Autumn 2010


Jubilee grant winners: Overcoming struggles to achieve mission - not always in the way originally envisioned

It was December of 2009 when Jubilee Ministry announced which ministries would be receiving major grants this year. The grants were intended to promote ministries in four different areas: rural ministry, mentorship and training, new ministries and international ministries.

The four chosen were among 46 applications reflecting requests of almost $1 million. “All of the applications told the story of the great work being done in the Episcopal Church," the Rev. Christopher Johnson, the program officer for Social and Economic Justice, said at the time. "Each offered a way of doing God's work on earth."

Now, nearly a year later, those four ministries have stories to tell of how they’ve used the money - $15,000 apiece - made available to them. Some have done just what they had hoped. Others have gone in new and unforeseen directions. All have struggled to find the additional resources they need to make their programs viable and sustainable. All continue to seek creative ways of doing justice and loving mercy.

Click here for an update on what’s happening with the 2009 Jubilee Ministry grant winners: The Workplace Education Center of Rural & Migrant Ministries in Monticello, NY; the Jubilee Community of Prayer, Learning and Service at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls; the Atlanta Urban Intern Program of the Diocese of Atlanta; and the Canciones de Cuna program of Servicios Sociales Episcopales in the Diocese of Puerto Rico.


 

Q&A: Just what ARE those nine functions of Jubilee Ministry?

Chris Johnson is thinking like a baseball manager these days: he’s got nine positions to fill, and each one is played just a little bit differently, drawing on different skills.


They’re the nine functions of Jubilee Ministry, as specified in the 1982 resolution of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church that created Jubilee Ministry. And Johnson, Social and Economic Justice Office for the Episcopal Church – and National Jubilee Officer - sees them as the growth areas around which all those engaged in some form of Jubilee Ministry, will rally.

Johnson recently discussed his plans to begin emphasizing the nine functions of Jubilee Ministry, and what he hopes that will mean to Diocesan Jubilee Officers, Jubilee volunteers and others associated with Jubilee Ministry.

Click here to read the Q&A.
 

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Jubilee network gains 18 new members

Seventeen new ministries were affirmed as Jubilee Ministries by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in June. That's 17 new resources, 17 new sources of ideas, 17 places that may be doing something you or your organization needs to learn how to do. Check them out, and maybe you'll get some ideas and some new contacts. 

Click here for a list of the ministries, a brief description of them, and links to their websites. 

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From the "How-To" Files: Babies in Need

When All Saints Episcopal Church in Vancouver, Wash., launched its “Babies in Need” ministry in 1999 to provide layettes for needy newborns, no one envisioned how large the program would eventually become.

Today, Babies in Need provides care packages – including diapers, sweaters, bonnets, booties, wipes, blankets and a handmade quilt – to an average of 23 newborns per month, and car seats to an additional 13 families each month. And a ministry that began with three women cleaning out their attics to supply used baby gear now involves volunteers from 20 churches, 26 corporate or community groups, and hundreds of individual donors who make it possible to provide mostly new supplies.

Click here to read how they did it, and what tips Kitty Ash, director fo Babies in Need, has for others on starting such a ministry. 

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Advocacy: Southwest Houston Church offers alternative to gang membership

The Rev. Alejandro Montes, rector of Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo, a Jubilee Ministry in Houston, is poised to save the youth in his community.

With one of his parishioners sentenced to 50 years for murder, two sons of another member’s family dead and another young adult out on bail, accused of murder, he is determined to fight local gangs with the power of prayer.

Click here to read more about this ministry's efforts in the community.

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Jubilee datebook

Oct. 21-23

Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church, Gathering 2010

Memphis, TN 

Recovery Ministries is an independent, nationwide network of Episcopal laity and clergy, dioceses and parishes, schools, agencies, and other institutions—all with a common commitment to address the use and misuse of alcohol and other drugs in relation to the church's mission.

Sept. 13

Mountain Grace Conference, Episcopal Appalachian Ministries

Athens, OH

The conference will feature workshops on sustainable community development, contextualizing your ministry, environmental advocacy, storytelling, and Appalachian music.

Dec. 3

Rural Women's Conference, sponsored by Rural & Migrant Ministry

Binghampton, NY

Oct. 14-17

Oil, Water, Soul: Building Community in New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

Sponsored by The Committee of Seventy of the Washington National Cathedral, in collaboration with the Diocese of Louisiana and Canon William Barnwell and Trinity Church, we’ll reaffirm our call to do justice work.




Jubilee Ministries in the news

For People on the Margins, a Ministry Steps Outdoors, a NY Times article on Ecclesia Ministries of New York

 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church named a Jubilee Ministry Center,” an article from the Grand Rapids Press on one of our newest Jubilee Ministries. 

 

“Four churches at One House: Neighborhood Project begins, July 17 story in Rockford Register-Star, Rockford, IL, about Jeremiah Development, a collaboration of four downtown churchs in Rockford, including Emmanual Episcopal, to redevelop the neighborhood and promote opportunities for neibhrodhood businesses to grow and prosper.

 

"Award Winner a model for helping others," a story in the Cedar Rapids Gazette about our own Leslee Sandburg, Diocesan Jubilee Officer for Iowa, winner of the "Who Is My Neighbor?" Award.

 


Rooted in worship: Episcopal Urban Intern Program in Los Angeles

Since its founding almost 20 years ago, the Episcopal Urban Internship Program, a Jubilee Ministry in Los Angeles, has brought recent college graduates into some of the toughest neighborhoods in the country and put them to work for a year living in and serving the communities.
This year’s interns held placements helping the homeless find housing, working with HIV patients, helping at a center for homeless teens, working among the unemployed as a jobs counselor, and working with special needs children at a charter school.

“We do provide meaningful service to people in need in Los Angeles. But that’s not really our main goal,” admits the Rev. Jason Cox, director of the program, which this fall will expand from six interns to 15. “Our goal is to raise up a generation of change leaders for the church and the world. To be honest, the agencies where our interns work could provide for their service more efficiently in some other way. But we feel this is worthwhile because our hope and our experience is that by giving young adults this opportunity at this critical juncture in their lives, as they’re entering adulthood, is transformational for them. We hope it inspires a lifelong commitment to service.”

Read more about this program by clicking here. 





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