Communique Magazine Archives - Page 19 of 21 - National Episcopal Church Women

Transitions

Lisa H. Towle, Immediate Past NECW President

For the past six years I had the honor of serving Episcopal Church Women as a member of the National Board of Episcopal Church Women, first as secretary, then as president.

Now that the hand off to the 2018-2021 board is complete and it begins its first full year of operation, it’s time to say thank-you. Thank-you to the people of The Episcopal Church, most especially its women and girls, for walking what the Right Reverend Steven Charleston calls the “sacred path … sharing the same commitment to be true to our word, to practice what we preach.”

Years ago, a priest I know shared this story: At a construction site a worker on the ground was handing bricks to the other worker on the ladder. He was asked what he was doing. He said he was just handing bricks to his boss. A second worker who was handing bricks to the other worker on the ladder was asked what he was doing. He said he was just building a wall. A third worker was handing bricks to the other worker on the ladder and was asked what he was doing. He said he was building a grand cathedral.

Thank-you to the women in parishes, dioceses, and provinces who invited me to visit them in the triennium just ended to talk about the faith journey of ECW and how they’re using their bricks.

Thank-you to the Most Reverend Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, for framing our thinking about engagement in this time by stressing that as members of the Jesus Movement we are part “the ongoing community of people committed to Jesus’s way of love, a way that changes lives and changes the world.”

Thank-you to the 2015-2018 national board. With the theme, “GO! Share the Word: Every Day, Comunicamos, Every Where,” we refocused on the all-encompassing Five Marks of Mission to help build on the theme. Among other things:

We shared best practices how parish-based ECW branches were using the Five Marks to spread the love of Jesus.
Created a Universal Grant program to fund projects involving at least one Mark of Mission.
Awarded each of the nine dioceses that hosted a national board meeting $1,000 for outreach.

Planning for the culmination of the triennium, Triennial Meeting, was done with John 13:35 and the Five Marks in mind. There was everything from the use of tote bags made of canvas (Mark 5) to the recipients of the two gifts for work related to social justice (Mark 3).

Both of the social justice gifts involved caring for the homeless in Austin: the Unified Gift went to Community First! Village and came to $16,848.66, and the Community Connection Gift for the Trinity Center Shower Ministry totaled $14,770.00.

All these things spoke to the vision statement of Episcopal Church Women: As the eyes, ears, hands, and heart of Christ in the world, we will persist in the work of healing, justice, and peace.

This grew out of the work of the national board’s Ad Hoc Committee for Restructure, whose report was presented at Triennial Meeting in 2015, where delegates passed a resolution charging the national board with implementing the recommendations in the report.

Because the report is vast in scope, one triennium wasn’t nearly enough time to address everything. However, a foundation was laid, brick by brick, to address key items in the three areas of focus – superstructure, infrastructure, structure. Some examples:

UNITY: The ECW vision and mission statements, adopted in 2015, were used on a consistent basis, often in concert with the Way of Love and the Five Marks of Mission, to help unify focus in a large and varied organization and better live into our stated purpose – “to empower the women of The Episcopal Church to carry on Christ’s work throughout the world.”

INCLUSIVENES: To ensure multiple points of view were heard, a diverse group of women were invited at various times to advise the national board and/or use their skills for particular projects and outreach.

COMMUNICATIONS: To be better stewards of money, time, and our environment, channels of digital communications were opened or enhanced so that ECW is more transparent and better aligned with what’s happening within the Church as a whole. Thus, detailed information, including what was intended specifically for Triennial Meeting delegates, was put online. In addition, the mechanisms exist to make grant requests online and donate using credit cards. (Even so, the option to use paper and stamps still exist.)

The report is posted in the “Resources” section of the National ECW website. Since our creation by The Episcopal Church’s Board of Missions 148 years ago, we remain a work in progress, unique in scope. Julia Chester Emery, who led the precursor of ECW, the Women’s Auxiliary, for 40 years: “The Auxiliary stands ready to welcome change, hoping earnestly that change shall mean growth to greater and better things, more ways in which to serve, more weight of responsibility, the giving of leadership in different paths of service to those most competent to lead.”

Thank-you to Episcopal women past and present for their steadfast faith and willingness to share the word, to love, and to change as needed.

Godspeed, ECW.

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-06T13:50:58+00:00November 6th, 2018|

To seek to transform unjust structures of society . . . .

—Lois Frankforter
President of Girls Friendly Society USA

To attain the transformation sought by the Fourth Mark of Mission our ministry must focus on all levels of society – from national governments, to local communities, and even to the individuals we meet as we walk down the street. The Episcopal Church seeks to transform global social structures by participating in United Nations (UN) events like the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). In March, I had the privilege to serve as a member of the Presiding Bishop’s CSW Delegation, and to advocate for specific policy changes to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Our faith based advocacy centered on the Presiding Bishop’s call for governments and civil society to:

• Prioritize resources and programs for marginalized groups of rural women and girls,
• Extend access to basic resources and services to rural areas,
• Address environmental concerns and extend land rights, and
• Promote gender equality education and practices and eradicate gender-based violence

The two weeks were filled with formal UN assemblies and panel discussions, side and parallel events, and opportunities to gather in worship with the Anglican Communion Women and the Ecumenical Women delegates. At our opening Eucharist Bishop Curry reminded us that “You have come to the seat of the nations of the earth to encourage our leaders and to show them how to end the nightmare and realize the dream [God has] for all of us.”

The Girls Friendly Society (GFS), since its inception over 140 years ago, has been at the forefront of social justice issues. At our 2017 World Council, GFS adopted a global Gender Violence Awareness Program designed to raise awareness of the issue and to take action to end the violence. Building on the UN campaign, GFS members resolved to dedicate the 25th of every month as #orangeday by wearing the color orange and speaking out on the issue, including posting information and resources on social media. In South Africa, GFS launched educational programs to foster a dialogue for girls and boys on gender issues that affect them. In England, GFS took to the malls to hand out oranges and speak to individuals about gender equality. In the USA members, like our National Youth Delegate Catherin Sopko, deliver Sunday sermons to area parishes, and other members in their TAKE ACTION t-shirts decorate their churches with orange ribbons and educational posters.

My time at the UN CSW and my participation in GFS reinforces that “The Mission is Global, the Work is Local” and that it is going to take all of us putting our faith in action to transform society and realize the dream that God dreams for the world.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T14:58:54+00:00August 1st, 2018|

Everything Connects

By Lisa H. Towle, NECW President

In January of 2018, 156 years after the then-Hawaiian monarchs personally petitioned Queen Victoria to establish the Anglican Church in their kingdom, the National Board of Episcopal Church Women held a meeting in the Diocese of Hawai’i. During our time in Maui, the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) Women in Ministry along with the Rev. Amy Crowe, Vicar at Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Lahaina, provided mental, physical, and spiritual nourishment.

In the picture above I’m with Louise Aloy, who’s from Maui and currently serves as the Province VIII ECW president, and Mike White, general manager of the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel where the Board had its meeting. In 1953 and 1954, Mike’s grandmother was treasurer of the Women’s Auxiliary (the precursor to Episcopal Church Women). In 2018, the national ECW drew from its treasury to fund a $1,000 Province VIII grant to benefit the Ho’oikaika Partnership, a coalition of more than 60 Maui County agencies and individuals committed to preventing child abuse and neglect.

Sooner or later, everything connects.

In April of 2018, the Episcopal Church Women marked another first by meeting in Curaçao. Home to Juditta Ellis, who served as Province IX Representative to the national board this triennium, Curaçao is part of the Diocese of Venezuela. The two Anglican Episcopal congregations on the island came together at the Church of the Resurrection, which is led by the Rev. Louise de Bode-Olton, the first woman priest ordained in Curaçao, to welcome and worship with us.

And we had the gift of time to share our stories. One of the stories had to do with the efforts in Curaçao to address Alzheimer’s disease. To this end, the national board offered a $1,000 Province IX grant to an area non-profit focused on the needs of Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers. The visit created enough buzz to get the attention of local newspaper. That’s certainly one way of addressing the first of the Five Marks of Mission, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom.
Sooner or later, everything connects.

Seventeen years ago, during his speech at Marquette University’s commencement, Fred “Mister” Rogers, beloved cultural icon and ordained Presbyterian minister, said, “I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what’s best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does. So, in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something truly sacred.”

In Maui and in Curaçao and in the Episcopal Church’s seven other provinces where we met over the course of the 2015-2018 triennium, we sought to “GO!” and show in word and deed how much we appreciate and want to encourage the many ministries of the women of the Church.

In July, in Austin, Texas, at the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which includes the 49th Triennial Meeting of the Episcopal Church Women, thousands of people will be in the neighborhood and we’ll have the opportunity, individually and collectively, to participate in the sacred acts of loving and appreciating.

Key to planning the Triennial Meeting was answering this question: “What does it mean to be part of a beloved community that, as our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has put it, is ‘committed to living the way of Jesus, loving, liberating, and life-giving.’

• This is why we will be sharing the stories of and fundraising on behalf of two stellar social justice programs based in Austin: Community First! Village and the Trinity Center Shower Ministry, both of which live into the Five Marks of Mission.

• This is why all our workshops will address, in various ways, the Five Marks of Mission and how we “GO!” forth.

• This is why our keynote speakers, the Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston and the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, were asked to bring their prophetic and evangelistic voices to our proceedings.

• This is why our daily BYOB (Bring Your Own Breakfast) speaker series will loop back to the foundational Five Marks and the ways we can be in community.

• This is why the devotions in our gathering space, led by our chaplain, the Rev. Cathy Boyd, and musician, Dr. Linda Patterson, will center us, remind us about whose we are, and what we’re called to be.

All are invited to join us in Ballroom A of the Austin Convention Center. If you can’t be there in person, we’ll share the news of what’s happened in the neighborhood every evening via “Triennial Today” editions of our e-Communique. They will be emailed to subscribers and posted to the Triennial Meeting section of our website, www.ecwnational.org.

We are all connected.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T14:57:16+00:00August 1st, 2018|

A Story of ECW Resurrection at Trinity Church, Watertown, New York

— Submitted by Jennifer Kenna
Province II Representative
NECW Board

In the Fall of 2008, when I was Province II ECW President, the rector at Trinity Church, Watertown, NY, in my home Diocese of Central New York, invited me to speak to a group of retired women at his parish, interested in re-organizing the parish ECW. I wholeheartedly accepted the invitation and spent an evening sharing ECW materials with the women and left encouraged by their enthusiasm. Since that evening nine years ago, this group of women, who call themselves YARN group, has grown and flourished.

The group call themselves YARN, not because they sit around a table telling stories but because their hands are never idle. They are knitting, crocheting, and making fleece blankets, while planning the next event, and discussing the next mission involvement. They meet almost every Tuesday morning year- round, working together and supporting each other.

And this is some of what they do. These women host a luncheon every fall for the 80+ years-old-members of the congregation. They hold two fund-raisers a year: a holiday fair at Christmas and a rummage sale in the spring. Seventy-five percent of the proceeds are distributed to organizations like the Watertown Urban Mission, the El Salvador Medical Mission of the Diocese of Central New York, and Episcopal Relief and Development. They knit and sew chemo caps for the Cancer Treatment Center and baby caps for the Maternity Center at the Samaritan Medical Center. They sew dresses to participate in Dress A Girl Around the World, and provide blankets for the Wounded Warriors project. They make cat mats for the SPCA, and participate in the fund-raiser for the Watertown Urban Mission.

These tireless workers have also joined forces with women of other denominations. They work with Roman Catholic women from Immaculate Heart Central School in knitting sweaters and hats—particularly for Syrian refugees. They have aligned with First Presbyterian Church in supporting “Women of Grace,” a program that offers sewing workshops to create sustainable employment for women living in Malawi, Africa.

Using skills they already possess, the YARN group has found new ways to serve God’s mission and enhance and brighten the lives of others. They have regenerated ECW at Trinity Church, Watertown, NY, and are making a vital contribution to the parish, the community, the Church,
and the world.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T15:07:17+00:00April 1st, 2018|

Mary Ann Fargo

Founder, Church Periodical Club (1858 – 1892)

Near the end of the 19th century Mary Ann Drake Fargo, a member of the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City, founded the Church Periodical Club (CPC). After returning from a trip to the far west she shared— first with her rector and then her bishop—her vision of sending to the missionaries in remote locations in our country used church periodicals, that otherwise were unavailable to them. Upon receiving the blessing of her rector, she called a meeting at her home to interest the women of her parish in her plans for collecting and sending reading materials to aid ministers and lay workers out west. The women at that gathering became the eight charter members of the Periodical Club, January 10th, 1888. After the first Club was established in New York Diocese, branches were created soon in other dioceses.

Until her untimely death—four years after CPC’s founding—Mary Ann guided the Club with a deep sense of responsibility and passion. In particular, she stressed the value of personal service in the wrapping, addressing, and forwarding with a prayer each package of reading material. She sought to imbue the spirit of friendship by her encouragement of a letter-writing exchange between the senders and recipients. By 1892 there were a total of 42 diocesan and 409 parish branches; and more than 4,000 magazines sent regularly.

* * * * * * *

The work of CPC in its earliest years was fostered by the Women’s Auxiliary (now the Episcopal Church Women) which at that time was the strongest missionary agency in the Church. Today CPC conducts a world-wide ministry of the printed word. Its long affiliation with the Episcopal Church Women continues to be maintained in large part by the CPC directors who serve on ECW Boards at the parish, diocesan, and provincial levels.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T15:04:06+00:00April 1st, 2018|

Strive to Safeguard the Integrity of Creation

To Strive to Safeguard the Integrity of Creation and Sustain and Renew the Life of the Earth

Let us pause, breathe, reflect, and live in ways which sustain and renew Creation, life. It starts with us.

–Evita Krislock

Pause? Seriously, who has time for one more task or activity, let alone time spent doing “nothing?” This may well be the infamous “straw that breaks the camel’s back.” There is too much to do with no time to lose. Breathe? Of course, we do it all the time, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Reflect? Now we’ve gone too far. Seriously don’t tell me to think about my actions. These requests –pause, breathe, and reflect are all a call to action. This call is about life, life on earth, renewal, and growth.

Consider that pausing may, in fact, be our most productive time, a time to renew, to heal, and breathe. Slow deep breaths that fill each cell of our being with life-giving oxygen. Breathing in the good and exhaling the toxic. Each breath begins to clear our thoughts allowing new growth and energy to fill our brain, our heart, and soul. Of course, remember to breathe in the good, not the toxic.

Okay, we are pausing, breathing deep life-giving breaths, then clarity rears its head. “Forgive them Father for they know not what they have done.”

As a person of faith is this my burden, my responsibility? Simply put, yes.

Our Fifth Mark of Mission is about responsibility and action, just like each of the other Marks of Mission. After we take that deep breath, open our hearts and reflect, we see that the Marks fit together perfectly.

Each is important, each is life-giving. When we recognize creation is life in all of its glory and reality, it will not be denied. Life is interconnected, fitting together in a way that allows each of us, if we allow it, to fulfill, renew, and regenerate. When any part of creation suffers, the earth, water, air, plants, animals, fish, insects or people, we all suffer, if not today, then tomorrow and future generations.

Recognizing everything we do has an impact on life and creation empowers, invites, and challenges us. Each of us, without much effort can affect a single change in our life style that can and will support life. A single change, whatever it is, makes a difference; positive or negative. You make a difference, we make a difference collectively.

When we begin to think about actions in long term consequences, we change. Native wisdom often references the Seventh Generation, how we are merely a bridge between the past and the future. How will our actions impact our descendants? When our choices are no longer about an individual’s self-interest, perspective shifts. There are steps each of us can implement to reduce our consumption, in turn, lowering our waste. The first of the three R’s is a good start: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Consider adding another R: Repair. A simple thing we can all do is BYOWB–Bring Your Own Water Bottle to each meeting, outing or adventure. If you sit on another board, encourage others to do the same.

Commit to learning about actions we can take that will improve and support the regeneration of life, the environment, and all of creation. Spread the good news and let the light shine through you and your actions.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-29T14:56:30+00:00April 29th, 2017|

GO! And Wait

By Lisa H. Towle

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

Not to put too fine a point on it, waiting stinks. Except when it doesn’t.

I’ve yet to find someone who actually enjoys waiting; however, there are those who certainly seem to struggle less with it. Perhaps they have attained a higher state of consciousness when it comes to the triplet of graces exhorted in Romans 12:12: joy, patience, and faith.

The preparations for this issue of Communique began, and then the seasons, doing what they do, flowed into one another without regard for deadlines. Meanwhile, at Communique central, we waited for various things to sort out so the work on the magazine could be completed. And God did what God does, offering, again, the learning moment: waiting can be hard but it can also bring clarity.

On June 6th, the Anglican Women’s Australia (AWA) Conference Eucharist and Diocesan Anglican Women’s Service took place at Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of Newcastle.

In that splendid, light-filled place, which sits atop a hill overlooking the South Pacific Ocean, 200 people gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of women in ministry in the diocese and continue exploring the theme of the conference, “Thanksgiving for the Ministry of Women & Facing Tomorrow in the Spirit’s Power.”

The “facing tomorrow” part of the five-day, biennial conference was the primary reason I was in the Australian state of New South Wales representing Episcopal Church Women. We all spring from the same taproot of faith, our ministries face similar challenges, and we find clarity about the way forward by being in community, by sharing our stories and practices. [See page 4 for accompanying pictures.]

