Leadership Matters
Reverend Hilary Greer on SIM developing leaders
The Rev. Hilary Greer, SIM’s Board Chair, talks about the role of SIM in developing leaders and the future of the church, hinting that perhaps our greatest treasure is each other. Potentially, our greatest resources are the charisms and calling of one another to become a church alive.
Marycelis Otero, A beacon of hope
Greetings! I am Jim Goodmann, Associate Director for the Society for the Increase of the Ministry and it is my pleasure to introduce Ms. Marycelis Otero, one of our newest SIM scholars.
Marycelis speaks eloquently about the suffering and, ultimately, the love that she encountered in pursuing her vocation. Her determination to be "a mother to those who live at the intersection of racism and sexism" is one of the signs of the times for our church, as we are called more and more to the same and other, similar intersections with open and compassionate hearts.
Hear her testimony and be inspired!
Meet Mari, One of SIM's Most Amazing Young Leaders
Hearts On Fire
38 Lay Consultants
120 Congregations
4 Dioceses
Adding to the excitement of this year, thanks to funding from Trinity Church in New York, SIM has created Hearts on Fire, a new resource of spiritual practices for ministry innovators that helps lay leaders increase the ministry in small congregations. In the short time since the program’s introduction, SIM has trained thirty-eight lay consultants who will be working over the coming year with 120 small congregations in four dioceses where approximately a third of our Episcopal Churches are no longer able to afford ordained leadership.
Demarius Walker SIM Scholar
Meet Demarius, One of SIM's Most Inspiring Beloved Community Scholars
With your support SIM is funding the most inspiring group of young scholars in recent memory, and I want everyone to have the chance to meet each and every one of them! It is a joy to introduce Demarius, who is working with Bishop Jennifer Baskerville in the Diocese of Indianapolis.
Advent Greetings
Executive Director Courtney Cowart; An update on SIM's work this year in an ever changing world, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has assisted SIM in attaining this year's milestones.
A 300-year-old church hopes to connect with spiritual but not religious neighbors
A New Church for a New World
SIM congratulates our partner, Trinity Church, Southport, and SIM board member, Mark Grayson, for the recent recognition they have received as innovators, exploring new ways to be church in their current context. SIM is honored to be working with the Vestry of Trinity, and The Rev. Peggy Hodgkins, guiding and supporting leadership that is deeply listening to what the Spirit is saying to her Church, and allowing God’s future that is seeking to emerge through them to take shape in beautiful, faithful and inspiring ways.
Ordination of SIM Alumna makes National News
Melina Dezhbod tells of her life journey from fleeing persecution to eventual ordination.
SIM Scholars share their experience with SIM and Ministry
SIM Scholars on the impact of SIM Scholarships on their lives, studies, and ministries.
Congratulations SIM Scholars Class of 2021
We offer our best wishes and blessings as you follow your call to serve Christ as leaders in a New Church for a New World.
Words Of Wisdom On Leadership From Bishop Andy Doyle
In an excerpt from Future of the Faith, Volume 2, The Right Rev. Andy Doyle, Bishop of Texas, shares in a conversation with SIM Director, Dr. Courtney Cowart, that one size will not fit all in securing adaptive change in the church, and the importance of creating safe space for adaptability and experimentation.
Chanta Bhan's Gratitude for SIM
Chanta Bhan Expresses her Gratitude for SIM
Chanta Bhan, the Associate for Mission and Outreach of Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas, would like to thank SIM for the support she received to become a priest.
Chanta Bhan, one of our SIM Alumna, talks about how grateful she is for the support she received from The Society for the Increase of the Ministry by way of a SIM scholarship. Chanta is happy to serve God without debt and looks forward to supporting others in the future.
Words of Wisdom on Leadership The Bishop Phoebe Roaf
In an excerpt from Future of the Faith, Volume 2, The Rt. Rev. Phoebe Roaf, Bishop of the Diocese of West Tennessee, offers words of wisdom on church leadership in a conversation with SIM Executive Director Dr. Courtney Cowart.
Sarah Stonesifer-Boylan, SIM Scholarship Recipient
Sarah Stonesifer-Boylan, SIM scholarship recipient and doctoral student at Vanderbilt University, reflects on SIM's support and how her degree program is forming her as a leader.
