What do Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and the Minnesota State Fair have in common?
Lots of great food—right!
But more importantly, they are wonderful annual occasions to come together as family and friends to enjoy each other’s company and to be fed. The same is true for our annual ECMN Convention!
This week, friends and family will be gathering at the Verizon Center in Mankato for ECMN’s own version of the Great Minnesota Get Together. It’s an opportunity to see old friends, make new friends and connections, hear inspiring speakers, share and learn about what’s happening in our local faith communities, and it’s all grounded in music and worship.
On Friday evening, I will give a brief talk about all things ECMN. Shortly thereafter, we will all engage in a worship service led by folks from Table 229, a new ECMN faith community, with a TEC-styled talk by Josh Xiong, one of our dynamic young people here in ECMN.
Following worship we will be blessed to have the first talks from Nedgine Paul Deroly, co-founder & CEO of Anseye Pou Ayiti in Haiti and former Episcopal Fellow, who will help us to understand how God is calling us to become Beloved Community, and to do so by pursuing partnerships with those around us. I have worked with Nedgine before and I could not be more excited that she will be with us. Our evening will conclude with social time and and an opportunity to connect with your fellow Episcopalians, and with organizations at the Resource Fair.
On Saturday morning, we will begin our day with music and Morning Prayer. We will once again hear from Nedgine. Following this, we will spend time in each of the three areas that shape our common life: Management, Ministry and Mission.
During our Management time, we will hear about our financial health, make decisions about how we will work together and select individuals who have offered to use their gifts on an ECMN Elected Body.
The Ministry portion of our time will be spent hearing about the good work that is taking place for formation (and fun) for folks of all ages, and includes hearing from our own Bronwyn Skov, Director of Faith Formation, Youth and Young Adults with the Episcopal Church, about opportunities to connect in the larger Church. In the afternoon we will focus our attention on Mission. We are blessed to hear from Curtiss DeYoung, Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Council of Churches, who will be sharing from his own story about creating Beloved Community through partnership. This will be followed by two sessions of workshops Find more information about those offerings here. Our day will conclude with worship and a time of sending.
Please know that all are welcome at your ECMN Convention. There’s still time to register here. I could not be more excited to spend time with my Minnesota Episcopalians, to hear the wisdom from some very engaging individuals, and to share how we can all engage in God’s mission of the Beloved Community by responding to the Spirit’s invitation.
Source: Bishop Brian Prior – All Are Welcome