Episcopal Life Online Daybook -- Today is Tuesday, July 24, 2007. The Church calendar remembers Thomas a Kempis, priest (1380-1471).
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On this day in 1725, John Newton was born. Newton converted to Christianity while working on a slave ship and was ordained in 1764. His habit of penning one hymn per week yielded more than 250 works including "Amazing Grace."
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TEACHING
Strengthening black congregations focus of fall conference
[ENS] Congregational and diocesan leaders and those interested in resources for evangelism and hospitality will gather at the Transformation and Renewal V Conference set for November 11-16 at Kanuga Conferences in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Since 1999, these biennial conferences have served as a national resource for strengthening historically black congregations in the Episcopal Church. Participants come from many parts of the country to share knowledge, develop friendships, network and celebrate their Episcopal faith.
According to Kangua's website, this year's gathering, themed "People Get Ready: A Fresh Start in Proclaiming Christ," will prepare participants to throw open their church doors and do the holy work of evangelism, which brings new faces to those doors.
Various workshops -- Tell Me Something Good; Highlights and the State of the Black Church; Evangelism and Congregational Development; Radical Welcome; Liturgical Evangelism; Stewardship and Evangelism; Music; and Let's Get Moving -- will examine the importance of evangelism and each individual's responsibility for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ through various types of encounters.
The Rev. Dr. Susan Newman, director of the Washington, D.C., office of the Balm in Gilead, a non-profit, faith-based organization that seeks to improve the health of people of the African diaspora by helping faith communities address life-threatening diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, will deliver the keynote address.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_88396_ENG_HTM.htm
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Catalyst: "My Name is Child of God...Not 'Those People': A First-Person Look at Poverty" from Augsburg Fortress, by Julia K. Dinsmore, 176 pages, paperback, c. 2007, $13.99
[Source: Augsburg Fortress] This personal and provocative look at poverty in America is shaped around the author's own engaging stories, song lyrics, and poems, including the well-known Call Me Child of God ... Not Those People. The story of her growing up in a large Irish Catholic working-class family in Minneapolis, Minnesota, draws together the experiences of living in poverty, the role of the church and music in her life, and the many remarkable people who populated her life and the lives of her family.
The author describes economic hardship and social challenges as being as "regular as the turning seasons in my coming up years," and refers to her life in poverty as the "soil of my art." Through her stories and reflections, Julia Dinsmore puts a face on poverty and challenges readers to answer God's call to respond to poverty and its effects.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org
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