Opportunities, Events & Resources

Opportunities

Many more events listed on the Episcopal News Service website >

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
God gives us gifts to care for each other and calls us to bear one another’s burdens on challenging days. These values can be tested when someone comes to church and hints at thoughts of suicide. How can we better identify these signals, ask clarifying questions, and develop a safety plan that includes other caregivers?

The Seamen’s Church Institute is leading a two-day ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) workshop on June 23-24, 2021 at our International Seafarers’ Center in Port Newark, NJ. We invite you to join us.

Details can be found on the LivingWorks website:
https://legacy.livingworks.net/training-and-trainers/find-a-training-workshop/view/19834
Course fees include workshop materials, lunch, and refreshments. The reduced rate applies to all clergy and those sponsored by a non-profit. The registration deadline is Tuesday, June 15th.

For more information, see the link above, or contact course trainer Naomi Walker: nwalker@seamenschurch.org

Plan a Virtual Juneteenth Celebration
Juneteenth (“June” plus “nineteenth”) is a day that marked the beginning of the journey towards justice, accountability, and reconciliation in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas. That day he informed enslaved African-Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. This announcement gave voice to the written words of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued more than two and a half years earlier in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. See more here: https://buildfaith.org/virtual-juneteenth-celebration/

Designed by a friend of the Diocese Sandy Milien of Beloved Community Story Sharing; she currently serves on the Anti-Racism Taskforce of the Diocese of Bethlehem.

Upcoming ONLINE Offerings through VTS
Click here for more information and to register for the Lifelong Learning and Seminary events below:
June 16 | Being a Top-Notch Hybrid Church
Two-session masterclass with follow-up office hours, via Zoom, $79-$99
We firmly believe that the digital church is here to stay. But what's the best way to do online and in-person worship? Experts in their fields will share research, provide tools, and offer customized training in the following four areas:
• producing for the medium,
• creating a true digital community,
• fundraising effectively for sustainability, and
• examining the missional theology of a hybrid congregation
Each participant will leave with an action map for application in their context. We encourage congregations to invite a "hybrid ministry team" to participate.

July 13-15 | 8th Annual eFormation Online Conference: Dwelling Places for God
eFormation 21: Dwelling Places for God is around the corner. It will take place online July 13th-15th, 2021. This conference – designed to optimize learning, minimize fatigue, and renew spirits – will feature keynote speakers, workshops, and the opportunity to engage in focused small groups with digital ministry peers. The conference will be a robust engagement of what it means to be Dwelling Places for God, online, in pews, and in our communities. After a year of forced migration to all-digital platforms and programming, is the work of digital ministry different? Each day of eFormation21 will include a keynote speaker, time for group reflection, workshops, and affinity group time. Click here to register.
Click Here to Watch Dr. Lisa Kimball on eFormation

Coming soon:
Jul 28 Small Group Ministry: Leadership Development for Facilitators

Guidelines Developed for Amending Church Records for Identity Changes
At the request of General Convention (2018-A088), The Archives of The Episcopal Church has prepared a set of recommendations for developing local policy on name and gender changes to Episcopal Church records. The Guidelines for Policy on Amending Church Records for Name and Gender Changes are available on the Archives Website with Spanish translation and supporting resources and links.
Read more (In English and Spanish): http://iam.ec/pa2021archiveschurchrecordguidelines

Episcopal Asset Map
https://www.episcopalassetmap.org/
Churches and other ministry locations should update their information on the asset map

Grants - See the list here >

Episcopal Evangelism Society Grants:
Grants are available to any Episcopalian in any accredited seminary community or local formation program (ie. diocesan school, Iona Collaborative) is eligible. This includes students, faculty or staff, or the Episcopalian spouse or partner of a student, faculty, or staff member. Students (and spouses) who have completed their course work within the past year are also eligible . Call or email the Executive Director with questions about eligibility.
Grants are available for Evangelism in sharing the Good News of God’s restorative work in Jesus Christ. There are many authentic expressions of evangelism. At EES, we believe that, in this critical moment, the Spirit is leading Episcopalians to an evangelistic witness that incorporates racial reconciliation and justice. We invite you to share innovative proposals with us that address one or more of the following:

Identify the church, to society, as centered in Jesus’ Way of Love
Identify the church, to society, as justice-focused
Embolden the cultural identity of non-dominant groups in their witness to Jesus
Work toward dismantling the dominant Anglo-American identity of the Episcopal church
Engage church members with people living on the margins of society
Equip church members to invite others to engage the Good News of God’s restorative work in Jesus Christ.

For more information go to: http://www.ees1862.org/

United Thank Offering invites 2022 Annual Grants
Fall webinars will provide info, answer questions about process
The United Thank Offering (UTO) Board is pleased to announce the availability of their 2022 UTO Annual Grants, with an application deadline of Feb. 4, 2022. These grants are awarded for projects in The Episcopal Church and throughout the Anglican Communion, each year with a different focus.
Read more: http://iam.ec/pa2021UTOGrants2022

Resources

Virtual Prayer Vigil for World Refugee Day on June 20
Episcopal Migration Ministries will host a virtual prayer vigil for World Refugee Day on June 20 at 7 p.m. The prayer vigil, broadcast on Episcopal Migration Ministries’ Facebook page , will offer a time of prayer, reflection, and celebration in honor of refugees around the globe. A downloadable order of service will be available online . The vigil will be available to watch on-demand following the event. Read more.

Episcopal Church prepares for release of new prayer book translations
Spanish, French, Haitian Creole versions to be available for feedback
The Episcopal Church is pleased to announce the upcoming release of trial translations of the Book of Common Prayer in Spanish, French and Haitian Creole and plans to seek feedback from native speakers in those languages.
Read more (In English, Spanish, and French): http://iam.ec/pa2021BCPTranslations

Episcopal Church Year in the Life web series explores challenges of past year
Watch trailer here
A Year in the Life is a new web series from The Episcopal Church that documents how Episcopal churches, schools, and ministries have navigated a very contentious and difficult year. New episodes of A Year in the Life will be released every two weeks beginning on April 20. The trailer is available for viewing on The Episcopal Church website here, on Facebook here, and on Instagram TV @theepiscopalchurch.
Read more: http://iam.ec/PA2021AYearintheLife

Episcopal Relief & Development has created a new resource to guide deep reflection on Scripture. Lectio Divina, a Latin phrase that means “sacred reading,” will invite readers to join the organization's program partners from the US and around the world as they reflect on brief passages from the Bible.“Episcopal Relief & Development’s Lectio Divina is a form of centering prayer that invites us to listen to God and to listen to the experiences of fellow followers of Jesus from across the Anglican Communion,” said Josephine Hicks, Vice President, Episcopal Church Programs, Episcopal Relief & Development.
READ MORE >>>>>

The June newsletter from TryTank featuring the
10 things you need to know from the experimental lab >
Keep up with the latest experiments, resources and opportunities! Subscribe to the newsletter here!

Theological Explainer Videos: A library of whiteboard videos that explain theological concepts in 2 minutes. The videos are on YouTube. Our first 6 videos are done. We are in production for 3 more! Want to see the first videos? HERE they are.
YouTube Channel aimed at young adults that covers spirituality from the perspective of one young adult. Ellie has launched the channel. Check it out.