Learning together with other congregations from across the diocese
EHF Congregational Engagement provides peer learning opportunities on a rotating basis over a two-year time span to help ministry leaders organize and focus their efforts to have the greatest impact on their communities’ health.
If you are interested in learning more about how one of these cohorts may benefit your existing ministry, contact our Senior Congregational Engagement Officers: Eric Moen and Willie Bennett.
About this Cohort
Holy Currencies is a model for developing congregational ministries created by the Kaleidoscope Institute (KI), an Episcopal rooted non-profit that focuses on leadership development and organizational vitality. This model has been used internationally to strengthen the impact and sustainability of community-oriented ministries. It includes six “currencies”, or resources that, when combined, can lead to a more transformational ministry.
Applications will open in Spring 2024
For questions, contact our Congregational Engagement team.
Requirements
EHF is looking for Episcopal congregations within the Episcopal Diocese of Texas with either 1) existing ministries that they would like to expand or better connect to the community, or 2) clear commitments to future initiatives for which the Holy Currencies model could contribute to the impact and success of the initiative.
We expect to support, through the technical assistance of Kaleidoscope Institute, a cohort of up to six congregations to learn and apply the Holy Currencies model to incubate a congregational ministry. The cohort will begin in August 2024, with formal training concluding in January 2025. At the end of the cohort process, congregations will have developed a ministry plan for sustainable community partnership, including a roadmap for building relationships, exploring community partnerships, and building congregational leadership.
Process Overview
- Submit Application by June 1, 2024
- Pre-orientation Webinar via Zoom
- Orientation Training at Artesian Lakes in Cleveland, TX: Recruit a team of six to eight leaders from your church and attend the Holy Currencies Incubation Orientation. The orientation will cover the currencies of gracious leadership and relationship
- Site Visitation: Kaleidoscope and EHF associates will visit your team early in the incubation program to learn more about your church and its ministries, learn about your community, and to establish coaching relationships.
- Four Webinars: Your church team is required to attend four, two-hour webinars over a four-month period covering the currencies of time and place, truth, wellness, and money.
- Congregational Ministry Development: Between webinars, your church team will be required to complete five assignments engaging the team and congregation in a discernment process.
- New Ministry Plan: Teams will complete the assignments and create a “business ministry plan” that strategically leverages the currencies, increases sustainability, and strengthens community connection. There may be additional opportunities to present the final ministry plan and action-plan with potential partners.
Key Dates
- April 19, 2024: Informational Webinars at 12 PM and 6 PM
- June 1, 2024: Applications Due
- June 1 – 7, 2024: Application review may include a phone call with EHF and KI to discuss application if needed
- By June 10, 2025: Selected congregations and church teams notified
- September 13, 2024: Online pre-orientation with your Congregational Holy Currencies Team (two hours)
- September 30-October 1, 2024: In-person orientation weekend at Artesian Lakes
- October 2024-January 2025: Monthly, two-hour Tuesday evening webinars for your team with Kaleidoscope Institute and EHF to learn more about the application of all six currencies. Teams will also complete their assignments and create a “ministry business plan” that strategically leverages the currencies, increases sustainability, and strengthens community connection.
About the Transformation Cohort
Do you think it is time for a change? Do you feel like your ministry is spinning its wheels? Are you feeling stuck in your ministry? Then the transformation cohort may be for you. This cohort is designed to help you take your outreach ministries to the next level of engagement with your community.
The Episcopal Health Foundation’s (EHF) Congregational Engagement Team is launching a Transformation Cohort to help congregations move from charity-focused, transactional ministries to more transformative, community-engaged ministries. The cohort will encourage congregations to engage in conversation and cultivate partnerships within their communities. The process will expose congregations to innovative ways to interact within their community.
EHF is committed to moving Episcopal Church ministries from a transactional/direct service approach to one that engages the community. Examples of transformational ministry are those that meet with members of the community to determine what is needed, involve them in decision-making, and/or participate as partners in the ministry.
Requirements
Your congregation should have a ministry idea or existing outreach ministry. You must also be willing to target and reach out to the community you are serving for conversation or for involvement in the ministry. The process will require a team with a minimum of three people to participate. At least two team members should attend per session, with one person attending all sessions. The cohort will include an orientation session and 4 one-and-a-half-hour sessions led by consultants with expertise ranging from Mental Health, Poverty Alleviation, Community Organizing, Community Development, Racial Justice and more…
Process Overview and Key Dates
- June 21, 2023: Application Due
- August 16, 2023: Orientation
- September/October 2023: Four (4) Learning sessions with various consultants
- November 2023: In-Person Gathering
- November 2023 – February 2024: Individual sessions with selected consultant
Contact Us
We encourage you to consult with an EHF staff member to learn more about how the Transformation Cohort could benefit your ministry or if you are interested in future opportunities.
Congregational Engagement Staff:
- Willie Bennett wbennett@episcopalhealth.org
- Melodee Toles mtoles@epicopalhealth.org
We encourage you to reach out to an EHF staff member to learn more about the Transformation Cohort and future opportunities. Please contact us at congregations@episcopalhealth.org.
Over nine months, congregational teams will join together in the EHF Racial Justice Incubator Cohort with Project Curate to develop strategies and approaches to ministry that effectively respond to the recurring social issues brought about by racism, injustice, and inequity. In addition, the cohort will address ways that these issues intersect with issues of gender, sexual identity, and social class.
Throughout the process you and your team will be exposed to an innovative learning and network-building process designed to assist you and your church in understanding changing social-cultural contexts, build trust with communities of color, and contribute to the common good.
More specifically, this process is designed to:
1) Build and strengthen capacity among clergy and lay leaders for robust social/theological analysis of pressing social issues.
2) Facilitate leaders’ increased community and public engagement in ways that move them into zones of collaborative and coalitional work towards more equitable and just realities for all.
