Together, we are the body of Christ ~ transforming people from members into disciples, moving more deeply into God's call to life and ministry, and extending our mission beyond the status quo.

54th Annual Diocesan Convention

Registration is now open for the 54th Annual Diocesan Convention, which will be held at the Destin-Ft. Walton Beach Convention Center on February 21-22, 2025, and hosted by Christ the King, Santa Rosa Beach.

All are welcome! Details for the convention can be found at www.diocgc.org/2025-diocesan-convention.

Pre-Convention Meeting for Clergy and Lay Delegates

The Pre-Convention Meeting will be held on Zoom on Thursday, January 30, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Prior to the meeting, registered delegates will receive an email with the link to join. All clergy, lay, and youth delegates are asked to attend this informative meeting. Bishop Russell will give details about what to expect, budget highlights will be discussed, and we will go over electronic voting.

If you are a delegate, please be sure your church has registered you for the convention.

Coming soon! Next week, we will announce our lineup of convention workshops. Workshops will be open to all registered attendees!

Lenten Book Study - Rachel Held Evans' "Inspired"

Bishop Kendrick has issued an invitation for our diocese to undertake a special book study through the season of Lent, reading Rachel Held Evans' "Inspired." The purpose for this study is three-fold:

• To enhance the bonds that make us one Body in Christ by sharing and studying together;
• To provide a poignant guide to assist us in naming and claiming our stories;
• To better discern our roles as disciples as shaped by the intersection of biblical stories and our own.

I took special note recently that at each ordination service we hear the candidate[s] proclaim, “I solemnly declare that I believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation..” We are undertaking this study as a way of “inspiring” all rosters of ministry in our diocese to plumb the challenges and comforts of scripture as salvation history. This study is meant to be a tool that you can use individually, in an adult forum, or in a special book study group.

The author, Rachel Held Evans, provides us with her own purpose of this book:

"My aim with this book is to recapture some … Bible magic, but in a way that honors the text for what it is – ancient, complicated, debated, and untidy, both universally relevant and born from a specific context and culture...I hope to show how the Bible can be captivating and true when taken on its own terms, avoiding both strict literalism on the one hand and safe, disinterested liberalism on the other." (pages xxi, xxii)

Bishop Kendrick also chose this book as a way of inviting us to delve deeper into our understanding of scripture and the way we read the Bible as Anglicans. Evans proposes a way of engaging scripture that complements our Anglican lens well and elevates the art of storytelling itself. Drawing on her experience as a journalist, storyteller, and explorer of what it means to live as a Christian, Evans makes the often academic work of biblical interpretation accessible for everyone. No matter the level of seminary education, or lack thereof, she believes that everyone is inspired by stories.

Readers of Inspired are presented with eight categories of biblical stories, each one offering different perspectives and avenues for engaging scripture: Origin Stories, Fish Stories, Deliverance Stories, War Stories, Wisdom Stories, Resistance Stories, Gospel Stories, and Church Stories. Evans encourages us to dig deep, get creative, ask questions, and to use our own sanctified imagination to deepen our resolve to love God and our neighbor. This engagement can then give us new tools and ideas to embark on our own journey of interpretation and ongoing discovery.

In addition to the reading of the book, we will provide a study guide to give you an opportunity for personal or communal sharing and reflection. It is our hope that the Lenten season will enrich your understanding of scripture and break open the life-giving wonders of the Easter celebration.

Joy Blaylock

Dean, School for Ministry

Missioner for Discipleship

In addition to the study guide, there will be accompanying video reflections supporting each week's reading. Begins March 3! Link to purchase book.

Episcopal Relief & Development Offers Lenten Meditations by Jerusalem Jackson Greer 

Episcopal Relief & Development has partnered with well-known author Jerusalem Jackson Greer to write daily meditations in celebration of our common life. The meditations will be available in English and Spanish beginning on Ash Wednesday and throughout the 2025 Lenten season.

Titling the meditations “A Commonplace Lent,” Greer celebrates the everyday human experience–prayer, worship, grace, love, community and service as well as our relationship to nature. Using monastic wisdom as her starting point, she highlights the divine gifts that come from community. 

Episcopal Relief & Development invites all to participate in “A Commonplace Lent” by subscribing to daily emails, downloading resources for further study and including the meditations in community prayer, worship and gathering time. 

