This month's Missional Minute is contributed by David Stagg, of St. Leonard-on-the-Hill parish in Red Deer.

Being Missional is to be an Evangelist!

Does that statement make you ready to skip this Missional Minute?

One of the greatest challenges in the Missional Workshops is looking at Evangelism as something we are all directed to do. Not exactly a comfortable thought in today’s world, where there is lots of negative baggage with that “E” word. Negatives that have come from stories and experiences we may have of those that profess to be Evangelists. I am sure many of us can share stories where evangelism was encountered in some negative manner. Like stories or experiences with those knocking on our doors at inappropriate times, those who may demand that we think and behave in certain ways, to tele-Evangelists and their high profile scandals over the years. With all these negatives around us and not wanting to offend anyone, it becomes very easy to avoid personal “Evangelism” and simply be Polite, Private, and Silent. In the words of one of our missional coaches:

“Canadians are Polite; Anglicans are Private; so We say Nothing (about our faith) to Anyone!”

In this “context”, how might we consider ourselves to be missional or evangelists, in spite of these negative images, experiences or the memories that make us so uncomfortable?

Turning the negative to a positive can be accomplished with a change in our perspective. One way to change our perspective of Evangelism is to redefine it in a way that we can better relate to. Missional Coaches offer the following definition that you may find comfort in.

Evangelism: “Cooperating with the Holy Spirit to share the good news,
 in order to help someone take steps towards becoming an apprentice of Jesus,
 thereby joining in the mission of God.”

To be an Evangelist, with this definition, means that we are expected to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. We do not have to know all the answers, just be ready to cooperate in sharing the Good News in those moments provided by the Holy Spirit. We have to be listening and willing to speak to the opportunities we find ourselves in. The part I find most uplifting, is that of seeing myself as an apprentice. An apprentice is not an expert, just someone taking steps in their own growth. In my case, that is taking steps in my own faith journey. As part of those steps, I will connect with others and help them take their steps on their faith journey. My faith journey may take steps alongside other individuals at times, and then continue separately as each of us cooperate with the Holy Spirit in turn. In the end, all of us are joining together as we work towards the mission of God.

May you find peace and comfort with a change in your perspective on Evangelism with this definition, and may it enable you to be more missional each day.

Into your hands, most merciful God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your abiding love. As we proceed in our day, fill us with Your Holy Spirit so that each of us in our own uniqueness can bring blessings to our world as we work to fulfill your mission.

Help us to be healers, menders, guides, and friends to all we meet. And remind us that we are all God's children, known and loved.

For more information email: MissionalCoaches@calgary.anglican.ca

Below are many announcements for upcoming events for the months of June and September.  Please add these to your calendars.

Ordinations:

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce that, God willing, he will ordain to the Diaconate Grace Elgersma, of St. Leonard-on-the-Hill, Red Deer and David Smith, of St. Barnabas, Three Hills, both of whom will be Transitional Deacons.  The Service of Ordination will take place at St. Leonard's, Red Deer, on Tuesday, June 11 at 7:00 pm.  Please pray for Grace and David as they prepare for their new ministries.  Color for this event will be Red.

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce that, God willing, he will ordain to the Diaconate Ruth-Anne Marley, of All Saints, Cochrane and Mike Black, of St. Martin, Calgary.  Ruth-Anne will be a Vocational Deacon while Mike will be a Transitional Deacon.  At this same service, The Rev. Deacon Margaret Hogarth of Church of the Good Shepherd, Calgary, and The Rev. Deacon Rob Petkau, of St. Peter, Calgary will be ordained as Priests.  The Service of Ordination will take place at St. Peter, Calgary, on Saturday, June 29 at 3:00 pm.  Please pray for Ruth-Anne, Mike, Margaret and Rob as they prepare for their new ministries.  Color for this event will be Red.

Appointments:

Christ Church, Fort Macleod:

We are pleased to announce the appointment of The Rev. Dr. Julio Reis Simoes, the new Incumbent for the parish of Christ Church, Fort Macleod.  Rev. Julio, along with his wife Gisele and son, comes to us from The Diocese of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.  We look forward to getting to know him and sharing in ministry with him.  Welcome, Rev. Julio!

St. Peter, Calgary:

We are pleased to announce the appointment of The Rev. Deacon Rob Petkau as, currently, the new Associate Clergyperson, and upon his ordination to the priesthood, the new Associate Priest for the parish of St. Peter, Calgary.  We welcome Rev. Rob and his wife Karen back to our diocese, and look forward to working with them again.

Please pray for these new clergy in their new appointments.

