A Growing Work

by Rev. Canon Ben Bowman on September 30, 2021

Welcoming Lee Hilts and Rev. Canon Meg Greto

As our young diocese has matured, the Lord has blessed us with healthy growth in areas of ministry like church planting and Gospel expansion, leadership development, theological engagement with our culture, and our internal canonical and ecclesiastical structures. However, over the last few years it has become clearly apparent to us that we need more help in a couple key areas of diocesan life and ministry: our financial systems and sexual misconduct prevention systems.

To address these two crucial aspects of our diocesan life we have hired two part time employees. Lee Hilts is now functioning as our Chief Financial Officer and is charged with the oversight and maturation of our financial systems.

In addition, Rev. Meg Greto is now functioning as Canon for Ethics and Protection and is charged with the development of policies, training, and accountability for our churches in areas such as the protection of children, adult sexual misconduct, and various other aspects of ethical and sexual boundaries in the life or our diocese.

Lee Hilts

Lee and Sarah have been married for 25 years and have a son Andrew who is a junior at University of South Carolina and a daughter Jane who is a senior in high school. He currently is the treasurer for the province and is excited to rejoin the diocesan leadership after having served as the treasurer from 2016-2020.

As the CFO, Lee will focus on financial processes and strategies, policy development and maintenance, and provide operational consulting to developing churches. Lee is currently the executive director of Church of the Apostles in Raleigh, NC; a role that he jokingly refers to as entailing everything the pastors don't like to do. He and his family have attended Church of the Apostles for 18 years. Over that time Lee has served on the vestry (including a role as senior lay leader), led children's church and community group and continues to teach children's Sunday school. Prior to working at the church, he had a 15 year career in IT project management and telecommunications sales. Outside of work, you will find Lee playing board games, hiking, or playing disc golf.

Rev. Canon Megan Greto

The Rev. Canon Megan Greto serves as a Deacon in the Triangle Deanery and was ordained to the Diaconate in July 2020. In September, she joined the Diocese as Canon for Ethics and Protection. Her role will be to support the Bishop with policies, training, and resources to foster safeguarding in each of our churches. Meg also serves as the Family Ministry Leadership Network Director for the ACNA with the Next Generation Leadership Initiative (NGLI). She was most recently the Family Ministry Director at All Saints for 5.5 years.

Megan and Michael, her husband, and their 3 children live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She hikes, trail runs, and is often outside with their family dog, Gnocchi. As a family, they love to camp, hike, bike, host family and friends on the patio, grill out and ok!

The mission of our Diocese is to plant, equip, and multiply disciple-making Anglican churches, and to support and serve their people and leaders in Christian life and mission. Though these two areas of ministry aren’t usually on center stage, they are nonetheless crucial to the mission of our diocese, and to our ongoing health and maturity.

We are so grateful to God for his provision through Lee and Meg and we look forward to their valuable contributions to our life and ministry together!

About the Author

Rev. Canon Ben Bowman

As Canon to the Ordinary Ben assists the Bishop and Diocesan Council in the oversight of a number of areas, including:

The ordination process and licensing/transfer of clergy
The creation and care of church plants, new congregations and missions, and the admission of congregations into our diocese
The preparation and assessment of church planters
The coordination of Parish Visits for the Bishops
Canonical compliance for our churches, clergy, Diocesan Council, and Synod
The development of Church and Clergy Policies and Resources

Ben especially enjoys the times when his work brings him into contact with people in our diocese, whether it be a phone call, a Zoom call, or better yet face to face meetings and retreats. Convocation & Synod, Ordinand Retreats, and Deanery Retreats are always highlights of the year for him.

Ben is the son of Norman and Gwen Bowman, previously missionaries in Barcelona, Spain, where he grew up from the early age of 3. He attended Wheaton College (BM, ‘03) where he met and married Kristin. They live in Durham, NC with their three children, Eliana, Annie, and David.

Ben has been in full-time ministry for 19 years. For the first 12 years, he served as music minister and church administrator in various of congregations. In 2015, he became the Director of Operations for PEAR-USA, under Bishop Steve Breedlove, and in the Spring of 2016 that role transferred over to the Diocese of Christ our Hope. He was ordained to the diaconate in 2018 after which he was appointed Canon to the Ordinary under Bishop Steve.

Ben has a heart for teaching, mentoring, prayer, and the worship of the Church, and he longs to see the Church be ever more transformed into the image of Christ. One of his favorite Bible verses is 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Ben enjoys great music, reading, good wine, basketball, and especially fellowship with friends.