Our dioceses are on a journey to discover how collaborating can help us transform our congregations and communities through the power of Jesus Christ. In our churches, everyone is welcome, without exception.
Welcome! God is calling us into a new reality here on the southeastern shores of Lake Erie. We hope you will join us in answering this call as we reach out to people who do not know the transformational power of Jesus Christ, people who have been pushed to the margins, and people who feel like they aren’t worthy to step into one of our big stone churches. The road to transformation may be rocky at times, but we hope you will walk it with us.
In 2018, our dioceses pledged themselves to an unprecedented collaboration because we believe that God was calling us to embrace new ways of working on behalf of the Gospel here along the southeastern shores of Lake Erie. We are 90 congregations, spread across 20 counties, but we are one church, united by faith and dedicated to serving our communities and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. Here in this part of the country that many have forgotten, we believe that we have the potential to lead the church into a new season of growth.
It isn’t always easy to find our way to God. The disciples we encounter on the road to Emmaus were heading in the wrong direction! They didn’t even recognize Jesus, whom they had followed for years—until he broke bread with them. Our church finder was created to make your search a little easier. Use it to locate congregations, ministry centers and church-related organizations across the region. You don’t have to be a member to attend our services, get involved in our work, or find solace and sustenance through our ministries.
“When we allow ourselves to be driven back to what was, we miss out on what can be,” said the Rev. Canon Cathy Dempesy-Sims in her sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent. “I don’t know what a post-pandemic world will look like, but I know we can’t get there by going back to what…
During the spring and summer of 2020, as the pandemic forced the cancellation of in-person worship across the Episcopal Church, the House of Deputies State of the Church Committee raced to create a new parochial report form, designed just to track the “opportunities, innovations and challenges” that congregations experienced while dealing with the pandemic,” according…
Like Jesus in the wilderness, our own season of being tested can be “a time to be transformed as only God’s love can do,” says Canon Twila Smith in her sermon on Mark 1:9-15. “In this wilderness, however long, we are being prepared, as Jesus was, for the ministry ahead. Recognizing as Jesus proclaimed, that…
The Spiritual Dimensions of the Enneagram
We read and hear a great deal about the psychological traits of the Enneagram types, but the spiritual dimensions are less discussed. What do we mean by the “vice to virtue conversion as key transformative work?” What is the difference between transcendence and transformation? These questions will be guides for our time together.
As we know, each of the nine type structures has specific fears that bind us and filters that blind us to the abundance and loving nature of reality. Automatic responses replace mindfulness and how we perceive reality through the lens of our type diminishes our experience of the sacredness of life. The Enneagram offers us a map of ways we block our hearts from receiving and giving love, how we resist our deeper journey, and it offers us insights into the journey toward integration of all of who we are. We are created to evolve and grow into who we already are!
In our first day, we’ll explore the automatic patterns of each Enneagram type and consider some practices that can wake us up and bring us home to ourselves. The second day will offer discussion on the virtues and enlightened spiritual perspectives of each of the nine types.
Through group exercises and discussion, self-reflect with guided questions, we will be invited to relax into the wholeness that we are. Presence and receptivity will be core teachings during this workshop as we honor all of who we are.
Facilitator Sandra Smith, MDiv, a certified Narrative Tradition teacher, has taught the Enneagram System for over 20 years, and she teaches the Enneagram internationally. She finds the intersection of personality and spiritually to be Holy Ground. Sandra co-hosts the podcast, Heart of the Enneagram and co-authored its companion book.
Questions? Contact Gabrie’l Atchison.
During Lent, the partnership dioceses will host weekly book discussions on “Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage,” by Bishop Steven Charleston. Participants can choose between discussion groups on Zoom on Sundays at 3 p.m. or Thursdays at 3 p.m. The discussion series, led by Canons Cathy Dempesy-Sims and Twila Smith, will begin on February 21 and 25 and continue for five sessions, through March 21 and 25.The Spiritual Dimensions of the Enneagram
We read and hear a great deal about the psychological traits of the Enneagram types, but the spiritual dimensions are less discussed. What do we mean by the “vice to virtue conversion as key transformative work?” What is the difference between transcendence and transformation? These questions will be guides for our time together.
As we know, each of the nine type structures has specific fears that bind us and filters that blind us to the abundance and loving nature of reality. Automatic responses replace mindfulness and how we perceive reality through the lens of our type diminishes our experience of the sacredness of life. The Enneagram offers us a map of ways we block our hearts from receiving and giving love, how we resist our deeper journey, and it offers us insights into the journey toward integration of all of who we are. We are created to evolve and grow into who we already are!
In our first day, we’ll explore the automatic patterns of each Enneagram type and consider some practices that can wake us up and bring us home to ourselves. The second day will offer discussion on the virtues and enlightened spiritual perspectives of each of the nine types.
Through group exercises and discussion, self-reflect with guided questions, we will be invited to relax into the wholeness that we are. Presence and receptivity will be core teachings during this workshop as we honor all of who we are.
Facilitator Sandra Smith, MDiv, a certified Narrative Tradition teacher, has taught the Enneagram System for over 20 years, and she teaches the Enneagram internationally. She finds the intersection of personality and spiritually to be Holy Ground. Sandra co-hosts the podcast, Heart of the Enneagram and co-authored its companion book.
Questions? Contact Gabrie’l Atchison.
