2019 GEMN GLOBAL MISSION CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

April 3rd-5th, 2019
Bishop Skilton Conference Center
Boca Chica, Dominican Republic


“Sharing Jesus: Mutual Witness in Global Mission”
“Compartiendo a Jesús: Testigo mutuo en la Misión Global”

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Conference Overview

During our 2019 Global Mission Conference, April 3-5, in the Dominican Republic, the Global Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) and members of the Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana met to explore what it means to be mutual witnesses to Christ across boundaries of culture, language and faith.

This international, bilingual (Spanish and English) conference emphasized the role of evangelism and Christian witness in global mission, reclaiming the evangelistic roots of mutual mission engagement, with particular attention to the witness of the Dominican church and its vibrant, evangelistic spirit.

Keynoting the conference were:

  • The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio, Bishop of Cuba
  • The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Stewardship of Creation

Other speakers included:

  • The Rev. Anthony Guillén, Director of Ethnic Ministries
  • The Rt. Rev. Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota, Bishop of the Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana
  • The Rev. David Copley, Director of Global Partnerships and Mission Personnel for the Episcopal Church
  • The Rt. Rev. William Skilton, retired Assistant Bishop of Dominican Republic

Global Mission Workshops

Mission workshops give you practical tools to bring back to your diocese, congregation or mission organization:

  • Healthy short-term mission
  • Updates on places of intense Episcopal engagement, such as Haiti, Cuba, Sudan, and the Dominican Republic
  • Asset-Based Community Development
  • Sustaining mission relationships
  • Discerning a call as a missionary
  • Cross-cultural best practices in mission engagement
  • Dynamics of enculturation
  • Money and mission
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Global Mission Workshops

“The Way of Love” in Global Mission

The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, Presiding Bishop’s Canon for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Creation and Elizabeth Boe, Mission Personnel Officer

“The Way of Love” as initiated by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry highlights seven steps for a Jesus-centered life: Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, and Rest.  The Way of Love has become a central discipline for the evangelism initiative of the Episcopal Church, which defines evangelism as “the spiritual practice of seeking, naming and celebrating the presence of Jesus in people’s lives and then inviting them to more.”  Stephanie Spellers, the canon for evangelism, and Elizabeth Boe, the mission personnel officer, will explore the Way of Love’s implications for evangelism and everything else we do in global mission. 

 

Video: What is The Way of Love?

The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers serves as the Presiding Bishop’s Canon for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Creation, helping Episcopalians to follow Jesus and foster loving, life-giving and liberating relationships with God, each other and the earth. The author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the Spirit of Transformation and The Episcopal Way (with Eric Law), she has directed mission and evangelism work at General Theological Seminary and in the Diocese of Long Island; founded The Crossing, a ground-breaking church within St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston; and led numerous church-wide renewal efforts. A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, and a graduate of both Episcopal Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, she makes her home today in New York’s Harlem neighborhood.

Gospel Enculturation Mission: Lessons from Micronesia

The Rev. Isaias Ginson, Diocese of Long Island

As with the Incarnation itself, the gospel message must be expressed through human culture if it is to be expressed at all.  This accounts for the variety of gospel expressions around the world as the good news is expressed through the languages, art forms, music and world views of local cultures.  From his mission experience of working on Guam and Saipan, Isaias Ginson will share the unique spiritual and theological insights he gained from working with Pacific islanders in the dynamics of gospel-culture interaction and social change.

 

The Rev. Isaias Ginson served as an Episcopal missionary priest and school chaplain on Guam and Saipan in the Mariana Islands archipelago in the Pacific from 2012 to 2016.  Born and raised in the Philippines, Ginson immigrated with his wife to the USA in 2002.  After graduation from the Seminary of the Southwest and ordination he served in the Diocese of Texas and in the Diocese of Hawaii on the island of Guam. He is currently pastor of St. Margaret’s Church in Plainview, N.Y., in the Diocese of Long Island, where he is also Protestant chaplain at Stony Brook University.  He is enrolled in GEMN’s Mission Formation Program and in the D.Min. program in spirituality at Virginia Seminary.

