The Episcopalian - 1st Quarter 2024

E p i s c o pa l i a n

the Alabama episcopalian

AFORGOD-SIZED DREAM THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN ALABAMA PAGE 5

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Convention 2024

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A GOD-SIZED DREAM

The following article contains highlights from Bishop Curry’s address on February 9, 2024, in Montgomery, Alabama.

To watch her complete address, please scan the QR code at the end of this article.

The apostle Paul tells us speaking the truth in love is a major way that we build up the body of Christ to in order to carry the good news of Jesus into the world. In his letters, Paul calls on his churches fourteen different times to build up the body in unity and always in love.

Our convention theme, Equipping the Saints, comes from the fourth chapter of Ephesians, verses 11-13: “He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

The gifts Jesus gave were to equip the saints for the work of ministry, or as Eugene Peterson says, “God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love — like Christ in everything . . . so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.”. * We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do as he keeps us in step with each other.

In the last year Bishop Prior and I made 107 visits on Sundays to 86 parishes and all of our worshiping communities. That doesn’t count all the times we've been to Camp McDowell, or any other time that you'll have us. Visiting you is hands down the most fun and the best part about being bishop. Bishops are blessed with a bird's eye view of our ministry across this great diocese, and visiting you grounds me every time I learn what really touches your heart, what matters most and what truly is life giving. I see Jesus over and over.

Through all your efforts this past year, we have seen some evidence that the pandemic is truly behind us. Twenty-five of our parishes have surpassed their highest attendance numbers during Covid, several have surpassed pre-Covid numbers, and others are trending in that direction. Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) is trending up. Because of your faithful work, the numbers say that Covid is no longer our major challenge.

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ut numbers do not tell the full story. Paul said that we have to look for the fruits of the spirit. Last March we noticed that our smaller congregations were still straining to throw off the effects of Covid on their congregations, and God inspired us to think about what we could do to encourage them. We decided to offer grants to those with less than 150 Average Sunday Attendance (ASA), and called them “Refresh & Renew” grants. We asked you how you wanted to enhance your ministry, and offered grants of up to $5,000 to help.

We had 51 applications, and we awarded something to everyone who applied, for a total of $236,517.

When I visit you, I feel a sense of engagement and of pride in new beginnings. Some of you had bake sales and garage sales and found ways to multiply and increase the impact of your grants.

This experiment stimulated serious renewal across the diocese.

You've shown us that with a little bit, you can do an awful lot.

The renewal is what God is doing, and we are just trying to keep up. We also learned that as the diocese lives into the idea of being a resource for you, you'll welcome us to come alongside you in your ministry, and amazing things happen.

Our congregational vitality team learned that when a parish has consistent music, warm leadership, good preaching and engagement with the community that surrounds it, a parish will thrive.

We promised last year we'd walk alongside you and we'd try to help if we were invited to. One way we did that was to offer a course about discipleship and fundamentals of the faith that will encourage even more growth. We now have eight experienced consultants who've helped 18 parishes develop mission and action plans to guide their ministry. Please ask the diocese for help - we will respond. We want to support your ministry so it takes the love and light of Jesus into the world around you where it's meant to be. This year, 130 people from 30 parishes came to one or more Parish Growth Conferences, where they learned strategies for fostering vibrant and thriving parishes. All the diocesan staff are available to come and talk with you about your ministry. If you want to know more about stewardship, youth, finance, leadership, Sawyerville or racial healing, call us.

Thanks to the team working on this, we've now reduced full-time, clergy vacancies from 14 two years ago to only two.

We have dedicated retired clergy serving, a healthier supply clergy list, and we have shortened times parishes need an interim.

We have selected and trained 16 lay preachers who can offer a homily during morning prayer on Sunday.

We've welcomed nine new clergy to the diocese, and 17 within the diocese have taken a new call in the past year.

Last month, a group of four clergy, consisting of me, Rev. Jack Alvey, Rev. Kelley Hudlow, and Dr. Jordan Rippy visited the Diocese of London for a course called “Learning from London” to learn what's making them thrive. In the middle of a very post6 | www.dioala.org

Christian culture, they're outgrowing the rest of the Church of England. Ten years ago, they set a deliberate goal to form 100 new worshiping communities and in seven years they formed 87. Some resemble our small churches, while others are rejuvenated, replanted communities. Some are newly planted churches. There are many ways to do it.

In years past in Alabama, we had a goal to plant new churches where population and need dictated. We drifted away from that strategy.

As populations move and change, we need a deliberate strategy for growing. And since the gospel is our primary mission, I believe God is calling us to return to that deliberate renewal, rejuvenation, rebirth, and new planting work.

A small group led by Canon Geoff Evans has organized a bishop's committee and begun the first steps to plant a church community in McCalla called Riverside Church. We've looked at the McCalla area for years, but had not acted. There aren't very many churches in McCalla. I ask your prayers about this ministry of growing the Kingdom.

We are also exploring identifying something the Diocese of London calls resource churches, where teams and skills for rejuvenating are concentrated and become part of a resource parish's mission. I'm also inviting a teacher who specializes in helping churches to develop small groups that have a missional journey focus. The Rev. Dr. Mike Moynagh will be with us for a week in April. Small group mission equips any small group for outreach with tools to encourage a relationship directly with Jesus and connect them back to our faith communities.

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This year we awarded $65,000 in grants to 20 parishes, an 18% increase over last year.

Projects included everything from backpack programs, English as a second language classes, laundry ministry, events for children with disabilities, and food distribution programs and much, much more.

With their $2,500 award, St. Peter's Talladega opened a diaper ministry called Diaper Row. Since last August, they have distributed 30,180 diapers and 1,175 pull-ups to 470 guests, helping 650 babies. The county and city are now interested in helping by having diaper drives.

They're now serving eight zip codes with 20 to 30 volunteers from all over, and they did all that in five months starting with less than $3,000. It's one of the many, many signs of your creative and vital ministry.

Wonderful, wonderful Camp McDowell has returned to pre-covid numbers in attendance and is growing in many new ways. In only three years, thanks to some great grant writing, they have tripled their outside grant funding to nearly $300,000. We hope very soon to name an executive director. Bishop Prior has been a tremendous leader in all of that, along with Whitney MooreShea, Interim Director.

Last year, camp generously welcomed - and survived - the entire Episcopal House of Bishops for the first time, and the bishops left wanting to come back. 130 Bishops stayed for eight days.

Some had never been to Alabama before, and some vowed they would never come, but they left with changed hearts and they were overwhelmed by Alabama's faith and hospitality. That's only one of many new large groups that have added Camp McDowell to their destination list.

Pilgrimage in Montgomery and Selma and the surrounding area is intense and growing. Things are happening all the time at St. John's, and Good Shepherd is hosting groups every week.

