Please complete your congregational reports for the ACNA

Attention all Congregations and Missions in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic:

The annual Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) Congregational Reporting process is underway for all the congregations and mission congregations in our diocese. Please submit your completed report today. 

If you have any questions or need assistance, check out the Help Page here or contact Heather Adams at heather.adams@anglicandoma.org.

Many thanks to all who have already submitted their completed reports!
 
Click here to get started. 

Members of Resurrection Baltimore visit Israel

Members of Church of the Resurrection (Baltimore, MD) gather for a photo in the Judean Desert on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017 during their tour of Israel (Feb. 5-17, 2017). You can follow their live blog here or check out their latest photos on Facebook here.

Come hear Missionary Bassam Ishak at potluck luncheon

By Daniel Bonner

Come to a special luncheon meeting at Church of the Apostles' Office and Community Center (3957 Pender Drive, Fairfax, VA) on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 12:00 noon. 

Missionary Bassam Ishak will speak on his experiences of sharing the gospel with leaders of different national and religious factions in northeast Syria, where his people have lived for many years, and adjoining areas.


Bassam, a native Syrian, came to the US in his late teens and received his education at The Catholic University of America. After 15 years in the US, he returned to Syria to see what life was like there in 1993. He met and married Nadia in 1995 and they have three children: Angela, now a junior at The European University in Nicosia, Cyprus, Said Peter, a freshman there, and Carmen, in high school in Damascus. Nadia continues to hold open their Christian bookstore on the Street Called Straight in that city. In recent years, Bassam has been informing the free world on behalf of Syrian Christians and other beleaguered minorities.  He will give us an overview of the Syrian conflict and how to offer the people of the Middle East an alternative vision to that of militant religious extremism.

This is a great opportunity to have our faith built by Bassam's testimony, to show our support for him and his family, and to pray for him and them; due to our contracted time limit for Willow Springs Elementary School, church service time is too short to do it justice.  

Click here to RSVP or for more information. Please bring a dish to share!

Daniel Bonner is the Creative Media Coordinator at Church of the Apostles (Fairfax, VA).

Sara Pomeroy will be keynote speaker at Church of the Word

Church of the Word (Gainesville, VA) will host Sara Pomeroy as their keynote speaker at their Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, at 7:00 p.m. at Church of the Word (7500 Logos Way, Gainesville, VA 20155). All are welcome!

Sara Pomeroy serves as Director of HR and Operations at Church Hill Activities & Tutoring, a nonprofit whose mission is the equip and serve the youth of the East End of Richmond to make transformative decisions. Before joining CHAT, Sara served as CEO and Founder of the Richmond Justice Initiative (RJI). RJI educates, equips and mobilizes communities with the tools needed to be a force in the global movement against Human Trafficking. As Founder, Sara had the privilege of mobilizing and educating the Commonwealth’s community on the issue of modern day slavery in Virginia, and most importantly, how it can take action and affect change in our state.

She has spoken at universities, colleges, hospitals, pregnancy clinics, churches, forums, and symposiums on the issue. As the Richmond community began to take action, other communities started to take notice, which resulted in the planting of five additional Justice Initiative teams that are thriving in and greatly impacting their respective communities around the Commonwealth. Sara has also been a driving force behind improving our state’s grade by partnering with a bi-partisan coalition of the Virginia General Assembly, and advocating the passing of vital state legislation that has strengthened the ability of our commonwealth to effectively prosecute those who enslave and treat others like commodities as well as to secure rescue and safety for the oppressed. Sara is also the Virginia State Justice Advocate for International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.

Sara’s personal mission and passion is to influence and inspire young women to love deeply, lead humbly and live wholly. As an extension of her passion and calling to “Act Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly” as Micah 6:8 commands, she became a foster mother to a beautiful 16-year-old from El Salvador. Sara was born and raised in Michigan and has currently resides in Richmond, Va.

Click here for more information.

Christ the King: "Good Neighbors, Great Community"

Christ the King (Alexandria, VA) is sponsoring an interactive conversation with Mayor Allison Silberberg and author David Runyon called "Good Neighbors, Great Community," on Thursday, March 16, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.

