September 2026 eNews: From Bishop Monnot

Dear siblings in Christ,

This month I begin with a note of gratitude: thank you so much to everyone who took part in the Listening Phase of our capital campaign with the Vandersall Collective. Whether you helped by filling out the short questionnaire, by participating in a listening session with a group, or by serving on the core team, your work made a difference. You can see the full report on the Listening Phase here, and I encourage you to read it in full.

I am delighted to let you know that our Listening Phase was successful. Our partnership with the Presiding Bishop’s office of The Episcopal Church in working with the Vandersall Collective has delivered excellent results. Vandersall’s report was very positive and affirming: they listened carefully and saw us as who we truly are. The report recommended that our diocese follow up with a Feasibility Study, and I am thrilled that the Presiding Bishop’s office has agreed to continue to partner with us in this effort. In this partnership, the costs of Vandersall’s work are paid by the Presiding Bishop on our behalf, and in turn, a percentage of any capital campaign funds that we raise will be given to the Presiding Bishop’s office to be turned around so that other dioceses may have the same opportunity in a “pay it forward” model. To be very clear: the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa would be unable to do this important work without this partnership with the Presiding Bishop’s office.

One of the things I truly appreciate about this report from the Listening Phase is that it shows some of our strengths as church together in this diocese. The report highlights that members of our diocese are excited about connection—with God, with neighbors, across the diocese, and within their own congregations. We have the opportunity now to build on this excitement in real and tangible ways, connecting congregations to each other and offering shared resources of administrative support, spiritual formation, leadership development, and sacramental support. 

We are also seeing serendipity with the timing of this capital campaign, which may enable us to continue and expand our partnership with the Lilly Endowment to broaden and deepen the kind of work that we have been doing through the Regional Mission Initiative. We are learning from our RMI work so far and hope to propose ways to bring the successes that we have seen to more congregations of all sizes throughout the diocese. These potential projects would continue to support our ongoing diocesan priorities: Strengthening Congregations, Supporting Clergy and Lay Leadership, and Deepening our Connection to God. 

Last month, I wrote about the Prairie Model of church, and the way prairie plants support each other in staying upright and continuing to reach for the sun even after intense storms or large animals passing through. The success of our Listening Phase, and the excitement that I feel as we move into the Feasibility Study, reminds me that the prairie plants also support and sustain each other in times with fewer direct challenges. They grow together, without competing for sunlight, and the health of each individual supports the health of each other individual and of the entire system. As each of you has been a part of this work and will continue to be, and as our partners include the Presiding Bishop’s office and the Lilly Foundation, I find myself looking forward to the new possibilities that we can build together. It’s like the sun about to rise over the prairie, bringing new life and flourishing to the whole prairie ecosystem.

As we continue into the Feasibility Study phase, I want you to know that Vandersall always emphasizes that individuals first pledge to their own congregations before supporting a diocesan capital campaign. In fact, in the past, dioceses and congregations that have worked with Vandersall have seen increases in congregational pledging as a result of the work that Vandersall does. 

Over the next several weeks, we will be fine-tuning potential projects for a capital campaign and inviting feedback and additional thoughts through both short questionnaires and also interviews over zoom. The questionnaires and interviews will be entirely managed and conducted by Vandersall’s consultants, and will be held in confidentiality by them. I hope that you will take the opportunity to either respond to an interview request or fill out a short questionnaire when the time comes. The more feedback and input we have, the more valid our feasibility study will be. Many thanks for your upcoming support of this important project as we continue to discern the ways that God is calling the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa to move into the future!

Yours in the abundant life of Christ,
+Betsey

The Rt. Rev. Betsey Monnot, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa