What's Our Purpose?

The eMinistry Network

Connecting the Church in Ministry

There's an abundance of ministry expertise in our Church, and we want to make it accessible and affordable to the people of our congregations.

We want to support our members in their outreach and congregational ministries:

Create a web-based ministry center where they can find the resources they need

Provide them with practical, concrete training and information they can use

Connect them with others in ministry across the Church

Reach people who want to explore a topic but who might never attend an in-person conference due to cost, travel or time constraints

Support people in dioceses which don't have extensive programs or training resources

Support people in small or rural congregations by giving them greater access to learning opportunities

We want to share our leaders' ministry expertise throughout the Church:

Create a platform for sharing expertise beyond diocesan borders

Publicize the many wonderful ministries out there in the Church

End "reinventing the wheel" when it comes to ministry training and topics common to us all

Make ministry training affordable, accessible and enjoyable!

In the Baptismal Covenant, our Church’s members make the bold commitment to reach out in ministry to serve the world in Christ’s name:

Q: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

A: I will

Yet there is a major gap in how our Church helps its members live out this commitment — how it supports its members in ministry. We have no broad-based system for lay ministry training; there is no central “place” where people know they can go for information and support. We have no consistent way to know about — or share — the abundance of ministry expertise and experience that our members have developed.

Here’s the Problem:

	Poor Communication Great ministry is happening throughout the Church — but few hear about it! Think of the hundreds of ministry leaders out there — lay and ordained — who are doing powerful ministry daily in the Church and the world. But the diocesan newsletter may never get to hear of it or cover it — let alone Episcopal Life. We have no systematic way of communicating about our outreach and congregational ministries on a church-wide basis. The right hand often doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.
	Limited Sharing of Expertise The ministry leaders of our Church have a lot to teach us, but most of us will never get to learn it. Their expertise too often stops at diocesan borders, and their experience, knowledge and skills get lost. We have no centralized, consistent way for our ministry leaders to be a resource for the whole Church. Congregations and dioceses reinvent the wheel over and over again.
	Traditional training methods Our traditional training system has its limits. We still rely mainly on in-person conferences that are costly in terms of time, travel and expense — often beyond the reach of the average lay person or small group within a congregation. Or if a diocese trains its own consultants to work one-on-one with congregations, finding and training them takes time and may be limited by who’s available locally. It can leave people dependent on who can come to them, delaying action until the consultant arrives. And when the consultant leaves the congregation — or the diocese — they take their knowledge with them.
	Lack of Support And even if our members attend a conference, when they get home to their congregations —what to do and where to start? Who helps with the information overload? Who helps them take what they’ve learned and move into active ministry? They're on their own.

But "What If?”

We could create a network that identifies ministry leaders — lay and ordained — in every diocese and provides a forum where they can share what they know with the whole Church?

We could provide practical, usable training and information for specific areas of ministry, and make it accessible and affordable for the average person in the pew?

We could bring together people who have a desire to start or grow a specific ministry, connecting them into a virtual community? What ideas and innovations might get sparked? How many new ministries might get started if people didn't have to depend solely on their pastor or a diocesan consultant -- or wait till the next conference is held -- to get them going?

Introducing The eMinistry Network

Our Strategy: The eMinistry Network will design, develop, produce and promote practical, user-friendly teleclasses and web-seminars on a wide range of outreach and congregational ministry topics. We will create a ministry information center on the internet — creating a central place to access the Church’s abundant “people-resources” of expertise and experience.

Teleclasses and web-seminars ("webinars") are being used in all aspects of business these days — and are an exciting, innovative way to help people gain the information and skills they need to step out in ministry. They also appeal to younger generations who are accustomed to accessing training and resources via the internet. We can be more effective in our use of current communication technology as a powerful tool to strengthen the Church’s ministry.

There is such a wealth of experience and knowledge out there! The eMinistry Network will identify and make more accessible the vast "people resources" of our Church -- to support all of its members in faithful ministry in Christ’s name.