The First Mark of Mission: To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
United Thank Offering (UTO) generates a lot of excitement about its ministry because UTO awards grants—5257 grants and a whooping $137,094,170.52 since 1889. We’ve built churches and schools, paid salaries for new ministries, and even purchased a plane named the Blue Box for the Bishop of Alaska.
In this latest grant cycle, in support of the Presiding Bishop’s Jesus Movement initiative, the UTO Board focus was Becoming Beloved Community: Racial Healing, Reconciliation, and Justice. This focus has generated fascinating new ministries. Every penny of the coins and bills we collect from your Blue Boxes, given in gratitude for your many blessings, is given in grants. A highlight for the UTO Board each Triennial Meeting is that we announce the grant recipients and meet some to thank them for their ministries. UTO’s 2018 grant awards totaled $1,283,216.21.
A couple of unique grants this year were an award to Spain to purchase a building to create a center for teenage refugees. They will learn Spanish, job training, and circus performance skills. It is a unique ministry to youth as they acclimate to a new country, culture and language. Another small but important grant is to an Episcopal school in Idaho serving Shoshone and Bannock tribes. This grant pays the salary to add a class on racial healing, reconciliation, and justice.
A second way UTO shared the Good News was through the well-established tradition of the Ingathering Eucharist. UTO coordinators come from all over The Episcopal Church to participate in this event. It is a high point for UTO coordinators, and a powerful witness showing what small daily giving in gratitude can do when it is gathered and granted.
In addition to grant announcements and the Ingathering Eucharist, we also held three workshops—linking the Jesus Movement, gratitude and UTO; best practices in financial issues and stewardship; and our grants workshop. We used our office for most workshops and had robust attendance. We tried something new by scheduling UTO workshops on the days closest to the Ingathering Eucharist.
That allowed women who couldn’t afford to stay for the entire meeting to have all UTO activities over the long holiday weekend. The UTO Board visited the Archives of The Episcopal Church, had a large UTO booth in the Exhibit Hall shared with Navajoland, and featured a variety of UTO grant sites. While we were actively involved in the Triennial Meeting, some of our Board concentrated on networking with other groups at General Convention.
How do we teach, learn, or nurture that which the Second Mark of Mission asks of us? We do it by example – modeling and living into the mission of the Church which includes all Five Marks of Mission. Our recent Episcopal Church Women’s Triennial Meeting (TM) in Texas demonstrated just that through 33 workshops offered by 25 different presenters. As a former youth leader, school volunteer, and scout leader, my belief is that the greatest gift given is that of the big picture.
In this case, various aspects of the mission components were brought together by incorporating the Marks into the TM workshops and asking presenters to tie them into the presentations of their ministries.
Sacred Yoga: Although not named as addressing the Second Mark of Mission, yoga actually allows space to listen to God’s message and love. This activity was offered early in the morning before our Triennial Meeting sessions started. The Rev. Gena Davis provided a gentle, God-centered practice as a gift to attendees at the Triennial Meeting and General Convention. Our hope was to provide ideas that you could take home and consider how they might fit into the Marks of Mission and your community. The cathedral church in Spokane, WA offers yoga once a month, bringing in hundreds of people into a sacred space which is about inviting-in new believers. The Girls Friendly Society offered a workshop which gave examples and offered possibilities of how to engage and empower girls in our communities in service projects—another way to teach, nurture, and invite.
Consider, as well, Episcopal Camp and Conference Center ministries which bring people in from all walks of life, across the generations to learn about the Good News. This organization specifically reaches out and touches the hearts of new believers and those in need of an uplift or message of hope on their faith journey.
The number of baptisms and celebrations that happen as a result of the hospitality, teaching, and worship that happen in our Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers is measured in the thousands. “Everyday Spirituality”—deepening our faith and taking the time to be in a healthy, fulfilling relationship with God—is another example of teaching, welcoming, and nurturing new believers. We set the example; we become the teachers.
Perhaps the greatest gift is how the Marks of Mission can change our hearts, in turn teaching others, nurturing others, and inviting others to become baptized. Our challenge is to open our hearts and seek to understand how all of these parts are interconnected. May the gifts of learning and mission reside in your heart as you seek to bring these components together.
– Submitted by the National United Thank Offering Board