December 8, 2021 | Volume 11, No. 66

Clergy and laity, especially first-year vestry members, from the Diocese of Georgia are invited to a new diocesan training school called Leading With Grace (LWG) from what was formerly known as the Diocese of Georgia’s Church Development Institute (CDI). This change is much more than in name only. During the pandemic, the CDI team and Diocesan Council collected feedback, reflected on our ten years of service and considered societal shifts. All of this helped to create our new curriculum geared toward equipping clergy, vestry and lay leaders with the tools they need to grow their parishes. 

Leading With Grace comprises the essential components of CDI and some new material based on the team’s ministry experiences. A complete year will be four weekends, each of which will begin on Friday evening at 5 PM and will finish at 3 PM on Saturday, interspersed with prayer, small and large group discussion and practice. LWG will take place in one year cycles in four different regional centers around the diocese. It will culminate with a combined weekend at Honey Creek on August 19-20, 2022. 

• Augusta (St. Augustine’s)
• Feb 11-12, 2022
• March 18-19 or 25-26, 2022
• May 13-14, 2022
• Savannah (St. Peter’s)
• Feb 11-12, 2022
• March 18-19, 2022
• May 13-14, 2022
• Honey Creek (Waverly, GA)
• Feb 11-12, 2022
• March 18-19, 2022
• May 13-14, 2022
• Western Side of the Diocese 
• St. Paul's Albany on Feb 25-26, 2022
• St. Annes Tifton on Mar 25-26, 2022
• Christ Church Valdosta on May 20-21, 2022

We will:

• Ensure the time together is worthwhile, using our efficient and practical curriculum
• Create a welcoming environment to learn and meet new people from across the Diocese
• Coach each parish team to create a project to help our parishes grow
• Deepen leadership skills in inclusive group facilitation, leading worship, facilitating planned change and managing conflict
• Ask each parish team to help provide one meal for the group (excluding the weekend at Honey Creek)
• Pray and worship using The Book of Common Prayer, 1979
• Consider together “What does faithful leadership look like at this moment in the life of the church?”

We will not:

• waste time with models or concepts irrelevant to ministry 
• assign needless homework
• force anyone to speak publicly or be vulnerable 

The cost per parish team is:

For a team of four the fee is $ 225              

For a team of three the fee is $ 200                  

For a team of two the fee is $ 175                     

For an individual the fee is $125

Those individuals that started CDI and finished only 2 weekends will be given first priority at registration and will owe 50% of the fees above.

All fees are due upon registration.

Please sign up to participate by Feb 1, 2022. Look for the registration link in a future From the Field.

We’ll consider together, “What does faithful leadership look like

at this moment in the life of the church?”

The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Savannah hosted an open house event,

Homeless for the Holidays, after their Sunday service on December 5 at the Front Porch Improv Comedy Theater. Residents from the Community of St. Joseph shared their stories about homelessness. Savannah mayor Van Johnson, Police Chief Roy Minter, state representative Derek Mallow (GA district 163), and other city officials also spoke about ways to serve our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Blankets, coats, and camping supplies were collected for distribution. Epiphany will distribute these supplies in person at the homeless camps and at the Emmaus House clothing closet that they operate on Wednesdays. If you would like to assist with relief for our homeless neighbors in Savannah you can make a financial contribution to the diocese earmarked with a memo for the Community of St. Joseph. You can also donate winter coats, blankets, and gently used camping supplies to Emmaus House or purchase an item from the Amazon Wish List here: https://tinyurl.com/cosjlist

Epiphany worships at Front Porch on Sunday mornings at 11AM.

The Rev. Michael Chaney (Epiphany, Savannah) met with regional state senators and representatives at the Chatham County Legislative Delegation Pre-Legislative Forum on December 3 to discuss homelessness and affordable housing initiatives. Nancy Page from the Community of St. Joseph joined him to share her story and her experience with homelessness.

For the eighth year in a row, #AdventWord will gather prayers via a global, online advent calendar. Forward Movement, the new home of AdventWord, will offer 28 daily meditations and images during this holy season beginning Sunday, November 28. 

Gathering a worldwide community, #AdventWord provides a daily meditation, visual image, and invites your personal reflections via social media to share your own Advent journey. Thousands have participated each year, responding to the words with photos, written responses, crafts, drawings, poems, found art, and Holy Spirit-filled posts.

We want to share your photos

Each year the diocese participates by sharing photo or videos that invoke the word chosen for the day. This year the diocese is asking for photo submissions from you! If you have a photo you'd like to submit, email them with the word choice to Communications Manager Liz Williams at lwilliams@gaepiscopal.org. The photos will be featured on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

Looking for additional Advent resources?

The Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, MA are providing a series of six recorded sermons for Episcopal congregations. Interested congregations can find more information here.

The Episcopal Church has curated multiple resources on their website, including Journeying the Way of Love: Advent Curriculum, digital Advent and Christmas invitation kits, and more. To see the full list, click here.

