School of Love

Book excerpt: Roger Joslin is the vicar of All Saints Episcopal Church in Bentonville, AR, a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas. He arrived in town in town as a newly ordained deacon in 2006. All Saints now has an ASA of 233, is the fifth largest congregation in the Diocese of Arkansas, and is well on its way to parish status. It is obviously doing well, but its location in Bentonville, the home of Walmart, adds another layer to the narrative. It is a rich narrative, and one of the best books on congregational development I've read in a long time. He makes a powerful case for the role of a progressive Episcopal church in this location and for the appeal of preaching and practicing a gospel of inclusion in a way that reaches out to whatever groups or individuals that have been marginalized by churches.