Click here for more information!

Do you really believe God loves you?

By Susan Yates

Love is a hot commodity. We all want to experience it. Love inspires, fulfills, and often disappoints. As human beings we are going to disappoint one another in our attempts to love, and we are going to be disappointed. Human love is fickle. Perfect love comes only from one source- God himself.

Do you really believe that God loves you?

I suspect that most of us might answer,
I believe it’s true from a mental standpoint but emotionally I don’t live in the reality of this truth. 

 Why is it so hard to believe or to accept God’s personal love?

We might be saying to ourselves:

"If only He knew what I’m really like, what I’ve done, then He couldn’t love me."

The truth is He does know. Psalm 139 says, “You have searched me Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”

There is nothing hidden from God. He knows it all. And in the midst of this knowing, He loves us with a passionate, pure love.

If we begin to grasp the idea of being totally known and completely loved we will receive comfort.

"He can’t forgive me. My sin is too great."

When we say this we are actually saying, God, your son’s sacrifice on the cross for my sin wasn’t good enough. I need something stronger. Can you imagine how that makes our heavenly Father feel? Your son’s sacrifice wasn’t enough. My sin is greater than your sacrifice. Friends, there is no sin too great for the Father’s sacrifice, including yours. Begin to thank Him for His complete forgiveness every time that old sin enters your mind. He forgave you when you asked, and He has cast your sin as far as the East is from the West. (Psalm 103:12) Dwell on His forgiveness rather than on your sin.

"Because of my personal story, the image of God as Father brings pain, hurt, and even anger. How can I grasp the idea of a loving Father?"

Our earthly father does impact our view of our heavenly Father. It is harder to get our head around a loving Father if we haven’t had one. But, “nothing is impossible for God.” (Luke 1:37). He is a healing God, and He wants you to understand that He cannot help but love you. It’s His nature.  It may take time, wise counseling, and healing prayers. But God has a great resume of healing.

"I’m a little afraid of Him. What if He disappoints me?"

My greatest disappointments with God come when He doesn’t do what I want Him to do in the time I want Him to do it. It helps to remember that God’s ways are not my ways. His ways are so much bigger. (Isaiah 55:8-9) He has the whole picture and we see only a tiny part. What may seem disappointing at the time may, down the road, turn out to have been a gentle hand of God leading in a safer, better direction. We may not understand His ways in the moment, but we rest in the promise of Romans 8:28 and in the arms of a Father who loves us.

"I want to believe God’s love, but more often it’s my fears or my circumstances that control my disposition."

As weak, frail humans our mental default is likely to be fear.  We are terrified of a great tragedy. We fear the worst will happen or perhaps it already has. Life hurts us. A relationship fails, dreams are dashed, and we ourselves mess up again. How can we live more in the reality of His love than in our fears?

One way is to get to know the character of our heavenly Father.

I have found it helpful to begin each day by choosing one character trait of the Trinity to dwell on: God the Father, Jesus his Son or the Holy Spirit.

For example:

He is the Father who delights in me “Great is the Lord who delights in the welfare of his servant” (Psalm 35:27b). It’s easy to wonder, how can anyone delight in me? I don’t even like myself today. “But you Father are delighting in me at this very moment and you will continued to do so throughout this day. Help me walk through this day with the thought: you are delighting in me.”

You are my guide. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)
“Father, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to guide me into truth. Today I need guidance about____. I ask your Holy Spirit to guide me into truth.”

You are caring for me. “…casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) “Father, there are so many things I could be anxious about today. Instead of ‘mental churning’ help me to choose to say throughout this day, “right at this moment you are caring for me, caring for_____.”

When we choose to focus on the character of our heavenly Father instead of on our fears, we will begin to believe more and more that He does love us with a greater love than we ever dreamed possible. Learning to receive His love is a life-long journey-a joyous, exciting journey that will not be completed until we meet Him face to face in all of His glory. Can you imagine jumping into His outstretched arms-arms full of love?!

Susan Yates is the author of thirteen books and speaks both nationally and internationally on the subjects of marriage, parenting, and women’s issues. Her books include Raising Kids with Character That Lasts, co-authored with her husband, the Rev. Dr. John Yates, rector of The Falls Church Anglican. Be sure to read her blog here.