• When: January 7-9, 2022
• Who: Youth in Grades 7-9
• Where: Honey Creek!
• Cost: $125 per person

New Beginnings, a retreat for youth currently in Grades 7-9, is open for registration. This event is led by older youth, with adult support. In a time of increased anxiety and uncertainty, New Beginnings offers young people a chance to gather at Honey Creek offers young people a chance to step back from their daily lives and reflect on some of the big issues of life, such as Family, Peer Pressure, Friends, and how the Love God has for all of us is unconditional and everlasting. Participant Registration is available here: https://bit.ly/NBParticipants. 

Job Openings Across the Diocese

St. Francis of the Islands Episcopal Church in Savannah, GA is seeking a part-time organist and choir director (approximately 8-10 hours per week) to provide music and direct the choir at the 10:30 am service on Sunday morning and other special services as required. Special services primarily follow the liturgical calendar, to include Principal Feasts of the Church, Ash Wednesday, and the services of Holy Week.  

Candidates are to have proficiency at the organ to lead congregational singing and perform organ repertoire. Candidates should also have a demonstrated ability to rehearse and direct choral music. Knowledge of or experience in the Episcopal Church preferred. The ideal candidate will be interested in teaching and mentoring students in the choir's inaugural class of choral scholars, and also serving as a resource for music education in the parish.

For more information and the full description, click here. 

The Nurse Practice Council in Dublin organized a food drive to benefit the Christ Episcopal Church food pantry. The nursing units comprised of the 3rd floor/Telemetry, 4th floor/Medical Women's Services, Pediatrics, ER, ICU, PCU, Rehab, and 6th floor Surgical collected over 1,000 food items for the pantry.

Church of Our Savior in Martinez finished the remodel on their parish hall. It looks great!

St. Thomas in Thomasville gathered together to create their own Advent wreaths.

At left, kids make a craft in children's church at Christ Church, Savannah, while at right, the Rev. Bill Dolen gives children a chance to better see where they worship as they touch the reredos behind the altar at Saint Paul's, Augusta.

Bishop Logue takes part in leading a panel discussion on bi-vocational ministry at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans last week. Episcopal Bishops, Canons to the Ordinary, and Commission on Ministry Chairs from around the Southeast U.S. gathered for the meeting, including the Rev. Lauren Flowers Byrd and the Rev. Canon Loren Lasch from the Diocese of Georgia. Priests serving part-time have become the majority in the Episcopal Church with only 44% of priests serving full-time for a single congregation.

On Saturday afternoon, Bishop Logue played Saint Nicholas of Myra for the St. Nick's Party at St. John and St. Mark's in Albany. On Sunday, he made his visitation with a baptism, confirmation and reaffirmation, blessing of the pledges and more.

The Rev. Leonel Polanco dries the hair of the newly baptized with the congregation of the Spanish-language mass at St. Paul the Apostle, Savannah, gathered around the font.

Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic.  

The 2021 one year prayer cycle is online here: 2021 Prayer Cycle  

December 12 - 18

In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for Diocesan Youth Programs and our Episcopal Campus Ministries at Augusta, Valdosta State, and Georgia Southern Universities. We also pray for our ecumenical partners, especially those in Springfield—St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and St. Boniface Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for Jesus the Teacher (Jesús Maestro) in Tamboril.

December 19 - 25

In our diocesan prayer cycle, we pray for Honey Creek, for our ministry with homeless persons in Savannah, the Community of St. Joseph, and for our Racial Justice and Healing Ministry. We also pray for our ecumenical partners, especially the Catholic congregations of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Sandhill, San José in Twin Lakes, Holy Redeemer in McRae, and Holy Cross in Pembroke. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for Diocese of the Dominican Republic Parochial Schools.

Newly Revised 31-Day Prayer Cycles

We also offer 30-day prayer cycles for those who wish to pray daily for the clergy and clergy spouses: Diocesan Diocesan Prayer Cycle Cycle and Clergy Clergy Spouses Prayer Cycle Prayer Cycle. (Updated 9/25/2021)

Bishop Logue will be preaching and celebrating at Annunciation in Vidalia on Sunday.

To view Bishop Logue's full visitation calendar, click here. (Updated 12/2/2021)

Canon Lasch will be preaching at St. Paul's in Albany on Sunday.

Canon Easterlin returned from her sabbatical on December 7.

You may reach diocesan staff by phone at (912) 236-4279. Given staff schedules of meetings and travel, the best way to reach a staff member is via email as we will always get back with you promptly in many cases and in 24-72 hours when working on more pressing matters. 

Staff e-mails can be found here with a list of responsibilities so you know who to contact for what.

Newly baptized Lynsey Roberson took her baptism immediately to heart on Sunday by volunteering with her grandmother, Cay King, at St. John and St. Mark's in Albany.