From the Field
Weekly News & Events of the Diocese of Georgia
In This Issue
Diocesan Staff Events
1Book1Diocese
Spiritual Retreat
Youth & Young Adults
The Loose Canon
Benefit Concert
Auditing Finances
Ordination Photos
Quick Links
to From the Field
 


 
Deacon Jim Purks
2011 Dream Award Recipient in Albany 

Jim PurksThe Rev. Dcn. Jim Purks was honored in Albany, Georgia as the 2011 Dream Award recipient. He was given the award at the James H. Gray Civic Center in Albany on January 17, King Day 2011. The award honored both his work as an Associated Press reporter covering the Civil Rights Movement in the south as well as his ongoing service to the community as a deacon.

 

As a reporter, Purks covered many stories of the movement including the in September 1963 when four young girls were killed at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church by members of the Klu Klux Klan. The Albany Herald wrote in announcing the award, "the power of this story intensified the press' interest and coverage of the Civil Rights Movement and brought the national press to Birmingham, Alabama."

 

Jim Purks InterviewingPurks went on to serve as a Deputy Press Director for the White House during Carter's presidency. Purks moved to south Georgia as a media writer for Habitat for Humanity. He was ordained as a deacon on December 7, 1999. Deacon Purks was recently assigned to St. Patrick's, Albany.

 

Deacon Purks is pictured above (second from left) interviewing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (at right).

Diocesan Staff Events    

The Diocesan Office's email server was down Friday March 11, through the Monday morning, the 14th. Emails sent to us during this time have likely been lost for good. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we will need anything sent during this time to be sent again. We have worked with our provider and feel that this error (the second recent shut down in service) has now been fixed so that it will not occur again.

 

Canon Logue will meet tonight (March 15) with a task force at St. Elizabeth's in Richmond Hill beginning a feasibility study to consider the viability of starting a preschool.


Bishop
Benhase and Canon Logue will gather with priests and deacons from across the diocese at St. Anne's Tifton on Thursday, March 17th from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Clergy Day of Preparation for Easter will offer an opportuity for the clergy to renew their ordination vows and spend some quiet time in God's presence even in the midst of a busy Lent.

 

Also on Thursday, from 1:30-3 p.m., Bishop Benhase will meet with the Deans at St. Anne's. That evening of the 17th, Bishop Benhase will make his visitation to Grace Church, Sandersville at 5:30 p.m.

 

On Sunday, March 20, Bishop Benhase will make visitations to two Savannah churches, with St. Michael and All Angels in the morning and St. Francis of the Islands in the afternoon.

 

Canon Logue will be at St. Patrick's Pooler on Sunday.

 

This weekend, Canon Hall will be at Acolyte Festival at St. Paul's, Augusta. 

1Book1Diocese  
First Diocese-Wide Lenten Study Up and Running
1Book1DioceseThe study using the book 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer started on Ash Wednesday. Each morning at 4 a.m., a reflection is loaded onto the website for further reflection. The website is getting a number of comments each day and the reflections and comments are worth visiting even by those who did not get the book in time to start this study. Visit the Daily Reflections page at 1Book1Diocese to take part.
Bishop Benhase has developed a workshop to enhance lay leaders' comfort level for sharing their faith.  The workshop for any lay person in the Diocese will be held at Trinity in Statesboro on March 19 and at St. Augustine's in Augusta on March 26. In each location, the workshop will meet in the church's the parish hall from 9 am until 3 pm.  It includes four spiritual exercises that will be conducted in small groups.

1.     Experiencing separation from God
2.     How we have run away from God
3.     God's love and acceptance of us
4.     Telling how our personal story connects with God's story
  
The total time for the workshop is approximately six hours. Each spiritual exercise will take about one hour with a 5-minute break.   We plan to begin at 9 a.m. with introductions of the participants, a brief overview of the workshop by the leaders, and then an abbreviated form of Morning Prayer to set the spiritual tone of the workshop. The workshop will conclude at 3:00 p.m. with the preceding half hour being given over to feedback and brief evaluation of the experience from participants.

The desired outcome of this workshop is to help participants gain greater competence in keeping their baptismal vows of sharing the Good News of God in Christ. 

