Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew & Matthew (SsAM)

Seeking to know and love God in every person, here, now.

  • Welcome To SsAM
    • Guiding Principles, Statements of Mission and Vision
    • News & Upcoming Events
    • Online Calendar
    • Visit SsAM on Facebook
    • eMail Sign Up
    • Worship at SsAM
    • Sunday Documents: Leaflet, Bulletin, Weekly Vision, Readings
  • Who We Are
    • Diversity
    • Clergy
      • Clergy Transition
      • Rev. James Bimbi, Interim Rector
      • Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson
      • Rev. Clay Brown
      • Sermons
    • Vestry
    • Staff
      • D-L Casson, Church Administrator
      • David Christopher, Music Director
    • Children’s Ministries
    • ECW: Episcopal Church Women at SsAM
    • History of the Parish
    • Member Photos
      • Photo & Video Archive
    • People Who Pray
  • What We Do
    • Services of Worship
      • Sunday Documents: Bulletin, Weekly Vision, Readings
      • Prayer Services at SsAM
      • Baptisms
      • Weddings
        • Wedding Guidelines
        • Wedding Fees
      • Funerals
    • Children’s Chapel
    • Adult Education
    • Reflection Essays
    • List of Health / Wellness Posts
    • Season of Creation
    • Sacred Jazz at SsAM
    • Annual Reports
  • Get Involved
    • eNewsletter Sign Up
    • Volunteer in the Community!
    • Volunteer at Worship!
    • Volunteer Behind The Scenes!
    • Health / Wellness Posts
    • Invite Welcome Connect
    • Financial Contributions and Stewardship
    • Stewardship Posts
    • Pledge Form 2023
    • Member Resources
  • Music
    • Spiritual Music in Wilmington, Delaware
    • Katherine Esterly Organ
    • Choral Music at SsAM
    • Sacred Jazz at SsAM
    • Drumming Circle
    • Music Staff
    • Artists in Residence
      • Jonathan Whitney
      • Delaware ChoralArts
    • Our Approach to Music and Liturgical Design at SsAM
  • Contribute
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Directions
You are here: Home / Who We Are / Clergy / Rev. Bill Lane

Rev. Bill Lane

The Very Rev. William B. “Bill” Lane joined Saints Andrew & Matthew Episcopal Church in downtown Wilmington, Delaware in August, 2012, following the closing of the Cathedral Church of Saint John, where he served as dean for many years.

Click here to listen to recently recorded sermons.

The Very Rev. William Bill Lane
The Very. Rev. William “Bill” Lane shepherded the Diocese of Delaware’s Cathedral Church of St. John through its closing in 2012. Previously, he served as dean of the Diocese of Bethlehem’s Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Pennsylvania. Photo: Danny N. Schweers.

Article from Episcopal News Service:

Former Bethlehem dean shepherded Delaware cathedral in final days

by Sharon Sheridan, Episcopal News Service, May 24, 2013

As the Very Rev. William Lane describes it, the typical Episcopal cathedral is a parish-plus: plus hospitality to the diocese, plus prophetic ministry to the community, plus a showcase for best practices in worship and programs.

“Cathedrals are a strange bird in the Episcopal Church,” said Lane, who served as dean of the Diocese of Bethlehem’s Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Pennsylvania and later as interim dean of the Diocese of Delaware’s Cathedral Church of St. John in Wilmington, shepherding its closing in July 2012.

Most Episcopal cathedrals, he said, are like those he served: “a combination of parish church with an add-on, and it varies how big that add-on is, I guess, from diocese to diocese … Quite often it’s a focal point for diocesan functions and major functions in the life of the diocese.”

But for those who serve as cathedral rector and dean, as for any other parish priest, “a good chunk of our ministry” focuses on meeting pastoral needs, running the parish and overseeing parish life, education, worship and liturgy, he said. “That pretty much was true in Bethlehem and true here in Delaware.”

Ordained a priest in the Diocese of Maryland in 1964, Lane served both parish and diocesan ministries in Delaware from 1975 until his call to Bethlehem in 1997. He retired in January 2006 and returned to Delaware, becoming cathedral interim dean in June of that year. “I was there as one of the longest interims in the history of the church, I think!”

Nativity was “an active growing parish and not looking over its shoulder at the possibilities of closing,” he recalled. Beyond running a full contingent of parish programs, it hosted most diocesan convocations and renewals of clergy vows and many ordinations.