This year, the Jonathan Daniels pilgrimage welcomed over 250 people from all over the country, along with 28 youth and staff from New York and Alabama for an overnight retreat and a service project at Ascension Montgomery. The youth saw firsthand that love is always stronger than hate. We've expanded all our educational opportunities to build relationships around learning about race and reconciliation and history.

Twenty-six youth from Hale and Green counties, Montgomery and Birmingham spent Martin Luther King weekend together at St. John's in a Person2Person event.

This Lent, I hope you'll join me in the One Diocese, One Book online study using a meditation book written by Dr. Catherine Meeks, who will join us.

Sawyerville had a 30th birthday this summer and welcomed 350 staff, counselors and interns along with over 500 Hale County youth and children to three weeks of Sawyerville camp.

Our youth always steal the show wherever they appear in the diocese, and we cannot have enough gatherings for them. Our youth have returned with energy and wisdom, and here are examples of what they did in the last year: Young adult and campus ministry grew through retreat weekends, fellowship, pub theology, camp, and many other things Campus ministry has remained active at four locations around the diocese Youth from around the diocese attended the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) in Baltimore, Maryland over the 4th of July weekend Our campus ministry group convinced us that parish-based campus ministry is really the most sustainable model that we can have. Lay chaplains supported by clergy oversight is a new formula, and it is working. God has sent us young adults from 26 different parishes in the metro area to gather around campuses for worship fellowship and to learn about Jesus.

Our Commission on Ministry is active, and is currently overseeing 16 people seeking ordination.

I'm so grateful that God has raised them up, and while 16 is wonderful, we could use 16 more. I believe God is raising up people among us for service, but sometimes I think we're reluctant to call it out. Who are your strong lay leaders? Who do you depend on? Where do you see the light 9 | www.dioala.org

Richard Ahlquist, Priest-in-Charge, Holy Cross, Trussville Jake Andrews, Associate Rector, Trinity, Florence, and Priest-in-Charge, St. Bartholomew’s, Florence Pete Burgess, Rector, Holy Trinity, Auburn

Peter Helman, Rector, St. Andrew’s, Birmingham David Hodnett, Priest-in-Charge, St. Michael’s and All Angels, Anniston Jane Major, Priest-in-Charge, St. Paul’s, Greensboro

Tom Murray, Vice Dean, Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham Dean Pinter, Canon Theologian, Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham Adam Young, Canon Missioner, Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham

Resolution #1 Diocesan Budget: PASSED Resolution #2: Camp McDowell Budget: PASSED Resolution #3: Extraordinary Christian Witness in Alabama: Referred to Department of Liturgy and Music Resolution #4: Wider Church Assessment (as amended): PASSED Resolution #5: Dormancy of Parish: PASSED

Scan to read the resolutions

of Jesus? When I visit, I'm going to ask that question and Bishop Prior is going to ask that question as well. Please join me in praying for God to reveal laborers for the harvest in this next year.

On another note, a sadder note: from time to time over the 193 years together, a faithful community reaches a place where it's time to allow the ministry to end. After a long time of trying, Holy Cross, St. Christopher in Huntsville reached this place after their membership declined to four people. And though we grieve with them, we support their willingness to trust Jesus and let go. In 2020 we held a deconsecration for the nave. I've met with them several times, and they all have clergy support. Per our canons, later today I'll introduce a resolution asking the convention to accept this report.

Just a few weeks ago, God walked a group called Respite into my office. They helped us begin Founder's Place at St. Luke's, Birmingham and Connect at Christ Church, Tuscaloosa. They are interested in actively partnering with us, to offer this ministry to all of our parishes and to help them form mission to support persons with memory loss. This ministry is one that any church, regardless of size, can do without a lot of resources, and they have a grant process and they will help you get seed money and training.

The needs are extraordinary, and God is calling us to respond. All this ministry is an expression of God's willingness to work through us and with us. And everyone is a gift. Everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God. If we can make God the subject of everything we do, that is the truth in love spoken out loud. I'm grateful for how you cooperate and encourage each other in ways that I don't even see, and I see a lot of ways.

How you're sharing your ideas, how you're sharing your talent and your money. It's all for God's glory. With all that God gives us, your generous hearts make it possible. You continued through these years to give faithfully and sacrificially to your parishes and to the diocese, to support mission and ministry.

When average Sunday attendance went down, when membership slides, your giving goes up. When I say thank you, it doesn't seem like enough. Through the pandemic and social strife and uncertainty and tragedy, which we've weathered more than once, you have given financially over and over to help the kingdom grow.

And I am deeply, deeply, grateful, to you and to God for your generosity. You teach me constantly about resilience and stubborn faith, and mostly about love. I hope you can see and hear that our church is healthy right now, and yet challenged to work faithfully to reach both inside and outside our walls to share the love of Jesus.

None of our challenges will get easier. And while we'll always want to make every resource multiply, and continue to provide strong leadership, support creative ministry, especially in our small churches, provide more Refresh and Renew opportunities,

encourage growth and build up the body, we will need a way to sustain support for our ministry together. I believe God is calling us to build that support now to provide for a thriving ministry for our babies and their babies, maybe a hundred years from now. To that end, the feasibility study that I mentioned last year was completed last spring, and Diocesan Council endorsed their findings for a three-year capital campaign called Equipping the Saints. The goal is to raise $7.5 million to support congregational vitality and leadership development, racial healing and pilgrimage, and Camp McDowell. Please join me in praying for co-chairs Will and Liesel French and Tom and Cornelia Heflin, and for this campaign as it unfolds.

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Last year our keynote speaker told us to remember that God's gifts are not for God's people. They are through God's people for everyone else. God's gifts are the sort you cannot keep. You have to give them away and they always replenish. Last night, our preacher told us to have the audacity to dream and to have God-sized dreams. She reminded us God wants to bless us through good and bad because God is sovereign and good. I pray our God-sized dreams always reveal the saving love of Jesus that is open to us all, and to the world in all we do. Thank you. *Peterson, E. (2013). Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ. Eerdmans.

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There is a myth that is pervasive at all levels of the Church - we are dying. Week in and week out I witness this myth being busted as I witness the incredible ministry happening regardless of the size of either the parish or the community. During the announcements, in the coffee hour and in vestry meetings I get to experience the 'show and tell' of the wonderful ways folks are engaging in God’s mission - in the neighborhood, in the community, in the world.

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Matthew 18:20 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Matthew 25:35 For me, these two passages from Matthew articulate the amazing ministry that happens every day across the Episcopal Church in Alabama. Sometimes it is parish-wide, sometimes it’s a small group, sometimes it’s in partnership with others but always we are feeding minds, bodies and souls.

I do a lot a work across the Episcopal Church and one of the questions that I am consistently asked is, “What does vitality look like?”

My first response, "It looks like love." My second response is the above two passages from Matthew. And my final response is a story (one of many I could pick!) about one of our parishes in the Episcopal Church in Alabama following Jesus in God’s mission.

