Workshops – both in-person and hybrid – for the 112th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.
Monday, October 17
7:00pm: Pre-Convention Virtual Event – Budget Presentation
Join members of the Budget & Finance Committee for an introduction to the 2023 operating budget to be ratified by the convention. Bring your questions.
Tuesday, October 18
7:00-9:00pm: Pre-Convention Virtual Event – Resolutions Hearing
Join hosts from the Resolutions Committee as well as sponsors of resolutions to ask questions for clarification and make comments about resolutions in advance of the formal discussion and debate during the convention business sessions.
Wednesday, October 19
7:00-9:00pm: Pre-Convention Virtual Event – Bishop Provisional Candidate Webinar Q&A
Friday, October 21
Budget and Finance Committee of Diocesan Council
A Primer on the FY 2023 Diocesan Operating Budget
San Juan – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
During this session, members of the Budget and Finance Committee will provide an overview of the diocesan operating budget for FY 2023. This will a great opportunity to learn about how the budget supports the overall vision of the diocese. Participants also have the opportunity to meet members of the Committee and to ask questions. If you are interested in learning more about the budget, the process, or the team that develops the budget, please come!
Bishop’s Committee for Justice & Peace in the Holy Land
Israel/Palestine: Is is apartheid? What should the church do about it?
Peninsula B – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
We will present the recent resolutions passed by the General Convention regarding Israel/Palestine and discuss how the question of apartheid was dealt with. There will be a short film presenting the laws that the Israeli government has passed and how they impact the lives of Palestinians, with discussion afterward. During the discussion we will present other areas where the rules and regulations governing the lives of Palestinians result in unequal treatment of Christians and Muslims, such as education, water, power, land rights, access to the legal system.
Bishop’s Task Force on Climate Justice
Creating Climate Justice: The Bishop’s Task Force Report
Mercer A | Online – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Six members of the Task Force will explain and explore the recommendations of the Task Force. We will focus upon what we here can practically do and also upon the powerfully transformational potential of engaging in this work. For the first forty minutes we will explain the report while sharing a few stories. For the final twenty minutes we will address your questions and explore how caring for creation can enhance our lives and the life of our congregations.
Bishop’s Taskforce on Homelessness
Facing the Homelessness Crisis
Elliott B – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
Elliott B – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
New ideas to think about in your Ministries with Homelessness.
Care of Creation Ministry
A Conversation between Science and Indigenous Worldview towards Repairing Christianity’s Relationship with Creation
Mercer B | Online – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Peninsula B – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
This workshop will consider the worldview and theological constructs of Western/Christian history that continue to have a devastating impact on dominant culture’s relationship to the environment, additionally contributing to challenges in a fully developed Christian theology of creation care and actually inhibit a fully developed spiritual relationship with Creation. The proposed solution is found in the emerging science of physical cosmology as further illuminated (or spiritually informed) by Indigenous cultural cosmology. Not only does this dialogical approach contribute to a healed/holistic Christian creation theology but also moves towards a much-needed reconciliation with Indigenous peoples by a certain deconstruction of the colonial Christian worldview.
College for Congregational Development
Emotional Regulation 101: Managing fears and feelings in tough times
Orcas B | Session Recorded – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
Columbia A – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Regulating and responding to our emotions is a key leadership skillset, and one that is more and more difficult to manage in the pressure cooker of pandemic and societal unrest. Come and learn about what emotional regulation is, how our physical bodies experience and respond to emotions, and how we as leaders can better learn to regulate our feelings, as well as understand more and respond better when those around us are struggling with emotional regulation. Helpful for parents, priests, and any humans who live and interact with other humans!
Come and See…Go and Tell
Cursillo Reimagined
Elliott A – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
The table is set You are all invited There are a lot of tasty and interesting dishes on offer here! I wonder what you hunger for – spiritually speaking? What is it
you are seeking? – Perhaps a deeper relationship with God – Healing – Community and friendship – God’s love and acceptance. Many of these that you seek can be found on a Come and See weekend through the various activities on offer. And if not on the weekend itself then beyond as you savor what it is you have tasted on the weekend. Come and See what we have to offer you.
Commission on Ministry
Discerning a Call to Ordination?
Columbia B – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Orcas B | Session Recorded – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Are you feeling the stirrings of a call towards ordination? Are you noticing that someone in your parish would be a great deacon or priest? The Commission on Ministry for the Diocese of Olympia walks with people through the discernment process and offers recommendations to the Bishop on questions of discernment for Holy Orders. Come hear about what the discernment process is like in our Diocese, how to set up discernment groups in your congregation and what help is available to discerners and the clergy who support them.
