The Episcopal Diocese of

North Dakota



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Welcome to our email Newsletter!

Highlights from this issue:

• WoDakota Annual Appeal
• Hill Country Flooding

Read on for other announcements and the calendar!

Did you miss a copy of the Prairie? The past four editions of the bi-monthly Prairie are now online! Click the button below to be taken to the webpage!

Benedict of Nursia, Monastic | July 11, 2025

Gracious God, whose service is perfect freedom and in whose commandments there is nothing harsh nor burdensome, grant that we with your servant Benedict, may listen with attentive minds, pray with fervent hearts, and serve you with willing hands so that we live at peace with one another and in obedience to thy Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

*Read about Benedict of Nursia here.

First Lesson: 1 Kings 17:2-6

Psalm: Psalm 4:1-5

Second Lesson: Philippians 2:12-18

Gospel: Luke 14:26-33

WoDakota: Beloved Community

Annual Appeal

2025 ANNUAL APPEAL

supporting ministries of and within the Diocese of North Dakota

WoDakota means being in harmony and balance with yourself and the world around you. Jesus calls us to do all we can toward becoming that Beloved Community.

The Diocesan Council has announced that the goal of the 2025 Annual Appeal will support these important ministries:

Food Banks in every town/county

where there is an Episcopal Church

&

The Sudanese Ministry at St. John the Divine in Moorhead

Bishop Brian says: “The season of Pentecost reminds us of our responsibility to share the Love of Jesus Christ in ways that it can be easily seen or heard. Please join me in making a gift to the WoDakota Annual Appeal which will feed our neighbors physically and spiritually.”

To make a donation, please click on the “Donate” button at ndepiscopal.org or the blue button below. 

Food Pantries in Episcopal Neighborhoods

• The Lord’s Cupboard Food Pantry (Minot)
• Hope Center (Devils Lake)
• Great Plains Food Bank (Fargo, Moorhead & Bismarck)
• Great Plains Mobile Food Pantry (Selfridge, Cartwright, White Shield & Walhalla)
• Community Action Partnership (Jamestown)
• HC Community Care Center & Food Pantry (Grand Forks)
• Standing Rock Food Distribution Program (Fort Yates & Cannon Ball)
• AMEN Food Pantry (Dickinson)
• Williston Food Pantry (Williston)
• Heart of the Turtle Mountain Food Pantry (Dunseith)
• Spirit Lake Food Distribution (Fort Totten) 

Diocesan Bishop Search

Prayer Petition:

O God, creator of the world and sustainer of our lives. We thank you for bringing together the members of the Diocese of North Dakota, a diverse and faithful people. Help us to listen to your Spirit as we discern our choice for a bishop that will live with us, work beside us, and know and understand us as we grow together to serve your people. AMEN.

*A full timeline picture is available on the Bishop Search webpage.

Nominating Committee Members:

Hill Country Flooding

Message from the West Texas Bishops

I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. 

Psalm 121:1-2

[On July 4th], many of us followed with growing horror and sadness the unfolding flood disaster along the rivers of the Hill Country. We watched news accounts, video and social media posts filled with images and stories of homes damaged, helicopters searching, and reports of the missing along the Guadalupe River Valley from Hunt, Ingram, Kerrville, and Comfort. In particular, our hearts could not help but be moved by the stories of missing campers from Camp Mystic and those parents and guardians anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.

Many in West Texas contacted us with concern about our own Camp Capers on the Guadalupe River in Waring. At the time of the flooding there were no campers at our camp, and our summer staff was away on mid-summer break. All site staff are safe, and none of our buildings were flooded. Rob Watson, Director of Camps & Conferences and Johnson Jeffers, Camp Capers Site Director, are safe and on-site monitoring conditions. 

While our own beloved camp was not damaged by the floodwaters, the summer camping community in Texas is close-knit. The Kerrville community, and St. Peter’s Church has been deeply impacted by the trauma and loss of life. Many in Kerrville, in our diocese, and across Texas, have personal connections to the missing campers and staff members. They are our relatives, classmates, friends, and church family members. Our hearts ache.

Many have asked what we can do. At Diocesan Council we called on all of us to pray big prayers. Prayer is not sitting by passively and doing nothing. Prayer is hope in action. It moves mountains and tunes our hearts to the heart of Jesus. Pray big prayers for the missing. Pray big prayers for their families and friends. Pray big prayers for first responders and rescue workers. Pray big prayers for St. Peter’s Church and the Hill Country camping community. Pray big prayers not just one day or one Sunday, but for the next 30 days. We have attached a prayer for your use. 

Second, we invite our people and congregations to make financial donations. This disaster is still unfolding. We will learn much more in the days and weeks ahead. The recovery of the Hunt, Ingram, Comfort and Kerrville communities will not happen overnight. It will take time to catalog the loss of homes, businesses, livelihoods, and lives, and the best ways we can tangibly be part of healing, hope and recovery. We are in contact with the Presiding Bishop and with Episcopal Relief & Development who have offered their assistance. Financial Donations may be sent to the Diocese of West Texas marked “July 4 Flood.” Our financial response will be coordinated through the clergy and lay leaders of St. Peter’s, Kerrville. 