Inductions:

We are pleased to announce, God willing, these three upcoming Inductions:

The Rev. Seth Enriquez to be inducted at St. George-in-the-Pines, Banff on Sunday, June 30 at 3:00 pm.

The Rev. Dr. Julio Reis Simoes to be inducted at Christ Church, Fort Macleod on Tuesday, September 3 at 6:00 pm.

The Rev. Simba Mutandwa to be inducted at Holy Cross, Calgary on Wednesday, September 4 at 7:00 pm.

Please mark your calendars for these services and pray for these Incumbents and their parishes as they journey together.

Office Move:

The Diocesan offices will be moving in April, 2025.  After a few years of searching, researching options, discussing, and getting approvals from Diocesan Council,  the offices will be moving to what was St. Edmund's parish in Calgary. You can see the location HERE.  We are all very much looking forward to this move and to the huge financial savings it will be to the diocese as a whole, which will give us more resources for parishes.

There will be renovations underway starting in June/July and we will be hoping to be moving in next March/April.

Please keep that process in your prayers, particularly for our Property Assistant, Frank, who is taking the lead on the particulars.

June 9 - "Goodbye Service" for St. Mark & St. Philip, Calgary, 1:00 pm

June 11 - BARDS meeting, at Diocese Office and via Zoom, 10:00 am

June 11 - Ordination Service at St. Leonard-on-the-Hill, Red Deer, 7:00 pm

June 13 to 16 - Canadian Anglican Cursillo Secretariat Trienniel Gathering, Nanaimo, BC

June 18 - Calgary School of Discipleship Board, 3:30 pm

June 19 - Legislative Committee via Zoom, 3:00 pm

Please hold Archbishop Greg in your prayers as he serves as our Bishop and Metropolitan.

With the retirement of our Primate Linda Nicholls on September 15, The Most Rev. Anne Germond has been named to be the Acting Primate until the next General Synod, happening in the Diocese of Huron in July, 2025.

Archbishop Anne is currently the Bishop of the Dioceses of Algoma and Moosenee in Ontario, as well as the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario.

From May 23 to 26, The Anglican Diocese of Calgary was host to our Provincial Synod.  About 85 delegates from across Western Canada (from Northern Quebec, Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Arctic regions of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories) gathered to share their ideas, ministry and hopes.  The theme this year was "Arise, Shine!" from Isaiah 60:1.  Much discussion arose from this theme in terms of evangelism, discipleship and the call to radiate God's glory.

We had the opportunity to learn from one another, with each diocese creating a presentation.  We could see where the successes and needs are in living out our Christian faith in our variety of locations.  It was good to know that we often don't have to "re-invent the wheel" and that we can share what our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing within their dioceses.

Throughout our three days together, we discussed and voted on resolutions, heard witness stories from Bishop Annie Ittoshata of the Diocese of the Arctic and Archbishop Chris Harper, our National Indigenous Archbishop.  We heard an inspiring talk from Primate Linda Nicholls, and presentations from The Anglican Foundation and PWRDF.

The highlight of the gathering was the vote to change the Province's name.  Its new "trade name" - to be legalized at the next Synod - will now be The Ecclesiastical Province of The Northern Lights.  The new name symbolizes light in the darkness, diversity, and beauty  We are all collectively under this one symbol, created by the sun (or Son) as we carry out our shared ministry.

This gathering was one of hope, of learning from one another and a time of sharing and moving forward together as we were encouraged to rise and shine, in response to God's glory and power.

The Most Reverend Gregory Kerr-Wilson is inviting applications for the position of Incumbent Priest of Holy Trinity Anglican parish in Calgary, Alberta.

For more information, or to request a parish profile please contact the Executive Officer. 

Clergy will be required to submit a current resume as well as a written response to the parish profile.

Clergy from other dioceses are required to have the permission of their own diocesan bishop before applying.

Applications will be received until June 7, 2024.

Parishes in the Diocese are reminded that, under the Income Tax Act, every registered charity (parish) must file a Registered Charity Information Return each year, and it must be filed no later than six months after the end of the charity's fiscal period.  For example, for a charity with a fiscal period ending on December 31, the return is due by June 30.  Failure to submit a Registered Charity Return may result in your Parish losing its Registered Charity status, leaving your parish unable to issue tax receipts or apply for GST rebates for the period that it is without a Registered Charity number.

Parishes with a fiscal year ending on or before December 30, 2023 need to use the T3010-version 23 form.  Parishes with a fiscal year ending on or after December 31, 2023, need to use the T3010-version 24 form.  If the incorrect version of the form is used, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will reject it and you will need to resubmit it using the correct form.

