Disciple: Many Hands, Amazing Work

By Christine McTaggart

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It’s an old saying: Many hands make light work. There’s truth in it, and more and more individuals and entities are proving there is another facet to it as well: Many hands produce great work.

There is a reason collaboration is being encouraged as a diocesan mission priority. Throughout the Diocese of North Carolina, collaborations are being created and discovered, the results of which have produced offerings supporting formation, social justice, Creation Care and more.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

The inspiration behind the idea was simple. “I wanted to do something for Holy Week,” said the Rev. Canon Earnest Graham.

Many know Graham through his work as a regional canon for the Diocese of North Carolina. Many more know him—even if they do not know it—through his contributions to the Disciple in the last few years. For Graham is not just a member of the clergy and diocesan staff; he is a gifted artist as well, increasingly known for his graphic art and comic-book adaptations of the Bible.

He wanted to put that talent to use for Holy Week. “I hadn’t seen it done in comic form,” Graham said. “[The Stations of the Cross] is something that really allows for multiple images, and so I thought it was something I could share.”

He began work in December 2018. Friends and fellow graphic art fans the Rev. Dixon Kinser (rector, St. Paul’s, Winston-Salem), the Rev. Josh Bowron (rector, St. Martin’s, Charlotte) and the Rev. Joe Mitchell (rector, Good Shepherd, Asheboro) all expressed great interest in and support for the project, and before long Graham had invited them to be a part of it. Graham continued to contribute most of the art and some of the writing, while the others contributed both writing and art. The result of the friends’ work is a beautiful journey for Holy Week in a medium not often used for such stories.

For Graham, the visual is as powerful a form of communication as any other. “The world today is visual,” he said. “And churches are using that more and more, although they’ve always used it to an extent. Just look at stained glass windows—they’re definitely stories told in visual form.”

The Stations of the Cross is a powerful story in any form. “You aren’t just hearing a story,” said Graham. “When you walk the Stations of the Cross, you’re really walking with Jesus.”
Walking the Stations of the Cross can be a form of meditation and a powerful experience. Bringing it to those either new to it or long familiar with it provided Graham, Kinser, Bowron and Mitchell the opportunity to connect with others the way they had when working on the project.

“Collaboration takes you down different paths than you’d ever walk if you were alone,” said Graham.

Their collaboration is a gift to us all. The Stations of the Cross are available for download, printing and sharing, either individually or as a complete comic book. Visit earnestillustrations.com to see them, or contact Graham at [email protected].

THE MISSION ZONE

When you look at a map of Greensboro, three Episcopal Churches fall along the northern corridor. Each of the churches—Holy Spirit, St. Francis and St. Barnabas—have a distinct identity, yet their collective leadership saw an opportunity for ministry together. The question was: What form would that ministry take?

A year of discussion and discernment began in 2017 and included the Rev. Audra Abt (vicar, Holy Spirit), the Rev. Milton Williams (rector, St. Francis), the Rev. Randall Keeney (rector, St. Barnabas), the Rev. Canon Earnest Graham (diocesan regional canon) and the Rev. Beth McKee-Huger (diocesan regional deacon). As they came to know better each church’s ministry and shared thoughts on what they might offer together, they realized that formation and community outreach were the most likely ways to create a shared sense of identity that only enhanced individual church life.

The team applied for and received a Mission Endowment Grant at the end of 2017, and work together began in earnest in 2018. The plan was to focus in three areas: formation, social outreach and strengthening relationships with area young adults. It became a year of experimentation to see what might work and what wouldn’t.

What worked was worship. The three churches often offer joint worship opportunities, especially on special holy occasions such as walking the Stations of the Cross in downtown Greensboro. Group Bible studies, retreats and sharing experiences like watching Presiding Bishop Curry’s General Convention sermon have all proven effective.

Working together on outreach ministry has also provided common ground. The three churches have all provided volunteers to execute regional health fairs, pulled together in the aftermath of tornadoes going through Greensboro to provide relief and support to affected families, and become very involved assisting St. Barnabas as they continue to provide sanctuary to Juana Ortega.

What didn’t work as well was an ambitious initial timeline for implementing all of their plans, though expectations are to implement in 2019 the vision for reaching out to young adults and developing lay leaders.