Three months later, I found myself with six other women gathered in a sacred circle at a small farm in southern New Hampshire. We were the second facilitator training group to make our way to the place called Avalon to remind themselves what the natural world has to say about diversity, communication, and gender, among other things, and to use this knowledge to help revitalize Women of Vision, a leadership program of Episcopal Church Women. (Lots more information will be shared about this renewal.)

The two Women of Vision groups, like the Anglican Women of Australia, recognize that living in the now and preparing for the future requires proceeding in faith and practicing patience. Along the way, there are those rewarding “aha!” moments I first learned to appreciate years ago while participating in the Education for Ministry program.

Aha!: Everything above, below and in-between is connected. Every single thing. For the greatest of gifts is love, and all of what we do is nothing without that, as we open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit and wait for the changes which lie ahead for us. As Evita Krislock so aptly notes in her article (see page 6) about safeguarding the integrity of creation: “Renewal starts with us.”

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-29T14:43:41+00:00April 29th, 2017|

Pamela Chinnis – Trailblazer

Pamela Chinnis: Trailblazer
(1925 – 2011)

40 Years Ago the passage of Resolution 1976- B005 at the 65th General Convention in Minneapolis amended Canon Title III.9.1 giving the right to women for ordination to three of the four orders of ministry deacons, priests, and bishops.

In 1976 the presiding officer of the 35th ECW Triennial Meeting, held in conjunction with the 65th General Convention, was Pamela Chinnis, a woman in the forefront of the advocacy for the ordination of women as priests and bishops.

In a 1990 interview, when she was contemplating running for Vice President of the House of Deputies, Chinnis reflected upon reaching this point in her journey: “I started 20 or 30 years ago, and I started in my parish, and I certainly had no long-range plan.

When I started out, women couldn’t even be seated in the House of Deputies. You start out where you are, and you do Christ’s mission there.” In July 1991 Chinnis became the first woman president of the House of Deputies by acclamation; subsequently she was elected president for three successive terms.

At the end of her last term Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, speaking at the 2000 General Convention, acclaimed Chinnis as “a model for lay ministry and an inspiration for the ministry of women and men.”

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T16:50:52+00:00January 27th, 2017|

Best Practices – The Third Mark of Mission

The Third Mark of Mission:
To Respond to Human Need with Loving Service

What if you had no place to sleep tonight,
needed soap for a shower or had no diapers for your baby?

—Lucy Perry, St Veronica’s Guild Member
Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA
NECW Board Member (1997-2000)

The ministry of St. Veronica’s Guild, a group of about 50 women in a very large parish, has evolved since the early ’70s. It started simply with members filling plastic bags with personal necessities for a mission housing homeless women and those escaping domestic abuse.

In later years the guild enlisted the help of the parish, the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, with the collection of hotel-sized shampoo, lotion, and soap. To these items the guild added a washcloth, deodorant, toothbrush, and toothpaste for each woman seeking shelter.

With the parish’s support the project grew immeasurably beyond the early days of filling 20 bags during guild meetings. Then in 2013 the guild decided to make a change and enlarge the focus of its work. To orchestrate this move, a small committee made site visits to four proposed ministries to learn about each mission; evaluate its effectiveness in meeting its goals; and determine if it had needs that could be met by 50 women. The reports were presented to the guild which voted to take on all four:

Crossroads Community Ministries, a nonprofit organization which offers a wide-range of assistance for homeless men, women, and children.
Church of the Common Ground, a project of the Diocese of Atlanta which is an open-air church and ministry at a city park.
Emmaus House, a Jubilee Center of the Episcopal Church that provides advocacy and help for persons fighting poverty.
The Friendship Center of Holy Comforter, a Jubilee Center of the Episcopal Church which offers programs for folk living in group homes with mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. Parish members accustomed to dropping their toiletry samples in the blue plastic tub on Sunday morning adapted well to the guild’s four new beneficiaries in Atlanta. This mission change necessitated the guild members bringing white socks, diapers, and feminine hygiene products to meetings, and voting to provide up to $2,000 from guild funds annually to purchase other items considered vital. Requests of the parish are frequently published in the cathedral newsletter for new, unopened, unexpired toiletries. Lists of needs are printed in bright flyers and left in tract racks, the parish information office, and other gathering spaces.

All bags of donations from the tubs are picked up at least once a week and stored.

On alternate months, eight to twelve women meet to fill requests. The collected items are sorted into labeled boxes atop three large tables. A list of the needs of each beneficiary is posted. For example, the Crossroads Community Ministry at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, has a standing request for 100 each of soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, comb, and feminine hygiene products; also 50 each of lotion, washcloths, mouthwash, razors, and emery boards. Shaving cream and sample cosmetics as available are sent.

The guild cannot meet all these needs every time, but the motion to fund the purchase of those things in short supply, and the ability to order large quantities at reasonable prices from Amazon helps the guild minister more effectively. The other three ministries have smaller requests—30-40 soaps, etc. Large shopping bags with color-coded labels for each ministry are filled. These are stored at the Cathedral until picked up by each ministry within the week; repeated contact is made to appraise St.Veronica of any changing agency needs. St. Veronica’s Guild is one of six Episcopal Church Women guilds at the Cathedral of St. Philip. During the last 15 years it has shepherded several large projects which have strengthened and built community, but personal care provision has been an on-going focus for literally decades.

Membership in the guild has grown. New members have joined to take part in a vibrant active group of very mature women who have responsibilities in many aspects of the cathedral’s life. Fellowship is emphasized, so each packaging session is followed by lunch in a local deli. While the guild does not meet during the summer, members who are able will sort and pack on alternate months; e-mail allows members to remain in contact for news of prayer requests. Groups starting small and then developing the awareness of need and possibilities of solutions can replicate this mission project. People of all ages and abilities can take a part. We have had fun doing it and work at making it fun.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T16:46:00+00:00January 27th, 2017|

What It Is, Is ECW

By Lisa H. Towle
President, National ECW Board

In “To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings,” John O’Donohue began one of his poems with a particularly exquisite turn of phrase: “We seldom notice how each day is a holy place, Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens…”

Savor that for a moment. Savor the imagery invoked by the word “eucharist.” Its use wasn’t accidental. In his too short life, O’Donohue, an Irishman, was not only a poet but an author, philosopher, and for two decades a Catholic priest. He certainly understood the different meanings that can be applied to the word: the act of sharing; the intimate fellowship; the common faith and discipline of a body of Christians; the sacrament that is the Eucharist, capital E.

Naturally, all this leads me to the ministry traditionally known as Episcopal Church Women. Whether ECW or a variation of the name now found in some dioceses – Episcopal Women of…, for example, or Women’s Ministries of… – it’s about making space and time for the eucharist of the ordinary to happen. And in those acts of sharing and fellowship, study and worship, extraordinary things happen.

Still, I can hear the question that’s been put to me by clergy and laity alike: Yes, but what IS ECW? I think what people really want when they ask about ECW as a ministry is a tidy answer: we raise money for good works, or we’re dedicated to prayer and spiritual growth, or we advocate for peace and justice. As women of The Episcopal Church (collectively and individually) and as members of the sprawling Anglican Communion we do all those things, and more, because, well, one size does not fit all.

God speaks to each of us and touches our hearts in different ways. Though we are certainly one in the Body of Christ, time and again the people of our fabulously diverse Church make it known we are not always of one mind. That reality can be a welcome one for the 16-member National ECW Board because, among other things, it provides an opportunity to think and act creatively about how best to encourage the ministries of Episcopal Church Women in particular and The Episcopal Church in general.

Helping to ensure that things don’t get discombobulated as we go about casting our nets wide are our structural frameworks. Three of them are especially vital when it comes to engaging with the world at large, and they’re all available on our website as well as in this magazine. Our Vision and Living the Ministry statements are on page 10, and on the back cover are the Five Marks of Mission.

In her opening remarks to the Church’s General Convention in 2015, then-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori noted the Five Marks, which were developed by the Anglican Consultative Council between 1984 and 1990, “are summed up in the image of pursuing God’s kingdom here on Earth as
it is in heaven.”

Like pursuit, faith requires action. Pam Chinnis, a trailblazer in The Episcopal Church (see page 10), spoke to this when she said, “You start out where you are, and you do Christ’s mission there.” Examples of how Episcopal Church Women are living the faith abound in this issue. Hopefully, what’s shared here will inspire others to go and do a new thing, because it doesn’t necessarily have to be choosing one thing over another, instead it’s very much about both/and.

As we get closer to 2018, the year in which the next ECW Triennial Meeting and General Convention take place, there will be a steady uptick in our message to “GO! Share the Word: Every Day, Comunicamos, EveryWhere.” The hows and whys of the theme and logo for the 2015-2018 triennium as well as news about how the Triennial Meeting is shaping up are in this issue. May we all approach each new day of the new year with an understanding of it as a holy place. May we persist in our witness.

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-27T16:34:06+00:00January 27th, 2017|

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