As Executive Council prepares to meet, each office of the Episcopal Church submits a report on their activity during the previous quarter. Our Team Leader, Bronwyn Clark Skov, prepares the report.

As you know, it is important to all of us in the Office of Formation and Vocation to do everything we can to keep our constituencies in the loop – both to provide transparency as well as to ensure that we are maximizing the connections within our networks.

As the Officer for Lifelong Formation, these are the primary projects I either focused on or participated in during the past 3 months:

• The Association of Episcopal Deacons held its tri-annual meeting in mid-June. I presented a workshop entitled Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery with Sarah Eagle Heart. The material was well received by approximately 125 deacons over the course of three presentation times.

• The Ecumenical Campus Ministry Team and Young Adult Ministry Council worked to help host Shared Space, an ecumenical young adult and campus ministries conference that took place June 26-29, 2013, in Chicago. Over 100 Episcopalians participated and were the largest denominational cohort registered. In addition to participating in ecumenical keynote and worship sessions the Episcopalians gathered at St. James Commons for workshops and networking. Several Mission Network staff members joined the Formation and Vocation Ministries Team for a variety of workshops and conversations; Jason Sierra, Sam McDonald, Tom Brackett, Bronwyn Clark Skov, and myself. Glenn Libby, Diocese of Los Angeles, and Jason Sierra, DFMS, were honored with ministry achievement awards at the closing banquet, as was the Rev. Lucas Mix, Diocese of Arizona, who was honored with the Sam Portaro Award for Creative Expression and Intellectual Inquiry for his work with the Hill Society.

• Work continues to move forward on the State of Racism webcast to be held November 15. I am collaborating and consulting with Angel Ifill to prepare for this event.

• The Formation and Vocation Ministries Team renewed a consulting contract with Wendy Johnson to continue managing social media in coordination with our constituent Councils, Networks, and Communications Office.

As fall continues, I look forward to hearing from many of you about your projects and programs and hope to use this blog space to share your outstanding and creative ideas. Contact me if you are interested in writing as a guest blogger. The blogging suggestions are here.

Also, please submit any additions or feedback in the comments below or on theLifelong Formation Facebook page.

Blessings,

Ruth-Ann