Called to Mission? The Vocation of Cross-Cultural Mission Service

Ms. Elizabeth Boe, Mission Personnel Officer, The Episcopal Church

In our Baptismal Covenant, we are all called to “seek and serve Christ in all persons.” We all live into this faith commitment in different ways. How do we discern where and how God is calling us? What does this process look like in our world today? Bring your stories, hopes, and questions and join Elizabeth for a conversation about discernment for mission.

 

Video: Episcopal Volunteers in Mission

Ms. Elizabeth Boe is the Episcopal Church’s Mission Personnel Officer. In this role she oversees the Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) and Episcopal Volunteers in Mission, which are the The Episcopal Church’s two missionary-sending programs. Prior to joining the staff of the Presiding Bishop, Elizabeth was as a Young Adult Service Corps missionary in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. She is a former GEMN board member.

DDG in the DR: Model Companionships in Mission

Mr. Bill Kunkle, Executive Director, Dominican Development Group

Sharing years of experience in companionship with the people of the Dominican Republic and members of the Dominican Episcopal Church, Bill Kunkle will present the various models of engagement used by the Dominican Development Group.  What has this companionship meant to both the Dominican Church and to those who have accompanied them?  What have the challenges and the successes been?  How do we create strong relationships that foster development and mutuality without slipping into dependence or paternalism?  Bill shares his perspective on the significance of these companion relationships and their promise for the future.

 

Bill

Mr. Bill Kunkle has decades of experience as both a successful contractor in the Tampa area and in mission leadership.  In October 2012, the Dominican Development Group Board of Directors unanimously chose Bill Kunkle to follow Dr. Bob Stevens as its Executive Director. For many years, Bill had traveled to the Dominican Republic with the Tampa Deanery mission teams, helping build churches and schools in Mozoví, Montellano, Santana, San Pedro de Macorís, Barrio Las Flores, and Ingenio Santa Fe, and with the San Simón project supported by the Dioceses of Michigan. Besides these mission trips he has made many other trips to the DR and served on the DDG Board for a number of years.  He has been instrumental in fostering companion relationships with the Diocese of the Dominican Republic.

Hope amid Anguish: Mission Today in the Sudans

The Rev. Dr. Richard Jones, American Friends of the Episcopal Church in the Sudans (AFRECS)

With about 3.5 million members in South Sudan and 1 million in Sudan, the Anglican presence in the Sudans has been one of the most evangelistic and fastest growing regions of the Anglican Communion.  This has occurred amid decades of brutal civil war, humanitarian crises and the Muslim-Christian conflict that led to the separation of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011.  Many Episcopal Church USA dioceses, congregations and organizations have been companions with Sudanese Episcopalians despite the challenges that constant unrest has posed for mission.  Long active in Muslim-Christian relations and in the American Friends of the Episcopal Church in the Sudans, Richard Jones will bring us up to date with the opportunities and obstacles to mission companionship with Sudanese Anglicans.

 

Rich Jones with Map March 17 2009

A former missionary in Ecuador, the Rev. Dr. Richard Jones is professor emeritus of mission and world religions at Virginia Theological Seminary and lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Christine. Long active in mission networks, he is past president of American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans and has been involved in Christian-Muslim relations for 30 years. He is the author of How to Talk with your Muslim Neighbor (Forward Movement, 2004) and a life of Jesus for young Muslim readers entitled Jesus, Son of Mary.  He holds a B.A. from Oberlin, M.A. from Johns Hopkins, M.Div. from VTS, and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.