Thank you in advance for your big prayers, messages of support and generous contributions. More information will be shared as it becomes available. It is at such a time as this that the relationships we share in West Texas are most valuable. Jesus tells us the world will know we are his followers if we have love one another. Let us reach out in love for those who are hurting in the Hill Country today.

Peace,

+David Read, Bishop of West Texas

+Angela Cortiñas, Bishop Suffragan of West Texas

A Prayer:

Almighty God, your Holy Spirit moved over the waters in the beginning of creation, and your Son Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee: Be mightily present with all those impacted by catastrophic flooding in the Hill Country. Be close to the lost that they may be found; Guide and protect those who search; Strengthen those who await news of loved ones; Comfort those who mourn; Provide for those who have lost homes and livelihoods. And in the midst of things we cannot understand, empower us to entrust all to your never-failing love, and give us the will to persevere in our response to their needs. All this we ask through your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

‍

Make a donation to support Flood Relief efforts.

Original message found here.

Christian Resources into Arabic

Episcopal News Service | By: Shireen Korkzan

For the Rev. Halim Shukair, priest-in-charge at Mother of the Savior Episcopal Church, an Arabic-speaking parish in Dearborn, Michigan, being able to worship in one’s native language can help welcome people looking for a church home. That’s why he and the Rev. Charbel Zgheib, pastor of Salam Arabic Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, New York, collaborated to translate liturgies into Arabic.

“The Episcopal Church is working toward being inclusive and reflective of our very diverse communities in the U.S., and having different translations of the liturgy is a kind of church planting,” Shukair told Episcopal News Service.

About 70 parishioners – double from 2021 – are members of Mother of the Savior, which is housed within Christ Episcopal Church, and the congregation is still growing. Salam Arabic Lutheran Church has almost 100 parishioners.

Shukair, an immigrant from Lebanon, began translating liturgies in 2018 with the help of Wassim Wehbe, who was then a graduate student in Arabic. Three years later, Zgheib started working with Shukair on the project.

Zgheib told ENS that when he immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, he noticed that resources for Arabic-speaking Christians were “very limited” and had no structure around the liturgical year.



“Since the [Evangelical Lutheran Church in America] is in full communion with The Episcopal Church, Halim and I agreed that we should work together to make people more comfortable in worshiping in their own language,” Zgheib said. That way, “the churches will be more accessible to those who are already worshiping with us and those who don’t know about us yet, but we can now reach out to them more easily.”

The two priests translated the Book of Common Prayer’s Holy Eucharist Rite II and parts of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the ELCA’s primary liturgical and worship guidebook. They also produced Arabic-language resources for seasonal liturgical bulletins, key feast days, baptisms, marriages and funerals.

The work wasn’t a straightforward word-for-word translation of the English texts. Arabic is the official or co-official language in 22 countries – all located in the Middle East or North Africa – and they all have their own dialect. Shukair and Zgheib both said that they had to contextualize the liturgical structures and terminologies in a universal way that every native Arabic reader could understand culturally and linguistically. The priests translated the liturgies into Fusha, also known as Modern Standard Arabic.

“There are big differences in the way we speak in our own dialects … but what unites us all is Fusha Arabic is the official written language in every Arab country, and it’s taught in all Arab schools,” Shukair said.

The growing need for Christian resources in Arabic reflects the growing Arab American population, with the number quadrupling since the U.S. Census first measured ethnic origin in 1980. The Arab American population grew nearly 30% between 2010 and 2022. Today, about 3.7 million people of Arab descent live in the United States, 1.2 million of whom are immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

Michigan has the largest Arab American population by percentage in the United States. In 2023, Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, became the first Arab-majority U.S. city with about 55% of the population claiming Arab ancestry.

Even though the Middle East and North Africa are predominantly Muslim regions, most Arab Americans – an estimated 63-77% – identify as Christians.

Zgheib said having liturgies available in Arabic is also a way for The Episcopal Church and the ELCA to respect Arab cultures and traditions while “creating something new for everyone.”

“People want to feel connected to their origins and not like they have betrayed their cultures. This is very important, especially for immigrants,” he said. “We are creating familiarity to help people worship God and give them a more engaged spiritual experience with room for openness and growth.”

In 2024, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit hosted its first bilingual Arabic and English service using the liturgies and bulletins translated by Shukair and Zgheib.

“It was wonderful. Everyone felt like they belonged,” Shukair said. “Bishop [Bonnie] Perry and the Diocese of Michigan have been so supportive with this work. It is my hope that all of The Episcopal Church will encourage more translation work and encourage dioceses to start reaching out to the Arab and Middle Eastern Christians. … Diversity is wonderful.”

CIVIC SPOTLIGHT

If there are things you would like to contribute to the "Civic Spotlight," please email links/articles to Jess in the Diocesan Office.