Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

It’s Advent, the season of anticipation, preparation, and waiting. A time when Christians around the world get ready to welcome Jesus - as both the babe and the risen Christ - into not only our hearts but into our lives.

At ECF Vital Practices, our Advent gift to you is a collection of essays inviting you to delve deeper into our common Christian faith, including two reflections from “Stories of Transformation: Worship, Witness, and Work in the Black Community,” a new resource from the Episcopal Church’s Office of Black Ministries.

Our December content includes:

• Sam Portaro’s invitation to think about Advent through Joseph’s eyes as he travels to Bethlehem with Mary. In “What Fresh Hell is This?,” Sam challenges us to embrace a form of spiritual leadership that demands courageous truth telling.
• In “Baptismal Covenant, ” Howard Kently Williams offers a look at the way his Brooklyn, NY, congregation lives into the familiar phrase “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself,” by building congregational teams reaching both inside and outside church walls.
• “Collective Prayer” by Karen Montango is a reflection on the power of community prayer and reminds us that the freedom to assemble for worship, taken for granted today, was not possible for enslaved blacks during slavery.
• “Transform Your Congregation: Read the Bible” by Scott Gunn challenges us to “stop finding excuses to avoid reading the Bible,” citing research showing a relationship between our denominational allergy to reading the scriptures and our denomination’s continued shrinkage.

How are you using liturgy and music in your congregation to inspire lay leadership? Please add your story to our library of resources by sharing it in our Your Turn section or in the comments box at the end of each article, blog post, or resource.

I’d like to thank all who responded to our online appeal earlier this fall. We weren’t surprised that our gentle spoofs at congregational life resonated with so many of you. Please click here if you’d like to support ECF Vital Practices as we continue to identify and share resources for congregational leaders that have been developed – and tested – by other congregations.

All of us at ECF Vital Practices wish you and your families a happy and healthy holiday season.