Evangelio: Evangelism in the Hispanic/Latino Context

The Rev. Canon Anthony Guillén, Director of Ethnic Ministries, The Episcopal Church

Building on the 2009 Strategic Vision that challenged the church to rethink the dynamics of ministering to today’s Latino/Hispanic communities, two-thirds of whom are American-born Latinos characterized as multi-generational, English-dominant and bicultural, Canon Guillén explores the unique ways in which Latinos and the bicultural church experience and express the presence of Christ in mutual witness. What can we learn from the unique gifts of this vibrant and growing part of the church, and how can we bring this cross-cultural understanding into our global mission engagement across a variety of contexts?

 

Video: The journey & struggle to become a multiethnic, multicultural church: Anthony Guillén & All Saints Episcopal Church, Oxnard, CA

Anthony Guillen

The Rev. Canon Anthony Guillén has been the Missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries as part of the Presiding Bishop’s staff since 2005 and Director of Ethnic Ministries since 2015. As Missioner, he developed the Episcopal Church’s Strategic Vision for Reaching Latinos/Hispanics which was adopted at General Convention in 2009. Committed to raising and equipping a large network of “digital disciples” that together can spread the Gospel and introduce people to the Episcopal Church, Guillén and the Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries yearn for a church that embodies the multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural context we live in today. The vision is to make the Episcopal Church known to Latino/Hispanic communities that they may experience our church and embrace it as their spiritual home.

A New Day for Challenges Old and New: Evangelism and Mission in Cuba Today

The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio, Diocese of Cuba

Christians and Anglicans have suffered government pressure since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, but evangelism has nevertheless flourished, with significant outreach today among youth and young adults.  The Episcopal Church in Cuba was cut off from the Episcopal Church USA in 1967 and for decades ministered on its own within the Anglican Communion, with oversight from the Anglican leaders in Canada, the West Indies and the USA.  The 2018 General Convention voted to readmit the Diocese of Cuba to the Episcopal Church.  As the first woman diocesan bishop of Cuba, Bishop Delgado del Carpio will share how evangelism and mission have been reenergized among Cuban Episcopalians. 

 

Video: Message from Bishop Griselda del Carpio of Cuba

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Bishop Griselda Delgado was born in Bolivia and belongs to the Indigenous Aymara people, whom she describes as quiet and slow to speak.  She emigrated to Cuba in the early 1980s, studied at Matanzas Evangelical Theological Seminary, and was one of the first two women ordained in the Cuban church.  For 22 years she pastored a congregation and led community development at Itabo, 175 kilometers east of Habana.  In 2010 she became the first woman diocesan bishop of Cuba.  She is married and is the mother of two grown children. 

The Episcopal Schools, A School with Vision

Lic. Miguelina Jorge Corporan, Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana

Sharing the experiences of how we have approached education in the Episcopal Schools, the Dominican Episcopal Church has understood through its evangelizing vision that education serves to bring us closer to making Christ known in all his dimensions. We take the Biblical verse: “Train the child in the way of God, and even in his old age he will not abandon it.” Proverbs 22: 6. Understanding this call to educate: in teaching children to love God above all things; elevating human, ethical, civic values; and discovering with them their talents, abilities, skills and competences which they will need in their practical lives. Our school teaches them to discover God in life and in the events that take place in it. Education is constructive, inspiring and visionary, and it becomes a challenge of the mission to which we have all been called as witnesses of Christ.

 

Miguelina

Lic. Miguelina Jorge Corporan received a degree in Education Administration and School Supervision in the Dominican O & M University, lecturer in subjects of Educational Training, Human Management, Social Security. She has served the San Andrés Episcopal School as Academic Director since 1995 and is in charge of the Department of Education of the schools for the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. She belongs to the Diocesan Ministries of the Board of Education, Christian Education, Planning and Development and Ecumenical Leadership School. She serves the Lord in the San Andrés Episcopal Church.

Esperanza y Caridad Episcopal Clinic: A Ministry of Health of the Dominican Episcopal Church

The Rev. Milquella Rosanna Mendoza-Marmolejos, Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana

This workshop will be a presentation of the work of solidarity with the poorest and most vulnerable that is being undertaken by the Dominican Episcopal Church. The central focus of the Esperanza y Caridad Clinic is to promote health and preventive services for the poorest and neediest families in the area. A presentation will be made of the services that are being offered at the clinic, the various challenges that they present, a little of the history and the evolution of the clinic, and especially the hopes for the future. We work with people who are not protected by any Social Security, with high-risk and vulnerable populations, and with people living with HIV/AIDS. We offer affordable services to those who are discriminated against by health services.

