We Will, With God's Help
An Invitation
During the season of Easter, members of the Diocese of East Carolina are invited to participate in a prayerful process of discerning mission priorities for our life together. This process will be centered in reflection on our Baptismal Covenant and will engage participants in three simple conversations. Participants will be invited to offer their feedback to the Executive Council of the Diocese, the group of leaders who will be responsible for establishing mission priorities for the next period of time in our life together.
Foundational to this discernment process is the conviction that God’s Holy Spirit is available for all of God’s children, and not only those who have been ordained or elected to congregational or Diocesan leadership. God’s Holy Spirit can inspire any and all of us. For us to gain the wide support of the congregations and members of our Diocese for the mission priorities that God places before us, it is critical that we listen for the moving of God’s Holy Spirit in and through as many people as we can include.
This prayerful process can be something for individuals to do alone, with others in their household, or with others from their congregation or community. Initially, we had imagined a whole series of congregational and deanery gatherings that would have brought together individual feedback and then passed it along to the Executive Council of the Diocese of East Carolina. With the continued impact of COVID-19 on our common life, we have set aside plans for larger gatherings of people and therefore invite you to send your feedback to the Executive Council directly, using the link provided in the “Your Feedback” section. If you’re not comfortable with the technology involved in responding this way, you are welcome to email your responses to [email protected] or mail them to Diocesan House at this address:
Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina
P.O. Box 1336 Kinston, NC 28503
Your feedback will be welcomed through Friday, May 21 and will be considered by our Executive Council at its June meeting and then in the months to follow. As mission priorities are established, they will be shared publicly across the Diocese.
Background
A number of years ago, at a meeting of the Executive Council in the parish hall of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Farmville NC, a discussion took place about the potential value of giving time and energy to the discernment of Diocesan mission priorities. Council members recognized that their annual budgeting process had been built on the assumption that the Diocese would continue with the same spending priorities as each previous year. Enthusiasm grew amongst members about a prayerful process of discerning new ways that God might be calling us to live together in East Carolina.
Read More »Three Simple Conversations
Whether or not you will be gathering with others for the three simple conversations offered with this discernment process, you would certainly be best to start with some individual patterns of reflection and prayer as a form of preparation for the conversations. Here is a list of resources for your consideration and possible use.
Read More »First Conversation
This conversation focuses on our life as individual followers of Jesus. As you read passages of scripture or spend time in meditation or prayer, invite God’s Holy Spirit to lead you into new understandings of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in our own time.
Read More »Second Conversation
This conversation focuses on our life as members of one of the worshiping communities of the Diocese of East Carolina. Empowered by God’s Holy Spirit and supported by faithful companions on the journey, we are more fully able to go out into the communities where we live, in witness to God’s love for us and for all people and in service of our neighbors.
Read More »Third Conversation
This conversation focuses on our life together as a Diocese. In his teaching about the Church as “the Body of Christ” the apostle Paul emphasized that “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26 – NRSV) So it is with the life of our Diocese.
Read More »Your Feedback
As you have reflected on our Baptismal Covenant, taken time in prayer and study, and engaged in the three simple conversations introduced in this guide, God’s Holy Spirit may have led you to see ways in which the people of the Diocese of East Carolina could more fully live into the faith and promises of our Baptismal Covenant. As the members of our Diocese’s Executive Council discern mission priorities for our common life, we would love to hear what God’s Holy Spirit may have revealed to you!
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