Becoming Beloved Community: Racial Reconciliation Sacred Conversations

Saturday, January 11, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Christ Church Cathedral, 115 S Conception St, Mobile

Join us for a workshop that will provide insights into the causes and

effects of racism. We explore unconscious bias, prejudice, white privilege, and ways to work together to Become the Beloved Community. This offering is required for those in parish leadership (such as vestries) and at the diocesan level (including serving on commissions, committees, agencies, or boards). It also qualifies for

eight hours of clergy training/education for those who complete the full-cay course.

There is no fee to participate, but it requires the commitment to be engaged for the full day. Limited to not more than 30 participants, but we must have at least 12 registrants to hold the workshop.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION

Clergy Reflection Day

Thursday, January 16, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Christ Church Parish, 18 W Wright St, Pensacola

Bishop Russell invites all clergy of the diocese for a day of fellowship, reflection, and conversation about our vows as ordained clergy to lead our people into this new year. 

Lunch provided. No cost.

REGISTRATION

Cursillo Musicians Workshop

Friday, January 24, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Beckwith, 10400 Beckwith Ln, Fairhope

Open to everyone, whether you’ve been to Cursillo or not!

Players and singers are invited to join in music teams for Cursillo weekends, Camp Beckwith and Diocese events. If you play an instrument, sing and want to join in – come learn how to be part of a music team!

Let’s get to know one another and share our music, fellowship and fun. 

Topics include:

The day starts with a drum circle! Drums provided by Blues Angel Music.

• Creating and leading a successful music team
• Playing together cooperatively and professionally
• Choosing appropriate music for sessions and chapel services
• Music resources 
• Jam sessions to play and sing together
• Open mic
• Creating a pool of musicians to call on when needed

The workshop will be led by professional musicians, Cursillo music veterans and clergy within the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast (sponsored by the Cursillo Commission).

DOWNLOAD EVENT FLYER

DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Happening #62

January 31-February 2

Beckwith, 10400 Beckwith Ln, Fairhope

The Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast presents Happening #62 for all 9th-12th grade students! Happening is a Christian experience presented BY teens FOR teens. Through videos, skits, talks, and more, you'll see how God and faith fit in with the flow of high school life. Happening is designed to help youth feel the love of God through community. We hope, at the end of the weekend, you'll go home knowing how to continue growing a relationship with God. It’s a weekend full of fun, games, sharing, surprises, and, most of all, spiritual renewal and empowerment.

Here is a note to Happeners from Happening Lay Rectors Lucy Stevenson and Sarah Claire Carswell.

Want to know more about Happening and ways to support it through Caritas, prayers, and presence? Read this letter from Happening Coordinator Meghan Johnson.

Cost is $75. Scholarships are available. Registration is now open for Happeners, Youth Staff, and Adult Staff.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION

2025 Men's Conference

Friday, February 28-Sunday, March 2

Bekciwth, 10400 Beckwith Ln, Fairhope

"How the Desert Fathers Help Us Pray" with the Rev. Adam McCoy, O.H.C.

All men of the diocese are invited to the 42nd Annual Men's Conference. We are pleased to welcome the Rev. Adam McCoy O.H.C., presently a solitary monk not in residence and serves as assisting priest in two parishes in Cathedral City, CA. He took life vows in the Order of the Holy Cross in 1978. Subsequently, he has served as the Novice Master of the order and prior to the Calvary Monastery Retreat House in Santa Barbara, CA. In addition to his monastic responsibilities, Father McCoy has been a rector to two parishes and has led other ecclesiastical activities both in the Diocese of New York and the Diocese of Los Angeles. Father McCoy has written several articles relating evangelism to Anglican monasticism. He enjoys leading retreats for both clergy and laity and likes to discuss the influences of the Desert Fathers upon contemporary prayer life.

Cost varies. Please register and pay by February 21.

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE | REGISTER ONLINE

Christmas message from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe

Dear People of God in The Episcopal Church:

Among the Christmas Gospels, Luke is surely the crowd pleaser. Nearly our entire visual vocabulary of Christmas—the manger, the shepherds, the angels—comes from the second chapter of Luke. Thanks to Luke, we all know the answer to the trivia question, “Who was Quirinius?”

But if you go to church on Christmas morning, or if your congregation’s custom is to read a last Gospel on Christmas Eve, you will hear the beginning of the Gospel of John, which includes other words we all know: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Christmas does not truly begin for me until I hear those words.

While Luke paints us a picture of a noisy and chaotic birth, in John we encounter the powerfully quiet mystery of the Incarnation. John brings us the astonishing truth that God lived among us as a person, “full of grace and truth,” ready to share the pain and sorrow of being human. 

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