January 2023
What do you hope the Episcopal Church will look like in 2050?

Rock the Future for Jesus

Stephanie Spellers

The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, one of the Episcopal Church’s leading thinkers and consultants for 21st century ministry and mission, admits that she thinks and dreams about the Church in 2050 all the time – the Church in 2030 and today, too. In this video, she shares her expansive, lively and hopeful vision for the Church’s future, one that is all about embracing the Incarnation at the heart of our theology and opening our eyes and hearts to what God is doing. Stephanie sees a future church that is colorful and diverse, one that looks like the communities in which we live and move and have our being. And she is convinced that in this time, so filled with challenge and change and surprises, God is beckoning us, and that the Episcopal Church in 2050, or even sooner, will be “a church that is humble and curious and full of love – love for our neighbors, love for God and love for ourselves.”

Click here to watch this video with Spanish subtitles.

The Rev. Stephanie Spellers is Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism and Reconciliation, responsible for supporting the ministry of the Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church as it pertains to evangelism and reconciliation efforts at the local, congregational, diocesan and churchwide levels. She also teaches and directs programs in mission, reconciliation and formation at General Theological Seminary and is an assisting priest at St. Bartholomew’s in New York City, as well as serving as a Senior Consultant for the Center for Progressive Renewal, an ecumenical consulting and training group that works nationwide. Her books include The Episcopal Way (written with Eric Law), Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other and the Spirit of Transformation and The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community.

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This article is part of the January 2023 Vestry Papers issue on What do you hope the Episcopal Church will look like in 2050?
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