“Many of those things, of course, involved both diocesan personnel as well as the cathedral personnel,” Lane said. “It was at times demanding, but it was the kind of thing you enjoy doing, and we had good lay leadership at the cathedral to pitch in. … I never felt it as a burden.”

To an extent, St. John mirrored that, he said. “We had good leadership here at St. John. We had a great music program. … Again, it was a joy to be kind of the host for many of the diocesan activities, and the diocese provided a lot of assistance … a lot of the people power.”

Dean William Lane leads a Bible study during a 2010 summer camp at the Cathedral Church of St. John, Wilmington, Delaware. Photo/Danny N. Schweers/www.photoprayer.com
Dean William Lane leads a Bible study during a 2010 summer camp at the Cathedral Church of St. John, Wilmington, Delaware. Photo/Danny N. Schweers.

The trouble was, there were fewer people. Lane arrived as interim knowing the cathedral might close in two years. Average Sunday attendance was 70 to 90, including the choir, compared to 180 in Bethlehem.

“It was in an at-risk community,” he said. “Over the years, the congregation had dwindled partly because of demographics and location, and then the congregation was aging, and then the financial stuff began to hit. Things just began to multiply with dwindling numbers, dwindling pledges.”

An endowment helped, but the income from it wasn’t enough when the markets dipped, he said.

During his six-year tenure, they explored different options for keeping the cathedral open. They spent nearly a year talking with a charter school interested in locating there, “and then at the last minute … the charter school pulled out and found a different location.”

The cathedral’s biggest “outreach and mission ministry” was the choir school, which served at-risk children and included services such as homework help and mentoring as well as musical training. It served, “any given season, anywhere from 25 to 40 children, most of them from the at-risk communities of the city,” Lane said. “We had talked about the possibilities of building out the choir school into a day school.”

But that, too, didn’t pan out.

“We gave it a shot and really worked hard, but in the end, we just couldn’t make it,” Lane said. “Finally, it just became clear that it wasn’t for lack of ministry and a lack of good worship and a lack of all the things you want, it was just a lack of funds, and there wasn’t enough people power there to generate the funds.” And, he said, “The diocese didn’t feel it had the major dollars to put into keeping the cathedral afloat.”

“There was no choice” but to close, he said. “As you can well imagine, it was a time of sorrow.”

In the cathedral’s last months, it held a celebration called “30 and Over” marking the longevity of some parishioners’ time there. When Lane polled those attending on how long they had been at the cathedral, “we had folks who had been there 70 years.”

“For all of them,” he said, the cathedral’s closing “was heart-wrenching.”

“Part of my task, my ministry, was to help folks live through it, not to be in denial about the grief … and to recognize that there’s not only death but resurrection, and we find resurrection sometimes in different places.

“I will never be able to say too strongly how much I admire the people of St. John’s, how they lived through that grieving, but on the whole not letting that grief control their lives and their spiritual lives,” he said. “They could have let bitterness really take hold and control them, and they didn’t.”

Some cathedral members began worshiping at the Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew in Wilmington, where he now is an associate priest. “That’s one of the reasons I came over here, to be with them through a time of transition. Some of them went other places, to other parishes.”

The choir school relocated to Andrew and Matthew and is “still alive and well,” he said.

Offering exemplary programs such as that is part of a cathedral’s role, he said. “I think the cathedral should exercise ministries that set an example and provide a teaching for parishes.”

“On the other hand, it depends on the resources available to the cathedral,” he added, noting that in the Diocese of Delaware “parishes had far more resources in people and finances and clergy staff.”

“In my mind, it doesn’t necessarily mean that because it’s a cathedral church it’s going to always be the prime example of urban ministry or teaching ministry or education, but that is certainly a function that it should strive to,” he said. And whatever it does, it should do everything possible to ensure that “whatever it does, do it very well.”

“A cathedral dean,” he added, “needs to have his or her eye or hand on the pulse of the community.” And the dean must be willing to allow things to take place in a cathedral that a parish might not want, he said. “You need to provide opportunities for controversy to be expressed.”

In Bethlehem, for example, they brought Palestinian and Israeli Jewish activists to preach and teach about issues of Israel and Palestine.

“With a cathedral church, the dean also has to have a pastoral sense,” he said, concluding, “I’m not so sure that a dean is any different than a parish rector. But you definitely have to be open to the ministry of hospitality to the diocese and the ministry of prophetic ministry to the community.”

We worship God on Sundays at 8am and 10:30am and offer prayer services other days.

