e-Communique Masthead
April 30, 2014
Diocesan Events & Info 

 

Bishop's Spring Conference - May 5-7
"And Press with Vigor On" is the theme of the annual conference for Clergy, Lay Professionals and Spouses that will take place at Shrine Mont next week - and registration is still open! Learn more and register.

Jump Start Conference - Canceled (originally scheduled for May 10)

We value the conversations that have taken place around Jump Start and will reschedule the event for the fall. Those who have registered will receive refunds.

 

Eighth-Grade Weekend - May 16-18

PYM event at Shrine Mont. Learn more.  

 

Faith & Females: Women's Ministries in the DOV - May 17

Opportunity for girls and women to discuss the intersection of women's issues and ministries and faith formation, at St. James the Less. Learn more.                

 

ECW Spring Meeting - May 22, St. Martin's, Richmond
The Episcopal Church Women will welcome the GIRLs group of St. George's, Fredericksburg, and Emily Cherry, diocesan communications director. Learn more and register. 

 

New Clergy Orientation, June 3 at Mayo House, Richmond. 

All clergy who have begun new ministries in the Diocese within the past 18 months, including the newly ordained and those who are transitioning from other dioceses, are invited to attend. Learn more and register.
  
Ordination to the Diaconate - June 7, St. Paul's, Richmond

God willing, Bishop Johnston will celebrate the ordination of Katherine Hahn Byrd, Judith Webb Davis, Andrew Ryan Guffey, Elizabeth Franklin Keeler, Whitney Blythe Kirby, Eugene Hamilton LeCouteur II and George Willis Logan Jr. Learn more.      

 

Bishop's Jubilee - July 4-6 

Save the date for the Bishop's Jubilee at Shrine Mont. Contact Shrine Mont at shrine@shentel.net or 540-856-2141 for package rates. 
Need to Know

The Rt. Rev. Filadelfo Oliviera Neto of the Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will visit the Diocese of Virginia next week and would like to meet with some Virginia churches to learn more about our ministries. Please contact Amy Williams at awilliams@thediocese.net if you would like to host or meet him.

How does your church use online giving? Do you have a particular vendor that you recommend? Any success stories to share? We're compiling a set of online giving resources and would like to collect your feedback. Please contact Emily Cherry at echerry@thediocese.net.  

In 2012, the diocesan committee structure underwent a transition to promote collaboration through the creation of several umbrella commissions. Now, following a recent Executive Board resolution, we're taking steps to return the focus and energies to those committee groups. Learn more about this transition, and consider getting involved in one of our committees or ministry teams.

 

How does your church minister to children and families with special needs? Contact Emily Cherry to share your stories and resources: echerry@thediocese.net.

 

Church Calendar 

4/30: Parenting Skills Workshop, St Bartholomew's, Richmond
5/1: Lenten Adult Inquirer's Class, Holy Comforter, Richmond
5/2: Concert - Art Songs of Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf, St. George's, Arlington
5/2: Marriage Alpha, Catoctin Creek Distillery
5/3: Mad Hatter's Tea, St. Barnabas', Annandale
5/3: Old Church Garden Fair, Immanuel, Old Church
5/3: Annual Yard Sale, St. Mark's, Richmond
5/4: Swamp Romp, Cajun band, Good Shepherd, Burke
5/4: Candlelit Evensong, St. George's, Arlington
5/4: Bishop's Visit with Confirmations, St. James's, Richmond
5/4: Choral Evensong, St. Mary's, Arlington
5/4: Hymn Festival, Emmanuel, Brook Hill
5/4: Evensong, Emmanuel, Harrisonburg
5/4: Youth Cantata, St. James's, Richmond
5/7: Holy Eucharist with Prayers for Healing, Holy Comforter, Richmond
5/14: Re-Discovering Fire Community Forum on the Perils & Promise of LGBT Inclusion in your Church, at St. David's, Ashburn, with St. Gabriel's, Leesburg

More Church Events   

Other Events & Announcements

Virginia Theological Seminary and the African American Episcopal Historical Collections will host Dr. Dan Royles for a forum on May 8 entitled "Jesus is Alive and Living with AIDS": Black Churches Respond to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic. Learn more. 

 

Province III SYNOD will be held at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg, West Virginia on May 19, 2014. Learn more. 

 

Clergy/Counselor certification training for PREPARE/ENRICH, a marriage/relationship inventory and education tool, will be offered May 29 at Dover Baptist Association. Learn more.

Join other faith formation professionals, communication ministers and clergy at the e-Formation Conference at Virginia Theological Seminary, June 2-4. Programs include workshops, breakout groups and presentations on Google tools, digital curriculum resources and more. Learn more.

Richmond Hill is offering a special edition of its RUAH School of Spiritual Guidance for Clergy and Church Professionals.
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A Letter from Bishop Johnston

From the Spring 2014 issue of the
Virginia Episcopalian
magazine.

In one form or another, it's a question I'm asked all the time: "What is a diocese?" You could put this question in a number of different ways: "What does the Diocese do?" "Why do we need the Diocese?" "What does being a diocese actually mean?" "Isn't the Diocese really just the bishops and the staff?" These are for starters, and I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. And then there's the big one: "What does the diocese do for me?/us?/my church?"

If any of this sounds or feels familiar, then I wish you could have been at our diocesan Annual Council in January. Of course, some 800 or so of you were there. Based on the tremendous feedback we've since received, that Council went a long way in answering those questions above.

The Council's theme was "Awake, My Soul, Stretch Every Nerve" (the first line of a well-beloved hymn, #546), and we were treated to story after story of ministries that stretched your fellow Episcopalians and their widely varying congregations out of their comfort zones.
I don't think that I'm overstating things when I say that the members of Council caught a glimpse of something that unites us as the Diocese of Virginia at least as much as our centuries of common history, our love for our places of worship, and our familial connections do: our common calling and joy to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to offer and communicate that Gospel to anyone and everyone within our reach. Indeed, I dare to think that we have reclaimed anew a vibrant communal identity: our mission as Christians and our confidence and energy as parishioners of the Episcopal congregations that make up this family in Christ known as the Diocese of Virginia.

Read the full article online.
 For Christ For This Time For All Time