THE PRACTICES OF LEADERS
By Robert C. Wright
I wish it didn’t take a pandemic for us to experience that impulse that life is poorer when we are not connected. I recall the big snowstorm in Atlanta (2011) that came to be known as “Snowmageddon.” I was sick and my wife took the truck to get the boys five miles away. She came home with a Chinese woman who didn’t speak English, who lived with us for 5 days. …
The School’s Chaplain Is The Pandemic’s Prophet
By The Rev. Lisa Barrowclough, Chaplain, Beauvoir School, National Cathedral, Washington, DC.
SIM Alumnus Phil Hooper
Meet SIM alumnus, The Rev. Phil Hooper, a recent graduate of CDSP serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana. Phil offers a powerful reflection on the ephemeral and the eternal to guide us as we navigate enormous changes in our lives in the wake of COVID-19.
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS...
If catastrophe offers any gift, it may be the jarring introduction to this one, inescapable communion and one that, with our very efforts to be socially distant continues to be built by our compassion for one another.
Melina Dezbod, a senior at Virginia Theological Seminary
We are delighted to introduce to SIM Beloved Community scholar Melina Dezbod, a senior at Virginia Theological Seminary. Melina shares her story of how the assistance of a scholarship from SIM enabled her to enter seminary and her hopes and passions as an Episcopal leader.
How Have You Adapted in This COVID Season?
Is it easy? It is not! COVID-19 has come to change everything, absolutely everything from the way we think to the way we act, the way we live, and the way we do the opposite of love. We closed the doors of our buildings, but the church never closed …for me one thing is clear, I do not want to go back to what used to be my normal.
SIM Scholarship Recipient Salmoon Bashir
In the coming weeks, we will be sharing video messages from this year's SIM scholarship recipients expressing their gratitude to our donors. We are delighted to introduce SIM Beloved Community scholar, Salmoon Bashir, a second-year international student in the Master of Divinity program at Candler School of Theology. Salmoon shares his experience of being supported by SIM and the importance of that support to him, his family, and his vocation.
A Discipleship of Liminality, Megan Allen, Simminarian
Quarantine liminality challenges me to engage a deeper experience of discipleship, one rooted in improvisation, rather than predictability. Both the art of improvisation and our theology teaches that each moment holds an opportunity for transformation.
The Presiding Bishop Supports Sim
Hello, I am Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and it is a real pleasure, better yet, a real privilege, to say a word on behalf of the Society for the Increase of Ministry. I know for a fact that scholarships that enable people to engage in theological education make a profound difference in their lives and on the lives of those who come in contact with them.
Meet Megan Allen and hear why SIM matters to her.
Meet SIMinarian Megan Allen. Learn about the difference your contribution makes in her life and ministry.
Courtney Cowart appears as a guest of Lee Hinson-Hasty
Courtney appears as a guest of Lee Hinson-Hasty of The Theological Education Fund of the Presbyterian Church in the USA.
What Will It Take for the Episcopal Church to Become an Anti-Racist Organization?
Welcome to the second in a series of web meetings to HELP DESIGN A NEW CHURCH FOR A NEW WORLD, in our Circle of Discernment & Design.
Multiple sessions over four months gathering Episcopalians, lay and ordained, with strong commitments to designing Episcopal faith communities of the future that are: Faithful - Reflective - Anti-Racist - Mutual - Contextual - Innovative
Today's title is What Will It Take for the Episcopal Church to Become an Anti-Racist Organization?
How Do Faith Communities Benefit from Becoming More Reflective?
The first in a series of web meetings to HELP DESIGN A NEW CHURCH FOR A NEW WORLD, in our Circle of Discernment & Design
Multiple sessions over four months gathering Episcopalians, lay and ordained, with strong commitments to designing Episcopal faith communities of the future that are: Faithful Reflective Anti-Racist Mutual Contextual Innovative
Today's title is How Do Faith Communities Benefit from Becoming More Reflective?
Chanta Bhan - Associate for Mission and Outreach
We are proud to announce that our SIM Alumna, Chanta Bhan, has been appointed as the next Associate for Mission & Outreach for Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church located in Dallas, Texas in the USA.
