Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
I’m writing you all this week from Waycross where I’m attending an Episcopal training course from the College for Congregational Development (CCD). Here, I, John Hegedus and Andrew Miller are learning about models for examining our congregation and processes for change. This two-year program is rich with information, training, and guidance for how to utilize these models in our local context.
CCD is a program which was used in two dioceses of The Episcopal Church and we started utilizing it in our Diocese in 2022. Now it is serving fifteen dioceses.
The fruit of our work this weekend will come out throughout the next few years as we make use of these resources to better understand our church, our neighborhood, and our purpose in the community.
After we come home, we will honor the 50th anniversary of the first women ordained as priests in The Episcopal Church. Known collectively as the Philadelphia Eleven, these pioneers didn’t merely break the gender barrier, but reveal the wickedness at the heart of exclusion.
Join us on Saturday, July 27th at 4 pm at St. Stephen’s for a viewing of Philadelphia Eleven, the new documentary detailing the context and experience of their will to follow the vocations they were called into. And then opened the door for many to follow.
With love,
Drew