Milquella

The Rev. Milquella Rosanna Mendoza-Marmolejos has served as vicar of the San Esteban Parish in San Pedro de Macorís, General Administrator of the Episcopal Clinic Esperanza y Caridad and dean of the San Esteban Episcopal School, since 2015. She was born in the Municipality of Haina, San Cristóbal, and graduated from Computer Systems Engineering and Theology at the Center for Theological Studies of the Dominican Episcopal Church. The Rev. Mendoza, serves as the Diocesan Coordinator of Christian Education, offering her talents and gifts so that each member of the Church might know Jesus, the Gospel and the Church. She is the chaplain of the Christian Renewal Movement of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic and professor of Constitution and Canons. She has also served as Coordinator of the Youth Ministry of Province IX, National Youth Chaplain and Chair of the Standing Committee.

Youth and Men’s Ministry: Essential Part of Life of the Dominican Episcopal Church

Ven. Presbítera Lourdes Zaya, Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana

This presentation will familiarize you with the structure and function of the youth ministries and the men’s ministries, which represent key parts of the dominican episcopal community.  These are:

  • Dominican Episcopal Youth (JED) seeks to integrate the youth of the Church, such that they may enter into a personal encounter with Christ.
  • Vivencias is a ministry of spiritual renewal focused on adolescent youth, active in the local churches.
  • Episcopal Men’s Community is a ministry of evangelization that seeks to unite the family through accompaniment of the family’s paternal figure during the various aspects of their Christian lives.

 

Lourdes Zaya

The Ven. Presbyter Lourdes Zaya is archdeacon of the Southern Region, vicar of San Marcos Parish, San Juan Evangelista Mission and San Bartolomé Mission, Dean of the San Marcos School, Chancellor of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, Chaplain of the Ministry of Living and member of the Committee of Planning and Development of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. Her work within the church has been focused on prayer, study of the Holy Scriptures, assistance and visits to the sick, as well as accompaniment for people in crisis. In the congregations where she has been the vicar, she conducts biblical studies, prayer services, retreats, family gatherings, and dialogue with the community, among other things. She fosters and empowers various ministries to promote the development of the church.

Participation and Leadership of Lay Ministries in the Global Mission

Sra. Amanda De la Cruz Ybert, Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana

We will be discussing how youth ministries, Daughters of the King, Cursillistas and Women’s ministries, following the mandate and model of Jesus’ leadership, energize the mission of the church. With their testimony and their activities, they contribute to the transformation of the individual and of society.

Sra. Amanda De la Cruz Ybert is a lay Dominican, passionate and committed to the empowerment and leadership of young people, men and women, to promote positive changes at the ecclesial and community level. She is a founding member of the Episcopal Church San Felipe Apóstol. At present she attends the Cathedral of the Epiphany. Her lay ministry has led her to serve, within the church at a congregational, diocesan and international level. She was a member of the Permanent Commission of World Mission and Episcopal delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), among other positions. She is a member of the Order of the Transfiguration, a Cursillista, Daughter of the King, and is certified as presenter for the Women With Vision Program. She is founding president of the International Clubs of Lions Leo chapter, “Pedro Henríquez Ureña”. For more than 20 years she has served on the board of CE-Mujer, an NGO that educates and empowers women in rural areas.

