Jackson-Feild graduates 10 students

June 9 was a milestone day for ten students at the Gwaltney School at Jackson-Feild Homes as they graduated from high school. The Baccalaureate Service and Commencement Exercises were held at Southside Virginia Community College's Golden Leaf Commons.

 

Five students received their high school diploma and five students received their GED. This was the largest graduating class since 2009. In its 20 year history, a total of 167 students have graduated from the Gwaltney School.

 

Dr. Bill Bowling, Director of Education, presided over the ceremony. Three students, Aureana, Genya and Fidel were the commencement speakers. Their speeches provided everyone in the audience an understanding of how important this day was to them as well as their deep gratitude towards the faculty and staff who helped them along the way.

 

Five scholarships were awarded to students to help them with the expenses to further their education. In addition to the scholarships awarded, there were special gifts that were given to all the graduates. Among these were cash gifts, gift cards, flowers for the girls and wallets for the boys. Helen Sharpe-Williams, President of the Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of Southern Virginia was in attendance and presented each graduate with a cash gift as a token for their accomplishment. An anonymous donor gave each graduate a $100 gift certificate and each girl a bouquet of red roses and each boy a wallet. Each student also received a class ring that was funded by an anonymous donor.

 

This ceremony is one of the highlights of the year for both children and staff as it culminates and validates the mission of Jackson-Feild and celebrates the accomplishments of it children.

CE-Net and Digital Faith Formation

For many of us just saying the words Digital Faith Formation can instill feelings of inadequacy, perceived technical challenges or perhaps outright avoidance of the subject.    Fear not! CE-NET has collaborated with Jared Rendell, Partner for Digital Strategies, at Vibrant Faith to present several sessions over the summer to help us reduce our digital angst. 

The first opportunity will occur on June 15 at 10:00 at the Diocesan Center, 11827 Canon Blvd., Suite 101 Newport News. Jared will help us explore some basic information about a few key "must use" digital platforms and guide us in re-orienting our perceptions of the digital landscape.  As we begin to explore the topic the following key points should emerge:

• Digital formation is not a tool to be used, but rather a space to gather in.
• Digital formation is not just posted information, but rather active engaged faith formation.
• You have what it takes to have a digital presence and it is a shared responsibility for all who are engaged in faith formation.
• Digital formation is a planned, integrated ministry.  It's not a standalone effort but rather it should complement and connect to  our brick and mortar presence
• Effective digital formation should create opportunities to live out our mission and create ways to connect to each other and to God.

Please join us and share your thoughts.  We will conclude at noon and you are welcome to bring a lunch if you would like to continue the discussion during the lunch hour.  Please confirm you attendance by email, cblack@diosova.org.

"Journey to Generosity" stewardship conference available free online

The 2017 TENS Conference, "Journey to Generosity" was held in May in Minneapolis.  Those in attendance were inspired by three outstanding keynote speakers and eight workshops challenged and trained people on topics from the "Spirituality of Philanthropy" to "Planning Your Annual Campaign."

 

The TENS Board of Directors has decided to make the entire webinar available to all TENS members, FREE! Through our diocesan membership, you can access the videos on the Member Resources page of the TENS website, www.tens.org. If you are interested in any of the workshops, please contact Caroline Black at cblack@diosova.org for the login and password.

New course and one free month from ChurchNext

ChurchNext has two new courses available:

• Ministering with Millennials - Millennials are the largest generation alive today. They are not only important to the faith community; they are a necessity if we want to bring the church into the new world - a world they will be running in just 20-30 years.
• Is My Loved One Addicted? - This course is designed to help family members and churches combat the disease of addiction. Jonathan Benz, a certified substance abuse counselor, author and speaker discusses ways to recognize the signs of addiction and what to do once your realize that a love one is struggling with addiction.

ChurchNext is also making a free offer - They will give your church a free, one-month Congregational Membership test drive with no obligation. ChurchNext offers over 300 courses for individuals and groups that can help your congregation learn and grow in their faith. To take advantage of the free offer, just email hello@churchnext.tv.  

