Welcome to Requiem or Renaissance!

An intentional discernment and skills-building process

Program Pivot

Dear friends,


As you know, we had to cancel the January session for Cohort 1--and thereby realized we needed to further adapt our program! Our original model called for you to travel to one of four host parishes six times over 18 months, once per quarter.


To make our program both more Covid-durable and also more accessible to you, we are shifting that model. Sessions 1 and 4 will be according to the original plan--you will travel to a host site around the diocese. But sessions 2, 3, 5, and 6 will be at your own congregation, and a Shepherd from the program will join you there to serve as your coach. We hope that removing the majority of the travel burden makes your participation easier!


We will also be utilizing an online course platform for our work. There will be three hours of content in each subject area. We'll complete one hour together at our gatherings, and the other two will be available to you on the course platform to complete in your own time whenever it's most convenient to you.


The entire Requiem or Renaissance ethos is one of adaptation to changing circumstances--and we're learning it right along with you! Stay tuned for an email with all the registration details for our Cohort 1 April 2 gathering, which will be at Calvary Columbia.


Pax,

Canon Whitney


Cohort 1: Program Content

Session 1: All Cohort Gathering, April 2, 2022

Doris Westfall: Requiem: St. Matthew’s Warson Woods

Renee Fenner: Renaissance: All Saints & Ascension

Annette Joseph: Congregational Lifecycle and Coaching

Mark Waight: Trust Building for Congregational Teams

 

Session 2: At Congregations, July 23, 2022

Thomas Skillings: Congregational Discernment

Whitney Rice: Designing Your Metrics of Success

 

Session 3: At Congregations, October 15, 2022

Edie Bird: Conflict and Non-Violent Communication

Whitney Rice: Community Listening

Marshall Crossnoe: The Gifts of Small Congregations

 

Session 4: All Cohort Gathering, January 21, 2023

Clive Samson: Missional Community

Whitney Rice: Parallel Development/Adaptive Leadership

Bishop Deon: Wrap Up Discernment Guidance Before Retreat

 

Session 5: At Congregations, April 22, 2023

Entire Cohort:

Holy Hospitality: Dave Malek

Evangelism: Whitney Rice

Requiem Track--Doris Westfall: Holy Endings

Renaissance Track--Valori Mulvey Sherer: Models for Renaissance incl. Stewardship


Session 6: At Congregations, July 15, 2023

Entire Cohort:

Project Management: Whitney Rice

Requiem Track--Sue Rehkopf: Documenting History

Renaissance Track--Jason Evans: Church Planting Principles




Welcome Video

Requiem or Renaissance Welcome Video

What to Do Next

  • Watch and share widely the Requiem or Renaissance Welcome video


  • Build your Requiem or Renaissance Team: 4-5 lay leaders plus your clergy (if you have clergy)


  • If you're having trouble building your team, Canon Whitney and Bishop Deon are here to help. Request a visit from them to help explain this program and how it will benefit your congregation's ministry.


  • Send in names and emails of everyone in your congregation who should be receiving this newsletter: your Team, plus anyone else you'd like to keep up to date on this program. Submit those names and emails here.


Prayer Resources


From Requiem or Renaissance Chaplain Sally Weaver:

Consider using the following prayer in a Sunday worship service (possibly during Announcements time) to initiate the work of the “Requiem or Renaissance” team.


Commissioning of the Team for “Requiem or Renaissance”

Gracious and loving God, bless this team of clergy and parishioners as they embark upon the Diocesan “Requiem or Renaissance” discernment process. By your design, none of us knows what lies ahead. We are certain, however, that when we call upon you for help, your Spirit will show us the way, leading us into this parish’s blessed future. Be with this team and the entire congregation in this discernment process so that we may follow faithfully wherever we are being led. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.


Consider adding the following bidding to the worship service’s Prayers of the People to keep the “Requiem or Renaissance” team in everyone’s prayers. (The wording of the final bidding and the response may need to be modified based on the form of the Prayers of the People being used.)


Bidding for the “Requiem or Renaissance” Team during the Prayers of the People

Be with the “Requiem or Renaissance” team as they discern, with God’s help, the trajectory of this parish’s future. Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

Requiem or Renaissance

Cohorts and Dates

Please mark your calendars for our gatherings:


Cohort 1

Trinity Hannibal

St. John's Tower Grove

Trinity Desoto

All Saints Farmington

St. John's Eolia

Calvary Louisiana

St. Barnabas Florissant

Holy Cross Poplar Bluff

Christ Church Cape Girardeau

St. Alban's Fulton

 

Cohort 1 Gathering Dates

January 22, 2022

April 2, 2022

July 23, 2022

October 15, 2022

January 21, 2023

April 22, 2023

September 16, 2023

Cohort 2

St. Paul's Ironton

St. Paul's Carondelet

St. John & St. James Sullivan

St. Stephen's Ferguson

Good Shepherd Town & Country

St. Luke's Manchester

St. Mark's Portland

St. Paul's Sikeston

 



Cohort 2 Gathering Dates

June 11, 2022

September 17, 2022

December 3, 2022

March 11, 2023

June 17, 2023

September 16, 2023

Who can I contact for more information?


Canon Whitney Rice, Canon for Evangelism & Discipleship Development, is available to answer additional questions and support you in all your work in this program. You can reach her at wrice@diocesemo.org.

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

314-231-1220

DioceseMo.org

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