Jerusalem and Beyond: Interfaith Reconciliation on the Ground with Youth

The Rev. Canon Nicholas Porter and Mr. Jack Karn, Jerusalem Peacebuilders

Inter-religious conflict is one of the major challenges of the 21st century.  Founded after the 10th anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, Jerusalem Peacebuilders (JPB) is an interfaith organization that partners with Jewish, Christian and Muslim educators to provide youth in the Middle Eastern and beyond with the skills, relationships and support they need to be effective leaders and change agents.  Since 2011, Jerusalem Peacebuilders has steadily expanded and now operates programs in Israeli, Palestinian and American schools as well as five intensive summer programs. Integral to its mission is the belief that the future of Jerusalem is the future of the world.  Nicholas Porter and Jack Karn will share from their experience with young adults promoting transformational, person-to-person encounters among the peoples of Jerusalem, the United States, and the Holy Lands.

 

Video: Testimonials from Palestinian & Israeli Participants

Nicholas Porter

Canon Nicholas Porter, is the founder and executive director of Jerusalem Peacebuilders.  Former international chaplain to the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, Porter serves on the board of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which supports 36 hospitals, schools, orphanages and training centers in Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.  He is a member of the Order of St. John, the largest provider of ophthalmic health care in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Porter holds advanced degrees in Middle East studies, theology, war studies, and conflict transformation.  A two-time graduate from Yale, he served on the board of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He served at St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, the American Cathedral in Paris, Emmanuel Church in Geneva, Switzerland, and Trinity Church in Southport, Conn. Currently he pastors St. Mary’s Church in the Mountains in Wilmington, Vermont. 

Jack Karn

As regional director of Jerusalem Peacebuilders, Mr. Jack Karn leads the development of JPB programming in Houston.  An experienced educator with a passion for service, Jack has spent much of the last three years overseas in the Holy Land teaching leadership and peacebuilding courses in Israeli and Palestinian high schools.  He served as a volunteer in Jerusalem and Nazareth, 2016-18, with the Young Adult Service Corps of the Episcopal Church.  Jack has also worked as a program assistant with World Learning’s Youth Programs and the Contact Program of the Graduate Institute of the School for International Training.  He holds a B.A. in history from the University of Maine and an M.A. in peacebuilding and conflict transformation from SIT Graduate Institute. Jack is a postulant for ordination in the Diocese of Vermont.

Evangelism in God’s World: Reflections from a Lifetime in Mission

The Rt. Rev. William Skilton, Retired Assistant Bishop of Dominican Republic

Bishop Skilton shares his perspective, experiences and learnings gleaned from many decades of cross-cultural witness, both domestically and abroad.

Bishop Bill Skilton served two periods as a missionary in the Dominican Republic. As a pastor and educator, 1965-72, he founded the high school, Liceo Episcopal Todos los Santos, which continues today.  Later, 1985-88, he was vicar of Epiphany Episcopal Church in Santo Domingo, pastor of the Union Church of Santo Domingo, Chaplain to the Convent of the Order of the Tranfiguration, and Chaplain the Center of Theological Studies (CET).  A graduate of the Citadel and the University of the South School of Theology, he is retired suffragan bishop of South Carolina. He served as chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission, convener of the joint Covenant Committee of the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Province of Central America (IARCA), chair of the Board of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), and international chaplain of the Daughters of the King.  The Diocese of the Dominican Republic named its conference center in Boca Chica, site of this year’s Global Mission Conference, in his honor.

Church as Koinonia and Church as Mission: Triangulating Lambeth 1920, Anglican Congress 1963, and Lambeth 2020

The Rt. Rev. George Sumner, Diocese of Dallas, and Member of the Lambeth 2020 Design Group

Church unity and Christian mission have a close relationship in our Anglican tradition. We will reflect on this relationship as we review key moments in our history over the past century.  Participants are encouraged to read in advance the “An Appeal to all Christian People” of Lambeth 1920, the Manifesto of the Anglican Congress of 1963, and advance descriptions of the upcoming Lambeth Conference in 2020, all of which are available online.  What practical conclusions might follow from such reflections on church and mission?