For St. Augustine's, call the church office (706-738-6676) or email Ray Sigg ([email protected]) for Trinity, call (912-489-4205) or e-mail ([email protected]) the church office.
Youth and Young Adults 
 

Acolyte Festival

St. Paul's, Augusta

March 19 - 20; 8:30 am Saturday to 1 pm Sunday 

3rd - 12th grades

$35    

 

Who should attend the Festival?

Acolytes, Acolyte directors, parents of acolytes, anyone interested in the ministry of acolytes.  

 

What happens at the Festival?   

Workshops on various topics: training for serving at the altar, work of the thurifer,  fashion and grooming, BCP Scavenger Hunt, tour of the little known or seen areas of the church, including the belfrey. Workshops are geared to specific age groups.

 

Acolyte Olympics: Games that draw on acolyting skills and agility. 

 

Festival Service: A special service to bless the ministry of acolytes featuring a procession of all participating acolytes with their banners, flags, and holy hardware.

 

Questions: Send requests for information about the Festival to [email protected]    

 

Upcoming Events

Hometown Missions 2011 

 

 

Open to 6th through 12th graders and costs $35. Adult volunteers (21+) are needed. Please contact Canon Hall.  

  

Register online. (Registration closes March 28th.)

Download a PDF hard copy of the registration form.

For more information, visit www.edogy.org

 

For complete Youth & Young Adult 2011 and 2012 calendars, click here.

For more information on on these or other Youth and Young Adult Events, please visit www.edogy.org, or email Canon Leigh at [email protected].

The Loose Canon
Different Ways to Be a Vital Congregation
 

In last week's Loose Canon column, I asserted that maintaining the status quo into the next generation or two will require one of a few changes:

  1. Younger members of the church will have to increase giving to match older members, or
  2. More members will be needed, or
  3. Cut backs will be required, perhaps drastic actions on staffing and building costs.

In this column, I want to take on the third and seemingly least attractive option. Next week, I will consider increased giving and then the follwoing week, I will look at increasing attendance.

 

What Is a Vital Church?

While we all want the churches in the Diocese of Georgia to be vital churches, what this means will be different in varying contexts. Speaking with The Rev. Liam Collins, who is the Vicar of St. Luke's in the growing suburb of Savannah, says that looking at that context, it is impossible not to see the area and what is happening there and not look to St. Luke's growing numerically in attendance and giving to become a parish with full-time clergy and other staff. Yet, this is not the only way to define vitality. To borrow from the language of the Prayer Book's collect for a Diocese, the church is vital where the Word is truly preached and truly heard and the Sacraments are faithfully administered and faithfully recieved. We are confident that where that occurs, lives will be fashioned according to Christ's example and other lives will be touched. In other words, when we get being the Church right, it changes the lives of those in the congregation and those changed folk touch the lives of others with the love of God. That is vital, whether the pews are packed and the bank accounts overflow or not.

 

Churches without Walls

Taking this idea that a church can be a vital center of faith in Christ, changing lives and making a difference in its community without growing to a size to support staff, and looking at the assertions about change needed in the coming generations, how do these fit? Some have been taking church to a new extreme. I have friends who have started new churches with no buildings and no plans of getting one. St. Lydia's is a "dinner church" and Transmission is a house church. Each are seeking to be faithful communities of faith in New York City. Building costs make starting a brick and mortar church prohibitive, but that was not the prime motivating factor. The founders wanted something different anyway, a church that fits more with 20 and 30 year old New Yorkers who want to explore Christianity anew. Both are decidedly liturgical churches and neither has the setting one thinks of when imagining liturgy. I mention these examples to demonstrate that there are ways to be a vital congregation that involve dramtically lower expenses.

 

Other Patterns for Priests

Many congregations in the Diocese of Georgia have no staff, but fill out Sunday to Sunday with a priest once or twice a month with Morning Prayer on the other weeks. This pattern is an old one, which held in place for decades when our Diocese was founded. Yet we have configured ourselves differently in the more recent past, such as when Good Shepherd Swainsboro, Grace Sandersville and St. Mary Magdalene Louisville formed a single parish with a common vestry and shared priest in The Rev. Ron Southerland. In other diocese, there are patterns such as two priests serving five congregations together. Such radical realignment of how we think of priests serving congregations is yet another way to respond to the changing demographics in parts of south Georgia. It is possible that congregations could look at the map of the Diocese and find ways to share ministry and by forming alliances become increasingly healthy and dynamic through changing how they go about being the Body of Christ in their communities.