Such a blessing!

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Jake Mulder is the Senior Director of Strategy at the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) and Fuller's Executive Director of Leadership Formation Division, and the author of the book Growing Young. He's passionate about helping individuals in churches do whatever they can to support congregational vitality and is very energized and focused on the next generation. He addressed convention in two sessions, and also spent time with the Youth Department.

Jake began his first address on Friday with this statement: “I want to begin with what I think is a fairly bold claim, but a posture that I think we have to hold if we are going to be able to move forward in this work. It is this: the best days of the church are in fact ahead of us.

I hold this perspective for a few different reasons. On one hand, I am an optimist and like to look at the bright side. I don't know how you can follow the way of Jesus and not hold this perspective. When we pray the Lord's prayer and Jesus invites us to pray that God's kingdom would come and that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, I don't know how there's any way that you can pray that prayer and hold to it unless you have an expectation and a belief that God will do what God has said that God will do.

I also hold this perspective because I get to interact with enough of the next generation and younger people and see so many bright spots and amazing signs of hope that I refuse to believe that God has done something once and then said, well, I did that. I think I'll just leave them alone over there and hopefully it turns out okay. I believe that God is a God of resurrection and Jesus offers us hope, and the Holy Spirit is doing new things in Alabama and in the Episcopal Church, and in all sorts of other traditions and parts of our country and parts of our world.”

4. Sometimes we may assume it's the nondenominational churches or the evangelical churches or the fill-in-the-blank churches that are engaging young people. Jake and his team found congregations in mainline traditions in the Roman Catholic Church and many others that are successfully engaging teenagers and young adults.

The team at Fuller conducted about 1300 interviews and spent about 10,000 hours of research time analyzing thousands of pages of interview transcripts. The premise of the growth of modern churches based on research done at Fuller includes a list of four things you don't have to have if you're going to grow young: 1. You don't have to become a larger church to engage younger people.

2. There's no magic location or region where young people go to church.

3. Sometimes we have the assumption that an older church is going to struggle to engage younger people. Researchers found churches well over 150 years old that were engaging young people.

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Learning from London

“Y

ou’ve got to learn to cook from the fridge,” Sally Gaze declared with a warm smile.

Her pale blue tweed jacket and heavy plaid skirt with tights showed she was well prepared for the chill of January in London. Sally serves as the Archdeacon for Rural Mission for the Diocese of Suffolk. Prior to this role she had been a priest serving in rural parishes. She was our second speaker of our first day. While she was unassuming in her presentation, she would offer some words of deep wisdom that I carried with me over the next several days of “Learning from London.”

“Learning from London” is a course offered through Bexley Seabury Seminary, which is an Episcopal Seminary based in Chicago offering hybrid formation for all orders of ministry. The Rev. Dr. Jason Fout serves as the creator of and instructor for the course, which grows out of his research. The premise for the course, as outlined in the syllabus, was simple: Since 1993, the Diocese of London has grown around 70% in terms of regular attendance, giving has more than doubled, and the diocese has been at the forefront of church planting among Anglican churches in the developed world. This is very much a "Man bites dog" headline! So many of us have become accustomed to loss and decline, resigning ourselves to it, telling ourselves that we now live in a post-Christian, secular, multi-cultural, multireligious, cosmopolitan setting, and that tells against growing churches. But here's the thing: London is more of all of those. And they've grown. So, what can we learn from them?

vation is not so much about making do with less but is about realizing the abundance of resources (people, gifts, opportunities) that are already at hand.

It is an invitation to move from an idea of scarcity into a new appreciation of abundance.

Sally now leads Lightwave, a Christian community focused on shining the light of Jesus in rural areas. They meet in small groups and are involved in combatting isolation and poverty, engage in youth work, care for creation and agricultural chaplaincy. Each group is built on five practices: All Involved - Everyone is included and valued, whoever they are. Everyone has a role to play.

Searching for an answer to that question, I joined Bishop Glenda Curry, Jordan Rippy, and the Rev. Jack Alvey for the January 2024 cohort of “Learning from London.” This iteration of the course was geared towards bishops and diocesan leaders. While our focus would remain on London, the scope of our conversations would broaden to include leaders working in rural areas, such as Sally Gaze.

So here are a few things that I learned from my time in London.

Fr. Richard Springer greeted us outside St. George’s in the East and ushered us downstairs to a sitting area. We hung our coats and took turns receiving hot tea or coffee, before finding a seat to hear their story. The parish was built in the 19th century and bombed in the blitz. A new worship space was created from the ruins in the 1960s. By the 2000s, membership diminished to 20 or so. A change in leadership provided an opportunity for a creative partnership with The Centre for Theology and Community, which located its offices at the church. Using community organizing principles, St. George’s built the parish community and connected in new ways to the neighborhood. This led to growth in the Sunday service and allowed the calling of a new rector (Fr. Richard). As the numbers grew, St. George’s became a resource parish and sought out new expressions of faith, including a Choir Church, The Open Table (worshipping with the homeless people), and a Portuguese-speaking

Sally Gaze offered this remark in concluding her presentation on rural ministry. Her metaphor was simple, dinner had to be made and there is not always time to pop over to the grocery to get special ingredients. Often you just must open the fridge and the cupboards and use what is there. Sally’s obser14 | www.dioala.org

Becoming Disciples - The purpose of the group is to encourage us to love and live more like Jesus.

Creating Community – The group will “be real” with each other - honest about the things we go through ourselves and to respond in a loving way to each other. Caring for each other enables us to care for our wider community too.

Doing Evangelism - Being as well as telling good news together. Giving other people the opportunity to learn about Jesus.

Encountering God - Meeting with God. It is God who helps us and changes us.

congregation.

Fr. Richard described St. George’s as a modern Anglo-Catholic parish centered in the Eucharist, “which gives fuel for a week that we don’t yet know about.”

They are a community that understands that power is not finite and that it matters who gets to speak and be heard. Most of the growth in the parish comes from people who live within walking distance to the church and have encountered St. George’s at work in the neighborhood. Fr. Richard remarked that St. George’s had been the sort of parish that a priest served while on the way to a bigger church. For him it is important to recognize and value the good in the place he serves.

When Phil Williams walked up to greet the group outside of St. Paul’s in Shadwell, he was certainly not who I expected to be leading a charismaticevangelical church that was part of the Holy Trinity Brompton network. Phil was stocky and in jeans, bundled up against the damp cold. As we walked through the church and grounds, he explained that

St. Paul’s was the church of the sea captains. Established in 1656, seventy-five sea captains were buried there. John Wesley preached there. Jane Randolph, mother of Thomas Jefferson, was baptized there.

