Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices

by Richelle Thompson on May 14, 2012

I’m not gonna lie. The idea of turning 40 sucked.

I spent some time moping last week. It didn’t help that my kids started teasing, calling me oldy-moldy or old-and-crusty. Then a co-worker prefaced a question to me with “O, ancient one.” He was referring to my 10 years on diocesan staff (I think), but I was feeling a little raw.
But on my birthday – and throughout the weekend, somehow the number didn’t bother me at all.

Without a few years behind me, I wouldn’t have old friends to remind me how the smell of tomatoes made my stomach turn when I was pregnant with my first child. There wouldn’t be a table full of parents and in-laws, my children and nieces and nephews, talking over one another as we share schnitzel and spatzle at my favorite German restaurant.

Without growing older, I couldn’t witness my 10-year-old daughter crossing the finish line of her first 5K or feel my son’s arms wrap around me, his head nuzzling in the hollow of my neck. I couldn't lace my fingers through my husband's, absently holding his hand, knowing each callous and scar.

I stopped feeling old and started feeling blessed. 

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by Chris Yaw on May 11, 2012

Editor’s Note: Guest blogger Chris Yaw’s passion is healthy churches. His ChurchNext ministry puts the spotlight on a diversity of ministries that are flourishing. He records and shares interviews with faith leaders so others can learn from their experiences. Click on the Interview link below to watch the video or download a podcast.

It’s one of the Church’s biggest mistakes: over-reliance on one person to do the bulk of the work (planning, visioning, preaching, organizing, cleaning gutters… you name it).

In this new, inventive, age, the Presbyterian Church USA’s Landon Whitsitt, author of the book Open Source Church, thinks that the day of the ‘super-pastor’ is way over – and that the Body of Christ does its best work in collaboration. Landon says he’s a cross between a software geek and a church geek – and he’s making some interesting discoveries as a result. 

Landon thinks anybody can be a leader – and it’s up to today’s clergy and active lay-people to open up to the amazing ways God is using God’s people to touch the world. Watch or listen to this interview and be energized by this gifted theologian.

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by Nancy Davidge on May 10, 2012

Conversations related to governance are everywhere. State and national elections dominate news reports. In New England, we are in the middle of Town Meeting season; earlier this week I listened to passionate arguments for or against leaf blowers, dog bites, and new drains during Marblehead’s Town Meeting. And, at ECF Vital Practices, our May/June 2012 focus in on church governance which means that I’m actively seeking stories and resources that may help congregational leaders interested in learning more about our Episcopal polity.

Here are some of the online conversations I’ve been following: 

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by Richelle Thompson on May 9, 2012

For a decade, I’ve been telling readers of our diocesan newspaper about summer camp. It’s an amazing, life-changing experience for most kids, but I couldn’t bring myself to use those same words for the tenth time to promote camp.

I suspect fellow communicators and parish administrators suffer the same event fatigue. How can you present in fun and creative ways the annual spaghetti dinner/Christmas bazaar/work day/pancake breakfast?

Here’s what I did with summer camp this year:

With one of the camping coordinators, we took a cue from the playfulness of camp and created a board game of sorts. Instead of the typical “move three spaces,” we added some fun instructions. Time for rest. Don’t move. Grow closer to God. Be moved. Make new friends. Move over. 

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by Miguel Angel Escobar on May 8, 2012

My colleague’s questions flabbergasted me.

The conversation had begun innocently enough. She and I had just finished a series of ten lengthy meetings that had gone, in my estimation, very well. We’d begun on time. We’d ended on time. Our conversations were productive and we’d achieved our goals. So when she asked me to offer her feedback on our times working together, I said what I always say in those situations: “You did great!”

Normally when I say this, though, people smile, sigh a sigh of relief and move on. So why was my colleague looking so skeptically at me?

“No feedback whatsoever, huh? So you found it to be a perfect process?”

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