The process of re-applying for Charitable status is long and arduous, so please use the correct form and submit your Registered Charity Information Return on time.

The Parish of St. Peter in Okotoks has two summer jobs available, funded by the Canada Summer Jobs program.

If you or someone you know would be interested, please click the button below.

To celebrate "Worldwide Knit in Public Day", knitters are invited to bring a knitting project, a lawn chair, a hat and a water bottle, and join us in front of the main doors of the church to work on prayer shawls or a personal project. If you wish to crochet or do hand work, you are welcome, too.

This activity will not only give knitters an opportunity to work on something wonderful and build community, but also offer outreach to anyone passing by as we highlight our Prayer Shawl ministry.

We also challenge other parishes to hold their own "Knit In Public" events and we’d love to see pictures! For more information about this project, please contact Rev. Carol Tubman or tel: (403) 630-9104.

 If the weather is inclement, the event will be held inside.

On the evening of Thursday, May 30, Archbishop Greg led a Service of Eucharist and Blessing for this year's graduates of the four year EfM program, hosted by St. George Anglican parish in Calgary. Congratulations to the three graduates (Doreen and Emmanuel in person and Meg via Zoom).  

Thank you to Mryka Hall-Beyer for submitting this photo.

June's Ultreya will be taking place on Friday, June 14, beginning at 7:00 pm.

This gathering will be at Christ Church, Fort Macleod, with our hosts being the parishes of Christ Church and St. Augustine, Lethbridge.

For those unable to attend in person, please watch for the Zoom link being sent out closer to the date, or contact the Diocese Office.

More information is available by emailing the AFP Committee.

Clergy are invited to attend the June Clergy Day on Thursday, June 20 at Holy Trinity, Calgary, with gathering at 9:30 and beginning at 10:00 am.  

Our topic for this event will be Interfaith Dialogue.

Our Primate Linda Nicholls encourages Anglicans throughout Canada to consider a Sunday to recognize the refugees and internally displaced people of the world.  

She writes, "15 of our 30 dioceses are Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs) with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), enabling them to privately sponsor refugees to come to Canada."  Prayer and worship resources are being developed and will be available on the PWRDF website and sent to the Refugee Coordinators in early May.  

For more information, please contact Suzanne Rumsey, Public Engagement Program Coordinator at PWRDF.

On Holy Trinity Sunday, May 26, the clergy of the Palliser Deanery organized a clergy exchange.

Clergy were able to experience leading worship in parishes that, in some cases, were very different from their regular worship.

Thank you to Regional Dean Rev. Kersi Bird for submitting these photos.

The Canadian Anglican Cursillo Secretariat invites you to join Cursillistas from across Canada for their Trienniel Gathering.

Our host this year will be The Diocese of British Columbia, at St. Paul Anglican Church in downtown Nanaimo and The Anglican parish of St. Philip in Cedar.

Key Note Speaker will be our Primate Linda Nicholls.  The theme for this year's gathering is Romans 12:1-2.

Young Life of Canada, a Christian mission focussing on teens, has a part-time position for someone who is First Nations, Metis or Inuit to work with us.  Start date would be in September.  This position would be for two years, with a 20-25 hour work week.  

For more information on Young Life of Canada and this position, please go to their website.

To request the Zoom Link, please contact The Rev. Kersi Bird

Please remember in your prayers:

- for peace within our country, and in the world, for victims of violence, war and natural disasters, and for areas of unrest and riots.  We ask for wise discernment in our leaders;

- for those who are sick, suffering, isolated or in need.  We ask for prayers for Barbara, Dan, Karen, Elizabeth, Ruth and James, Kate, Rosemary, Janet, Winnie, David and Gay, Victoria, Michelle, Patricia and John;

- for those who have died and those who mourn;

- for the poor, the homeless, and the needy in our communities;

- for our Indigenous brothers and sisters, and their leaders in our diocese and country; 

- for refugees, remembering those fleeing regimes around the world.

Request a prayer:

Send prayer requests to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca to let us know how we can pray for you.  We will only use first names which will be removed after two or three weeks.  We will also pray for you during our regular Chapel services each week.  Please ensure that you have permission from those whose names you are submitting for prayer, and that they understand their name will be made public to all who subscribe to the Newsletter.

We are interested in what is happening in your parish and would love to highlight those events and news in our newsfeed.

We look forward to your contributions - feel free to forward your event announcements, your parish news, your stories.  Send in your details and pictures to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca.