The new issue of The Diocesan Connection bulletin insert highlights a small church making a big impact in their community.
Good Samaritan Episcopal Chuch in Virginia Beach participates in Spring Community Day with other members of the Western Bayside Churches United. Approximately 2,500 people were fed and provided with non-perishable groceries. Other members include Heritage United Methodist and Enoch Baptist. Click here to read the article.
The March 2011 issue of The Pruden Parish Press, a periodic newsletter containing news and information for parishioners and friends of Emmanuel, was published this week. The current issue includes:
Click here to read the March issue online.
Earlier issues may be viewed at The Pruden Parish Press.
To receive future issues by mail, please call or email the Parish Office.
The May 2010 issue of The Pruden Parish Press,
a periodic newsletter containing news and information for parishioners
and friends of Emmanuel, is being published this week. The current issue
includes:
Click here to read the May issue online.
Earlier issues may be viewed at The Pruden Parish Press.
To receive future issues by mail, please call or email the Parish Office.
The November 2009 issue of The Pruden Parish Press,
a periodic newsletter containing news and information for parishioners
and friends of Emmanuel, is being published this week. The current issue
includes:
Click here to read the November issue online.
Earlier issues may be viewed at The Pruden Parish Press.
To receive future issues by mail, please call or email the Parish Office.
Upon our return from the recent Chatham Hall service trip
to South Africa, someone asked me if I would ever go back. My answer was swift and certain - Yes, yes
and more yes!
The people on the African continent are joyful, remarkably optimistic, and spiritually vital despite the political, economic, military and cultural uncertainty that seems to be everywhere.
Shane Claiborne was a young Methodist who grew up in the
Bible Belt, became a Jesus freak, and moved to Philadelphia despite his
family's misgivings, helping the homeless there. Then in his early twenties he
boldly requested an internship with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. She simply
responded, "Come."
Besides illuminating his own faith journey, Claiborne is insightful on the huge U.S. cultural and economic divide: the problem isn't that wealthy Christians don't care about the poor, he says, it's that they simply don't know the poor.
Lay ministry highlights continuing community's growth
[Episcopal
News Service] – excerpts:
Just more than two years after the Episcopal Diocese of
Virginia parish of the Falls Church split in a theological dispute, the remaining
Episcopalians…are learning that a church is more than a building.
"You definitely feel the Holy Spirit moving through the place," said Matt Rhodes, who joined the parish with his wife and two young daughters about six months [ago]…. "There was a tremendous sense of fellowship" and "this overwhelming sense of vitality."
Members of the parish, who now average about 80 in attendance on Sunday, have pledged $250,000 for mission and ministry this year, according to priest-in-charge, the Rev. Michael Pipkin. Ten percent of that budget will go to work with local outreach agencies….
…"the driving focus," as Rhodes called it, is on outreach and how the parishioners can serve the wider community of Falls Church, Virginia.
The Emmanuel Outreach Committee is sponsoring a Linen Drive to benefit the residents of Oak Grove Assisted Living Lodge. Parishioners and friends may participate by donating blankets, quilts, and sheets for the twin beds at Oak Grove. Collection boxes have been placed in the Narthex and the Parish Hall. The Linen Drive will continue through January after which all donations will be delivered to Oak Grove.
Oak Grove is a non-profit assisted living facility housing approximately 52 men and women from all over Virginia. The facility is staffed 24/7 and supported by residents' Social Security checks and private donations. All donations are greatly appreciated.