Exploring a vibrant future for choirs and worship teams

By Jamie Brown

According to a recent survey of congregations out of Duke University, between 1998 and 2012, the presence of choirs in mainline protestant churches has decreased by 30%. Growing, maintaining, and effectively using choirs is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge for many churches all over the country. But not all. There are churches, particularly black and/or multi-ethnic churches, where choirs are thriving. And in those churches, the choir and worship teams work together in vibrant worship leadership.

At Truro, we've been talking about how to become that kind of model for our choir and worship team. How do we do that? How do we have choirs made up of people from all ages, backgrounds, and musical experiences who are joined together as a worshipping community?

One church that models this kind of ministry is Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta, GA. Their choir sings a wide-variety of music (mostly from memory!) that draws from a broad cross-section of their congregation and community, and leads in partnership with a modern worship band and traditional orchestral instruments. Last year, after Andrew Cote (Choir Director at Truro) and I visited Mount Paran, it became very clear to us that we wanted to return and learn even more!

It also became clear that we very much to share this quest with other choir directors and worship leaders in our diocese who are asking the same questions. Can our choir survive? Can our choir grow? Is there more to our worship life than this? Does blending a choir and worship team have to be so hard?

With this in mind, we are putting together an overnight choir/worship ministry intensive at Mount Paran Church of God on March 21-22, 2017. We would love for choir directors and worship leaders from our diocese to join us!

We will join a small group of worship leaders and choir directors from across the country and from many different denominations who will come together at Mount Paran to explore how we can ensure a vibrant future for choirs and worship teams. We'll learn how they do what they do. We'll observe their evening choir rehearsal, followed by a Q&A panel with their team, and we'll dive deep into how they’ve been able to go against the trend in mainline churches and see such incredible fruit.

If you’d like to learn more or would like to join us, please email me at jbrown@truroanglican.com. 

Jamie Brown is the Director of Worship and Arts at Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, VA.

Church of the Messiah to hold a night of prayer and worship

All are invited to Church of the Messiah (816 Kempsville Road, Chesapeake, VA 23320) on Friday, February 24 at 6:45 p.m. for a special evening of singing, quiet reflection, and soaking prayer. 

Come join this informal gathering to experience and be changed by the power of the love of God.

For more information, contact Church of the Messiah at 757-436-2545,

Two Anglican churches partner to sponsor women's retreat

Church of the Epiphany is partnering with Winchester Anglican to sponsor a Women's Retreat (February 24-25, 2017) at San Damiano Spiritual Life Center in White Post, VA. 

The retreat speaker and worship leader are sisters, Erin Clifford and Jordan Ware.  

Erin Clifford, originally from Washington, DC, lived in London for seven years, where she served as an Anglican priest at Holy Trinity Brompton and St. Michael's Chester Square. Currently, Erin serves as Director of the Intern and Fellows Program at International Justice Mission.  

Jordan Ware is an accomplished musician and has recorded many beautiful CD's. She studied Psychology and trained as a Jazz vocalist during high school and college. Jordan is married to the Rev. Patrick Ware, rector of Winchester Anglican Church, in Winchester, VA. Jordan leads worship every Sunday and just recorded a new album, "Mountains and Valleys." Please plan on joining us for the Women's Retreat.  You will not want to miss this special time.

For more information on the retreat, contact Carol Williams at wiltogo2@verizon.net.

Sign up for Coaching 101: March 2-3, 2017

Click here for Canon Tom Herrick's video invitation.

What will the Church look like when its leaders discover what God is calling them to do, and then do it?

Coaching raises the effectiveness of clergy and other leaders in their investment in others, and accelerates the goal-reaching process. Incorporate its skills into your personal and lay leadership development, and imagine the impact coaching could have on your congregation and community.

Coaching 101—basic training for ministry leaders–is slated for March 2-3, 2017, at Church of the Apostles, Fairfax.

Registration is open.

Coaching 101 participants dig deep into the coaching process, explore techniques for asking powerful questions, practice being an active listener, and leave prepared to coach others at a basic, and effective, level.

