Living Local: Joining God
Exploring God's Mission Together
by Tim Hodapp
There's a lot of conversation in the church these days about God's mission. Yet, as one leading Christian missiologist, Alan Roxburgh, recently observed, "The word 'missional' seems to have traveled the remarkable path from obscurity to banality in only a decade."
In the forward to Waging Reconciliation, Ian Douglas cogently describes God's mission as God's action in the world to bring about God's reign.
Across the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT), we're quickly identifying what living in this post-Christendom world means. Church as usual, or business as usual, is not an option when we find ourselves as sojourners in the margins seeking to walk with God in a culture that simply doesn't know the Christian story.
So, what's a parish, worshiping community, Christian to do? How about joining other Christians who are committed to seeing people and communities restored. After all, when we travel lightly together, following Jesus and joining Him in what He's up to, we're likely to find restoration at every turn: with God, our own true selves, our communities and families, and the neighborhoods where we live and work.
This is the work that many of us are trying on in practical ways. Parishes and organizations that have a long history of collaboration and service to the marginalized-like the reconfigured Bridgeport Ministry Network (former Bridgeport Deanery), Episcopal Church Women, and the Community Gardeners' Ministry Network-continue to be touched and transformed as each embraces the various ministries.
New areas of collaborative work are springing up and claiming a role in ECCT as a Ministry Network, like the Christian Formation Ministry Network; Music, Liturgy, and Arts Ministry Network; and the Digital Communicators' Ministry Network.
In addition, ECCT, joining with Maine, East Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia has launched a missional experiment. We're working with three preeminent missiologists-Dwight Zscheile, Craig Van Gelder, and Alan Roxburgh-and together we'll try on a multi-diocese, multi-parish, multi-year grand experiment that we're calling, Living Local: Joining God.
We're going to start this on Saturday September 24, 9 AM-2 PM, at St. John's in West Hartford. All are invited to sign up. We're especially seeking parish priests and five or six parishioners to come as a group and spend part of the day learning and part of the day practicing what "following Jesus together into the neighborhood" means.
- Go here to read the invitation to all ECCT parish clergy.
- Go here to visit the event page on our website.
By year's end we'll select a small group of people from six parishes, one from each Region, to join this grand experiment.
Join with your sisters and brothers across ECCT in the day of experimenting together in September. There's little risk and, who knows, there may be a whole new world to gain!
The Rev. Tim Hodapp is the Canon for Mission Collaboration for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. For more information please contact Tim at thodapp@episcopalct.org.
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Register Now for September 24 Workshop
Sign-up with clergy and lay leaders from across ECCT for a little theory about how to discover what God's up to, and to join God in the neighborhood. Then, following an early lunch, we'll head out together and try on what we've just learned, listening for what God is telling us in some of West Hartford's nearby neighborhoods.
- How do we recognize God's effect on the world around us?
- How do we confidently step in and help God with the work?
How do we become a force of goodness that reckons with a world hungry for hope?
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| | Joining God in the Neighborhood |
Together, we'll learn and practice what living local and joining God is all about.
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Reminder to Submit Financial Audits for Parishes
Your Canon for Mission Finance and Operations extends a friendly reminder that parishes are required to submit financial audits (for larger parishes) or financial reviews annually. "Larger parishes" is defined to mean over $500,000 in total revenues annually. The audits/reviews for 2015 financial should be received at the Commons by September 1. Setting aside the fact that submission of audited financials is a canonical requirement, your parish will benefit from the practice of having a trained professional review its financials and control practices, which often help congregations improve the way they manage church funds and account for income and expenses. In extreme cases, audits/reviews can uncover significant problems in financial management, which are more prevalent than one might imagine, and can happen even in your parish. More information can be found on ECCT's website under Resources/Parish Administration/Audits. Please contact Karolyn Nicolaides, knicolaides@episcopalct.org or [203] 639-3501, Ext. 134, for a list of firms that perform audits and financial reviews. Thank you for making certain that your parish has audits or financial reviews performed every year!
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Transitional Ministries Conference
From Lee Ann Tolzmann, Canon for Mission Leadership
The Transition Ministries Conference is a regional meeting of diocesan transition ministers from about 40 dioceses, mostly in the northeastern quadrant of the US, specifically to share information about congregations that are searching for clergy and clergy who are looking for new congregations. Diocesan transition ministers present summaries of congregational profiles and pertinent information about potential clergy candidates in search of the best match between talent and need.
The conference occurs twice a year, and the next meeting is September 19 - 22. If you are exploring another call, or are in the early stages of the discernment process, this is a chance for you to test that out.
The first step is to fill out the TMC Confidential Information form found on their webpage. Please also take the time to update your OTM Portfolio, which can be done online. The deadline for submitting your material is Monday, September 12.