 

Let me be clear, the Diocese is not proposing and would never impose a realignment, yoking congregations or otherwise suggesting sharing clergy. Any such change would not come from the top down. But if leaders in our mission congregations propose such a pattern of congregational life, the Bishop could consider that request. 
 

What Is Your Church Like at Its Most Vital?

One way to look at your church anew is rather than looking to other congregations, seeing what they offer and feeling bad about what we lack (I'm looking at you First Baptist), instead look to the gifts you do have. What makes your congregation a unique place to come worship God now? Ask what your particular congregation might be like, not if it was more like First Methodist, but if you were a more vital version of yourself. Then consider what it will take to get there. I have offered the examples above to show that some very different ways of being the Body of Christ can all be life-giving, joy-filled responses to the love of God found in relationship with Jesus Christ. What will that be for your church?

 

The Good News

The New Testament teaches that the Body of Christ needs people of varying gifts to use those gifts for the building up of the Body. These gifts for teaching, evangelism and so on were not to be lived out not by the apostles and deacons only, but by all Christians according to the gifts given them. In responding to the coming changes, congregations can maintain vitality by encouraging the gifts of the laity. Lifting up, encouraging and supporting the members of the congregation to serve Christ through serving others in the congregation and community should happen no matter the context. In places where the budget is challenged and full-time, professional clergy can not be sustained, this tends to happen naturally. Equipping the person in the pew to serve Christ is what we are to do whether in plenty or in want. So the changes in demographics can result in greater faithfulness, which is good news.

Next week, we will consider changes in giving patterns over the next generation.

  

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon for Congregational Ministries

 

The Loose Canon is a regular column in From the Field whose content is gathered together with other items of interest to those concerned with congregational development at loosecanon.georgiaepiscopal.org

Jazz Band

St. John and St. Mark, Albany

Charity Jazz Benefit Raises Money for Local School 

Just around the corner from St. John and St. Mark Church in Albany, the sign at the Radium Springs Magnet Middle School reads "Welcome St. John and St. Mark Church & Friends." It is in thanks for the Charity Jazz Benefit the congregation put on to benefit musicians at the school.

 

Below, Sharon Stewart and Calvin Isom present a check for $1,259.00 to support the school's magnet music program. To date, the church has raised $1,289.00 for the program. At intermission, the church served Shrimp and Grits, Red Beans & Rice, and Pralines and beveragesAll costs were born by the church of St. John & St. Mark. All donations went to underwrite middle school musicians.

Check presentation

Time to Audit Your 2010 Finances
The Canons of the Diocese of Georgia (II.9.4) require an annual review of the finances. For all churches with annual receipts of greater than $200,000 this is defined by our canons as a review or audit by an independent CPA. 

For the majority of our congregations (Churches with less than $200,000 in annual receipts) a review by a person or committee knowledgeable in financial matters either from within our without the local church is sufficient. This must be someone who does not have day to day oversight of the finances. This review should include both a check that the financial reports accurately reflect the income and expenditures of the church. It should also look at the controls in place to make sure they are appropriate. To assist with this, the diocese has a five-page checklist on internal controls online here: Internal Control Checklist for Audits.

A best practice for such a non-CPA review is for your congregation to offer a small committee of 2-3 people to another congregation of the diocese and request that they put together a similar group to look at your books. This provides an independent, unbiased look at your financial operations at no cost.

The Canons require these audits and reviews to be sent to the Diocesan Office by September 1 for the previous year. In mutual accountability, the Diocese will also post its audited finances for 2010 ahead of the same deadline.
Diocesan Ordinations in Photos
Below are photos from Carolyn Murdoch's January 29th ordination to the diaconate at Our Savior Martinez and Bob Polglase's March 6th ordination to the priesthood at St. Paul's Augusta. These are among the many photos gathered in our diocesan photo album, which is regularly updated.
  

Send your news and events to [email protected],
so we can feature them in upcoming issues
of From the Field.

Sincerely,
 
Diocesan Staff
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia