Murphy ready to launch new network of churches

By DAVE MUNDAY
Of The Post and Courier staff

     PAWLEYS ISLAND - Charles H. Murphy III - who calls himself Chuck - knew exactly what might happen when he challenged the power structure of the Episcopal Church USA.
     He knew that becoming a missionary bishop of Rwanda was a de facto declaration that the Episcopal Church USA was abandoning its principles and in need of redemption by foreign powers.
     "What we have to do is recognize a legitimate, valid Anglican witness on American shores, and we don't have that in the Episcopal Church," he says. "We have it in small pockets of parishes and dioceses like South Carolina, a very orthodox diocese, but we don't have it across the board. So from my perspective, what the archbishops who consecrated us were doing was saying that this Anglican witness needs to be carried to American shores again."
     Given a lifetime in the church, he knew that was sure to rile tempers. He's the son of an Episcopal minister, Charles H. Murphy Jr. of Mount Pleasant. His brother, brother-in-law and first cousin are also Episcopal ministers.
     "That's five Episcopal clergymen," he says. "So you end up with a strong Anglican background and commitment. Being part of an Anglican family is real important to us."
     Murphy, 52, is a native of Alabama, and All Saints is his fourth assignment. He's married and has three grown daughters. He has served on the diocesan council, standing committee and board of examining chaplains, and he also was a delegate to the General Convention in Phoenix.
     Certainly he knew sparks would fly when two archbishops and four bishops consecrated him and retired Episcopal seminary dean John Rodgers Jr. as bishops of Rwanda and South East Asia and sent them back to rescue those who say they are oppressed by liberal Episcopal bishops.
    
No 'peace with pay'
     So why did he do it? Until his consecration, he was rector of one of the fastest growing Episcopal churches in the country. Church laws don't allow a Rwandan bishop to be an S.C. priest.
     "It's unfortunate that many people choose peace with pay, don't rock the boat, don't make waves, don't get in trouble, don't pay the cost," Murphy says. "I can't find a way to take the sting out of the cross. And I can't find a way to take the cross out of the gospel."
     Critics accused Murphy of trying to split the denomination, a broad alliance of diverse convictions and value systems that has lost a million members since the 1960s.
     Despite the critics, Murphy calls himself a builder.
     He likes to talk about BHAG, which stands for Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. It's a phrase he picked up from "Built to Last" by James Collins, a book on what makes corporations successful.
     Murphy is as likely to quote a book on corporate growth as the Bible, which he takes fairly literally.
     "Most of the major corporations that were built to last - all the big ones - they always have a BHAG," he says. "I've done that in my own ministry, and we've done that here in the life of All Saints, and we're doing that now with reference to our being part of an Anglican family that wants to reverse the 30-year loss of members."
    
Model church
     When Murphy arrived at All Saints in 1982, about 150 people were coming on Sundays, and the annual budget was $105,000. Last year, average Sunday attendance topped 650, and the annual budget is $1.4 million.
     "We've watched a vibrant, growing community of faith emerge," he says. "We've bought or built $8 million worth of buildings. For a little community of not quite 10,000 people to have a church of this size is remarkable."
     Anglican churches everywhere should be experiencing that kind of growth, he says.
     "I believe there's something of a model right here," he says. "There's a possibility for Anglican witness that has not even been tapped into in America ....
     "We've got to be more focused, more creative, more centered on the contents of the faith and the truth of the Bible, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Son of God - not a prophet among many, not another voice crying in the wilderness, but the unique Son of God. And that's part of the crisis of the Episcopal Church."
     Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold denied a crisis in the Episcopal Church, citing a survey that shows the majority of Episcopalians are happy with life on the congregational level. He says the crisis is being fomented by conservatives trying to push their agenda.
     Murphy is trying to raise several million dollars to create a new network of Anglican churches like All Saints.
     He put out word of the capital campaign last month through his First Promise network, which was formed in 1997 to protest the denomination's departure from orthodox Anglican standards. First Promise also encouraged parishes to find alternatives for missions instead of sending money to the denomination's national programs.
     "Money is muscle," he says. "In order to set up the infrastructure, the staff, the organization for a major national ministry, money is going to be necessary. To develop the leadership, the training, the talent necessary for a major national mission from shore to shore, it's going to require money."
     All Saints will serve as the model, he says.
     "If somebody wanted to see a picture of what it might look like, I would say you've got something of a picture of it here on this campus," he says.
     He cites business guru Peter Drucker.
     "Many people can tell you there's a problem," he says. "Very few can tell you a solution. And out of the few that can give you a solution, only a minuscule number can give a model where it's actually happening."
    
New network
     Murphy says he and Rodgers are just starting to form the new network.
     Rodgers has about half a dozen churches in his Chicago-based Association of Anglican Congregations on Mission. Murphy expects those churches to become part of the Province of South East Asia, of which Rodgers is a bishop.
     So far, three or four churches have lined up with the Province of Rwanda through Murphy.
     That includes the church in Little Rock, Ark., led by the Rev. T.J. Johnston, who early in 1998 left All Saints to became pastor of a group of Episcopalians who wanted to start a new church against the will of Bishop Larry Maze. Johnston was the first to bypass a bishop by switching his residence to the Province of Rwanda.
     "It's exploding and flourishing," says Murphy, who will be Johnston's bishop. "Their attendance has gone from 40 to 240 in two years. They're already talking about starting a new church from that church."
     Murphy says Johnston went to Little Rock because a group of movers and shakers there wanted to spread the gospel, and their bishop said no because they were conservatives.
     It's happening all over the country, Murphy says. He and Rodgers have outlined at least 40 pages worth of cases they call oppression of conservatives in liberal dioceses.
     Another church that's contacted Murphy for leadership is the Church of the Holy Spirit in Roanoke, Va., he says. The parish severed ties with the Episcopal Church and joined the Province of Rwanda earlier this month.
     "What I was told by the archbishop (Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda) was to write him (the Rev. Quigg Lawrence) and receive them for the Province of Rwanda, and he's in my file over there," Murphy says.
     Also the Rev. King Cole of St. Andrew's Church in Morehead City, N.C., has talked with Murphy since his consecration, he says.
     "This whole work isn't but six weeks old, but there are a number of churches that are involved in this thing," Murphy says. "It's going to continue to grow. But we're taking it a step at a time."
     Critics fear Murphy and Rodgers could be creating yet another Anglican splinter group, pointing out that at least 40 separate Anglican groups not in fellowship with Anglican Communion exist already.
    
High-level meeting
     The archbishops called the consecrations an interim action that would be discussed later this month at a meeting of church leaders in Portugal.
     "It will be first chance for all the archbishops to get together since the Singapore consecrations," Murphy says. "It will be an opportunity for them to discuss the crisis of leadership and faith that the consecrations are responding to. There are only 38 primates in the world, and they only come together for that kind of meeting every two or three years, so the timing is perfect for some conversation."
     Episcopalians have their roots in the Church of England, and both are part of the Anglican Communion, which has churches around the world. The top regional leaders are known as the primates.
     Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who decides the membership list at key meetings of the Anglican Communion, refused to recognize the consecrations because they breached geographical boundaries, which he said form the traditional framework of Anglican unity. That doesn't discourage Murphy, who met with Kolini in Rwanda earlier this month.
     "The highest levels of the Communion are having to wrestle with this," Murphy says. "But the issue is this: When a province which is a recognized constituent member of the Communion consecrates a bishop, can the archbishop of Canterbury recognize the province and its authority and its autonomy and not recognize an individual bishop within that province?"
     Carey said he would recognize Murphy and Rodgers when the Episcopal Church USA did.
     "Carey never said the consecrations were invalid," Murphy says. "He just said he wouldn't recognize it until there was rapprochement between us and the ECUSA."
     He laughs and says:
     "I don't see that happening in the near future."