Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices - Blogs

November 28, 2012

Advent: Are You Ready Already?

For our November mid-month email blast, we have a collection of articles and resources for you to use this Advent season as a time of preparation and in this spirit to prepare the way for those occasional and new visitors alike. We hope in a hectic season with so many plans to put into action that you will be able to say when the blessed Eve of the Nativity rolls around that you are, indeed, ready already.

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Secrets of the Advent Artichoke

Christmas items and holiday music are already in stores. Are you feeling pressure to have everything done already? In an age of so many things available to us an in an instant, Barbara Bartocci shares with us the “Secrets of the Advent artichoke” for a season in which we prepare and anticipate. This article was first published as part of the November 2009 issue on Vestry Retreats.

Prepare the Way for Visitors

In Advent we prepare the way for the birth of Jesus – but are visitors going to be able to find their way to your congregation at Christmas? Miguel Escobar points out in “Prepare the Way… for Visitors” some steps and other resources we can use this Advent to light the way for visitors

Popular Blog Posts:

Underneath and Beyond the Kilt: What might happen if we were to share our special celebrations with the wider public?

Challenging Conversations: A collection of best practices for having critical conversations at church.

Feedback Forms and the Serenity Prayer: Constructive criticism is hard to take, yet it is essential for improvement.

Tools and Resources:

Advent Parish Checklist: A handy checklist for getting your church ready for Advent visitors.

404 Error - Page Not Found: Transform an annoying inevitability into a moment for humor and grace.

Creating Strong Teams: A recording of ECF's webinar on principles and practices for strong team structure.

I Do My Filing Once A Year...

It’s a busy time of year, yet looming right around the corner will be Annual Reports and plenty of other deadlines. “I do my filing once a year whether I need to or not....” by Peter Strimer tells of us his annual Advent tradition of getting his paperwork together that is also an opportunity to take stock of the year.