Registration open for 2017 Young Adult and Campus Ministry Leadership Conference

Register now for the 2017 Young Adult and Campus Ministry Leadership Conference, CULTIVATE: Resilient Hope, slated for June 25-28 at St. David's Episcopal Church, Austin, TX (Diocese of Texas). CULTIVATE: Resilient Hope is an Episcopal conference for leaders in ministry with young adults on and off college campuses. The focus will be on how leaders and mentors can cultivate resilient hope in the midst of everyday lives, the current events in our country, and in our communities.  Click here for more information.

Stand to Support Refugees: An invitation to support Episcopal Migration Ministries

Episcopal Migration Ministries, the refugee resettlement agency of the Episcopal Church, invites participation in supporting its life-saving work through Stand to Support Refugees, a fundraising campaign to maintain a strong, viable ministry network to welcome those fleeing war, violence and persecution. Donations to Stand to Support Refugees will help strengthen important ministry to some of the most vulnerable throughout the world.

Episcopal Migration Ministries is a ministry of the Episcopal Church, and is one of nine national agencies responsible for resettling refugees in the United States in partnership with the government. Episcopal Migration Ministries currently has 31 affiliate offices in 23 states.
Like other agencies that resettle refugees and assist them with housing, job training, and other services, Episcopal Migration Ministries receives the bulk of its funding from federal grants. As a result of the March 6 Executive Order, funding is being dramatically reduced for the remainder of 2017, potentially resulting in significant negative impact to core ministries offered by Episcopal Migration Ministries.

To learn more about Episcopal Migration Ministries or to make a donation, go to www.episcopalmigrationministries.org.

The Grapevine ECW newsletter is here

The Spring 2017 edition of The Grapevine, the diocesan ECW newsletter, is available here. In this issue:

• Meet ECW President Helen Sharpe-Williams
• Becca Stevens of Thistle Farms to be keynote speaker at Annual Fall Meeting
• Apply now for ECW Scholarships
• New ECW Board members
• Domestic violence: It's everybody's business
• Church Periodical Club
• United Thank Offering

Clergy transitions

The Rev. Carlotta Cochrane began as Priest in Charge Time Certain at St. Thomas, Chesapeake, August 28, 2016.

 

The Rev. Frederick Walker left St. Mark's, Suffolk, on February 28, 2017.

 

The Rev. Catherine Boyd will begin as Rector of St. Martin's, Williamsburg, on April 9, 2017.

 

New offerings from ChurchNext: Water & Justice; Family Faith Formation

ChurchNext has added two new offerings to its extensive course catalog:

Water & Justice
Fletcher Harper, executive director of Greenfaith, discusses how Christians should bring a reverence for water into our communities. He teaches about the challenges to water supplies around the world and ways to develop a deeper appreciation of our sense of water as a gift. Fletcher teaches about the impetus, but also the resources, that Christianity gives us to conserve water and minimize the effects of climate change. Click here for more.

Family Faith Formation
John Roberto of Lifelong Faith Ministries, discusses the essential role that families take in raising children in the Christian faith and identifies ways to use technology to offer Christian parenting resources through websites that curate webinars, podcasts, online learning and other technological advances. He discusses way to match this material to the needs of families and to encourage them to use these resources. Click here for more.

Resources and assistance for environmental stewardship

Caring for Creation is one of our Diocesan Stewardship goals: "to inspire and mobilize parishes to play a leadership role in building a just and resilient future through environmental stewardship programs". We encourage you to access the resources that have recently been added to the Stewardship page of the diocesan website, www.diosova.org/stewardship.  

We are looking to connect with parishes who:

• would like assistance in growing an environmental stewardship program (some of you indicated that in a diocesan survey); or
• already have an environmental stewardship program and would be willing to share their experiences and resources with others.

If either of these describes your parish, please send your parish name, your name and contact information to diosovagreen@gmail.com. Thank you for your consideration of this important ministry.

Jackson-Feild residents visit Club J316

Eight residents and several staff members from Jackson-Feild recently traveled to True Word Christian Church in Franklin to visit Club J316 - a free Christian club for children in grades 5-12 that is the creation of Jackson-Feild alumna Leslie Ludwig.

 

At Club J316, high school and college students - some of whom travel as much as 100 miles to perform - give an upbeat concert of hip hop and rap music in a Christian atmosphere.

 

Ludwig started Club J316 because she felt that teens are bombarded with unhealthy and unhelpful messages. Admitting that she had a great deal of obstacles to overcome in her teen years, Ludwig says, "I always wanted to do something to help other children like me. If I can help only one child with our live Holy Hip Hop and Christian Rap, I will have accomplished my goal."

 

Ludwig hopes to bring her Club J316 to the Jackson-Feild campus and share her message of hope and grace with all the boys and girls. The residents who enjoyed the concert in Franklin danced the night away and spoke of how moving the experience was.