Walking into the Georgian church, we were greeted by an open plan design, children’s toys, and a central stage. On a wall of the sanctuary hung a bulletin board that named and briefly described the churches that St. Paul’s had planted. The parish itself was replanted in 2005, led by Ric Thorpe and a group from Holy Trinity Brompton. As the church flourished, it became a resource church. As described by (now) Bishop Ric Thorpe, a resource church “is designated by its bishop to be a church-planting church which trains leaders to resource and support mission across a diocese.” Phil explained that St. Paul’s had planted eight churches, and two of those church plants had gone on to plant churches.

In the meeting room of the church house, hands being warmed by hot tea or coffee, Phil explained that the vision of St. Paul’s includes church planting. This means that the church intentionally raises up and re15 | www.dioala.org

Above: dioala Participants outside of Westminster Abbey following Evensong, January 14, 2024, (L TO R) CANON Kelley Hudlow, Dr. Jordan Rippy, Bishop GLENDA CURRY, and Rev. Jack Alvey.

Left : Participants are given a tour of St. Paul’s Shadwell by rector, Phil Williams. (Photo by Jason Fout). Below: Participants meet with Fr. Richard Springer at St. George’s in the East. Pictured (LR) Fr. Richard Springer, Jason Fout, Bishop Megan Traquair, and Bishop Craig Loya. Opposite page: Exterior of St. Paul’s Shadwell, the church of the sea captains.

leases leaders (lay and ordained) to plant churches. In the past ten years, St. Paul’s supported 30 people in the ordination process. Phil admitted that sending leaders out can be painful and cause grief, but he trusts that the Holy Spirit will move and create something new. Reflecting on the fact that St. Paul’s will soon plant another church, meaning more leaders will be sent, Phil explained that the call was to “give away their best.”

The Old Deanery, across from St. Paul’s Cathedral, houses the offices of the Bishop of London and the Gregory Centre for Church multiplication. Our host, H Miller, explained that the portraits on the wall were all of bishops that had some problematic stories, so they were hung here in the basement. It is here that we met Fr. Ross Gunderson, a Scotsman and church planter dressed in a three-piece tweed suit.

Fr. Ross told us that when he arrived in the fall of 2018 at St. Etheldreda’s, nicknamed “St. Eth’s,” there was only a small group of people regularly attending worship. Fr. Ross began to search for ways to open the church to the neighborhood. A playgroup was started. He announced a Christmas Carol service with goal to fill the church, which they did with 400 people attending. Numbers at regular Sunday services where smaller, but for major observances they were able to create meaningful Anglo-Catholic worship that connected to the community.

When the pandemic closed the churches, St. Eth’s became a neighborhood charity, delivering food and medicine. They maintained an online presence and grew. Post-pandemic, St. Eth’s partnered with a local school and continued to deepen their connection with the community.

Fr. Ross identified some key practices of St. Eth’s. Going outside the walls of the church as much as possible. Setting targets (and celebrating making them). Keeping the church doors open constantly. Embracing diversity of leadership and growth. Understanding that the sacraments are the essence of the community of St. Eth’s. Remarking on his early days at St. Eth’s, Fr. Ross said, “I decided to not be afraid and to just believe that everything was possible.”

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The Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication introduced us to the idea of church multiplication. This is language developed by Bishop Ric Thorpe based on descriptions of the development of the early church in the Book of Acts. The Centre seeks to help leaders and communities to engage intentionally to multiply Gospel-sowing, disciples, leaders, and churches. The mission of the Centre is to help the Church reach new people, in new and renewed ways, which supports the Diocese of London’s vision to encourage every parish to start something new to reach new people. They do this through offering the Grow Course, leadership development, and coaching. The intention is that each new community or offering that is planted, will grow and in multiply to create something new, too.

Starting new missional communities to reach new people is not just confined to traditional worship services or parish programs.

We were introduced to the Rev. Dr. Mike Moynagh, who leads the Greenhouse for the Church of England. The Greenhouse helps support the creation and leadership of missional communities, a.k.a Fresh Expressions, by offering a learning community and guidance on the missional journey. The Missional Journey keeps teams focused and intentional as they work towards their mission goals. The Journey is a cyclical process that begins with listening to the context and to God. The team then discerns a simple way to love the people around them, and in doing so they build community. In the context of these relationships, the team shares the Gospel in a way that is appropriate to the context. As people grow in their faith, gradually a worshipping community emerges that is connected to the wider church.

Then the new community repeats the process.

Now for the obvious: the Church of England is different from the Episcopal Church. The UK is different from the USA. We learned a lot of technical things about ecclesiastical structure, pay structures, property, and taxes. Folks seem to get bogged down in the details of centralized salaries, the National Health Archdeacon Marti Holmes proclaims the Gospel in the midst of the people.

A few examples of “making God the subject” from Kelley’s Learning from London notebook:

Service, and establishment churches, and these technical differences become stumbling blocks to witnessing what God can do because these differences involve things beyond our control.

But there are a few things about being the established church that we can learn from. The Church of England has not had a new official prayerbook since 1662. Common Worship exists on the world wide web, and it wasn’t until our last day of the course that we were in a church with bound hymnals and lectionary. This means that being Anglican is less about a certain liturgy and more about who you are connected to. This has allowed a diverse array of worship to grow, from charismatic evangelical to Anglo-Catholic. Perhaps building on the diversity of worship expression, the Church of England has been able to embrace a “mixed ecology.” This mixed ecology means that they seek to nurture varied models of ministry: parish churches, cathedrals, Fresh Expressions, lay led congregations, resource churches, network churches, chaplaincy, diaspora churches, and churches that have not yet been imagined.

I will end where I began, with wisdom from Sally Gaze.

Amidst all the wisdom she was sharing, it would have been easy to overlook this comment: “Make God the subject of the sentence.” When she said it, I quickly jotted it down in my notebook because it intrigued me. As I went through my week in London, I noticed how each person we met talked. They shared about their ministry, their church, and their context.

They also named what God was doing in their ministry, their church, and their context.

Fr. Ross Gunderson, St. Eth’s, Fulham: “God calls us to be us, not someone else.”

Rev. Sue Hughes, a Pioneer Priest in The Greenhouse: “God is beginning to give me the imagination for my context and my faith.”

Rev. Dr. Mike Moynagh, The Greenhouse: “Relax and let the Spirit lead.”

Rev. Phil Williams, St. Paul’s, Shadwell: “The gift of a secular culture is that it must be God making the growth.

We create space for the Holy Spirit to move.”

Each person expected God to act, to call, to grow the community. Their language was not forced, but instead expressed their authentic, deep faith. They spoke of a God that was not a passive observer, but instead was an active participant that demanded to be the subject of the sentence.

My time spent learning from London sent me home with questions for the Episcopal Church in Alabama. Where is the Spirit leading us? What is God doing/making/transforming in our lives, our ministries, our churches, and our communities?

