SHARE:  

Small Church Voices Newsletter

From the Iona Collaborative

Spring is here, and life is in full bloom all around us! The Iona Collaborative spring calendar is jam-packed with activity, and we are grateful to share in this work with all of you. Thank you to the Episcopal Church in Wyoming for hosting Iona Collaborative Director, The Rev. Nandra Perry in recent weeks. What a joy to see our members and their communities in action! Check out some snapshots of her travels below. We also have several opportunities for training, discernment, and reflection in the coming months. Read on for details about our Thriving Bi-Vocational Congregations Q&A Sessions, as well as our Annual Retreat and Deans' Meeting taking place at beautiful Camp Allen near Houston. We hope you will make time to gather with us to dream big and support small churches.

Christina C. Gordon

Digital Communications, Iona Collaborative


Please forward this newsletter widely and send us your own stories about the power of small.

Subscribe Here!

Ministry Spotlight: Terry Pierce

by Melanie P. Moore

The Rev. Terry Pierce of St. James Episcopal Church in Taylor, Texas, may have been named Taylor Woman of the Year in January and may have been the lynchpin of a huge (nine buses!) gathering of national Episcopalians including the Presiding Bishop at a migrant detention center during General Convention in 2018, but her preferred place is “under the radar” teaming up with people already doing ministry where it’s most needed.


A graduate of the Iona School of Texas (a member of the Iona Collaborative), she originally attended the Seminary of the Southwest, earning a degree in Spiritual Formation “because I wanted a quick lesson in where things were in the Bible”...


Read More Here



The Rev. Terry L. Pierce at her ordination at St. James.

(2015)

Rev. Terry Pierce with the St. James crew & float at the Taylor, TX Christmas Parade. (2023)

Rev.Terry Pierce receives the Taylor Area Businesswomen Outstanding Woman of the Year Award. (2023)

Iona On the Road

..."I don’t know if it is the weather, the awe-inspiring views, or simply the distances you must routinely travel just to be together, but you seem less tempted than most people are to imagine church as a high-stakes performance, with no need for the gifts of all those gathered. When everything that is not human-made is as big as it is here, then maybe it is more necessary to remember that God is indeed the author of our days and that we all need each other to stay warm and welcomed."...

- The Rev. Nandra Perry || Spirit of Wyoming Magazine || Spring 2024 Edition

The Ministry team at St. Luke's in Buffalo, WY

Monica Holloway, Administrator

Fr. Todd Young

Deacon Karen Walker

All Souls Episcopal Church

Kaycee, WY

The Rev. Carole Buckingham

and friend

before Sunday services at

All Souls Episcopal

Kaycee, WY

Iona Collaborative Spring 2024 Gatherings

Iona Collaborative Thriving Bi-Vocational Congregations:

Sustainable Small Church Ministry - Tools for Sharing the Load & the Journey

The Iona Collaborative believes small congregations have much to teach the wider Church about God’s vision for its future flourishing. Small communities are ideal laboratories for learning together how to discern shared callings, ways of being in community, and best practices for engaging cooperatively in God’s ongoing mission in our rapidly changing culture. Our program works with vestries and clergy to use a toolkit of communal spiritual practices and exercises to discern a faithful and hopeful path forward that is unique to your community.


We support congregations individually while creating a larger learning community of bi-vocational congregations who learn from and co-create with each other.


PLEASE JOIN US TUESDAY, APRIL 30 ON ZOOM FROM 630p-730p CST

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PROGRAM, OUR FALL WORKSHOP, AND MORE!


Who should attend a Q&A session to learn more?

2-4 lay vestry members/clergy from any church currently led or plans to be led by part-time clergy; lay leaders; non-stipendiary clergy; clergy with more than one church; locally-formed clergy.

Click the image above to register.

2024 Annual Deans' Meeting & Annual Retreat

Two Retreat Experiences in One Beautiful Location!

Need IT Support? Email us!

Should you find yourself needing help with password resets, setting up user names, etc.,

please email us at our new Iona IT support address: support@iona.ssw.edu

Want to See Your Church in This Newsletter? Reach Out Here!

Find Us Online

Facebook  Instagram  LinkedIn