Here is what some leaders have said about coaching’s impact on their ministries:

• “Coaching has been the single most helpful thing for me in ministry in the past two years.  [My coach] helps me to ask questions and to seek answers about the ‘big picture’ of my ministry that I do not talk about regularly with church leaders.  Our time together has truly propelled me in ministry.”
• “Coaching gives me an objective person to bounce ideas off.  It helps to think through ideas more thoroughly, which results in creating more coherent and strategic action plans for successful implementation. “
• “One of the greatest challenges in ministry is staying focused in the face of distractions and competing expectations. Coaching has helped me to name and own the vision, and focus my energy and time on the important in the face of the urgent.  It has also helped me to use my creativity much more effectively in that process.”

Members of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic pay a discounted rate of $65. Attendees will receive a Coaching 101 book by Bob Logan and Tara Miller, slide notebook, Wednesday lunch and snacks.

This workshop is open to anyone interested in developing coaching skills, but is a prerequisite for Titus’ Coach Certification candidates.

Register here. Questions can be directed to Titus Managing Director Jenni Bartling by emailing jenni@tituschurchplanting.org.

Re-Missioning Workshops scheduled for March & May

Mark Your Calendars for March 18, and May 6, 2017.

Click here for video invitation from Canon Tom Herrick.

Designed for congregational teams, two Re-Missioning training days are scheduled for March 18 and May 6, 2016, in Northern Virginia. The workshops are comprehensive, and participants should plan to attend all three. (The same workshops can be presented on-site, at your preferred location.)

The workshops are provided at no cost for churches in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

Re-Missioning Workshops provide the opportunity for leaders to work out their ideas together and gain clarity and agreement about where they are going and how they will get there.  The planning process is helpful for new churches, existing churches wishing to stimulate growth, and for new networks and dioceses wanting to stimulate and support regional church multiplication.  The process normally includes the following objectives:

• Identifying necessary goals & milestones;
• Developing strategies to accomplish the goals & milestones;
• Identifying the resources needed;
• Building realistic time lines and budgets;
• Designing methods for monitoring and evaluating progress;
• Making course corrections when necessary.

Coaching plans are also available to provide continuing support with the implementation of the plans after the design phase is completed. 

To register your team, email tim.howe@anglicandoma.org. To learn more, contact jenni@tituschurchplanting.org.

Attention Church Planters: Boot Camp is June 5-8, 2017

If you are actively involved in church planting, or interested in becoming a church planter, the Titus Institute offers four days of intensive training sessions June 5-8, 2017, that will explore the principles and best practices needed to launch a church.

You’ll discover the answers to such questions as:

• What does God want to do? (What is His vision for the community?)
• Who am I? (How will my gifts, skills, values and leadership style affect this ministry?)
• What am I sent to do? (What is my specific assignment in this community?)
• Who will do it with me? (How do I recruit people to fulfill God’s vision?)
• How will we do it? (What steps will we take to start a healthy church?)
• How will we evaluate our progress? (Are we accomplishing what God wants us to do?)

You’ll leave the Boot Camp with:

• A draft “Launch Plan” for your new church, with the major elements of your ministry defined;
• Key strategies fleshed out;
• Accomplishable major milestones identified; and
• An initial time line to follow.

Planters are encouraged to include key members of their launch teams in order to provide a common conceptual framework for the work they are undertaking.  Instruction in the core concepts is interspersed with Team Exercises to allow planters and teams to ‘flesh out’ how the principles will be translated into their setting.

The Church Planters Boot Camp is also beneficial for Boot Camp alumni and those who have recently planted churches, as it helps to clarify missional strategy and discern aspects of church planting that may be overlooked.

The Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic's Great Commission Committee subsidizes the cost.

To register, contact tim.howe@anglicandoma.org.

Ancient Evangelical Future Conference (June 8-9, 2017)

Plan now to attend the Ancient Evangelical Future Conference 2017 – Medieval Wisdom 500 Years after the Reformation at Trinity School for Ministry (Ambridge, PA) on June 8-9, 2017.

Early registration begins March 15, 2017!