Presiding Bishop on the President's action and the Paris Climate Accord

With the announcement by President Donald Trump of his decision to withdraw the commitment made by the United States to the Paris Climate Accord, I am reminded of the words of the old spiritual which speaks of God and God's creation in these words, "He's got the whole world in his hands." The whole world belongs to God, as Psalm 24 teaches us. God's eye is ever on even the tiny sparrow, as Jesus taught and the song says (Luke 12:6). And we human beings have been charged with being trustees, caretakers, stewards of God's creation (Genesis 1:26-31).

The United States has been a global leader in caring for God's creation through efforts over the years on climate change. President Trump's announcement changes the U.S.'s leadership role in the international sphere. Despite this announcement, many U.S. businesses, states, cities, regions, nongovernmental organizations and faith bodies like the Episcopal Church can continue to take bold action to address the climate crisis.  The phrase, "We're still in," became a statement of commitment for many of us who regardless of this decision by our President are still committed to the principles of the Paris Agreement.

Faith bodies like the Episcopal Church occupy a unique space in the worldwide climate movement. In the context of the United Nations, the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, we are an international body representing 17 countries in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia and the Pacific. We also are an admitted observer organization to the UNFCCC process, empowered to bring accredited observers to the UN climate change meetings. Furthermore, the Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the third-largest Christian tradition, and we remain committed to ensuring that Anglicans everywhere are empowered to undertake bold action on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

We know that caring for God's creation by engaging climate change is not only good for the environment, but also good for the health and welfare of our people. The U.S. is currently creating more clean jobs faster than job creation in nearly every other sector of the economy, and unprecedented acceleration in the clean energy sector is also evident in many other major economies.

My prayer is that we in the Episcopal Church will, in this and all things, follow the way, the teachings and the Spirit of Jesus by cultivating a loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God, all others in the human family, and with all of God's good creation.

In spite of hardships and setbacks, the work goes on. This is God's world.  And we are all his children. And, "He's got the whole world in his hands."

 

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry

Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church

The Presiding Bishop's statement is available online here.

Practical Resources for Churches assists with all areas of ministry

Practical Resources for Churches (PRC) is an ecumenical resource that works with churches of all sizes and denominations, assisting with all areas of ministry. PRC's goal is to provide time-effective, cost efficient and results oriented programs and services and to use technology as efficiently as possible to assist church leaders to further and enhance their ministry moving forward. The newest and most ambitious project is an Online Resource Center at www.prcli.org. It offers links and online resources in sixteen categories where information can be obtained on a range of sub topics.

The site features lots of webinars and their catalog of previously recorded sessions is free to access. PRC has just released their schedule of webinars for the rest of the year and some of the upcoming events are:

• E-giving for Every Church (Aug. 8)
• Getting Ready - For CE Directors (Aug. 10)
• Let's Kill Sunday School - before it kills the church (Aug. 22)
• Digital Activism 101 (Sep. 12)
• Faith at Home - How to support cautiously Christian parents (Sep. 26)
• Transforming Attitudes about Dementia in the Church (Oct. 3)
• Faith Formation at Home - Tools your families can use (Oct. 19)
• Helping Others Find God in the Digital Space (Nov. 2)
• Reaching People Under 30 While Keeping People Over 60 (Nov. 7)

Southern Virginia mourns the loss of the Rev. William Hoffman

Southern Virginia mourns the loss of the Rev. William Charles Hoffman who passed away on May 20 at the age of 93. The Rev. Hoffman was ordained to diaconate in 1951 and to the priesthood in 1952 here in Southern Virginia by Bishop Gunn. Hoffman served from 1951 to 1954 at Pruden Parish, Gretna, and 1954 to 1988 at St. Bride's, Chesapeake.

A funeral service will be held at St. Bride's, Chesapeake (621 N. Sparrow Road) on Saturday, June 10 at 11 a.m. Clergy: White stoles. Please keep the Hoffman family in your prayers.