We celebrate and give thanks for the congregations that will begin their journey to grow and strengthen their practice of bridging and healing divides! Our second cohort of congregational teams will begin the 2-year grant program Building Bridges; Healing Divides May 15th at St. Martin’s in Moses Lake.
Each team has discerned with their congregation and faithfully accepted the invitation to participate in the program. For the final cohort of this grant program, we have a small and mighty group of three congregations, Grace Church, Ellensburg, St. David’s, Spokane and St. Matthew’s, Prosser. It is my pleasure to introduce the teams to you:
The team from Grace Episcopal Church in Ellensburg brings new and seasoned leadership to their team with a desire to better welcome and serve their community. Grace hopes to move more consciously as a church into providing deep comfort for the people of Ellensburg, bridging to connect with those who are marginalized and strengthening the bridge to those who attend Central Washington University.
The team at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Spokane is looking for an opportunity to be challenged and are motivated by the opportunity to think in new ways about how they might take part in bridging economic and political divides within their community, becoming healers able to identify and ameliorate trauma.
The team from St. Matthew’s in Prosser, comes to the program with a heart for supporting and deepening their partnerships and networks, as well as discovering new ones. Their dedicated members are looking to discover what reconciliation may be needed in their community, and how they can minister to the spiritual needs of their neighborhood, bridging the cultural and social divides they see present in their area.
As we begin our program, we ask for your prayers and we ask you pray for all the ministries of bridging and healing that are happening across our diocese.
This past Tuesday St. Stephens’ cohort 1 grant team hosted “Where Does it Hurt” with guest speaker Scott Cooper, VP of mission from Catholic Charities. The Many Voices, Shared Story series is the ministry experiment St. Stephen’s developed from the Building Bridges; Healing Divides program.