What stirs the contemporary Protestant interest in medieval texts and spiritual practices? Why are young evangelicals pursuing the “Benedict Option” and its medieval corollaries for spiritual guidance? Does the turn to the Middle Ages indicate a turn from the sixteenth-century Reformers? These questions and others will be raised at the Ancient Evangelical Future Conference in 2017, the quincentennial year of the Protestant Reformation. The Conference brings theologians and practitioners together from across the ecumenical spectrum to reflect on medieval sources, consider their retrieval, and assess their significance from a Reformation perspective.

The featured speakers include:

 

Rod Dreher, Senior editor and blogger at The American Conservative and author of several books, including How Dante Can Save Your Life, and The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (Sentinel, forthcoming).

Armstrong (PhD, Duke University) Director of Opus: The Art of Work at Wheaton College, where he also serves on the biblical and theological studies faculty. He is the author of Patron Saints for Postmoderns and, most recently, Medieval Wisdom: Finding Authentic Faith in a Forgotten Age with C. S. Lewis (Brazos, 2016). He is senior editor of Christian History magazine.

Evan B. Howard (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) Founder and director of Spirituality Shoppe: A Center for the Study of Christian Spirituality, affiliate faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary, and author of the Brazos Introduction to Christian Spirituality (Brazos, 2008).

Kevin Hughes (PhD, University of Chicago) Chair of the Humanities Department at Villanova and author of numerous books, including Church History: Faith Handed On (Loyola Press, 2002) and, most recently, Constructing Antichrist: Paul, Biblical Commentary, and the Development of Doctrine in the Early Middle Ages and (Catholic University of America Press, forthcoming). He is also a contributor to the T&T Clark Companion to Henri de Lubac (forthcoming).

Susan S. Phillips (PhD,University of California, Berkeley )  Executive Director at New College Berkeley and author of The Crisis of Care: Affirming and Restoring Caring Practices in the Helping Professions (with Patricia Benner) and Candlelight: Illuminating the Art of Spiritual Direction. Her most recent book is The Cultivated Life: From Ceaseless Striving to Receiving Joy (IVP, 2015).

David Yeago (PhD, Yale University) Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics at Trinity School for Ministry and the North American Lutheran Seminary and author of numerous journal articles and co-editor ofKnowing the Triune God: The Work of the Spirit in the Practices of the Church (Eerdmans, 2001).

As in past years, the Ancient Evangelical Future Conference also includes a mix of lectures, panel discussions, and break-out discussion groups in a welcoming atmosphere that links theory and practice. Each day of the event is bounded by the liturgies of Morning and Evening Prayer, and flavored with table-fellowship. Join others in this unique opportunity for reflection, retrieval, and refreshment for the sake of the life and ministry of the Church today.

Click here for more information.

Watch the talks from Life Summit 2017

Click on the links below to watch these superb presentations, most of which are fifteen to twenty minutes each. You can also click here to watch the videos on the AnglicanTV YouTube Channel.

WHAT MAKES LIFE SACRED? 
John Stonestreet, President, Colson Center for Christian Worldview 

 

THE FATHER: HEAVENLY CALL AND EARTHLY RESPONSIBILITY TO DEFEND LIFE
Roland Warren, Ceo, Care-Net

















INTERNATIONAL LIFE UPDATE
Kurt Dillinger, Founder, Life International

UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT TO CONSCIENCE RIGHTS
Dr. Donna Harrison, Executive Director, American Association of Prolife Ob/Gyn
The Rev. Scott Bailey, Assisting Priest, Christ Church, South Riding, VA., Hospital Chaplain 

















SINGING THROUGH OUR SUFFERING
David Deuel, Ph.D. Director of International Academic Studies, Joni and Friends

















PRE-MARCH FOR LIFE WORSHIP SERVICE SERMON
The Rt. Rev. Stewart Ruch, Bishop of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest

 











 

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Hear all the preaching, teaching, reports and workshops from Synod 2016 on the latest episodes of DOMACAST!

You may also find featured talks in the DOMACAST Podcast, available for free in the iTunes Store here.  You may listen to episodes online, download to your device, or subscribe.

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