Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

This month we offer five resources on lay leadership. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers and the monthly digest.

1) Growing up evangelical Pentecostal gave Jade Mohorko Ortiz a unique appreciation of vestries in the Episcopal Church. In Trust the Process, she explains why having a vestry is so significant and shares helpful suggestions, especially for churches that are multicultural and multilingual.

2) In Preparing for Lay Only Leadership, Heather Barta addresses a common-enough experience: what to do in the case of a small church without money to pay clergy. All is not lost! As Heather reveals, a church can thrive with lay leaders.

3) Do you consider your vestry to be spiritual leaders? In Cultivating a Culture of Discernment, Blair Pogue explores how her church invited vestry members to understand their role as members of a spiritual discernment team.

4) Secret parking lot meetings held after official vestry meetings are a sign that something is wrong. Mary MacGregor shares what congregational leaders can do to encourage healthy patterns of communication in No More Parking Lot Conversations.

5) ECF President Donald V. Romanik has almost 20 years of service on vestries. In Five Things Every Vestry Member Should Know, he puts together a concise list of strategies that will be helpful for all vestry members, both new ones and old hands.