Although our Bishop is on sabbatical, there is a formidable team at the helm as both the Dispatch of Business and Program Planning Team prepare to offer you – the Episcopal Church in Vermont – a thought provoking, skill building, fellowship fostering experience this fall for both the Ministry Fairs and the Diocesan Convention itself.
As summer begins its all too quick descent toward fall, a lot of work has been happening behind the scenes on these events and, in an effort to answer questions you didn’t even know you had, we offer here a (hopefully) regular series of “Ministry Fair Musings” and “Formation for Mission Teasers” to prod your thinking, provoke your wondering and get you as pumped up as we are about this year’s convention.
Some basic info for now:
Ministry Fairs “Discovering God in the Neighborhood” Location #1: St. Paul’s Cathedral/Burlington on September 27. Location #2: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church/White River Junction on October 18. Each day of our Ministry Fairs will be grounded in liturgy as we “bookend” a somewhat unique activity between 9:00 AM (arrival/coffee & such) and our concluding Eucharist (around 2:00 to 3:00 PM). Be sure to dress for the weather and wear comfy shoes … we will tell you why soon!
Vermont Interactive TV Presentation Sunday October 5 from 2-4 PM at your friendly local VIT location. As was done last year, our budget, business and resolutions will be presented and time for questions will be available. Video tapes of the various presentations will be available on the diocesan website after the event so you can review the material or catch up in preparation for convention.
Convention “Equipped for the Journey: Formation for Mission” Location: Jay Peak Resort. Delegates should have received information about registration and hotel reservations recently. Dates: October 31 – November 1, 2014. Your full registration includes lunch on Friday, so we hope your plans will include arriving early enough on Friday in order to enjoy our morning workshops that will begin at 9:45 AM. We have a stellar group of workshop presenters: Bishop Ian Douglas (Bishop of CT), Sharon Pearson (Church Publishing Editor), Julie Lytle (Executive Director, Province 1) and Chris Hingley (Ambassador for Petra Schools/Zimbabwe) who are preparing a variety of ways to engage with “mission” — provoking our thoughts and conversation about new directions while also embracing our rich tradition and resources. There will be materials and new ideas to take back to the home front as well as innovative notions to ponder and “try on for size”.
Stay tuned … our next update will have more detail including the draft schedule for convention.
The Rev. Carole Wagemen