 

Bishop of Dallas since 2015, the Rt. Rev. George Sumner has served as principal of Wycliffe College, an Anglican seminary in Toronto, and a missionary teacher in east Africa. In earlier ministries, Sumner served in a variety of capacities: youth minister, curate in an inner-city Anglo-Catholic parish, vicar on a native American reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, and rector in a small town. Sumner has a Ph.D. in theology from Yale.  He has written a book about priestly calling and a commentary on Daniel. He holds an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School and a B.A. from Harvard College. He and his wife Stephanie have two adult children.

“To the Nations”: Mission Among the Least Evangelized

The Rev. Tad de Bordenave, Anglican Frontier Missions

Global mission beyond our cultural and national borders is often in companionship with Anglicans and other Christians around the world, but we are also called to evangelism with the many people who have never heard the gospel.  Tad de Bordenave will discuss outreach to the least evangelized people groups from the perspective of Anglican Frontier Missions, a US-based group which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018.  Topics include New Testament foundations in Jesus, Peter and Paul; British and US American mission leaders such as William Carey, Cameron Townsend, Robert Morris and Allen Gardiner; and current research on evangelization.  Particular people groups will be highlighted: the Qashqa’i of Iran, the Marwari of Rajasthan in India, and the Dolpo of Nepal.  Tad will emphasize AFM’s church-planting principles of collaboration with indigenous leaders, prayer and the three L’s: loving, learning and listening with respect.

 

Video: Anglican Frontier Missions – Who We Are

The Rev. Tad de Bordenave was rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, when he resigned to found Anglican Frontier Missions (AFM) in 1993.  AFM channels our church’s mission to parts of the world that do not have their own church and where over a quarter of the world’s population has not yet heard the gospel. AFM recruits, trains, and sends missionaries and raises the church’s awareness of these unreached areas.  Earlier de Bordenave served as board chair of the South American Missionary Society-USA, so he also appreciates mission where the church is already established.  Since retiring from AFM in 2007 he has studied St. Paul and his advocacy for the church’s call to the nations. He has authored The Global Gospel of St. Paul and The Year of Paul’s Reversal, and edited Shadows of Light Unapproachable, which marks AFM’s 25th anniversary. De Bordenave and his wife Constance live in Richmond and have three grown children.

Christian Witness in the Encounter with Islam

The Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, Dioceses of Vermont and Peshawar, Pakistan

Inter-religious conflict is one of the three major challenges the world community faces in the 21st century, alongside economic inequality and climate change.  While many Christians and Muslims seek understanding and reconciliation, Muslim-Christian relations are conflictual in many places, and most churches’ mission efforts are minimal in the world of Islam.  How do we as Christians relate theologically to the world’s second-largest religious community?  How can we nourish relationships with Muslims in our own communities?  What might it mean to offer Christian witness with Muslims both at home and globally?  Titus Presler will address these questions from the perspective of his experience in India, USA and as former principal of Edwards College in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Gospel Proclamation in Anglican & Episcopal Global Mission? – A Historical Perspective

The Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, Diocese of Vermont and Bridges to Pakistan

The recent emergence of evangelism as a major Episcopal emphasis has startled many who felt evangelism disturbs Anglican decorum and risks being condescending and coercive.  Evangelism in global mission is often caricatured as imperialistic and contemptuous of other religions.  As world Christianity matured in the 20th century, some suggested that evangelism is appropriate only within people groups, not cross-culturally.  Yet there would be no Christians around the world to be in companionship with if evangelism had not been part of global mission – nor might we ourselves be Christians!  So how has gospel proclamation been carried out in Anglican and Episcopal global mission in the past?  And what inspiration and caution can we glean from that history as we engage globally in the 21st century? 

The Rev. Dr. Titus Presler is a missiologist who specializes in mission theology and the interaction of gospel with culture.  President of GEMN, he has extended mission experience in India and Zimbabwe and Pakistan.  He coordinates Green Mountain Witness, the evangelism initiative of the Diocese of Vermont.  He has taught at EDS, Harvard, General, Pittsburgh Seminary and Seminary of the Southwest, where he was president.  He holds a B.A. from Harvard, M.Div. from General, and Th.D. from Boston University.  He is past chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission, researcher for the Global Anglicanism Project, and consultant for Anglican Indaba.  Among many publications, he is author of Horizons of Mission and Going Global with God.  He blogs at TitusOnMission.wordpress.com.  Titus and his wife Jane have four children and seven grandchildren.

