Our call, our mission, our purpose
The Diocese of Dallas' Evangelism Initiative sponsors clergy and lay conferences that focus on helping parishes engage in evangelism and feature the following three groups:
Breaking
News
Breaking News, by J. John is a six-part Bible Study
designed to equip congregations for evangelism.
Alpha
Alpha helps congregations familiarize themselves
further with the Christian faith and provides them
with a tool they can use with non-Christians who
are interested in exploring faith questions. It
meets once a week over a 10-week period in a low-key,
relaxed setting that creates a safe environment
for seekers to ask questions about God and faith.
Harvest
Unlimited
Harvest Unlimited teaches congregations how to contact
their neighbors and invite them to church, using
the telephone, and it provides all of the demographics
by zip code. This ministry has proven highly effective
throughout the U.S. It not only brings in many new
families, but it also infuses the parish with new
life.
For
more information about any of the above opportunities,
contact Carrie Boren (214-826-8310 or cboren@episcopal-dallas.org
For
other evangelism events, click
here.
New
feature: "A word on the Word,"
click
here.
Do
you think turmoil in the Church is new? Think
again and click
here.
For
the most recent Executive Council minutes, click
here.
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“God’s blessed us every one.” Pass it on.
by the Rev. Ethel Channon, deacon assistant, Mt. Pleasant, Trinity N.E. Texas
 ll of us have been there one time or another, perhaps perennially, in the Christmas season: at our wit’s end, trying to find a suitable gift for that hard-to-buy-for someone on our lists. Usually that person has need of nothing material we can offer, yet we feel the need to give something, usually because that person has gifted us with something special — most likely a relationship itself. So we burden our brains, throwing our imagination and energy into holiday high gear to deliver something that represents the value we place on
that friend.
Would that we might do the same for the Giver who is the Gift, for which we celebrate Christmas: God with us. Incarnate. Fully human. Fully divine. For no other reason than love and relationship. With the birth of Christ, God gave his Best and His Beloved. Indeed, He gave us Himself.
Like the little drummer boy of the popular carol, we have “no gift to bring that’s worthy of a king.” What can we give to the Creator of everything? Nothing that is not already His. But our God is not offended by a regift. We give Him back what He gave us: Love. And through His Son, whose earthly birth and life we celebrate this month, we learn just how to do it.
Love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:36-40). Who might those neighbors be? Matt. 25:35 gives us good examples.
Some assembly IS required. For that, we look to the community of faith — the body of Christ gathered not just to worship in a structure on Sunday morning, but to show the doorway to God’s expansive love. We must reach out. Members of the Diocese of Dallas do this all over for people in all places and circumstances — from sheltering the homeless to feeding neighbors from a community garden; from hospital to hospice care to mentoring children of the incarcerated; and from simply saving box tops/labels for education to tutoring at-risk neighborhood children and making sure they have the same supplies as their more fortunate schoolmates.
And now as we close out this year, the diocese has a new resource that individuals and parishes can access for ideas, assistance, encouragement, and training that can make us doers, not just hearers, of the Word. In the development stages for months, the Episcopal Community Services Network (ECSN) was presented at the convention. A brainchild of the Executive Council, the network will help diocesan churches with outreach to those in their communities who live on the margins of society where social service cracks are big enough to consume them.
In his address at convention, Bishop Lambert laid out some ambitious tasks for the ECSN. Among them:
• Encouraging cooperation between congregations to assess and address the needs in each community where Episcopalians worship. This could mean anything from providing information and proven successful experience to connecting congregations with each other to plan and develop outreach projects. Bishop Lambert is fond of saying, “Many hands make light work.” Many hands also can reach more people. Small parishes can band together to do something in big (numbers) and/or meaningful (impact) ways.
• Appointing Dabney Dwyer as executive director of ECSN. Those who have worked for any length of time in outreach recognize Ms. Dwyer’s name. She knows how to resource, develop, and encourage.
Beyond Ms. Dwyer, congregations will connect with other congregations already engaged in external ministries that can provide expertise, education, and encouragement — whether these churches are planning to implement programs they will do themselves or in concert with other denominations. Remember that God doesn’t care who gets the credit. He cares who cares.
In his convention address, Bishop Lambert noted the benefits of external focus — outreach is a gift that gives back.Congregations that serve beyond their doors are churches that put feet on their prayers. “The more we are engaged in our communities, the stronger our communities of faith become spiritually (because we are living into our baptismal covenant of faith) and in our growth, because people will be drawninto our community because of our good work,” Bishop Lambert said.
Here are some ideas for congregations to think about in this season of giving:
• Provide an angel tree for children of a local nonprofit.
• Donate money, food, or time at a local food bank.
• Invite neighbors in your surrounding community in for a coffee and donuts.
• Consider alternative gift giving to international organizations, such as Heifer Project, or to a local nonprofit that is in need of assistance.
• Identify neighbors in need of food and donate holiday food/gift bags.
• Take youth volunteers to provide a holiday party at a nursing home.
• Some prison ministries accept donations to prepare gifts for the incarcerated. Check with local institutions for resources. |
“Yes, outreach is evangelism and evangelism is outreach.
Being engaged in our communities allows us to witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ in our lives,” he continued. “We go into the world not because it’s a good thing to do alone, but primarily because our Lord Jesus Christ calls us into the world to bring Good News. … As we share our faith with one another and those outside of our communities, our lives are transformed by the power of Jesus Christ as well. We must have church-growth eyes, and see the needs before us and endeavor to fill them. We cannot do this on our own but by the grace of God in Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
After his transformation, old Ebenezer Scrooge committed to keeping Christmas in his heart every day, not just in the holiday season.
To borrow a phrase from Madison Avenue, this is the kind of “gift that keeps on giving.” And it honors the Original Giver and the Gift. |