The Parable of the Mustard Seed – Mark 4:26-32

He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

 Working together, what can your deanery do to make a positive impact in your region?

This spring all eight of our deaneries, as well as the Youth Commission, are each receiving seed money towards the initiation of cooperative outreach projects. The primary goal is to make a positive difference in people's lives. Secondary to that is are the goals of deepening the Web of Grace within the diocese and making the public more aware of the EPiscopal Church individuals and groups who are currently unchurched.  

How your deanery organizes to tackle this challenge and what the specific project is undertaken (short term, or long term, hands on or not, etc.) is to be determined by each deanery.

Your dean will receive a check for $250 at the Dean's Meeting on May 10, but the time for action begins on April 25, the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist.

You have five months to organize, plan and implement your deanery's Mustard Seed Project. Each deanery and the Youth Commission is asked to identify a Mustard Seed Project Coordinator and notify Bishop Franklin's Office of the person's or persons' name(s) by June 15, 2012.

The deadline for project completion is October 1, 2012 when written stories sharing what you accomplished and what you learned along the way, along with accompanying photos and or video clips are due to Bishop Franklin's office. Each deanery's story will be shared at our Diocesan Convention at the end of October. 

Dream big and think creatively! What will your deanery do to change the world?

Resources

Mustard Seed Project Poster

Mustard Seed Project Prayer Card

Additional Mustard Seed Project Prayers

New! Doodle.com -Easy scheduling, free of charge and without registration! MIght be what you need for scheduling meetings!

Signupgenius.com - Great site to help help you organize your project and your volunteers! 

MailChimp - Send free e-news posts about your project to all church offices and interested individuals. A super way to communicate your news quickly and at no cost!

If you know of other online resources, please email the link to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Weaving our Future

At our annual convention in October 2011 we heard various stories from our congregations of Crisis & Renewal, and Hope for the Future. From these stories we learned the importance of: 

• Faith and trusting in God
• Listening to each other
• Asking for help
• Taking risks
• Being willing to fail

We learned that we need to:

• Find new ways to engage with our communities
• Work together and with others
• Have a place where we can ask for help
• Identify and secure resources to help us grow and help our communities
• Take risks
• Be willing to fail

 

The themes that came from our stories help illustrate the Web of Grace. If we put God at the center of the web, the themes from the first list are the strands that connect to God. The themes from the second list are the strands that connect us to each other and to the communities in which we live.

These were the stories of Crisis & Renewal:

Following a devastating flood, St. Mary's, Gowanda rebounds, thanks in part to the support of the diocesan communnity.

Thinking they needed to sell their Parish House, St. Paul's, Mayville discovers how valued they are in their community.

Faced with declining attendance and lagging enthusisam, All Saints, Amherst and St. Mark's, Riverside find rebirth in consolidation.

Trinity, Warsaw buries their beloved priest and discovers 

The doors of St. Matthias, East Aurora, day in and day out, were always open for prayer. In the wake of nearby arson fires, the congregation makes the difficult choice to change that tradition. 

The most compelling themes heard in the stories of Crisis & Renewal were:

• Patience & Prayer
• Faith, Hope & Trust
• Be open to new ideas, willing to change, willing to step outside the comfort zone and take risks
• Listening to each other and to God
• Love
• Death and Resurrection

The following skills, tools, training, attitudes, etc. were identified as things congregations need to be able to deal with crises as they arise:

• Communication skills
• Faith & the willingness to act on faith
• Ways to tap into the Web of Grace
• Hands on help
• Hope
• Willingness to accept another point of view
• Mentoring to encourage us to go beyond where we are at present
• Resources specifically designed to deal with change
• Courage to step out
• Ability to think out of the box and be creative
• Patience

The most compelling themes heard in the stories of Hope for the Future were:

• Hope
• Working together
• Persistence
• Trust that God’s will be done
• Faith
• Perseverance
• Trust
• Open mind, open heart
• Risk
• Humor
• Stepping out in faith
• Trying something new
• Asking for outside help

The following were identified as things a congregation do, singly or in partnership with others, to become a source of hope for the wider community:

• Recognize that everyone has something to contribute
• Be open and accepting
• Find ways to go to the community, listen to them for their needs
• Don’t expect the wider community to come to us – we have to take our faith out to the community and explore ways in which we can help
• Work with others to more effectively serve those in need
• Accept more and judge less
• Let people know what we’re doing