This is NOT Sunday School

ChurchNext is hosting a new weekly program offering called "This is NOT Sunday School". The course will run from September 16th-December 20th .  It is designed to be a free weekly, inter-generational Christian learning opportunity to help participants draw closed to Jesus Christ. Click here for more information and registration.

New "Way of Love, Practices for a Jesus-Centered Life" resources support building an intentional small group ministry

The Episcopal Church continues to offer new resources for congregations interested in following the Way of Love as a way of life by starting small group ministries. New resources include the Building an Intentional Small Group Ministry information packet, an infographic, video compilations, and social media graphics. These resources are available in English, Spanish and French. For more information and resources visit iam.ec/smallgroups or email wayoflove@episcopalchurch.org

Come away with me and rest a while

Clergy retreat September 28-30

In this exhortation from Mark, Jesus bids his disciples to break loose from the demands on their physical time and energies in order to go to a place to rejuvenate and recreate. Bishop Susan would like to invite all clergy to such a time.   As the pandemic lingers longer than anyone would have anticipated, many clergy are finding themselves close to a point of burnout. The learning curve experienced from moving from in-person worship to virtual worship and then a to hybrid worship including both kinds of worship, has exacted a toll on our time and energies. A bit of rest is necessary.

 

On Monday through Wednesday, September 28-30, the Diocese is offering a clergy retreat for a time of rest and reflection. The retreat may be experienced in person at Chanco on the James for those who feel ready to venture out to that sort of gathering (Rooming options will be limited to single occupancy except for clergy couples or others who currently quarantine together). It will also offer a virtual option for those who wish to experience retreat in their homes. The goal of this retreat is to rest. Bishop Haynes will offer times of meditation and times of prayer and silence. Outside experts on church programming, worship and evangelism will be saved for another gathering. The focus, once again, is rest. We will also offer opportunities for waterfront activities including swimming, paddle-boarding and kayaking. Compline will be conducted each night around the campfire.

 

More information will be forthcoming in the next weeks, including cost and how to register. For now, please hold the dates on your calendar: September 28-30.

Safeguarding Grants available

Recently Diocesan funds were budgeted to provide grants for small churches to assist in meeting compliance standards (i.e. background checks, credit checks, etc.) for the Policy for the Protection of Children, Youth, and Vulnerable Adults. Small churches who have submitted their Congregational/Organizational Safe Church Annual Audit and have provided the Diocese with the preceding two calendar years' financial audit reports are eligible to apply to apply for a Safeguarding Grant. Click here for the application form. If you have questions please contact Canon Lynn Farlin at lfarlin@diosova.org or via phone at 757-213-3377.

Celebrate the Season of Creation

September 1 to October 4

 

Episcopalians are invited to join churches around the world in celebrating the Season of Creation; a time for people of faith to renew their relationship with God and all creation through celebration, prayer, and action. The Season's roots rise from the Orthodox Christian tradition; the World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from September 1 until St. Francis Day, October 4. The Episcopal Church Office of Creation Care offers Season of Creation and St. Francis Day Resources to help plan.

Season of Creation resources include:

• Season of Creation Weekly Devotional
• Season of Creation website, featuring a celebration guide, prayer, ways to take action and more.
• Episcopal liturgical resources for honoring God in creation. Also available in Spanish here.
• Creation Care resource page - Compiled by Episcopalians from across the Church, this page includes resources on loving formation (teaching, preaching, worship), liberating advocacy for environmental justice, and life-giving conservation and sustainability efforts. Users are invited to share their best resources here.

St. Francis Day resources include:

• Episcopal Church St. Francis Day resources - Use this comprehensive resource to plan a Blessing of the Animals service, a St. Francis Day service, or to find story books and historical resources about St. Francis of Assisi.
• La Bendicion de los Animales - Blessing of the Animals services in Spanish.

The Season of Creation is an excellent opportunity to try out an outdoor formation event or outdoor worship service where safe, as a source of joy and connection with animals and with God's creation.

Seeds of Hope Grant applications now being accepted

Seeds of Hope Grants are available to congregations and diocesan groups (e.g., affiliated institutions, commissions and task forces) within the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia to begin or expand ministries for social and economic justice causes as they relate to the Five Marks of Mission. 2020 grant applications must be postmarked NO LATER THAN September 30, 2020. Awards will be announced and distributed no later than November 30, 2020. Click here for more information and an application form.

The Road to Healing with Ken Woodley

Author Ken Woodley will host a Zoom Forum to share the story behind his book The Road to Healing, on Wednesday, August 26 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. St. Michael's, Bon Air (a mostly white church) and Fourth Wall Love Connect Ministries (a mostly black church), who share ministry on the same campus in Bon Air, are co-hosting this event. Members of the community are invited. The Road to Healing covers the five years Prince Edward County, Virginia closed down their public schools rather than integrate from 1959-1964. It also shares the compelling story of the eighteen-month crusade to bring healing and justice to those denied their education, through what the late Julian Bond described as the first civil rights-era reparations in U.S. history. Register here to attend the forum. 

 

Ken Woodley, a member of St. Anne's, Appomattox, is a licensed lay preacher in the Episcopal Church and has published daily spiritual meditations Forward Day By Day. Woodley was the editor for twenty-four years of the Farmville Herald in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Learn more about Woodley and follow his blog at kenwoodley.com.