Sunset Convocation Meeting Minutes

September 29, 2002

St. Michael/San Miguel, Newberg

Attendees:

All Saints, Hillsboro: Bill Whipple

Christ Church, Lake Oswego: JoAnn Leach

St. Barnabas, Portland: Sheila Dougherty, Mark Mahon, Cynthia Reynolds,

St. Bartholomew, Beaverton: Ray Hayes, Roger Reynolds

St. Catherine, Manzanita: Byron Melton, Vicki Melton

St. Francis, Wilsonville: Marilyn Brown, Terri Hoffman, Nancy Kopelk, Koko Sutton

St. Gabriel, Portland: Roger Olsen

St. John the Baptist, Portland: Jeff?, Mary Dorscheimer, Bud Furber, Miki Grove, Alice Speers

St. Michael/San Miguel, Newberg: Bruce Arnold, George Hemmingway, Linda Seelye

Absent: St. Alban, Tillamook; St. Bede, Forest Grove; St. James, Tigard; San Pablo, Hillsboro

The meeting opened at 2:10 p.m. with prayer.

Guest Doug Speers spoke of the prayer ministry of the bishop search process, which has three phases. 1) Personal prayer, 2) Provisions for prayer during this year's diocesan convention, and 3) Prayer during the election next May. Ideally this third phase would consist of at least one church per convocation to remain open for this purpose during the course of the election. All parishes and missions are, of course, encouraged to participate in this spiritual process.

Prayer for the Search for a New Bishop: "Gracious and life-giving God, open the eyes of our hearts and grant us clear vision as we seek a new bishop for this diocese. Give to your Church a lover of Jesus, a faithful shepherd, a leader of vision, a teacher of your truth and an enabler of our ministries. Give strength and discernment to all who take part in the choice of the bishop and help us as we work and pray together to seek your will. In all of these things may we seek first your honor and glory, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen."

Sharing:

All Saints - Held a parish picnic as well as a rummage sale. Working in an ongoing partnership with San Pablo, which includes buildings & grounds projects, ministries, etc. (This news opened up a discussion regarding our task from the Diocesan Ministry to End Racism, see below.) Holding weekly soup suppers and practices for youth and adult choirs. Three Sunday School classes now in session. Produced a "user-friendly" service booklet containing Rite II Holy Eucharist and basic information; other information and hymns included in bulletin; this is working very well.

Christ Church - We are supporting a student in Uganda, who came to visit and preached three services one Sunday - wow! Our stewardship drive began and ended "early," as "people give more in the light than the dark." This includes something called "stone soup" and three telephone calls per unit of giving/household. Working on a ministry with/for/at Lewis & Clark College, which is up to eight students so far. Junior high youth group has 25 members, high school group has 15, and are making rosaries as one of their projects.

St. Barnabas - Elementary and middle/jr. high youth groups continue to meet monthly. The younger group still "just having fun" and getting to know each other and their church, the older are starting to get involved in some community projects (blanket drive for homeless youth). 50th anniversary of parish consisting of a series of gatherings and events, culminating with a celebration near St. Barnabas day (June 11). Bishop will be here next week for last official visit and one baptism, had three baptisms this morning (one family, three generations!). Monthly potlucks continue, still trying different subjects, speakers, forums, and days of the week to see which work best. William Temple House executive director Allen Hunt came to speak on recent changes and new programs, including clothing for school-age children in north Portland. We have 33 students attending Sunday School. October: Children's Halloween party with children from local transitional housing project. November: Harvest Bazaar, Thanksgiving services.

St. Bartholomew - Celebrated St. Bart's day with a picnic and combined men's choir; all members, past and present were invited. Alpha sessions are held on Monday nights. Wednesday evenings are a combination dinner/adult ed./contemporary Eucharist. The Rev. Bob Brown came and spoke to us about the bishop search process; this is highly recommended as a forum presentation. For Outreach we are having a raffle; approximately $1500 worth of prizes have been donated by local businesses.

St. Catherine - Celebrated Father Paul's new ministry on St. Bartholomew Day - great weather, very wonderful and successful gathering! BAC and congregation have a three-year plan for a completed building on our new site. Holding community forums; we are fortunate to have a member of the National Council of Churches (NCC) in the community as a resource.

