Evangelism
Recommendations for Evangelism in 2006
By The Rev. Susan Garrity
Nov 17, 2005, 17:14

Recommendations for Evangelism in 2006:

Encourage participation in Diocesan wide programs to enliven Christian formation.

• Advent 2005 – each parish will hold a book discussion group focused on Marcus Borg’s book, The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith.
• February-April 2006 – each parish will invite members of their parish and community to participate in the Via Media Program
• Parishes will be encouraged to join in the ongoing effort by the Episcopal church to continue our efforts toward reconciliation and peace with in the Anglican Communion by using the tools offered at www.anglicanlistening.org: Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening and To Set Our Hope in Christ.

Each region/convocation of the diocese will join together:

• To draft a five-year plan that is tailored to their specific needs to move forward together as an actively evangelizing community of faith. 
• To  submit requests for financial assistance using the Request form for diocesan Mission and Vision Support. 
• To create a budget to be presented to the Diocesan Evangelism Team in March for the 2007 budget process.
• Each region/convocation will present their “best practices” of evangelism at the 2006 Convention.
• To continue the practice of telling our stories of faith to ever increasing circles of the Kingdom of God offering radical hospitality with infinite respect.

The Diocesan Commission on Evangelism (made up of representatives from each convocation/region) will be created:

• To plan a Conference/revival (in conjunction with Outreach and Youth and Young Adults) that will bring in leading innovative speakers to continue to widen our understandings of Evangelism and how it connects to our Baptismal covenant and our commitment to radical hospitality and infinite respect.
• To organize, share and discuss progress in a timely fashion so that successes can be duplicated across the diocese.
• To send forth lay and clergy ministers to other diocese to learn best practices across the Episcopal Church.
• To review and make recommendations to Diocesan Council for requests for funding for Evangelism programs and projects and to assist with the 2007 budget process.

Seminary Altar Bread

From the School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, TN

Single Recipe                          Double Recipe                       Triple

7/8 cup Warm Water                      1 3/4 cups                         2 5/8 cups

1 pkg Dry Yeast (1 tsp)                   2 pkgs (2 tsp)                3 pkgs (3 tsp)

5 Tbsp Honey                                   3/4 cup                   1 1/4 - 1 ˝ cups

1 ˝ Tbsp Oil                                      3 Tbsp                          4 ˝ Tbsp

˝ tsp Salt                                           1 tsp                              1 ˝ tsp

1 2/3 Cup Whole Wheat Four             3 cups                           5 cups

1 Cup White Bread Flour                    2 cups                           3 cups

(It is helpful to turn on the oven at the beginning in order to use its heat to hasten the rising of the dough.)

      1. Put water, honey, and yeast into bowl, stirring until yeast dissolves.  Let stand in a warm place about 10 minutes to help activate the yeast.

2.      Stir in oil and salt.

3.      Add part of the flour.  Add only enough flour to cause the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  If flour does not completely dampen, add a tablespoon or more of water.

4.      Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board, kneading dough for a minimum of 5 minutes (adding flour as needed to keep it from sticking to the board).

5.      Separate dough into correct number of balls based on size of batch.

6.      Put dough into bowls that have been lightly oiled.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in volume (1-2 hours – whole wheat flour rises slowly).

7.      Shape into round of desired size on a lightly floured cookie sheet.  If the dough is carefully dropped from the bowl in which it has risen, it is already shaped.  Press down with flat of the hand until it is about 1/4 to ˝ inch thick.

8.      With lightly oiled knife (preferably a serrated bread knife), cut a cross almost through each round.  You will not be able to bake all the loaves at once.  Leave the others in their bowls until ready to cut and bake.

9.      Bake immediately at top of oven at 325-35 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

10.  Cool completely on wire rack.  Loaves may then, and only then, be sealed in plastic bags and frozen until needed.

Alternate method:  You may use your bread machine to do the mixing and kneading by following your machine’s directions regarding order of ingredients (liquid first, etc).  Once the kneading cycle is completed, remove the dough and begin at Step 5.  Note:  Some bread machines cannot handle the double recipe size batch, much less a triple size, so check prior to using your bread machine.