Convention
Convention Orientation
San Juan – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Are you a first-time convention attendee? Been to convention before, but looking for a refresher on Robert’s Rules of Order or the work of the convention? Would like a preview of how our new electronic voting system will work? Join members of the convention leadership as well as our elections official in this session to learn more about how convention operates so that you’ll be prepared to fully participate in the convention.
Faith Formation, Multicultural Ministry & Community Transformation
Growing Together: Creation Care and Environmental Justice in the Diocese of Olympia
Mercer A | Online – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
Elliott A – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Passionate about engaging your church and wider community in Creation Care and intersectional justice? This workshop will attend to the unique contributions that faith communities can make to the climate movement, particularly through the lens of our Episcopal tradition. Join Adrienne Elliott, who will be sharing findings from her work with the Diocese of San Diego on supporting Creation Care initiatives at 40% of their congregations and growing a climate action network within the community. Also, get a first look at a brand-new Creation Care curriculum to be debuted over the next year in the Diocese of Olympia!
Multicultural Ministries
What’s Up in Multicultural Ministries?
Mercer B | Online – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Carla Robinson will present on what has happened in multicultural ministries since the last convention. This presentation will include highlights from the past 12 months (the appointing of a Canon for Multicultural Ministries and Community Transformation, the ordination of five priests of color, various liturgies, the launching of a newsletter, workshop at the Bishop’s Leadership Conference, congregations visits, etc.). The presentation will also include some plans for the future. There will also be a Q&A time at the end of the presentation.
Refugee Resettlement Office (RRO) & New Roots Fund (NRF)
Update on the arrival of Afghan & Ukrainian Parolees
Elliott B – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Almost 5,000 Afghans have arrived in Washington State sine July 2021. More recently, 8,000 Ukrainians have arrived. Both group are not technically refugees but Humanitarian Parolees. The Diocese of Olympia has helped over 430 Afghans and a growing number of Ukrainians with food, shelter, clothing and jobs. A small, but important part of a community’s adjustment to new circumstances has been the establishment new businesses. New Roots Fund provides business training and start-up capital to those with business ideas. Workshop attendees will hear of our successes and challenges working with newly arrived Afghans and Ukrainians. You will get a reading list of articles and books that explain the diaspora from both countries, and a clears list of actions you can take to help us get better at what we do.
Standing Committee of the Diocese of Olympia
Bishop Transition Information Session
Orcas B | Session Recorded – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Join Standing Committee members for a conversation on the Bishop Transition process.
Standing Committee of the Diocese of Olympia
Bishop Provisional Candidate Meet & Greet
Mercer A | Online – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Join members of the Standing Committee for a conversation with Archbishop Melissa Skelton, Bishop Provisional Candidate for the Diocese of Olympia.
St. Germain’s, Hoodsport
The Sermon: For those who listen and for those who speak
Columbia A – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
Columbia B – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
The quality of the sermon is the most cited reason that church visitors give when deciding to return the next week. Together we’ll explore questions such as these: Why do we have a sermon every Sunday? What makes for a good sermon? Why tell stories? What is prophetic preaching? How can I be a better listener? This is an interactive workshop that will draw on our collective wisdom.
St. Luke’s, Seattle
Turning Church Property Burdens Into Blessings
Mercer B | Online – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
San Juan – Session Two, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Does caring for your church building and property take up much of your time, energy and financial resources? This workshop will present St. Luke’s development plans creating functional, multi-purpose church space, affordable housing and an income stream on a 100 year ground lease. You will learn how to discover a shared vision, engage professionals, finance development and lead your organization through transition. Learn from other church’s mistakes and experience!
Underground Ministries
One Parish One Prisoner: Becoming Resurrection Communities In the Age of Mass Incarceration
Columbia B – Session One, 9:30am – 10:30am
Columbia B – Session Three, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
There are roughly the same amount of churches in Washington State as there are men and women in prison. What if every church came around just one incarcerated person as they released from the tombs of mass incarceration? Social workers call this “reentry.” At Underground Ministries, we see this as greater opportunity to practice RESURRECTION, the center of our faith. This workshop will share stories from the 37 “One Parish One Prisoner” churches we’ve launched in Washington so far–Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, evangelical–into a two year journey of approaching the tombs, entering into new friendships, rolling away the stones, and mutual transformation. We hope to help the Olympia Diocese join the next wave of resurrection communities in 2023.