January 2020 Diocesan Newsletter
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United Thank Offering 2020 Annual Grants
The United Thank Offering (UTO) board of directors is pleased to announce the availability of their 2020 United Thank Offering Annual Grants. The applications are due into the Diocesan Office by
Friday, February 7th (You will see online the applications are due in to UTO by March 6, but they have to go through the Diocese first). Informational webinars will be offered January 14, 2020.
Click here for more details and link to an application.
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Engaging Ministry: Practices of Prayer, Worship, and Community
An educational-experiential series for clergy and laypeople.
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Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes Conference 2020
The CEEP Network’s Annual Gathering will be February 19-22, 2020 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Louisville.
For more details and links to registration click
here.
To volunteer at the CEEP gathering, click
here.
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2020 Congregational Leadership Conference: Register Now
The Diocese will host a Congregational Leadership Conference (formerly known as the "Wardens and Treasurers" conference) at Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green on Feb. 15, 10 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. CT. Registration deadline is Friday, February 7th.
This free diocesan event is open to all vestry members (new and experienced), treasurers, stewardship chairs, clergy, audit committee members, and any other congregational leaders interested in this opportunity to share, discover, and learn best practices for the health and growth of our congregations. The conference will include plenary sessions for all congregational leadership in the morning, and various topical breakout workshop components in the afternoon.
The agenda will cover a variety of essential items. (Including: Vestry best practices/responsibilities, D&O insurance, church safety, diocesan and TEC canons, by-laws of TEC, T&C, and churches leadership and management principles, parochial reports, financial reviews, audits, financial best practices/oversight, exemptions, annual filing fees, property tax not automatically exempt with PVA, stewardship, and annual giving campaigns)
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Light from Light: Engaging the Nicene Creed
Living with the creed in Advent, Christmas & Epiphany
About a third of the Nicene Creed is about the incarnation, so it always feels a little “Christmas-y” to me, especially because “Light from Light” is such a hopeful description as the days become darker (and often cloudy and dim) as Christians in the northern hemisphere wait to welcome the newly born again Christ into the world. In the creed, like all of Advent, we connect the God’s becoming human with God’s eternal-ness and consider why and how Jesus comes “for us and for our salvation.”
Thinking and wondering about why and how Jesus comes to be with us then becomes the stuff of epiphanies. Throughout the season after the Epiphany, the church recalls stories about how Jesus came to be more deeply understood. That journey undergirds what most of us are doing day in and day out—wondering what more we can come to know about how God works in the world and in our lives, holding on to the bright spots of revelation that prayer, worship, and giving away our gifts bring to us. “Star of wonder, guide us to thy perfect light...” as the hymn says.
When you say the creed, does it connect to the deeper rhythms of the church year, or of your own seeking? What does it mean to say “we believe” even as we seek? If these seasons are happy and joyous for you, does that affect how it feels to say the words of the creed? If the season is difficult for you, how does it feel to say the words of the creed in the midst of darkness?
I invite you into these questions with me.
You can share your answer as part of my project
here.
Canon Amy offers this ongoing series of reflections and exercises as part of her grant from the Louisville Institute. You can find more information
here and take the survey
here, if you haven't already.
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Anne Braden Commemoration
Civil Rights activist and advocate for racial equality, Anne McCarty Braden, will be commemorated in an event held at St. George's Episcopal Church on Saturday, March 7th. Please share this information with your congregation, print
this flyer for your bulletin board and as a handout. All are invited to attend the commemoration at St. George's.
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Invitation Into Prayers for Racial Healing During Lent
The Racial Reconciliation Task Force of the Diocese of Kentucky is inviting each congregation in the Diocese to participate with us in 40 Days of Prayer for racial healing during Lent. There are two ways you can participate. At convention, hopefully your congregation received your three free copies of 40 Days of Prayer: For the Liberation of American Descendants of Slavery, written by Cheri Mills and published by Simmons College of Kentucky. You can purchase more books
here to form a Sunday School reflection group using the text during lent.
