Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices

by Richelle Thompson on January 5, 2011

Please take the pencil sketch of your church off the front of your newsletter. 

As a communicator for a diocese, I read nearly every newsletter (print and electronic) each month. More than eight years into this ministry, I’ve found that congregational newsletters tend to be a pretty good barometer of a church’s vitality.

If the congregation is bitter and fighting, that normally carries over into the newsletter, with lots of begging and pleading for volunteers and passive-aggressive announcements about events cancelled or ministries derailed because of lack of interest. If giving is way down – and the congregation is money-focused instead of mission-focused, you can tell by the newsletter. Typically there will be three or four articles about stewardship, a spreadsheet detailing planned cuts in the budget and perhaps a sad line graph contrasting budget versus actual funds received. 

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by Peter Strimer on January 4, 2011

At the end of each year you see many Top 10 lists and I have room here for my own choice of seven stories that affected the life of our Episcopal Church in the past year.

1. Haiti relief galvanizes the church. Haiti is the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church and suffered a devastating earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. Since that time thanks to the coordinated effort of Episcopal Relief and Development most dioceses in the church have offered support for emergency assistance and redevelopment work.

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by Miguel Angel Escobar on January 4, 2011

We all know it’s coming. Soon and very soon we’ll be asked to refresh the parish homepage, craft a new ministries brochure, or create a parish calendar as the fundraiser for the youth mission trip. As you may recall, this proved difficult last year in part because of the lack of recent, good photos. But this year is going to be so different! 2011 will be the year of countless, beautifully-rendered digital photos, online and on-hand for a full year’s worth of parish communication projects.

Thankfully, this is actually a fairly easy project (which is another reason, I suppose, why this makes for such an excellent resolution). Here are few things to consider:

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by Nancy Davidge on January 3, 2011

In the United States, the start of a new calendar year signals time for reflection and renewal and setting goals. Out with the old! In with the new!

Honoring the New Year’s tradition of evaluation and goal setting, ECF Vital Practices invited church leaders to share ‘healthy practices’ in the areas of mission, formation, leadership, stewardship, and wellness. What best practices might congregations adopt to facilitate the work God is calling them to do in the coming year and beyond? How might these new, healthier practices prepare congregational leaders to meet the challenges presented by the world we live in today? 

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by Richelle Thompson on January 3, 2011

I want to write about losing inches from my waist and straightening all of my closets – or at least my sincere plans to do so sometime in 2011.

But I’ve just returned from the funeral of a priest who committed suicide four days after Christmas.

I didn’t know him well, but he had been rector for 16 years of the congregation that my husband started serving a year ago. Of course, the parishioners are reeling, vacillating between anger, confusion and profound sadness.

There are no answers to the questions of why. There is no canonical guidance to helping people heal. 

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