St. Francis - Celebrated Founder's Day today. Next Sunday will celebrate no only St. Francis but our new Pet Memorial Garden, a local Eagle Scout project. Held a regional Godly Play training session for four days last week, included attendees from as far away as San Francisco. Coffee Creek Prison Ministry is holding their third quilting class for the inmates, which teaches them all kinds of skills in addition to sewing (delayed gratification, cooperation, outreach, etc.) Inmates are also doing buildings & grounds work for the parish, and have designed and constructed three new banners for the church as well. We are holding our first auction, which includes a ride to the coast on a Harley Davidson, including a helmet, lunch, and prayers!

St. Gabriel - Held a rummage sale to benefit a Hispanic health clinic, raised approximately $2000. Weight Watchers meetings being held at St. Gabriel, which has resulted in not only successful weight loss, but some new members as well. Working on a visitors program and training as a result of a BAC survey. Services have been held outdoors as weather permits.

St. John the Baptist - Concentrating on the search for a new rector - grueling process has paid off - have interviewed all but one finalist. Father George Hemmingway came a led us through an explanation of the demographics of our zip code area - very interesting and enlightening, not to mention useful. All are invited to attend the annual auction at Embassy Suites on October 26. About a dozen youth are signed up for the children's choir, they will practice at the same time as Bible Study is offered to their parents. A Visiting Guild has been commissioned for our homebound parishioners. Planning a celebration for the Rev. Val Ambrose's ministry among us.

St. Michael/San Miguel - Please do stay after the meeting for our tour and celebration dinner! We were recipients of George Fox University annual community "serve day," they came and painted, and we sent back cookies to "our" dorm floor. Our nursery has been remodeled and redecorated, thanks to Pentecost funding. Our restroom is now Handicapped Accessible. We have Church History classes after services, taught by a lay history buff. The bishop will be visiting us in October. We will be celebrating All Saints Day with the local Lutheran church. We have a goal of serving as a community resource as well as ministry - so many groups need space to meet in and work from. Tom Johnson, former Dean of George Fox Evangelical Seminary, visited us and was very impressed with our blending of services.

Request from the Diocesan Ministry to End Racism:

We are all already doing this, with various ethnic groups, but not against racism, per say - more FOR all people, because that is what ministry is all about. So we decided to respond via a letter from the whole convocation, rather than a bunch of lists of specific examples from each parish. In this letter we hope to address several issues: a request to a convocation gets a response from the group as a whole. More than we are against racism (which should be a given), we are for all people, as Christ is. This includes lots of human attributes in addition to ethnic background. (Therefore we all agree that racism is outdated and that the focus should be on discrimination in any form.) We are working to recognize these forms, and eliminate them as best we can from our personal lives as well as church work. The delegation voted to have Cynthia Reynolds draft the letter for convocation approval before sending it on to the requesting conveners.

Department of Congregational Development (George Hemmingway, Facilitator):

Ministry of Congregational Development (MCD) consists of convocation deans and presidents, and representatives of various diocesan ministries (youth, total ministry, education, etc.) DCD is the executive (steering) committee: David Brownmiller, John Nesbitt, Judy Cato, John Scannell, and Linda Potter (ex officio). The idea is to do revisioning at the parish/mission level, with the understanding that only healthy, thriving congregations can produce new groups like themselves. This includes a new perception of "mission," a reconfiguration of ministry at large, and especially a change in general attitude toward service to God. Tools/resources/perceived needs are: encouragement of younger vocations, lay formation and education, clergy re and continuing education, and accessible congregations.

Diocesan Convention:

November 14, 15, 16 - Roseburg Fairgrounds. Make your hotel reservations!

Check the diocesan web-site frequently for information about the banquet, workshops, etc.

The web-site should also have information about proposed resolutions and constitutional & canonical changes, but as of meeting date, there weren't any posted. However, these are in the latest (October) edition of the Oregon Episcopal Church News, so be sure to get a copy of this and study the issues carefully.

Also (both in the paper and on the web-site), get familiar with who is running for what positions...

Convocation gathering for lunch on Friday the 15th - the group voted to go out somewhere casual and budget-friendly - we will keep you posted as well as (hopefully) remind you during convention.

Misc./General:

New convocation web-site address: www.sunsetconv.org. This provides general information, meeting minutes, and links to diocese and member parish/mission sites. Please link up if you haven't already - thanks!

Pray for all diocese clergy as they retreat in late October to Ashland.

Need a new clergy rep to diocesan council for the coming year by November 1. Many thanks to JoAnn Leach for all of her hard work and faithful reporting in this capacity.

Thanksgiving services will be held on Wednesday, November 27 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Gabriel.

Next meeting: Sunday, March 16, 2:00 p.m., St. Francis, Wilsonville.

Respectfully submitted,

Cynthia Reynolds, President