Congregations, dioceses, groups, and individuals can connect with Evangelism Matters without traveling to Texas for the groundbreaking event.
Evangelism Matters, an Episcopal Church Evangelism Conference on November 18-19 in Dallas, TX, is designed for anyone who would like to learn more about evangelism and available resources to share our faith. The churchwide event is co-sponsored by Forward Movement and the Presiding Bishop’s Office, and is hosted by the Diocese of Dallas and Church of the Transfiguration, Dallas, TX where the activities will be held.
“Episcopalians are excited to focus on evangelism, noticing and celebrating how God works in our lives and in the lives of the people around us,” commented the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, the Presiding Bishop’s Canon for Evangelism and Reconciliation. “We’ve made arrangements for those who could not attend to connect through a live webcast and on-demand afterwards, and we hope as many individuals and groups as possible will host viewings and participate in this churchwide movement.”
Evangelism Matters is ideal for congregational discussion, adult forums, youth groups, and other Episcopal gatherings.
Live webcast
Key portions of Evangelism Matters will be live webcast to allow for individual and group viewing during conventions, discussion groups, and local evangelism gatherings. The live webcast is especially important as the registration for Evangelism Matters is full.
The live, free webcast will be accessible on this website and it does not require advance registration or password. Those seeking to watch in Spanish may follow the Facebook live feed here, on this site.
On demand will be available following the event at www.evangelismmatters.org. The videos should be available by Monday, November 21.
Sessions slated to be live webcast include:
Friday
9 am – 10:30 am Central – Welcome and main panel presentation
10:45 am – Two workshops (selections to be announced)
1:30 pm – Keynote address by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
2:45 pm – Two workshops (selections to be announced)
7:30 pm – Eucharist: Celebrant is Bishop George Sumner of Diocese of Dallas and preacher is Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Saturday
9 am – Plenary on “Sharing the hope that is in us” by Canon Spellers
9:45 am – Two workshops (selections to be announced)
11:30 am – Closing plenary
Main panel presentation
In addition to the plenary speakers, the main panel presentation, What Is Evangelism?, will feature a group of Episcopal evangelists, including the Rev. Alberto Cutié, Diocese of Southeast Florida; Carrie Boren Headington, Missioner for Evangelism in the Diocese of Dallas; the Rev. Marcus Halley, Diocese of West Missouri; and Mary Parmer, creator of the Invite*Welcome*Connect program in the Diocese of Texas. The panel will be moderated by the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement.
Workshops
Workshops have been designed for those who are new to sharing their faith as well as for confident evangelists looking to develop their own practice or grow the evangelism capacity in their congregation or diocese. A special track is designed to speak to the evangelism needs of church planters. Check here for the fully updated list.
For assistance in connecting with the live webcast, contact Neva Rae Fox, Episcopal Church Public Affairs Officer, nrfox@episcopalchurch.org,
Regretfully, livestream is not working well. Signal comes and goes, then freezes. On the workshop I have been watching, sound also comes and goes and only the left channel when it does come through. I have set aside today and tomorrow morning to watch these, and hopefully find material for a 6 or 8 Sunday adult forum course. Now, I think I’ll wait until these sessions are archived to watch. If the Church ever does this again (livestream a live multi-segment event), I have a few suggestions if some will contact me. I’ve been a professional communicator and done quite a bit of video conferencing.
Episcopal Church needs to get comfortable w/ the “E” word. This conference is a big start for the effort. Thanks for doing this.
Loved the workshops and all the presenters. Got lots of ideas to take to my parish. Especially loved Bishop Curry’s mention of James Weldon Johnson’s “Creation” poem – one of my all-time favorites.
My parish (All Saints’- Morristown, TN) has always been big on outreach. We have just recently begun (during a protracted time with no rector, but with guidance from some very good interim and long-term supply priests) to take church out into the neighborhood close by, specifically the projects. We started taking a monthly Bingo and lunch to the projects, but it was so popular, we invited them to do it at our Parish Hall. Parishioners donate prizes (cleaning supplies and other things they can’t purchase with food stamps, and $10 cards to area stores), and everybody sits down and eats together. We are developing relationships with these folks, and a few of them have come to services. Whenever we have an event, we invite them to be a part of it. It’s a good start to what I hope will be a rich movement to take Jesus to the people, especially when our rector search process is done. Thanks for streaming this conference. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
I had hoped to attend, but I watched the live stream instead and I came away with the conviction that BEING an evangelist is a way of life. We can talk to our priests, look for support from our congregations, read books and study endlessly, but each day, ready or not, we must ACT as the evangelists we are called to be.
Where is Bishop Curry’s keynote address???