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The most “famous” Alvey to serve in the Church of England was named Richard Alvey. Richard held several distinguished positions in his own right including serving as a canon to Westminster Abbey as well as the Master of the Temple Church in London.

The Temple Church was the home of the Knights Templar (think Da Vinci Code).

Both positions were royal appointments.

FRESH

Richard’s claim to fame is his proximity to another Master of the Temple. Considered the Father of Anglicanism, Richard Hooker was appointed as Master following Alvey’s death.

W

hen I was a senior in high school, I told my grandfather, a devout Roman Catholic, that I was thinking about becoming an Episcopal priest. I was somewhat surprised at his encouragement and support. I thought for sure he might think of me as a counterfeit priest. He went on to tell me that some of our ancestors were priests in the Church of England which, of course, is the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion.

Now to the most “infamous” Alvey to serve in the Church of England. Arthur Alvey served as the Rector of a church called St. Margaret’s of Antioch in a small village outside the city of Bedford called Knotting.

Apparently, Arthur and his Churchwardens were cited for allowing cockfighting in the chancel on Shrove Tuesday in 1634, 1635, and 1636. It has been suggested that these cockfighting matches served as an ill-advised fundraiser to repay a loan used to build the new belltower. Archbishop William Laud ordered that chancel gates be built and locked at all times except during divine worship.

This conversation encouraged me to continue pursuing the priesthood. I would often joke that God was calling me to reestablish the Alveys as proper Anglican Christians. Years later, I learned that there were seven Alveys who served as presbyters in the Church of England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thanks to a few Google searches I was able to find biographical information on three of these Alveys. It didn’t take long for me to move a pilgrimage to England to the top of my bucket list, and I was thrilled when asked to be part of the diocesan Learning from London group. While on the trip I learned more about two of them: Richard Alvey (the “famous” Alvey), and Arthur Alvey (the “infamous” Alvey).

While it might be a bit of a stretch, you might say that Rev. Arthur Alvey (see sidebar on the left) was a pioneer in a movement that we now call Fresh Expressions. One definition says that a fresh expression is a gospel community where life happens. A fresh expression might be formed in a coffee shop, at a tattoo parlor, at the gym - or at the local cockfighting ring!

A pioneer of fresh expressions in our lifetime is the Rev. Dr. Michael Moynagh. He draws on the faith revealed in the miracle of the fishes and loaves. Simply stated, he says, “start with what you’ve got and trust the Holy Spirit.” This movement is built on the fundamental theological claim that mission starts with God and the belief that God has given us all that we need to proclaim the kingdom has come near in Jesus.

The Rev. Dr. Sally Gaze, Archdeacon of Rural Mission in the Diocese of Suffolk, compares the fresh expression movement to cooking from the refrigerator. Like rural America, rural England often lacks the same kind of human and financial resources that many cities can access. This supposed scarcity makes room for the creative work of the Holy Spirit and a trust in the same God who multiplies the loaves and fishes.

Around three-quarters of these fresh expressions are lay-led. This is a critical component to the movement as clergy are expensive and these (usually) smaller communities cannot provide financial18support.

In addition, many of these communities are formed in spaces that | www.dioala.org

BY THE REV. JACK ALVEY, rector, church of the ascension, Birmingham

EXPRESSIONS have been skeptical of the church and clergy. In a “post-Christian” culture, lay people are often better able to provide a more credible witness to the gospel than clergy.

Recognizing this trend, Moynagh began to form what he calls Greenhouses. These Greenhouses provide a support network for lay leaders who are leading or interested in leading gospel communities where life happens. The lay leaders meet regularly with others who are doing similar work and have facilitators who are often clergy. In addition, these Greenhouses help the laity reflect and articulate their faith in their own words in a church that has traditionally scripted the words of faith in the Book of Common Prayer.

These gospel communities begin when an individual or small group recognizes a need in the community. Slowly, a small community gathers around this need. At some point, Jesus is introduced, and discipleship is explored. Before long, the community begins to gather for a prayer and a meal. Suddenly, a church or worshiping community is formed. To hear stories about these communities, I highly recommend a book by Moynagh titled Being Church: Doing Life: Creating Gospel Communities Where Life Happens.

As many have been saying for years, there isn’t a silver bullet to reverse the trend in church decline. Leaders in the Church of England often use the phrase “mixed ecology” to describe the success of church growth. Leaders trust that the Spirit is renewing big churches and small churches, liberal churches and conservative churches, high churches and low churches, and churches everywhere in between.

ficial giving when it comes to sending church members out. Simply, they send their best.

Eventually, bishops caught on to the success of Holy Trinity, Brompton and formalized this movement as the Resource Church movement. A Resource Church is an official designation given by the bishop which empowers churches to raise up future clergy and lay leaders who will go on to plant new churches.

The vision of resource churches is simple. They plant churches that plant churches. In a strategic plan formalized in 2013 called Vision 2020, the Diocese of London set out to create 100 new worshiping communities. They nearly met their goal and established 87 new Christian communities. Like anything that didn’t go as planned in 2020, they blamed COVID for preventing them from meeting their goal!

If you want to learn more about the Resource Church movement in England, I highly recommend Resource Church by The Rt. Rev. Ric Thorpe who is now a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London. Bishop Thorpe was raised up by Holy Trinity, Brompton and is now in charge of church planting in London.

While the methods of church growth and management vary significantly between places like St. Margaret’s Knotting and Westminster Abbey and Holy Trinity, Brompton, I’d like to offer three underlying assumptions all Christian leaders should make about congregational growth and vitality.

First and foremost, the Spirit is at work in every context and moving every Christian and community to be a part of the salvation project fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Next, by gathering the community around Jesus through his Word and Sacrament, God is expanding our vision of what is possible as the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. Finally, if we say we have faith in a God who raises even the dead to life, then words like “impossible” or “never” cannot be a part of our vocabulary.

Another major renewal movement in the Church of England began much like a fresh expression. In the late 1970s, a curate serving a large parish church called Holy Trinity, Brompton developed a course for new church members called the Alpha Course. This 10session course evolved into a course that is meant to attract the unchurch or de-churched. Each session centers around a meal and is often led by several lay leaders.

As Holy Trinity, Brompton grew, they discerned a need to walk alongside struggling churches and help them revitalize. In order to do this, the most active members were commissioned to go and help Scan to Explore learning from london plant or re-plant a church. Using language from the Alabama Plan for Stewardship, this movement employs first fruits, proportional, 19 sacri| www.dioala.org

Scan to Learn about Fresh Expressions

Person2Person 2024: Improving Race Relations in Alabama

LEARN MORE ABOUT PERSON2PERSON BY SCANNING THE QR CODE

Serving God and broadening the horizons of participants and staff is at the core of Sawyerville's mission as it partners with Hale County. The third mission is the embodiment of the first two: to improve race relations in Alabama. In all of Sawyerville’s programming, campers, students, participants, and staff are taught to love one another with no exceptions, as Jesus loves us, and to respect the dignity of every human being, as our Baptismal Covenant requires. Every year, Sawyerville hosts Person2Person, a weekend conference for high school and college students from all over the state to come together to learn about the history of race in Alabama. Participants also talk about their own experiences of race, and discern, as Christians, what they can do to improve race relations now.

This year, Person2Person welcomed 29 participants and staff, one of the largest groups to date. Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, these high school students, college students, and adults traveled to Selma and Montgomery, visiting historical sites and museums significant to the Civil Rights Movement. These sites included the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, the Freedom Rides Museum, the Harris House, and EJI’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The group also toured the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, led by Rev. Larry Yarbrough, and attended Sunday morning worship at St. Paul AME Church. Person2Person was hosted by Common Ground of St. Paul’s, Selma and St. John’s, Montgomery. These churches not only provided housing for participants and staff, but also provided a space for debrief and discussion, which proved to be some of the most impactful discussions the group had.

Sawyerville looks forward to seeing these young people continue the conversations started over the weekend. - Carrie Dennis, Assistant Director of Sawyerville

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Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Sermon by Lillie Hartley, Chair of the Youth Department, preached during Morning Prayer at the 193rd Diocesan Convention

In the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My name is Lillie Hartley, and I am the Chair of this year’s Youth Department.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Hmm. This group of people described in today’s New Testament lesson is one of the earliest and best examples of a Christian community. This group… this community believed they were one of heart and soul. To them, no one claimed private ownership over anything; everything they owned was held in common. They tasted and saw that the Lord was good.

Camp McDowell… I bet you saw that one coming. I have been attending summer camp at Camp McDowell for most of my life, this past summer being my last. Over the years, I have made some wonderful friends and have met some wonderful people. However, it wasn’t until about high school that I realized what I had right in front of me. I had a community. A loving, caring, selfless community. At camp, it seems like almost everything is shared. First of all, we share a living space for a week up to 10 days. We share snacks, which, as a teenager, is a big deal. We share shirts, shorts, dresses, ponytail holders, and one of the most important… makeup. Let me tell you a quick story. While at camp this summer, we had what's called a pasture party. It’s on the second to last night of camp, and it's major. Everyone dresses up in cute outfits, and for the girls, that usually includes makeup.

Now, to be very honest with you, I don’t know how to do makeup. After expressing this to my cabin, one of my closest friends, Merritt Fulmer, offered to do my makeup… with her makeup. Now I know this may not seem very significant but the sharing of makeup is personal. Not only was she using her personal makeup on me, she was also taking the time to do so. To me, Merritt’s actions were an expression of community.

As I mentioned earlier, I am the Chair of the Youth Department. One of the most crucial ways that the Youth

Department remains a unified team is the way we make decisions together. Instead of voting, we communicate as a group to come to a unanimous consensus, considering everyone's concerns or comments before moving on. For example, we needed to come to a consensus on a theme for our longest and most-attended event, Christmas Conference. While discussing this theme, we needed to consider program, activities, and T-shirt designs. To make a long story short, we did come to an agreement on a theme – “Home for the Holidays.” However, we were only able to reach that agreement by listening to each other with open minds. We came together as a community and acted as a unit, “one of heart and soul.”

Another community that I am a part of is Special Session. Special Session is a summer camp experience for adults with disabilities. Shameless plug here… Special Session staff applications are currently open! This summer will be my 3rd summer on staff but 10th summer participating. The directors of Special Session refer to Special Session as gumbo. Gumbo is a popular, cajun stew filled with a myriad of different, delicious ingredients. Even though gumbo is a mixture of various components, together, it’s one harmonious dish. And that is Special Session… that is community, “one of heart and soul.” Special Session is a prime example of one of the ways that I taste and see that the Lord is good.

Finally, some of the goodness of the Lord is that the Lord provides us with community. The Lord provides us with a group of people in which we all belong no matter if we are okra or rice because we will still make gumbo.

Friends, we are participating in community right now.

Every single one of us are leaders in the diocese in some way, shape, or form, and we all came together this weekend to make decisions together as a group… as a community, “one of heart and soul.”

So here’s my challenge for you… go out into your community, share some of your makeup, listen to others with an open mind, and accept everyone whether they are okra or rice so that you just might taste and see that the Lord is good. Amen.

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Photos: Right: Lillie Hartley, Jurdy Warnock,

Caleb Sheffield, and John Waddell at Special Session in 2022.

Jurdy and John have attended Special Session since they were in their late teens.

Below: The Youth Department led Compline and Morning Prayer during Convention.

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Ann Wesley Harrison - St. Luke's, Birmingham Eleanor Couch - All Saints, Birmingham Harrison Meyer - Holy Trinity, Auburn Catherine Lamm - Holy Trinity, Auburn Maggie Redding - Trinity, Florence Caroline Odom - St. Stephen's, Birmingham Robert Bradford - St. John's, Montgomery Finola O'Halloran - Nativity, Huntsville Margie Ann Prescott - Ascension, Montgomery Lauren Behm - Christ Episcopal, Tuscaloosa Anne Harman Hornbuckle - All Saints, Birmingham Ann Wright Carlson - All Saints, Birmingham In between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the Youth Department hosted our annual Christmas Conference at Camp McDowell.

Over 120 high school campers and 40 college-age and adult staff came together for a program hosted

by Rev. Michael Goldsmith from Nativity in Huntsville called “Home for the Holidays”. We had an amazing (and very cold) time learning, worshiping, and playing together.

We received a lot of great feedback from campers and staff on the evaluations, and feel proud of the event that we put together as a Youth Department.

Some highlights included program and small group time, games like Santalope, a surprise New Year’s Eve party for the campers, and Advent/Christmas themed worship written and led by the YD. We also had two outreach projects for the weekend: 1) We collected a ton of toys, blankets, and beds for animals in shelters and 2) We were able to donate over $200 to the Camp Scholarship fund from donations through our closing Eucharist offering.

In late November, Graham Boswell, Lillie Hartley, and Thomas Elliot Ferry traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to St. Christopher’s Camp & Conference Center with Taylor McLemore (Youth Minister from St. Stephen’s, Birmingham) and Madi Bell-Colpack (Youth Minister from Nativity, Huntsville), to represent the Diocese of Alabama at the Province IV Youth Networking Event.

This is an annual gathering of youth and adult youth workers from dioceses in Province IV. We gather to hear diocesan reports, learn about new activities and programs, and spend time in fellowship and community with one another. Our reps learned leadership skills from peers, learned about and played games from other dioceses, and even brought one back that they led at Christmas Conference.

One of their favorite parts of the weekend was finding out that other dioceses don’t sing “Song of Simeon” during Compline, so they taught that to the other dioceses to bring back. The Province IV Bishops were also at St. Christopher’s during this time so our youth got to hang out with our bishops and the other Province IV Bishops and they were very happy and grateful to have that time.

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting the next Province IV Youth Networking Meeting at Camp McDowell in December of 2024.

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Diocesan Youth Department Spring Conference Camp McDowell, April 5-7

Episcopal Church Women (ECW) Scholarships Available

ECW

Applications are now available Deadline to apply is April 30th

Scholarships are available for students who will be entering college or are currently attending college. Information regarding the application process along with applications are now available on the Alabama ECW website at alabamaecw.org.

Over the last decade or more, the ECW has awarded over $100,000 in college scholarships to students in the Diocese of Alabama. The ECW College Scholarship program was born perhaps just prior to 1900 with a request from then–Bishop Richard Hooker Wilmer to John Ward Noble, the builder of St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church in Anniston, AL., to enable daughters of diocesan clergymen to attend the Noble Institute. Since that time other funds have been established in recognition of people who have taken to heart the education of young people in our diocese; several of those funds include restrictions in addition to the policies of the ECW Board and Scholarship Committee. In recent years these named funds have been augmented significantly by the ECW General Scholarship Fund, which is derived from the diocesan and parish ECW budgets, memorials, alms and other gifts.

Application Information All scholarships are based on 40% need, 40% church involvement and 20% merit. Applicants must be communicants of the Diocese of Alabama and must provide document information regarding family’s financial status (IRS 1040 Form). Application may be made each year a student is in college with awards limited to a maximum of two years. Granted funds are mailed directly to the registrar’s office of the college. Since Seminarians receive CPC funds, they are ineligible for ECW scholarships. Applications must be accompanied by a transcript, photograph, and a Church Involvement Survey completed by the Parish Priest (or Senior Warden, if no Priest). Incomplete packages will not be evaluated. If applying for a second scholarship, the College Chaplain’s evaluation is acceptable. All required information forms must be completed and postmarked by April 30th with awards announced in June.

The Women at the Well Scholarships The Women at the Well Scholarship is available to women, both lay and clergy, seeking refreshment. Women of the Well Scholarship applications may be submitted at any time to the Scholarship chair. To be eligible for a Women at the Well Scholarship, an applicant must be a lay or clergy women who is a communicant good standing with the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Alabama; accepted or enrolled in a spiritual or religious program or lecture, and a recipient of no more than one previous ECW scholarship.

Questions? Please contact the Diocesan ECW Scholarship Chair Kathleen Franklin at kfranklin@christchurch1828.org.

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T

he United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active healthy life. In 2022, more than 44.2 million people, including at least thirteen million children, experienced food insecurity in the United States. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), Alabama is the fifth poorest state in the nation, with 17% of adults and 23% of children facing food insecurity. The West Alabama Food Bank serves a nine-county area surrounding St. Matthias Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, and reports food insecurity rates ranging from 15% to 31%. This compares to a national average of 12.7%. In Alabama, sixty percent of families facing food insecurity have a household income that is too high to qualify for the SNAP program (food stamps). Those families that do receive SNAP benefits report that food runs out by the third week of the month.

Realizing the high food insecurity rates in our surrounding area, St. Matthias began a beans and rice ministry in August 2015. That first month we prepared food for fifty families and gave everything away in less than ten minutes. Clearly our immediate community was experiencing food insecurity and so we began to grow our program. We currently provide food to two hundred families a month. We distribute the beans and rice on the third Saturday of every month to help families stretch their food supplies to the end of the month.

The beans and rice ministry has been a blessing to the St. Matthias congregation, uniting us in a common mission. There is an opportunity for every member of St. Matthias to participate in the beans and rice ministry. Ordering and bringing in the food, packing the food, carrying the packed food from Murphy Hall up the hill to the narthex for distribution, giving out the food on the third Saturday of each month, or helping pay for the food with a contribution; each part is essential in feeding the hungry in our community. As of December 2023, we have distributed a total of 35,058 pounds of beans and 52,587 pounds of rice to 17,529 families in need of food assistance.

A bleak picture of food insecurity, and how one parish is making a difference

By Dr. Carol Lammon

From the beginning of our beans and rice ministry to the present day, the costs of this ministry have nearly doubled. Over the past eight years, St. Matthias has been fortunate to receive three outreach grants from the Diocese of Alabama, totaling $7,500. Our most recent grant was completely spent in October 2023. Our parishioners are faithful to donate to this ministry; but we wondered, was there something more we could do to raise money to feed hungry people?

The empty bowls movement began in Michigan in 1990 with two high school art teachers, John Hartom, and Lisa Blackburn, when they joined a drive to raise money to feed the hungry in their community. The idea was for their ceramic students to craft bowls, invite the faculty to a soup lunch, and request donations to help the fund drive. The students were enthusiastic, and bowls were made. At the end of the simple lunch, John spoke to the group about hunger, pointing out to the participants they were not hungry because they had just had something to eat, while many in the community had just an empty bowl. John then invited the participants to keep their empty bowl as a reminder of those less fortunate. Looking into that empty bowl was powerful, and in that moment the empty bowls movement was born. Since inception, empty bowls events have raised tens of millions of dollars around the world to help end hunger. It is a fitting example of the saying “think globally, act locally.” All the funds raised by an empty bowls event are committed to ending hunger in that community. None of the money raised is sent away to any administrative organization. Empty bowls events are a way the arts and crafts community can partner with food-related charities to educate people about hunger and food insecurity and provide a way to make a difference.

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In early August, the vestry decided to host our first empty bowls event on the second Sunday in November 2023. We planned to keep the fundraiser small and in-house for the first time, working out the logistics as well as allowing time for local potters to make bowls. The bowls were made and donated by Big Leaf Pottery and the Kentuck Red Dog Potters, a local pottery cooperative. A local woodworker also provided several wooden bowls. A committee was appointed to organize a meager meal of soup, bread, and water. Several of the ladies in the church prepared pots of soup. A donation box was provided, including a way for people to donate using Venmo.

Table signage was developed to educate participants on the issue of food insecurity in our community. An informative article was published in our church newsletter, and information was provided during church services about the empty bowls movement

and our upcoming fundraiser for the beans and rice ministry.

On a typical second Sunday after services, St. Matthias parishioners pack beans and rice for two hundred families followed by an abundant potluck lunch. On November 12th however, after packing beans and rice, members of St. Matthias were invited to select an empty bowl from over one hundred choices. The empty bowl was a reminder of people in our community who are hungry. Parishioners were provided with a meager meal of a bowl of soup, a piece of bread, and a cup of water to further reinforce the plight of those that regularly experience food insecurity in our community. In return for the handmade empty bowl and meager meal, members were asked to donate to the beans and rice ministry.

Any amount, large or small was welcomed to help St. Matthias feed hungry people in our community.

Story continues on the next page

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Continued from the previous page Our church is small, and our goal for this first event was to raise enough money to fund the purchase of beans and rice for one month. What we experienced was so much more! The empty bowls event was very meaningful to our congregation, driving home the reality of hunger and food insecurity in our community. The event strengthened our commitment at St. Matthias to continue to make a difference in the fight against hunger, and also raised enough money to pay for the next three months of our beans and rice ministry.

What a blessing!

Parish Outreach Grant Applications Now Being Accepted

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The deadline to apply is March 31, 2024

hroughout our diocese, parishes are making a profound impact on their communities, thanks to the Parish-Based Outreach grants awarded by the Department of Mission and Outreach. Last year, 13 parishes received grants, showcasing the diverse range of initiatives aimed at addressing critical needs. In 2023, the Episcopal Diocese increased its outreach grant funding to $65,000, reflecting an 18% increase from the $55,000 awarded in 2022. Part of the money used to fund these gifts comes from the annual Easter Fund.

More information about the Easter Fund and ways to give can be found on page 31.

These grants have become catalysts for transformative outreach, enabling local parishes to initiate programs that extend a helping hand to those in need. On previous pages of this issue of The Episcopalian Dr. Carol Lammon shared the success of the Beans and Rice Ministry at St. Matthias in Tuscaloosa, providing sustenance to 772 households over four months. Despite funding challenges, the church organized an Empty Bowls fundraiser, demonstrating a commitment to addressing food insecurity and community engagement. The Beans and Rice Ministry has become a central focus, earning the church the moniker "Beans and Rice Church" in Tuscaloosa.

Another example is St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Talladega, where the Diaper Row Initiative has transformed an empty room into a haven for families in need. The initiative has distributed an astounding 30,180 diapers and 1,175 Pull-Ups to over 650 babies. This effort not only addresses a critical need but has also created a beloved community within Talladega County.

St Matthias plans to host an annual empty bowls event each fall. More pottery bowls are being made as you read this article in preparation for 2024. We hope to grow the event into the community for our next empty bowls fundraiser. How to do this is the current topic of discussion. One idea is to invite the other Episcopal churches in Tuscaloosa to join us in an empty bowls lunch after church services. Stay tuned for further information as we plan our next empty bowls event.

Learn more about St. Mathias by scanning the QR code. Interested in helping with their beans and rice project? Join them on the third Sunday each month. Following worship, they head to the parish hall to pack beans and rice for the West Alabama community and share in a potluck lunch.

These stories represent just a glimpse into the transformative initiatives supported by the ParishBased Outreach grants. From respite nights for foster families to day programs for cognitive or neurosensory divergent adults, each project reflects a commitment to serving the diverse needs of communities across Alabama. The increased grant funding in 2023 signifies a growing dedication to fostering positive change and creating a lasting impact. The Episcopal Diocese's investment in these initiatives underscores the belief that through collective efforts, they can truly make a difference in the lives of those they serve which reflects the love of Jesus for all.

2024 Parish-Based Outreach Grant applications are open now, and we hope your parish will apply.

Questions? Contact Claire Cotten at ccotten@dioala.org.

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Wardens, Treasurer’s, and Vestry Members Training Event Hosted By Bishop Curry April 13, 9-noon Church of the Ascension, Vestavia

St. Andrews, Sylacauga Donates to Local Animal Shelter Inspired by St. Frances of Assisi’s life and work, St. Andrews Episcopal Church observed his feast day by donating $600.00 to the local animal shelter. The money was raised by the parishioners.

St. Andrews is a small, welcoming parish and they would love for you to visit them. For service information please call the church office at (256) 249-2411.

Pictured at right are Father Bill Blackerby and members of St. Andrews.

The check was presented by Joan Ludwig to Stephanie Engle, manager of the shelter.

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Seeking the Suffering Jesus on the Streets of Birmingham

Stations of the Cross / Good Friday, March 29

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Easter Fund 2024:

A Special Request from Bishop Curry The Easter Fund is dedicated to Christian mission, including:

Dear friends: The Easter Fund is a wellspring of strength for our diocese, fostering unity in our shared mission and ministry as the Episcopal Church in Alabama. Over several decades, faithful people like you have seized the opportunity to directly participate in our collective work.

Supporting congregational vitality and leadership development Ministry with children and youth or to those who are poor or in crisis

This support has played a crucial role in revitalizing parishes, supporting ministries for children and youth, and providing seed funding for impactful parish-based outreach projects. Moreover, the Easter Fund empowers our bishops to extend support to clergy families in distress. All of this is achieved without any overhead costs except for the expense of this annual appeal.

As we prepare to celebrate the empty tomb, I extend a heartfelt invitation for you to join me in contributing to the Easter Fund. While a suggested gift of $3.50 per day during the Great Fifty Days of Easter is recommended, any amount you choose to contribute will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for standing with me in responding to the needs of others this year.

In the love of the risen Christ, Bishop Curry

Care for our clergy and their families in challenging situations Last year, your compassionate giving supported two transformational grant programs within our diocese, Renew & Refresh, and parish-based Outreach Grants.

Bishop G’s Easter Fund 2024 I/We offer this gift to the Easter Fund so Bishop G may respond to the needs of the coming year, especially for parishes, youth, children, the poor, the lost, and those in need of food and shelter.

Name/s ___________________________________________________ Email _______________________________________

Phone _____________________________ Address ____________________________________________________________ City/ State/ Zip _________________________________________________________________________________________ ____ $175 ($3.50 per day for the Great Fifty Days of Easter) Other amount $ _______________

____ I have remembered my parish and/or the Episcopal Church in Alabama in my will Give online at www.dioala.org or scan the QR code to the left with your phone’s camera. Choose “Easter Fund” from the drop down menu. Checks may be made payable to the Episcopal Church in Alabama with “Easter Fund” in the memo line, and mailed to: 521 North 20th St., Birmingham, AL 35203-2682.

Additional Giving Options: ____ I would like information about including the Episcopal Church in Alabama in my estate plans. ____ I would like information about gifts of securities.

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The Episcopal Church in The Diocese of Alabama Mailing address: Carpenter House, 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35203–2682 Bishop: The Rt. Rev. Glenda S. Curry Assisting Bishop: The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior The Alabama Episcopalian Debbie Donaldson, Editor/Graphic Design Volume 109, Number 41 1st Quarter, 2024 USPS 070-910 ISSN 1041-3316 Periodical postage paid POSTMASTER: Please send address corrections to Liza Lee Horton, The Alabama Episcopalian, 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL, 35203-2682. The Alabama Episcopalian is published quarterly. Please send stories and photographs (full color, at highest resolution possible) to Debbie Donaldson, ddonaldson@dioala.org. The submission deadlines for each issue are February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1.

Parishes and individuals, please send all address changes or additions to Liza Lee Horton, lhorton@ dioala.org or Carpenter House, 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35203–2682.

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