Chanta Bhan is currently a Postulant for holy orders in the Diocese of Massachusetts, the second of several steps in the ordination discernment process.
She studied Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literature and as well as Hindi, Urdu, Modern Standard Arabic, Sanskrit, French, and Biblical Greek at Barnard College where she received her BA.
Chanta Bhan earned her Master of Theological Studies (1999) and a Master of Divinity (2005) from Harvard Divinity School and most recently completed the Anglican Studies program at Virginia Theological Seminary.
As Associate for Mission and Outreach, Bhan will be part of the executive team at Saint Michael, providing strategic direction for our local partnerships and international missions.
For more information, please go to these two links:
https://bit.ly/30MUJ4v
https://bit.ly/3eOjyl
A Conversation on Food and Faith with Darriel Harris
We were so grateful to host an online conversation yesterday with Darriel Harris from the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future where he has served as manager of the Baltimore Food and Faith Project.
Darriel is also a founding member of the Black Church Food Security Network, pastor of Newborn Community of Faith Church, and farmer. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the JHU Department of Health Behavior and Society. His research interests are in faith-based health communications, neighborhood-related health factors, social determinants of health, and community-based participatory research. Watch a video of Darriel giving a Christian perspective on Food HERE.
Watch the Full Webinar Recording: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
A Conversation about Food Justice
Robert Two Bulls and Ritchie Robertson Two Bulls from All Saints Indian Mission and First Nations Kitchen near Little Earth of United Tribes community in South Minneapolis joined us for today's conversation. The mission is adjacent to the neighborhood where George Floyd was murdered and blocks away from the 3rd Precinct the site of the protests and riots.
As part of our continuing series of webinars on food access and sustainable food systems for all, this webinar/web meeting focused on Food Justice and how issues of access, sovereignty, and racism impact our lives. Particularly during this time of stress as we confront the pernicious impact societal and systemic racism.
Robert is the vicar of All Saints along with serving as Missioner of Indian Work & Multicultural Ministries with the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. Ritchie is a Registered Art Therapist and has worked for almost ten years at the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center with Native Women in recovery. Because of COVID19 the program has been closed.
Watch the Full Webinar Recording: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
Resources and Links Mentioned in Webinar:
The Hook and Ladder Theater and Lounge
NY Times Article about Ghandi Mahal
Robert is the vicar of All Saints along with serving as Missioner of Indian Work & Multicultural Ministries with the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. Ritchie is a Registered Art Therapist and has worked for almost ten years at the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center with Native Women in recovery. Because of COVID19 the program has been closed.
Opening Conversations about the Legacy of Race Today
The entire nation is now focused on questions of race, history, and justice, creating a moment for faith leaders that is both rich with opportunity and fraught with uncertainty. How do we open authentic conversations about race? How do we ground those conversations in the 400 year legacy of race in America, rather than just a snapshot of the present moment? How do we create spaces of genuine connection and deep listening? Join us for an experiential workshop with Constance and Dain Perry, who have worked with hundreds of congregations and community organizations across the country to do just that. The workshop will model their facilitation techniques and a sample first conversation that draws people from their heads, into their hearts, and invites authentic sharing of personal experience. This will be followed by an open period of question and answer designed to help attendees learn and adapt approaches to their own communities to open conversations about the legacy of race today.
Watch the Full Webinar Recording: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
Resources Mentioned in the Webinar:
Traces of the Trade Website: http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/buy-use-the-film/
Scaffolding of anti-racism resources and education that can be used to meet white people at different current levels of understanding and move them deeper, depending on where they are starting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrAq4iBNb4nVIcTsLcNlW8zjaQXBLkWayL8EaPlh0bc/preview?fbclid=IwAR0plAvlINUTxsFXNcm4mJrjr9FU13rAthkwGdSlRiwZkHgUkSn-SUwCWfE&pru=AAABcpq8c14%2AC_JncXmFmMjf8og2gUGURA
Episcopal Church guidance on organizing dialog: https://episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground/organizing-dialogue-circle
Outdoor Worship
There are countless examples of outdoor worship from the Sermon on the Mount to a growing number of churches like Church in the Woods in Canterbury, NH, Salal + Cedar in Vancouver British Columbia, and Abundant Table Farm Church in Ventura, California. Many, if not most, of our congregations, hold outdoor worship services during the summer or for special celebrations. During COVID we are gathering on-line and open to new ways of gathering for worship. Yesterday's meeting was inspiring and many thanks are due to The Rt. Rev. Brian Lee Cole and Rev. Anna Woofenden for sharing their experience and wisdom.