We also have received special permission to use excerpts from the book to print bulletins for each congregation in the Diocese. Those have been formatted and provided for you
here. You can download them to print for your bulletins to use the five Sundays during lent. We hope the information and prayers may be informative, challenging, and healing. Please let us know if you have any questions, and we hope this experience will be a growth experience for individuals, congregations and the Diocese as we prepare for our first intergenerational pilgrimage and dive deeper into work around racial healing.
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The Good Book Club
Start 2020 with a renewed commitment to the Word of God. The Good Book Club returns for a third year with the Gospel of John.
Click
here for more details.
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Dismantling Racism for Youth
On February 15 there will be an all day workshop/retreat for the youth of our Diocese at Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, Ky. While this is primarily geared towards youth, adults are also invited to attend. There is a $20 fee for materials and lunch. Please let
Katherine Doyle+ know if you are interested in attending.
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Summer Camp “The Way of Love” registration will be open soon.
Save the dates
Senior high June 21-26 (rising 9-12)
Primary June 28-July2 (rising 2-4 grades)
New Horizons July 12-17 (rising 5-6)
Junior High July 19-24 (rising 7-8)
Interested in joining a team of fun, energetic, compassionate, and caring young adults who make a difference in the lives of children and youth everyday? Apply now to become a part of the 2020 All Saints Staff.
Summer Camp staff applications are now available
here.
For more information visit our website
here.
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All Saints Center
As you plan your congregation's 2020 calendar we invite you to consider All Saints Center as a location for your congregational events. We specialize in hosting Vestry retreats, all congregation retreats, gatherings for special ministry groups from congregation, etc.
For more information please contact
Bill Beam.
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Prayer in Action Days at the Capitol
The Kentucky Council of Churches is hosting Prayer in Action Days at the State Capitol during this year's General Assembly to pray for government officials and act on behalf of Kentucky's most vulnerable citizens. Click
here
for details and a schedule.
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The Rev. Matthew Bradley has been called as Dean-Elect of Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville. Fr. Bradley is currently the rector of St. John’s, Murray And will begin work at the Cathedral Feb. 4. Dean-in-the-Interim Joan Pritcher’s last Sunday at the Cathedral was Dec. 29.
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The Rev. Clint Wilson has been called as Rector-Elect of St. Francis in the Fields in Harrods Creek. Fr. Wilson is currently serving as Associate Rector for Christian Fellowship and Formation at St. George’s, Nashville. He will begin work at St. Francis on Feb. 10. Interim Rector Simon Barnes will have his last Sunday on Feb. 2. The Interim Assistant Rector, Bishop Russ Jacobus, had his last Sunday in December.
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The Rev. Robert Clarke has been appointed as Interim Rector of Grace Church, Hopkinsville. He began serving at Grace on Nov. 1
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The Rev. Kim Becker has joined the staff of Norton Healthcare, previously serving in the Diocese of Western North Carolina.
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How can we welcome the stranger in these times?
Exploring Migration: A Faith Journey
is an eight-week program of JustFaith Ministries that explores some of the central questions related to the reality of global migration, refugees, and immigrants in the United States. In a small, supportive community, Exploring Migration will help you formulate a personal response to the 21st-century reality of migration, inspired by your Christian faith. Together with other participants, this program will help you discern a personal and group response to issues affecting migrants and refugees.
Exploring Migration will be offered on Wednesday evenings from 6-8:30 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, beginning January 29. For more information, contact Susie Tierney at
susie@justfaith.org
or 502-429-0865. Click
here
for a flyer.
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Submissions for materials to be considered for the February General Newsletter are due by February 7, 2020. Please send your submissions to
katie@episcopalky.org
.
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Looking for the prayer resources? Try the Daily Office:
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Embracing Christ, Engaging the World
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