Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices - Blogs - November 2015 Editor's Letter: Practical Matters

November 4, 2015

November 2015 Editor's Letter: Practical Matters

Happy Birthday ECF Vital Practices! We’re celebrating five years of ECF Vital Practices. To date, we’ve published 60 Vestry Papers issues online (that’s 240 articles), plus thousands of Vital Posts blogs.

The best part? We couldn’t do this without you – our contributors who share their stories, all of our readers and subscribers, and all of you who share each issue with others. Together, we’ve reached 391,531 unique visitors (and close to 2 million page views) since the site went live in late October 2010. Thank you.

At ECFVP we recognize how much attention to detail goes into any organization or effort. In this issue of Vestry Papers, we share articles and stories covering some of the practical aspects of managing a congregation. Our articles include:

“Managing Resources, Part 1” by Nancy Davidge and Susan Elliott, offers an overview of the Vestry Resource Guide’s chapter on finance and administration. Part 1 takes a broad look at the vestry’s role in financial management including budgeting, the importance of sound business practices, taxes, and audits and offers links to additional resources at the end of the article. Part 2, offered in December, looks at insurance, reporting, property management, and human resources (volunteers and employees).

Many congregations share space with others and, even with good coordination and clear lines of communication, there may be times when conflict arises over use of space. In “Shared Calendar = Less Conflict,” Ann Mellow identifies several key areas where coordinating calendars can minimize the misunderstandings that can lead to conflict.

Disasters happen. In “Supporting First Responders,” Bruce Barnes shares how during a major fire, Church of the Redeemer quickly opened a cooling shelter for first responders due to the hard work of his congregation’s disaster team. At the end of the article you’ll find links to Episcopal Relief & Development’s disaster preparation resources for congregations.

En “Recorrer la senda de las relaciones” Sarabeth Goodwin nos habla sobre su "urgente llamado" para comenzar una congregación en español en una parroquia de habla-inglesa, los obstáculos que han enfrentado y los éxitos que han logrado mientras siguen caminando juntos y construyendo una relación más estrecha.

In “Walking the Road of Relationship” Sarabeth Goodwin talks about her burning call to plant a Spanish-speaking congregation at an English-speaking parish, the obstacles they faced, and the success they have had as they keep walking el Camino together and building closer relationships.

We encourage you to think about how the ideas presented in this and every issue might provide an impetus for evaluating and reflecting on what you might learn from the experiences of others. To help in your discernment, at the end of each article we offer a list of the resources related to the topic. If you have a resource you’d like to share, please email me with the link or add it to the site using the Your Turn feature.

If you are interested in seeing our Spanish language content, please visit our searchable index for our Spanish content here.

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