Click the button to make your gift to support EGR
Why Should We Support Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation?
EGR’s success story in the past 18 months:
*Dynamic presence that changed the course of General Convention.
-EGR spearheaded the effort to get the MDGs as the top mission priority of The Episcopal Church and to have a minimum of 0.7% of the national church budget dedicated toward ministries supporting the MDGs.
-U2charist set a missionary tone for General Convention – 700 people, more than 100 turned away for lack of space. Incredible energy.
*Growth of a grassroots network that is transforming the church for mission
-125 diocesan contact people in 75 dioceses
-Almost 4,000 people receiving bi-monthly e-newsletter “What One Can Do”
-More than 700 youth/young adults networked online on FaceBook (social networking site)
-Spearheaded “U2charist movement” that has raised more than $230,000 for MDGs – Nearly 100 U2charists have been held on four continents with a total attendance of nearly 15,000.
-A website that has become the primary destination in the church for people looking to download and upload resources for MDG ministry
*Forging partnerships for creative mission
-EGR has worked with numerous groups – and in many cases brought them together – for creative mission and ministry opportunities. Among them are:
-Episcopal Relief and Development
-Episcopal Public Policy Network/ONE Episcopalian
-The offices of Peace and Justice Ministries, Anglican and Global Relations, Stewardship, Women’s Ministries, Children’s and Youth Ministries at National Church Center
-The Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns
-The Standing Commission on HIV/AIDS
-The Standing Commission on the Status of Women
-The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music
-The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church
-Church Publishing, Inc.
-Church Divinity School of the Pacific
-National Association of Episcopal Christian Education Directors
-Episcopal Peace Fellowship
-Episcopal Church and the Visual Arts
-The ONE Campaign
-Bread for the World
-The Micah Challenge
-Five Talents International
-The Every Voice Network
-The Episcopal Ecological Network
-The Episcopal Urban Caucus
-The Episcopal Network for Economic Justice
-The Bishop Tutu Education Center at General Theological Seminary
-EGR has provided keynote speakers, preachers and workshop leaders for diocesan conventions, provincial gatherings, clergy gatherings, parish forums, Christian education conferences, Executive Council meetings, youth conventions, national organizational meetings & conferences and more.
-EGR has provided countless hours of personal consulting for individuals and congregations on how to introduce and grow ministries of global reconciliation, problem-solving, working with the MDGs with youth & young adults and any other areas of need.
*A Meeting Place for God’s Mission
-EGR has created a community where people from across the theological and political spectrum of the church are coming together to work, pray and celebrate God’s mission of global reconciliation. Our board membership, donor list and partner organizations and friends reflect this diversity. EGR is one of the few places in the church where the whole church is coming together to further Christ’s work in the world.
EGR in 2007 and beyond
Connect. Collaborate. Create. Celebrate.
You thought we brought people together for creative mission before? You ain’t seen nothing yet! Here’s what’s on tap:
1. Putting first things first – leading with our theology
a. Gathering, creating and distributing the best scriptural and theological context and foundations from across the theological spectrum of the church.
b. Continually holding the focus of the movement on spiritual transformation and following Christ.
2. The Interactive MDG Ministry Map – A one-of-a-kind online map of all the MDG-related ministry happening in the church. Currently a pilot project in partnership with the Diocese of California, the map will have four components:
a. A map of The Episcopal Church with clickable points for every MDG ministry. Clicking will produce a pop-up with brief information about the ministry, contact info, weblinks and picture where possible.
b. A map of the world with clickable points showing all the places where Episcopalians are helping making the MDGs happen.
c. The whole thing backed up by a database searchable by keywords (e.g., if you search for “AIDS orphans” a list of all the ministries that have listed that as a keyword will come up –complete with contact information.
d. A data-entry system so user friendly that anyone with basic word-processing skills can enter their ministry’s information in less than 10 minutes. (no techies required!)
3. Creating a National Episcopal Youth/Young Adult Community for MDG Ministry
a. Bringing Episcopal (and non-Episcopal) youth and young adults together virtually and face-to-face to plan and implement creative ministry for global reconciliation. We bring ‘em together. They decide what to do. A leadership team is already forming!
b. Creating a network of youth/young adults who have traveled to developing countries and worked for MDG-related nonprofits who can be “guides” for other youth/young adults who want to do the same.
c. Working with ONE Episcopalian to mobilize Episcopal youth/young adults to advocate for global poverty as an issue – particularly in the 2008 presidential campaign.
4. Congregations and the MDGs – taking the next step
a. Gathering a team of parish clergy (already assembled) from around the church to design portable models for different types of congregations to use to go beyond the initial Christian ed and 0.7% giving experience. Designing and offering models for the MDGs to be truly spiritually transformative for congregations
5. Being a catalyst for and source of excellent MDG-related Christian education materials
a. In collaboration with the National Association of Episcopal Christian Education Directors, the Office of Children’s and Youth Ministries at 815 and the authors of curricula such as Godly Play, J2A/Rite 13, Education for Ministry – producing modules for existing curricula and entirely new curricula for engaging the MDGs and God’s mission of global reconciliation at every level of Christian formation.
b. Gathering youth and young adults to create their own resources for engaging their generation in God’s mission.
6. Keep doing what we’re doing.
a. EGR will continue to be a dynamic presence throughout the church.
b. EGR will continue to grow and strengthen its network of diocesan contact people –and they’ll be portals for resource sharing, gathering of data and stories and much more.
c. EGR will continue to partner with anyone and everyone who is interested in engaging God’s mission of global reconciliation. Bringing everyone together for God’s mission.
All this is happening with a budget of $150,000.
We have a paid staff of one full-time executive director and one part-time administrative assistant (which we’d love to increase hours or even make full-time)
We have a commitment to staying small. We’re grassroots, not a big bureaucratic structure.
Don’t just make a gift for this year, but please consider a multi-year pledge. The more money we have pledged for future years, the less staff time needs to be taken up in fundraising and the more energy and time we have to devote to making God’s mission happen.
Please make checks out to EGR and send them to:
EGR – c/o Mike Fitzgerald, EGR accountant, 115 Pinewood Ave., Brandon, FL 33510
For gifts of stock please contact our treasurer, The Ven. Gary Cartwright at
2202 Wildwood Hollow Dr, Valrico Fl 33594 - GaryEC@verizon.net
