Small Church Voices Newsletter

Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Get your own copy each month by clicking below:

Ripple Effects

Seeing the Face of Jesus in Everyone They Meet

In the northeast corner of Oklahoma, in Ottawa County, sits the city of Miami—a town of approximately 13,000 people nestled in the Ozark foothills, just 15 miles from the Kansas border. Known as the “Gateway to Oklahoma,” Miami (pronounced “my-AM-uh”) is a stop along Historic Route 66 and home to several Indigenous nations, including the Miami, Modoc, Ottawa, Peoria, and Shawnee tribes.



Here, in this small but vibrant town, stands All Saints’ Episcopal Church. Home of “the city’s most photographed door,” All Saints’ offers a bright, welcoming entry that has become a quiet symbol of hospitality. What happens inside, and just beyond that door, tells an even deeper story.

Vicar Mary Susan Whaley and Deacon Kay Boman-Harvey guide this congregation of “movers and shakers” with warmth, humor, and deep trust in the Holy Spirit. When I first reached out to them, I intended to write about one specific ministry serving unhoused neighbors. Yet as our conversation unfolded, it became clear: this was not a story about a single program. It was about a way of “being church.” At All Saints’, the church’s guiding principle of seeing the face of Jesus in everyone they meet is woven into everything this church does.

Read on for more...

The Saints of All Saints' filling the church's Blessing Box.

Best friends and birthday twins, the Rev. Mary Susan Whaley and Deacon Kay Boman-Harvey.

Materials at the All Saints' booth at Pride. Love Wins!

Iona Collaborative Annual Retreat

Spaces are filling up!

We hope you will join us for this opportunity for the wider Iona community to gather together in one sacred space. Hone your skills, reflect on your call, and leave refreshed and inspired to continue caring for your communities. Meet us deep in the heart of the piney woods at Camp Allen for connection and renewal.

Select from two retreat tracks:

Spiritual Practices in Heated Times with Janet Davis and Aneya Elbert

Preaching the Parables in Matthew's Gospel with Jane Patterson and John Lewis

Visit our website to learn more!

Free Online Webinar from the Center for Deep Green Faith

Augustine:
Patron Saint of the Environment

St. Augustine deserves to be recognized as one of the great patron saints of the environment. In his influential 1967 essay attacking Christianity for its supposed anthropocentrism and anti-environmentalism, Lynn White pointed to St. Augustine as a major cause of the problem. While his critique may have some merit with respect to modern Western Christianity, White exhibited an unfortunate lack of any appreciation of Augustine’s rich philosophy of caring for creation. For Augustine, love of God is inseparable from both love of neighbor and love of God’s creation. Consequently, the talk will explore the crucial roles of humanity’s conversation with nature and humanity’s essential place in the community of nature in Augustine’s theology of the beauty and goodness of creation.

Click the image for more information.

Date: March 12
Time: 6:30pm CT/7:30pm ET

Presenter: Jim Peters, Professor of Philosophy

Small Church Voices is ABOUT and FOR small churches, their leaders, and their communities!

Do you have a ministry to celebrate? Reach out and tell us about it!

Throw in some pictures, and we'll include your church in an upcoming issue.

Iona Students: 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

Find Us Online