Knowing that the decision to explore new ministry possibilities is a sensitive one, please rest assured that the names shared at the TMC are kept in strictest confidence; only I will know who has asked to be presented. There is a high trust level between TMC transitions ministers, and we honor the delicate nature of this sort of discernment.
Please contact me (latolzmann@episcopalct.org) with any questions about the TMC or the process. I look forward to working with you.
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Have you heard about these upcoming events?
Upcoming Event for Clergy Women
The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens and the Women's Clergy Steering Committee invite all women clergy for a buffet luncheon at Camp Washington to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. $25 per person, financial assistance available. Register here.
LGBTQ: Bible & Church Workshop
Join the Rev'ds Sara Ofner-Seals from Park Congregational Church, Norwich and Hugh James from Christ Episcopal Church, on July 30 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Christ Church, Norwich for a study workshop on LGBTQ references in the Bible, and the Church's place in the LGBTQ debate in society. Admission is free, however donations would be greatly appreciated to cover food costs. Please RSVP to Hugh at hughjames1784@att.net. St. Paul's Brookfield and Fr. Joseph Shepley Lead Two Pilgrimages to Holy Land New Year's Break, 2016 - 2017. The first trip, the "Best of Israel," leaving on December 26 will be primarily for "first timers" where we will walk in the footsteps of Jesus, visiting Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. The second trip, "In-Depth Israel plus Petra," leaves on January 2nd and will overlap the first trip on the travel days. It will be of interest to the "return visitors" to Israel, spending more time in Jerusalem, visiting additional areas in Israel, and Jordan. You can combine both trips to celebrate the "12 Days of Christmas" in the Holy Land. Please see full detailed program here or here for more information, prices, and registration.
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Formation Corner
Important Dates
For postulants & candidates:
Conversation with COM and Standing Committee: January 14, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. For those in discernment groups: Materials due: August 15 (Discernment Group report & Rector's Response) Resource Pages If you have any questions about the ordination process or know someone who might be called to Holy Orders, please contact Molly James, Dean of Formation.
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The Rev. Yves-Eugene Joseph has begun his ministry as ECCT's Haitian Missioner.
The Rev. Michael Carroll is now Missional Priest at St. John's in Waterbury, as well as at All Saints, Meriden.
The Rev. Donna Downs has ended her ministry at All Saints, Oakville.
The Rev. Helen Moore has ended her ministry at Grace Church, Stafford Springs.
The Rev. Mary Grace Williams will end her ministry as rector of St. Matthew's, Wilton on July 24.
The Rev. Whitney Edwards will end her ministry as rector of Christ and the Holy Trinity, Westport, on July 31.
The Rev. Hilary Greer will end her ministry as Priest in Charge at St. Mark's, Storrs, on July 31.
The Rev. Kate Heichler will end her ministry as Priest in Charge at Christ the Healer, Stamford on July 31.
The Rev. Elsa Worth will end her ministry as Rector at Christ Episcopal Church, Bethany, on August 15.
The Rev. Colin Chapman will end his ministry as Associate Rector at Christ and the Holy Trinity, Westport, on August 31.
Parishes in Transition
All Saints, Oakville..................................................................Using Supply Priests
Epiphany Church, Durham........................................................Using Supply Priests
Grace Church, Hartford......................................................Seeking Priest in Charge
Grace Church, Stafford Springs.............................................Seeking Missional Priest
Old St. Andrew's, Bloomfield...........................................Interim in place: Alex Dyer
Our Savior, Plainville...........................................................Seeking Missional Priest
St. Andrew's, Madison.........................................................................Interviewing
St. James, New London..................................................Interim in place: Bob Miner
St. John's, North Haven.....................................Interim in place: Louise Kalemkarian
St. Luke's, New Haven........................................................Seeking Priest in Charge
St. Mark's, Storrs........................................................Interim in place: Hilary Greer
St. Mary's, Manchester..................................................Interim in place: Lynne Grifo
St. Martin's, Hartford...........................................................Seeking Missional Priest
St. Paul's, Fairfield........................................................Interim in place: Amy Welin
St. Paul's, Riverside............................................................................Interviewing
St. Paul's & St. James, New Haven........................................Seeking Missional Priest
St. Peter's, Milford..................................................Interim in place: Cynthia Knapp
St. Peter's, South Windsor............................................Interim in place: Shaw Mudge
St. Timothy's, Fairfield........................................................................Interviewing
Trinity Church, Portland......................................................Seeking Missional Priest
Trinity Church, Seymour.................................................Interim in place: Steve Ling
Trinity Church, Trumbull..............................................Interim in place: Paul Carling
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