Contact
Amy Cook
Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts
617-482-5800 x645
acook@diomass.org
From the Together Now Campaign, these are the areas of grants and resources we will explore during the Regional Learning Days:
Creation Care: $2 million to be used in Caring for God’s creation. Together we will reclaim more fully our role as stewards by practicing, teaching and investing in sustainable ways so that this earth, our island home, might be healed and that all might live abundantly as God intends. To read more, click here.
Mission Tithe: Tithing $2 million for mission beyond our diocese. Together as a diocese we will tithe so that the first fruits of our comprehensive campaign will be a thankful offering that supports our mission work and partnerships with neighbors down the street, across the country and around the world. To read more, click here.
Mission Hubs: $7.5 million for equipping congregations for strategic local mission. Together we will empower our congregations to respond effectively to their changing communities so they might continue as beacons of Christ’s light to the people of eastern Massachusetts across boundaries of race and class, generation and language. To read more, click here.
Mission Institute: In the spirit of cooperative partnerships, our diocese has joined with Episcopal City Mission and Episcopal Divinity School to found a mission institute to provide contextual training in practical areas such as congregational development, stewardship, justice work and spiritual formation.
Regional Learning Day: "Transforming Congregations Together" - February 23, 2013
Registration now closed.
Walk-ins are accepted at the door for this event. Registration for those not pre-registered opens at 8:30 AM.
Congregations are invited to send teams to these Regional Learning Days....
Our first Regional Learning Day was a great success! (Just ask anyone who attended!) These sessions will help congregations transform the church, their communities and the world, and the workshops will build leadership skills for creating that transformation. Participate in workshops on Green Grants, the Mission Tithe, Mission Hubs, and the first Mission Institute Leadership workshop. With one low registration fee for your entire parish you can bring all interested leadership. Consider making it a vestry retreat! NOTE: churches that attend one of these Regional Learning Days will be prioritized for the first round of mission grants, green grants, and mission hub funding.
Parishes are encouraged to send teams of four or more. Consider sending vestry members and clergy to the mission institute leadership workshop and other interested leaders to the creation care, mission hub, and mission tithe workshops. Cost is $25 per congregation and includes continental breakfast for up to 10 people. Congregations who have paid once (or even attended a previous regional day) may sign up for any other regional days at no extra cost. Just please have people register for the particular day and workshop they wish to attend.
SCHEDULE
8:30 -- 9:00 Check in registration and continental breakfast
9:00 -- 9:30 Plenary by either Bishop Shaw or Bishop Harris
9:45 -- 12:00 Workshops. Choose one. *
12:15 -12:30 Sharing and Worship
*EXCEPT for the Creation Care SHOW which will run from 9:35 -12:30.
Workshops
CREATION CARE-Transforming Our Church through SHOWS (2 million dollars available from the Together Now Campaign for grants and loans) This SHOW (Sustainable House Of Worship) workshop is conducted by Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light (www.mipandl.org). Would you like to save money for your parish? Did you know that the average parish in the diocese spends over $20,000 on energy costs annually but that savings of 20-30% are possible? In the workshop you will learn how to track energy use, cost and carbon footprint and find the no-cost and low-cost projects that help your church's energy bills and help us care for God's Creation. You will also learn how to apply for a Green Grant or Green Loan.
MISSION TITHE- Transforming Our World (1.5 million dollars from the Together Now Campaign available in matching funds) Whether your church is deeply involved in mission partnerships here or abroad, come to this workshop to learn a theological and practical foundation for mission fortified by experiences of churches in our diocese. Deepen your understanding of the accompaniment model of Christian mission. Leave with the ins and outs of applying for a mission grant.
MISSION INSTITUTE LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP-Leadership for Transformation Vestry members (or any parish leader) will learn how to take any project from beginning to end and how to successfully engage a congregation in the process. Workshop facilitators will share strategies and stories from different congregations while encouraging churches to start outlining their own projects. Come away with tools for keeping the vestry and congregation focused on the Mission Tithe, Mission Hub, Creation Care work or any other project your parish might be taking on moving forward in your congregation.
MISSION HUBS – Transforming our Communities (7.5 million dollars from the Together Now Campaign ear-marked for local mission) Come and explore your congregation’s call to local mission and collaboration. Experience models and tools to engage the community around you, such as asset mapping and relational organizing. Engage in prayerful and practical discernment around a new model for mission in Eastern Massachusetts. Hear stories from the Pilot Hub in Fall River/New Bedford and the emerging Hub on the Cape and Islands. Learn more about Diocesan programs such as Life Together, BSAFE, LDI, and Urban Residents.
Registration closes February 21, 2013