Dear Friends,

           

I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t attend church much as a child.

In fact, I can think of exactly two times I went before the age of sixteen. Once was on Easter, when I was only five,  and then as a ten-year-old Girl Scout with my troop. But when I was sixteen, a young person in my new neighborhood invited me to her church. As it turns out, that’s where I found fellowship, direction and I fell in love with Jesus. Eventually, the faith I discovered with my young friends launched a permanent path to God. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved working with youth at summer camp, Sawyerville and Happening. Youth ministry helped me become a Christian, but also shaped and deepened my call as a priest, and now, as a bishop. Youth are amazingly powerful witnesses. Their ministry among us and with us is more important to our church more than ever. 

This past March, men from Trinity, Florence gathered to hear more about the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, a 150-year-old organization within the Episcopal Church. The Brotherhood is dedicated to enriching the lives of men and youth in Christ by providing opportunities to grow in spirituality according to its three tenants of Prayer, Study, and Service. All in all, fifteen men answered the call from the church bulletin to come and learn more about this opportunity and spend time in a prayer service meant to help us discern the need for this ministry, and to ask blessings over it moving forward. The Lord answered! Soon, we were filling out and sending in paperwork. In what seemed like no time at all, we were opening a charter packet from the national headquarters and “oooohing” and “aaaaahing” over our new charter!  

Since 1988, through General Convention resolutions, the Episcopal Church has repeatedly called on its members to learn more about the remarkable Christian witness in the Holy Land and the humanitarian ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Three years in the making, a dynamic education program called Bearing Witness: A Journey with Holy Land Christians is now ready.  Continue reading.

Please join us on Saturday, August 12, 2023, for the 26th Annual Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage. We will gather in the courthouse square in Hayneville, Alabama, and begin our pilgrimage procession at 11 am. The procession will travel from the square to the old County Jail where Daniels was among those detained for a week after being arrested in Fort Deposit for picketing white-only businesses. The procession continues to the site of the old Varner’s Cash Store, where Daniels was killed. The procession ends in the Lowndes County Courthouse, where a service of Holy Communion will be celebrated in the courtroom where the man who shot Daniels had been tried and acquitted by an all-white jury. Register for the pilgrimage here.

Jonathan Daniels Youth Pilgrimage

The youth pilgrimage is a weekend of service and remembrance for youth grades 9th-12th grade. We will gather at Episcopal Church of the Ascension (315 Clanton Avenue Montgomery, AL 36104), with registration from 5:30-6:30pm, on August 11th. The weekend will conclude on August 13th around 2:00pm.

Holy Trinity, Auburn seeks a full-time Youth Minister to serve young people in grades 6 - 12. View the job description here.

Holy Spirit, Alabaster seeks a part-time Director of Formation for Children and Youth. View the job description here.

St. John's, Decatur seeks a full-time Director of Communications. You can view the job description here.

Ascension, Vestavia Hills is seeking a part-time Youth Minister. Click here for more information.

Ascension, Montgomery seeks a Children's and Youth Minister. View the job description here. For more information or to submit your resume contact The. Rev. Drew Brislin.

The Church of the Epiphany, Leeds, is in search of a part time Office Administrator to work two four-hour days per week. For more information or to submit a resume and references email epiphanyleedsrector@gmail.com.

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