“True collaboration grows from relationships, and that takes time,” said Abt. Despite overwhelming enthusiasm for the idea of the collaboration, the reality was that people remain busy and tended to see the joint projects as “one more thing” instead of a new way of thinking. But those involved are not daunted by the hurdle.

“Community doesn’t happen automatically, even with tremendous enthusiasm,” said Abt. “Relationship building still has to take place, and that can’t be manufactured.”

The hope is that as a rhythm is established from time spent together, whether through dinners, worship, formation events or community outreach, the gaps between congregations will begin to close, and the “Mission Zone” will simply be a wider network for those who want to reach out. Said Abt, “[The dream] is that congregations will go beyond just knowing each other and see all of North Greensboro as a spiritual home.”

JOINING VOICES: THE CHARLOTTE CONVOCATION CHOIR

Several churches in the Charlotte Convocation in the Diocese of North Carolina (Christ Church, Holy Comforter, St. John’s, St. Martin’s and St. Peter’s) have coordinated a series of services of Choral Evensong throughout the program year. On any given week, it’s possible to hear one of the city’s finest choirs lead Evensong.

Choral Evensong, one of the cherished and time-honored liturgies of the Episcopal tradition, was offered to the Charlotte convocation almost every Sunday during the program year in 2018-2019. Organist-choirmasters at three Charlotte convocation parishes joined forces to offer services of Choral Evensong on the third Sunday of each month from September through March. Budd Kirby of St. Martin’s, Patrick Pope of Holy Comforter and Alan Reed of St. John’s led their choirs on a rotating basis at each parish, sharing duties of conducting and accompanying the services. These services complemented the twice-monthly Choral Evensong offered at St. Peter’s under the direction of Elizabeth Lenti and the monthly offering at Christ Church under the direction of Ben Outen. St. Peter’s parishioner Rob Smith created a website, choralevensongclt.org, that highlights the musical repertoire and location of the service each week and offers viewers the chance to read and anticipate what will be sung during the services.Offering a distinct worship experience that

in many ways is unlike Holy Eucharist, Choral Evensong (a sung form of Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer) is structured in a conversational manner, with verses and responses sung between the officiant and the choir, scripture lessons read by a single voice, and hymns and prayers sung by the entire assembly. Evensong enables both active and passive participation; one can sit and listen to nearly the entire service, allowing words both familiar and new to be heard and absorbed. Evensong sanctifies a period of time when the day is approaching its end.

The singers who offer their skills and gifts in the choirs that sing Choral Evensong enjoy a sense of shared purpose, camaraderie and spiritual joy through their offering of music as prayer. Nearly all of the third Sunday Evensongs in Charlotte this year have concluded with a parish-wide reception for those who attend, adding yet another dimension of fellowship and Christian community to this unique Episcopal liturgy.

- By Patrick Pope (Holy Comforter, Charlotte)

THE EPISCOPAL BUILD

Many, many churches throughout the Diocese of North Carolina have relationships with their local Habitat for Humanity chapters. The work they do cannot be measured, but it is incredible, necessary and life-changing for the families with whom they partner.

In Wake County, it was no different. Several churches had deep and long-standing relationships with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. What changed was when four years ago nine churches decided to come together to fund and build a home together.

Originally dubbed the “Episcopal Coalition,” the group’s efforts have since grown and morphed into the “Episcopal Build.” Proposed at the start as a collaborative Lenten project, the timing of the now-traditional build sees the walls raised each February and the home finished several weeks later, with seemingly fewer weeks required each year.

Participating churches have gotten so good at working together, in fact, that 2019’s fourth annual build is not the only home to which the Episcopal collaboration committed. In addition to their own, the Episcopal Build is helping Highland United Methodist Church build a home on a neighboring site.

One thing the Episcopal Build proves is that none of us has to work alone, and there’s great joy in partnering with groups who share common beliefs and core values, and with groups who are great at what they do, such as Habitat for Humanity. In this case, many hands create homes.

Participating churches in the 2019 build include:

• Christ Church
• Church of the Nativity
• Church of the Good Shepherd
• Episcopal Campus Ministry-Raleigh
• Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
• St. Ambrose Episcopal Church
• Saint Augustine’s University
• St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church
• St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
• St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
• St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church

SHARE YOUR STORY

Are you or your church involved in a partnership with a story you want to share? We want to hear it! Contact the communications department and tell us about the work and partnerships.