Watch the Full Webinar Recording: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
Resources Mentioned in Webinar:
Anna’s podcast: https://www.foodandfaithpodcast.org/
Scripture, Culture and Agriculture:An Agrarian Reading of the Bible by Ellen Davis
https://episcopalchurch.org/good-news-gardens
Facebook group to network with others involved in the garden, farm, and food ministries: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2564507933827285/
https://christianfoodmovement.org/
Good News Gardens Movement
A conversation on Good News Gardens
To call a community of people with the ability to plant gardens of all sizes and kinds together - from small parts of herbs to hundreds of acres of corn - in order to share the love of Christ through word and action, food, and labor.
A conversation with Jerusalem Greer, Staff Officer for Evangelism for The Episcopal Church, and Nurya Love Parish, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Plainsong Farm to learn about the Episcopal Church Good News Garden Movement and how you can be involved.
Watch the Full Webinar Recording: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
Resources Mentioned in the Webinar:
GNG program at Plainsong Farm: http://plainsongfarm.com/good-news-gardens/
Michigan Good Food Charter: https://www.canr.msu.edu/michiganfood/
Facebook group to join and connect with others on the call and beyond. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2564507933827285/
Episcopal Food Movement on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EpiscopalFoodMovement/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARCiSvlwCVmAlePUxF41zdQVBFxdV5ux-B4xVHK_Vj9q13DlTdTFp8JPTathFOVj2M6OKWVPEKp9ZrH5
Book - Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups by Andy Fisher - https://www.bighunger.org/
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Agrarian Ministry
A conversation about addressing food shortages and hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic.
SIM continues our series interviewing adaptive leaders across the church responding to human need in the wake of COVID-19. Next week: Could those of us who know nothing about cultivating food adapt and join a new Victory Garden movement?
Watch the Full Webinar Recording: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
Download the Resources PDF
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What is Corona Trying to Teach Us?
Coffee with Courtney and Hilary - What is Corona Trying to Teach Us?
Hilary Greer interviews SIM Executive Director, Courtney Cowart, about what she has learned leading faith communities through adaptive change when our worlds are plunged into chaos.
Watch the first program: YOUTUBE
Listen to the PodCast: SOUNDCLOUD
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Local Formation
Missional Practice, Beloved Community, Sustainable Pedagogy – Reflection on Two Convenings of Uncharted
By The Rev. Susan Daughtry, Missioner For Formation In The Episcopal Church In Minnesota (Ecmn)
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the women and men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
In Christ, There Is No East Or West
Creating a global peerage of leadership and learning, Trinity’s goal is empowering ministry through faith- and values-based leadership for the Church and the world, and building stronger ties between churches and communities through their leaders.
A significant sign of the shifting landscape of theological education appeared this spring with the formation.
Gathering First Fruits
Indianapolis, January 16, 2019
Emphatic was the tone: “Nothing less than a movement is necessary for us to tackle the economic issues that have plagued American Christianity for so long.” This from a man who chose to forego a part of his cancer treatment regimen to utter those words...
Hearing From Our Sim Scholars
As a regular part of our communications with SIM alums, we will always include some words from the community of current SIM Scholars. The following are excerpts from the lives of three scholars awarded the SIM Becoming Beloved Community scholarship for 2018-2019 and renewed for the academic year 2019-2020. Each in their own way...
Interview With A Ministry Innovator
Jennifer shares how her multiple engagements in ministry prior to seminary have shaped her call to the priesthood and her imagination for ordained ministry. Jennifer was interviewed by Brian Sellers Peterson, SIM Senior Advisor and a leader in the sustainable agriculture movement within the Episcopal Church.
