Bishop's 2022 Appeal: Goals and Ministries
Your contribution to the Bishop's 2022 Appeal will allow us to transform the lives of young people, heal the wounds of racial division, and empower clergy to serve congregations in need of revitalization.
Our goal is to raise (at least) $30,000 during the season of Lent, 2022. The funds will be used in these three ministry areas:
Deacon Chester Hines Racial Reconciliation Fund
Your gift will seed an endowment fund to finance the work of repairing racial injustice. The Diocese of Missouri understands that justice is a core value rooted in the Gospel and is central to further God's mission. Members of the 182nd Diocesan Convention (2021) passed a resolution to begin the work of repenting for our historic participation in the chattel slavery of people of African descent and the systematic oppression of First Nations peoples. This fund will be subject to appropriate oversight to assure sound fiscal management and the administration and disbursement of designated funds.
This fund is named after the Rev. Deacon Chester Hines, who has been actively working toward social justice in the Diocese of Missouri for more than 40 years. He retired as the chair of the Diocesan Dismantling Racism Commission in February of 2022. Chester Hines continues to serve as a deacon at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in University City.
Young Adult Ministry Fund
Your gift will strengthen our commitment to our Young Adult Ministries in the Diocese:
- Deaconess Anne House in Old North St. Louis is a branch of the Episcopal Service Corps, a national network of intentional communities in the Episcopal Church. DAH offers young adults the opportunity to live, worship, and serve in the Old North community and throughout the Diocese for one year. The Diocese launched this ministry in 2012 and has provided more than 30 young adults the opportunity to explore what it means to live a life of service to their community and to God.
- Rockwell House Episcopal Campus Ministry is a home-away-from-home for students at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis University. The ministry offers a community for worship, support, prayers and much more during their college years. Campus ministry is also happening through several parishes in the Diocese, including Trinity Church in Kirksville (Truman State University), Christ Church in Cape Girardeau (Southeast Missouri State University), and Calvary Church in Columbia (University of Missouri).
Bishop's Curacy Leadership Academy
Your gift will go toward the formation of a new program to provide salary support, mentorship, leadership training, and vocational formation for new seminary graduates. It is intended to help the Diocese respond imaginatively and proactively to the challenges and opportunities facing the church today.
It used to be common in the church for a seminary graduate to be placed for a year or two into a curacy -- a type of internship to learn the "ins and outs" of parish ministry. But as churches have shrunk in membership and pledging, many can no longer afford to support these positions. As a result many new priests have to start their priestly ministry in small or struggling parishes without any consistent clergy leadership.
This program will offer new graduates the opportunity to serve in both large and small congregations, learning from "veteran" priests and as well as helping small parishes that would not otherwise be able to afford clergy.
