In a Pentecost letter…
What’s black and white and three years old? Episcorific!
We’ve had a great three years. Thousands of people have downloaded each issue of our zine, and we’ve developed a group of fabulous contributors and a dedicated board. Our deepest thanks goes out to everyone who has helped us grow from a photocopied zine distributed to a few Texas churches into a widely read webzine.
A few months ago our board, which now includes seven people, met near Sewanee, TN to talk about the future of Episcorific. What is the purpose of Episcorific? Who do we want to reach and how? How can Episcorific build community and help young adults as they explore their faith and try to navigate those confusing years after leaving home? After lots of conversation, and working out our vision and mission with the help of a facilitator, we’ve decided to transition from a printable zine produced five or six times a year to a daily website. Episcorific has been reaching a wider audience with each issue. A website will allow us to make the most of our limited resources and publish artwork and writing more regularly. The upcoming website will continue to bring young adults in the Episcopal Church and beyond together by sharing essays, stories, art, photography, and poetry from contributors around the country. The new format will also allow us to add video into the mix, reach a wider audience and offer regular, daily content.
So here are some specifics: we hope to have regular columnists with a new article or blog post every day. In addition, we’ll continue to accept seasonal submissions, publishing great new writing and art at least once a week. We’ll also be broadening the Episcorific network in the blogosphere, showcasing new writers and bloggers on an aggregated blogroll on our site. This website will have a new name (something easier to spell that still embraces the sense of joy in sharing our faith) which we’ll be announcing in future updates. Keep an eye out for occasional printed issues and anthologies, as well.
This is a big step for Episcorific, away from small scale and handmade to something more accessible and dynamic with the same grassroots spirit. Our mission and vision is clearer than ever, and we are excited to make it easier to connect, communicate and share with 20s/30s inspired by the Episcopal tradition. We want to make it possible to have difficult conversations, to widen our gaze beyond our navel as we figure out where we are going in this world.
We’ll be working on creating and updating a new website over the next months, so that we can launch the new site in Advent, the beginning of the church year. We’ll be a little quieter than usual during that time, but don’t worry, we’ll be back. In the meantime, pray for our process, our contributors and most of all the incredible community of readers we’ve built over the past three years. If you’d like to be part of the process, drop us a line, but regardless, keep writing, thinking, taking photographs, composing poems, contemplating, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on this exciting new journey we’re taking together!
Peace and Pentecost power,
The Episcorific Board
Jason and Jeremiah Sierra (Cofounders), Ross Heinsohn (Webmaster), Kathleen Clark, Hanna Kang- Brown, Lauren Caldwell, and Rachel Graves
Filed under: Office Communications, Young Adults