Contemplation And Community
These are the fresh insights of a group of unsuspecting revolutionaries to whom the Spirit has granted a discernment that could quite possibly change our world.”
These are confounding times. On the one hand, organized religious bodies of all faiths and affiliations report a decline in membership, causing much consternation among clergy...
Malcolm McLaurin
Malcolm McLaurin has served on the staff at St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle as Canon for Youth and Young Adult Education, as well as an Associate Director of a Camp and Conference Center in Northern California (St. Dorothy’s) and as a campus chaplain at the University of Arkansas.
Journal Preview
Welcome to Future of the Faith, The Society for the Increase of the Ministry’s new journal of leadership development for the Episcopal Church. Susan Daughtry starkly asserts in her article, Uncharted, (p. 18 in this issue), that there is a “massive adaptive challenge ahead of the Episcopal Church.” I can’t argue with her assessment.
Marisa Sifontes
Marisa Sifontes has had a career in the practice of law for 20 years in corporate firms and government service. Before her enrollment in seminary, Marisa went on a nation-wide 30,000-mile “journey of discernment” to “witness the state of our country and our church in a hands-on way” and to decide where God was calling her.
Congratulations to SIM Scholars of the Class of 2019!
We offer our best wishes and blessings as you follow your calling to serve Christ in all people and to love and heal the world.
Melina Dezhbod
Melina Dezhbod fled Iran with her family in 2000 to escape religious persecution. She relates, “When I reflect on my family’s journey, what always amazes me are the all the people who risked their lives to help strangers. Seeing that love made me ask how I could one day give...
Jed Dearing
Jed Dearing is a seminarian of the Diocese of Southern Ohio and a recipient of SIM’s Becoming Beloved Community scholarship for 2018-19. His seminary journey is marked by work among both the wealthy of the Silicon Valley and the homeless and working poor of Southern Ohio.
Malcolm McLaurin - SIM Becoming Beloved Community Scholarship Recipient
“The Episcopal Church isn't usually thought of as a church of people who look like me. A good portion of my ministry has been about sharing a narrative – whether it be a black experience, a southern experience or a socioeconomic experience. My hope is these stories will help shape a beloved community where we in the Episcopal Church hear the narratives of all.”
Rev. Dr. Michael Battle
It is often said that faith leadership changes our world for the better.
But how? How do people of faith change the world?
We invite you to listen to two great leaders of the Anglican Communion at St Paul's Cathedral floor event in the series 'How to Change the World'. Rowan Williams and Michael Battle discuss the theme of Together...
Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers
In the United States, we’ve stopped listening to one another—truly, deeply listening to the words coming from those we don’t agree with, or those who are different from us, says Episcopal priest Stephanie Spellers. In order to reach true understanding and move forward as a people, Spellers says we have to relearn the most fundamental sense...
James Goodman writes on Christian Piccolini: White Supremacist to Peace Activist
On C-SPAN Book Talk, over this summer, I viewed a conversation with Christian Picciolini, a former white supremacist, whose autobiographical account, Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead, was the subject of conversation with Rabbi Abraham Foxman, Director Emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League. In conversation about the book, Christian narrated his recruitment...
SIM Board Chair Hilary Greer
My six-year-old niece hates losing.
She is adept at orchestrating the rules of any game to result in her winning. This is known in certain circles as “cheating,” although she assures us this is just how the game is played. And if she is caught in a lie, her policy is to deny, deny, deny.
Les Hegwood: A Leading Light in Racial Reconciliation
Les Hegwood, recipient of a SIM/Carpenter Scholarship, exemplifies the kind of Christian societal leadership SIM intentionally supports through scholarships for theological education. Formed by thirteen years of teaching, coaching and leading in public and Episcopal schools, Les has entered seminary at The University of the South School of Theology to receive an education that will...
Phil Hooper: The Substance of our Love is Presence.
Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.”
Convert and Scholarship recipient leads grief recovery for prisoners
Debra Geller Rhodes is a recipient of the SIM/Carpenter merit scholarship who will be studying for holy orders at CDSP beginning this fall. As an adult convert to Christianity, raised in a secular Jewish home, Debbie's deep and thorough habitation of the faith is a living witness that is converting others...