Six Diocese of Fort Worth congregations – St. Alban Arlington; Christ the King, St. Luke’s in the Meadow, and St. Elisabeth in Fort Worth; St. Stephen Hurst; and All Saints Wichita Falls – have completed applications and notified Bishop High that they are committing to the year-long training process with the Episcopal Church Building Fund (ECBF) for “Recasting Church Assets.”
The six congregations gathered teams and provided background statistics, surveys, and analysis in order to be accepted into the process. In September, the teams from the six will gather for the first of four two-day face-to-face sessions with ECBF facilitators Julia Groom and Sally O’Brien. In between now and then, the congregations’ teams will be busy with “homework” in preparation for that session.
In addition to the four face-to-face sessions with the ECBF trainers, each congregation’s team will meet via teleconference four to six times with their assigned ECBF facilitator. Between this September and June 2014, the teams will be gathering data, interviewing community leaders, and meeting together to plan and discern strategies for increasing their congregation’s sustainability. Building partnerships with other congregations in the diocese, as well as with community groups and organizations, will be another benefit of the training process.
For the diocese, ministry developer Demi Prentiss and ECBF coordinator John Promise will be helping to facilitate the process. InReach coordinator Amy Haynie will also be participating in the training. As the congregations learn and work together, the rest of the diocese and the larger church as well will benefit from their experiences.