Asset-Based Community Development: A Key to Mission

The Rev. Glenda McQueen, Ms. Patricia Martin, and Ms. Jenny Grant

An Asset-Based Community Development approach to mission is centered around the belief that individuals, groups, and communities have the gifts they need to address the needs they see around them. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that each of us are given different gifts to serve the community and we are all a part of the body of Christ working together. This workshop will introduce you to the vocabulary of an ABCD approach and invite you to reimagine how we engage in God’s mission beginning from a place of recognizing our own gifts and the gifts of others.  ABCD training is now available in both Spanish and English.  The Spanish training was piloted in Cali, Colombia in the fall of 2018.

 

Video: ABCD in 3 Minutes

The Rev. Glenda McQueen is Staff Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean; Ms. Patricia Martin is Mission Team Coordinator in the Diocese of the Dominican Republic; Ms. Jenny Grant is the Episcopal Church’s Interim Officer for Global Relations

Mutuality and Christian Witness: Why Five Talents Micro-Finance Partners Manage Their Own Programs

Mr. Dale Stanton-Hoyle, Executive Director, Five Talents USA

What do the work of Five Talents around the world and the Parable of the Talents have to do with one another? Jesus said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Jesus understand that people don’t feel good if they feel dependent. And this is supported by critical surveys of the World Health Organization.  Jesus understood that part of being whole, happy and holy comes from being productive. When we work with the desperately poor, we don’t want to add to their shame by giving them things. God has given us all important gifts, so we work with the poor to help them multiply those gifts. Through these programs, women and men are starting businesses that help them to be self-sufficient. And local leaders manage those programs. Come hear how exciting the results are.

 

Video: Raising the Dignity of the Vulnerable Poor in Burundi

Mr. Dale Stanton-Hoyle is Executive Director of Five Talents, an international non-profit that helps entrepreneurs start small businesses in some of the poorest countries in the world. During five years in DR Congo, he managed a hospital physical plant, installed solar systems, helped build a hydroelectric dam, and installed water systems. Dale also worked in Mexico and Haiti and started programs in the Philippines, China, South Africa, and Mexico. He is an engineer, and before Five Talents he managed 150 staff who implemented energy and water-savings projects. Dale is excited to be part of Five Talents because, “it represents the best in international development. Five Talents leverages every dollar through local savings groups, capturing the entrepreneurial spirit of people in countries that need our support so much. Together, I believe we can grow our support and address some of the most difficult challenges around the world.”

Bring the World Together: Digital Evangelism in a Global Context

Mr. Jeremy Tackett, Episcopal Church Digital Evangelist

The digital world is the 21st century public square – where folks from all corners gather to share stories and interact in new and exciting ways. In the context of mission and ministry, new digital platforms can help us reach further out, and stay connected with those at home. This workshop introduces the theology and practice of Episcopal/Anglican evangelism and prepares participants to share and celebrate the good news of Jesus’ love globally by using the full range of electronic communication tools: email, websites, messaging, social media.  We’ll look particularly at how these new technologies have impacted ministries throughout Latin America.

 

Video: Nov 2018 Presentation by David Gortner and Jeremy Tackett on “Digital Evangelism”

Mr. Jeremy Tackett has been the Episcopal Church’s Digital Evangelist on the Presiding Bishop’s staff since early 2017, and has recently expanded his portfolio to include management of Creative Services for the Episcopal Church Office of Communication. He builds relationships, creates community, and fosters an aspirational online social presence by managing the church’s digital evangelism ministry. jtackett@episcopalchurch.org / Twitter + Instagram: @jeremytackett

Conference Schedule

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