Being a Dispersed Church, an Episcopal PerspectiveDuring COVID-19, some may be let back into church buildings gradually. What does this mean for the community that gathers? How can we still be one body when we are in many dispersed parts? The Rev. Sean Steele knows a little about being a united, although dispersed, community. His church plant, St. Isidore in Spring TX, is a BCP, liturgical community made up of 8 small missional communities. Come hear about what he has learned from launching 12 different missional communities. His presentation is followed by a Q&A period.
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Being a Dispersed Church, an Episcopal Perspective is presented in partnership with The CEEP Network.
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About the presenter
The Rev. Sean Steele is Vicar and founding clergy of St. Isidore Episcopal, a 4 year-old experiment in "Traditioned Innovation" located in Spring TX. St Isidore is a network of small batch, sacramental, prayer book rooted missional communities united by a Social Enterprise called The Abundant Harvest (www.harvestkitchen.org), which operates a fully licensed commissary kitchen and food truck. Since the start of the pandemic The Abundant Harvest has distributed over 250,000 lbs of food and 6,000 free meals. Sean is an entrepreneur; always on the lookout for people left-out by how we traditionally gather as Church, constantly wondering how to do something new in an old way, and deeply committed to our sacramental life. Sean has also served as Associate Rector at a resource size parish in The Woodlands. Prior to Seminary, Sean worked in Academia and Corporate Finance. He has earned an MA in Systematic Theology from Creighton University, an MDiv from Seminary of the Southwest, a BBA in Finance from The University of Texas McCombs School of Business, and is a fully trained Mediator and ICF Coach. He is married to Rebecca, his Spouse of 18 years, and has three children (Margo -15, Sebastian -12, Eleanor - 8) and a labradoodle named Indiana Jones.
Fr. Lorenzo's notes:LORENZO'S NOTES
Here are some of the highlights (as taken by Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija) from the webinar. If you take even just these two learning away from this, you will be better off: 1- You must be intentional about your common identity. In all of the dispersed things that you are providing, make sure that they are always rooted in your congregation's name and style. 2- Before you figure out what you're going to do, when you're going to do it, where you are going to do it, and how you are going to do it, make sure that you remind yourself of the WHY and WHOof the work you are doing. This opens you up to be more creative in the work. There were some 10 other learnings from Fr. Sean. Watch the webinar, it's worth your time. |
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