not as big a deal as you would think. In His hometown, Jesus says He couldn’t do much, but “only heal a few people.” (Mark 6:5). He sees it as a minimal event. Why? Because what He wants to do is save you forever! Just because your headache or disease is gone, doesn’t mean you have eternal life.

The disciples return with joy saying, “Even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Jesus obviously has a heart for these cities and the lost and tormented souls within, but even as they rejoice that the demons are subject and healing is abundant, He tells them that that’s not why they should rejoice. He is seeing the Kingdom from another vantage point. Similar to when he said to Nathaniel, “I saw you sitting under the fig tree before you ever came to me.” (John 1), He says here, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” He sees the reversal of the Garden’s curse. He sees the reversal of authority stolen in the fall. He gives them the authority to trample on serpents. The actions they take are immense because Satan himself is shaken as they plunder the strongman’s house. Yet again, he says that this isn’t the biggest thing. He is moved more by the salvation of the disciples and to those whom they proclaim the Good News. He says, “Never-the-less rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

The work of the church is outside the church walls. The battle is outside the walls. First you must be sent, and then you must go. Part of evangelism is helping those bound up, to get free of what’s binding them up. Don’t worry about the people who think you’re crazy, worry about what you’re gonna do when they think you have the answer, when they believe you’re right. Something our Bishop Davidson frequently says is that you have to have a place to stand, to run. You need a base of operations, a church that you can be established in, from which to be sent out and to return. We aren’t guilty if we try and fail and we aren’t credited if all goes well. That’s the security that is provided being under the church’s authority.
 Here’s what you can do to get on mission: pray for the mission of the church. We aren’t trying to build a bigger church. We are trying to depopulate Hell. A healthy church is a church that is depopulating hell, and a healthy church grows. If we are on mission we will grow and then plant another church and another church. So pray for this parish and her mission.

Give your time. The church will always have mouths to feed, toilets to clean, and floors to sweep. Don’t miss your calling by assuming that others will do the work without you. Get on mission. Give your time.

Learn to testify. Testify of what Jesus is doing and has done in your life. Testify about how He has set you free. We, as Christians, are called to grow, not just be planted, but to grow and keep growing. We must learn to know His voice. The sheep should know the voice of the Shepherd. The more you come to know His voice, the less likely the enemy will be to insert his own counterfeit.

Another thing we do is to share the gospel. To read it has power; To speak it has power and to digest it is most significant.

Are you on mission? One way you can determine this is to consider whether your decision to attend a church meeting is based on whether it personally benefits you. Are you avoiding Bible study Class because you don’t feel like you are going to benefit? A good person comes to the Healing Service to receive and be healed. A good Christian comes to the Healing Service to help others grow and to give of themselves. You should be determining your involvement based on your ability to give and build. Participate in the work of the church. When a person is going through hard times and they receive a meal or a card, that is a tangible sign of the love of God in their lives.

The harvest is ready. The workers are few. This is the mission. Are you on mission? Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit!

2019 Mid-Atlantic Clergy Retreat

 

“Hear the word roaring as thunder
With a new future to tell
For the dry season is over
There is a cloud beginning to swell”

This message, which is from the song called, “There is A Cloud”, was the underlying theme of the Clergy and Clergy Wives Retreat for the Mid-Atlantic Diocese led by the newly consecrated Bishop Rob Northwood this past weekend in Solomon’s Island, Maryland. Attended by a large number of priests and their wives representing the following CEC churches: The Cathedral Church of Reconciliation in Bel Air, MD, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Catonsville, MD, Saint Andrews in Petersburg, VA, Christ the Redeemer in Baltimore, MD, Holy Apostles Church in Westminster, MD, and Saint Michaels and All Angels in Williamsburg, VA.

“Every seed buried in sorrow
You will call forth in its time”

We were excited to have Dn. Mark Bradley and his wife Ann, who had been part of the CEC many years ago, we also had Fr. Joseph and Regina Trollinger back with us again! 

We missed Fr. Jeffrey Welch and his wife Debbie as Fr.Jeffrey has suffered some setbacks in his health and we were also sorry that Barbara Ball and Gwen Eppard as well as Fr. John Jackson and his wife Margie and Fr. John McNally and his wife Cindy could not be with us.

The first night we enjoyed some really sweet fellowship as we dined together in an upper room of a restaurant called The Pier.  Surrounded by water on Solomon’s Island, the location was the perfect physical backdrop for the spiritual picture God was trying to impart to us as a Diocese.  

There were prophetic words about the nets that God has been mending, and the importance of being ready for the flood which is going to come. Boats that are only suitable for the harbor are not seaworthy, but God is telling us that we, as a diocese, are going to need to be ready to go on a journey- a cruise.  It won’t be a pleasure cruise, however. The headlines in the local paper were about the “Anti-Abortion Wave” that has been making its way through the United States. The next headline told of the transgender issues that are upon us and, finally, the remake of the movie “Chuckie” is about to be released. What is that a story about? It’s about perversity and horror that is being unleashed through a child. 

It was not coincidental that the date that we were away on retreat was June 21st– the longest day of the year, the beginning of a new season, marking the day when light is longer than darkness. There were many prophetic words which were shared through the clergy and for the clergy. We remembered fondly the words of Bishop Mike Davidson,”Teleios” we need to be fully mature, ready to go forth boldly, leaving a wide path of destruction in the enemy’s camp. 

Bishop Rob reminded us that this is the year for Prophetic Evangelism

To the skies heavy with blessing
Lift your eyes offer your heart
Jesus Christ opened the heavens
Now we receive the “Spirit of Go!”

This last line is supposed to say “Spirit of God”, but the typo seemed to be another way that the Lord was emphasizing His special message to the Mid-Atlantic Diocese.  I have given you the Spirit of GO!! It is time! We are a special group that God has called together to do this work that is in His heart for this region. It is time to GO!

“You are Lord, Lord of the harvest
Calling our hope now to arise”

The next morning we met for Eucharist and a message from Bishop Rob Northwood.  The message was one of hope and unity. We are a group that God is going to be using mightily.  That evening we met for dinner again and were blessed to have Bishop Elmer and his wife Cita join us. They had been attending the Patriarch’s Council in Malverne, New York and they took the train to join us for the remainder of the retreat and then on to Bel Air where the cathedral would be having their annual Corpus Christi March through the town of Bel Air.

 

2019 Mid Atlantic Diocese clergy and wives Retreat was a real joy! Solomon’s Island was an awesome place and the hotel was great. More then that was a great group of Godly men and women who have weathered many storms to come together in this newly reformed diocese to renew their commitment to forging ahead. Like a switch has gone off a sense of direction and bidding form the Lord has bound us together for a future that has great promise from heaven. We are a happy few looking for those that are to join us as we call to the various parts of the geographical diocese! I am proud to be the Bishop of such a hearty group of Spirit filled people.

Bishop Rob