St. John's Portsmouth Selected for National "missio:engage" Program

St. John's, Portsmouth, has been selected by the national church as one of only 12 English-speaking congregations in the United States to join with 12 Spanish-speaking congregations in an exciting congregational revitalization initiative called missio:engage. The goal of missio:engage is to assist communities of faith in the process of re-rooting their ministries in the communities they are called to serve, with enough critical mass "back home" that this initiative is sustainable and avoids "burnout." This is part of a Community of Practice that is committed to learning publicly in the service of the Episcopal Church at large.  

Over a period of sixty days, Tom Brackett, Program Officer for Church Planting & Redevelopment for the Episcopal Church, will work with a team of coaches to train a core group of leaders in each participant parish. Each member of the team will be dedicated to this ministry, alone. Over the following two years, that core group will learn how to offer radical welcome to newcomers in their community, move visitors from being newcomers to fully-formed leaders, reconnect with the realities emerging in the communities they are called to serve and offer relevant outreach that offers God's grace in ways meaningful to their communities.  

"The people of St. John's are excited and energized to be part of this cutting edge venture for the entire Episcopal Church," says the Rev. Derek Harbin, rector of St. John's. "Our hope is that we can better engage our 21st century culture as we strive to fulfill the twin heartbeats of Jesus: inviting and forming disciples in the faith and caring for those in need in our community and world."