This may be news to you, but there is change in the air for our church in Southwest Florida. Bishop Dabney Smith announced last October that he was calling for the election of a Bishop Coadjutor, the person who is expected to succeed him as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida. You may be wondering what that has to do with you, thinking this selection is the job of others. The truth is, your opinions and those of your fellow parishioners throughout the diocese will be integral to the person ultimately called to be our next bishop. Your confidential responses to this survey will be used to draft a profile, a description of the kind of person we all would hope will lead our diocese into the future. This profile will guide the rest of the process as the search committee sifts through applicants, meets with nominees and selects finalists to recommend to the Standing Committee and ultimately to the diocesan convention next April. Finally, with the blessing of the Presiding Bishop, our new Bishop Coadjutor will be consecrated on Sept. 24, 2022. The Bishop Coadjutor Search Committee hopes you will prayerfully consider this important task asking God, in the worlds of the Book of Common Prayer, to “Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall chose a bishop for this diocese that we may receive a faithful pastor who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries.” Thank you for your time, your dedication to this task and your faithfulness to God’s church.

This form consists of three questions with multiple choices, three open-ended questions, and a number of demographic questions. The first six questions will help guide us during our discernment process to help identify the traits, skills, and priorities we should be seeking in our new Bishop. The demographic questions will help to provide a picture of our diocese to those interested in being considered as our next Bishop.