Visitor CardLet us know you visited!

Use our Prayer Request form.

Minister to others in worship services, behind the scenes, and in the community.

We are looking for 100% participation this year rather than a financial goal.

Make a secure on-line contrabution..

NEWS

Clergy Transition – Our Search for a New Rector

SsAM IS NOW RECEIVING NAMES FOR OUR NEXT RECTOR! If you are a clergy person and interested in our open rector position, we invite you to … [Read More...]

The Reverend Clay Brown

Father Clay will celebrate his first Eucharists at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 5, 2023 at SsAM. The 10:30 a.m. service is … [Read More...]

Worship God with us this Sunday in downtown Wilmington, Delaware

You are invited to worship God with us in person this Sunday at 8:00 or 10:30 a.m. in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. Our newly-ordained … [Read More...]

Welcome To SsAM. You are invited!

SsAM, the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew & Matthew in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, welcomes you. Come to God’s Table! Come, you … [Read More...]

SsAM Presents: Upcoming Events

The Rev. Kevin Clayton Brown, will celebrate Eucharist for the first time on Sunday, February 5, 8:00 am and 10:30 am By the Grace of God … [Read More...]

Charisse Rodgers is New Co-Chair of Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission

Charisse L. Rodgers has served the church in numerous capacities, to include, vestry person, church treasurer, ECW board, diocesan … [Read More...]

Reflection on Winter – A Time to Slow Down

A reflection for February 5, 2023 by Mary Lou Edgar. It is hard to believe that we are in the middle of winter. We have had many nice … [Read More...]

The Extraordinary Life of Rosetta Henderson

An interview with Rosetta Henderson and a digital exhibit exploring her life and accomplishments is now at the Hagley Museum and Library. … [Read More...]

Spiritual Music in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington Children’s Chorus Teaching Fellowship applications are due February 10. The Wilmington Children's Chorus is accepting … [Read More...]

Children’s Chapel continues on February 12 at 10:30am.

Children’s Chapel will meet on February 12 and 26, and on every second and fourth Sunday at 10:30 a.m. in Crypt Hall. Children have several … [Read More...]

See all the News & Upcoming Events posts

Worship Services

We will be delighted if you worship with us in-person or via video this Sunday at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. Click here to learn more!

Visit Us

719 N. Shipley Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
with free parking weekends and evenings next to the church at 713 N. Shipley Street. Click here to learn more about parking and directions.
Office Hours
Monday – Thursday, 9:00 to 4:30
Friday, 9:00 to 1:00

OUR MISSION

To be an inclusive Christian community which worships God, follows Christ in all aspects of our lives, and serves the Greater Wilmington area through actions and ministries which promote peace, justice, reconciliation and empowerment for all people.

Contact Us

PHONE: 302 656-6628

EMAIL: Click here to use our email form.

FACEBOOK: Click here to see our Facebook page. You need a Facebook account to see it.

YOUTUBE: Click here to see our YouTube Channel. Some smart TV sets will allow you to stream YouTube, so you can watch in your den or living room. Search for “Saints Andrews and Matthew”.

Are You New to SsAM?

If you are new to SsAM, please click here to see the Welcome to SsAM booklet in PDF format. The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew is a dynamic and diverse congregation in downtown Wilmington, Delaware.

Our Vision

The Episcopal Church of Sts. Andrew and Matthew seeks to be a dynamic, spiritual center that is active in the pursuit of peace and justice in the community and a place where all God’s people are honored.

LINKS

  • Worship at SsAM: Sunday Documents, Church News, and More
  • eNewsletter Sign Up
  • YouTube Service Videos
  • SsAM on Facebook
  • Recent Announcements at SsAM
  • On-Line Calendar
  • Annual Reports
  • Clergy Transition
  • Episcopal Church in Delaware
  • Episcopal Church USA
  • Michael Curry’s blog: the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
  • Episcopal Digital Network
  • Forward Day By Day
  • Book of Common Prayer
  • Camp Arrowhead, Delaware
  • Congregational Development
  • Calendar
  • Visit SsAM on Facebook
  • eNewsletter Sign-up

Donations Are Welcome, and a Necessity
Our ministries are dependent on financial donations. Click here to make a secure credit-card donation on-line or to learn

Our main focus is ministry, not money!
We offer a host of ministries for which you can volunteer. You can participate in worship services, help make the church hum, or offer your time and talent to the local community.

SsAM Logo

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew & Matthew · Log in