Youth Service Trip Camp

SERVICE TRIP CAMP

A journey of pilgrimage and discovery for high schoolers

This summer, Episcopal high schoolers will go on a journey of pilgrimage and discovery, June 21-28, 2024. We’ll pray together and consider the meaning of our Baptismal Covenant and Jesus’ teachings. We’ll serve in ministries that bless others and show God’s love. We’ll learn more about what God calls us to do. We’ll sleep in churches in the Louisville, KY area and serve in local outreach ministries.

This year’s trip includes a special visit to the 81st General Convention of the Episcopal Church – the once every three years meeting of the entire worldwide Episcopal Church. At this convention, our church will be electing a new Presiding Bishop and, if our dioceses vote to approve juncture in March, will take action on our juncture. We’ll attend a revival with current Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. We’ll get to learn about and explore how our church works and visit the convention exhibit hall.

Each day includes time for fun, time for service, and time for small groups to debrief about the day’s events. We’ll also make a special outing to Mammoth Cave National Park towards the end of the trip!

This mission trip — led by Regional Youth Missioners, the Rev. Radha Kaminski, and the Rev. Joel Turmo — is open to high schoolers in the Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan. Please read below for more information and to register.

We hope you will join us for this wonderful opportunity to serve God’s people, enjoy God’s creation, and meet other high school students around and beyond our two dioceses. Join us on the journey!

Photo: Participants from 2022’s trip explore a national park in Ohio during what was previously called the “Progressive Mission Trip.”

Questions about this event? Please contact the Rev. Radha Kaminski, Regional Youth Missioner for the Northern Collaborative at rkaminski@edwm.org or rkaminski@eastmich.org.

DATES & DETAILS

DROP-OFF
Friday, June 21 between 5-7pm
At a centrally located church in our dioceses, exact location TBD depending on the geography of registrants

PICK-UP
Friday, June 28 at 3pm
At a centrally located church in our dioceses, exact location TBD depending on the geography of registrants

REGISTRATION

This event is open to all high school youth in Eastern and Western Michigan, those rising into 9th grade through those who will have just graduated 12th grade.

Much of the cost for this event has been subsidized by the diocesan youth ministry budget and the generosity of our host sites. Participants are asked to pay $150/person.

If the cost would prevent you or your child from attending, please first contact your parish to inquire about financial assistance. Additional scholarships may be available — please contact Radha Kaminski to inquire.

The deadline to register is June 1, 2024.

Worship Leader Training – Lent and Holy Week

Further training for licensed lay worship leaders

Our whole series invitation to 2024 Worship Leader Trainings was published in November 2023.

The next session in our 2024 Worship Leader Training series takes place on Zoom on Saturday, February 3rd, beginning at 10am and lasting no longer than 2pm. This session focuses on preparing for and leading worship around Lent and Holy Week.

Participants will receive specific instruction around this special holy season to build confidence, knowledge of the liturgies, and to lead the congregation well through any lay-led services. It is expected that participants in this session are either already licensed or have recently completed the introductory worship leading course and are pending licensure.

Participants should have a copy of the Book of Common Prayer that you can write in with you as you participate in the session.

Worship Leaders are laity who regularly lead public worship in the absence of clergy. Training for this license takes place at the diocesan level or in another setting pre-approved by the Canon for Adult Formation. Individuals seeking renewal (EM – Advent 2026, WM – Advent 2027) are expected to participate in continuing education.

Please read below for additional dates and registration.

Questions about this event? Please contact our trainer, the Rev. Paul Brunell (Christ Church, Owosso) at pbrunell_grayling@hotmail.com or at 989-723-2495.

ALL UPCOMING DATES:

2024 TRAININGS

  • Saturday, February 3, 2024 via Zoom – Lent and Holy Week*
    (Registration deadline: January 28)
  • Saturday, May 4, 2024 at St. Andrew’s, Gaylord – Basic Worship Leader Training (incl. lunch)
    (Registration deadline: April 28)
  • Saturday, September 14, 2024 via Zoom – Funeral Preparation*
    (Registration deadline: September 8)

* Continuing education sessions require participants to have already completed their license to serve as a Worship Leader.

REGISTRATION

The cost to participate is $25 per session, which helps to cover trainer time, materials, and other associated expenses.

If the cost to attend is a barrier to your participation and you are unable to recieve financial support from your congregation, please contact Canon Little at tlittle@eastmich.org or tlittle@edwm.org.

Please read the list of dates above for registration deadlines.

Ordination to the Priesthood

By the Grace of God and with the consent of the People

The Right Reverend Gladstone Skip Adams
Assisting Bishop

will ordain

The Rev. Alexander Quick

To the Sacred Order of Priests
in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

on
Sunday, the Eighteenth of February
Two Thousand Twenty-Four
at Three O’Clock in the Afternoon
Commemorating the Feast of Martin Luther

at
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
1025 3 Mile Rd NE
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Your prayers and presence are requested. A live stream is expected to be available on the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church YouTube Page and shared to the Eastern and Western Michigan Facebook Pages.

A reception will follow the service.

Clergy will process in choir dress with red stoles.

Annual Parish Report and Parochial Report

Friends and Colleagues,

This email contains reminders and information about the following time-sensitive items:

  • The diocesan Parish Annual Report (formerly called “Congregational Data Sheet” for Eastern Michigan and “Elections Report” for Western Michigan), due February 15
  • The churchwide Parochial Report, due March 1st

Please note that this information is being emailed to the treasurers, wardens, and parish administrators that were reported on your previous congregational data form or election report. If you are no longer serving in this role, please forward to the person who is now serving. This form is how we update this contact information. Thank you for your assistance.

Parish Annual Report

The 2024 Parish Annual Report is now available for parishes to submit the names of their newly elected vestries and delegates to the diocesan convention. The submission of this report is the method by which we get the new contact information for your parish leadership for the new year. This information is essential to the diocesan center staff.

With the upcoming special convention on March 16, 2024, it is imperative that we receive the names of all new delegates as soon as possible after your annual meeting so that mailings and information can be sent to the correct recipients. Please make every effort to submit your Parish Annual Report as soon as your annual meeting is complete.

Click here to access the 2024 Parish Annual Report (Fillable PDF).

The form is also available on the Business & Administration resource pages of our diocesan websites, under “Parish Reporting” or at the following links: Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.

For questions about the Parish Annual Report, please contact:

  • Eastern Michigan – Angela Krueger, Assistant to the Bishop at akrueger@eastmich.org; or,
  • Western Michigan – Catherine Cameron-Heldt, Diocesan Office Administrator at ccameron@edwm.org.

The deadline to submit the 2024 Parish Annual Report is Friday, February 15, 2024.

Parochial Report

The filing site for Parochial Reports for the Episcopal Church is located at reports.dfms.org.

The Episcopal Church Center sent an email to all parishes with filing information in December. They reported that “…no major changes have been made to the 2023 Parochial Report. Only a few questions have been modified to allow for congregations to provide more information.”

When you file your Parochial Report online, I automatically receive a copy. There is no need to mail a hard copy to our office.

For more information, please see the Parochial Report Information Page of the General Convention website.

Please contact me with any questions or if you need your log-in email address reset. My email is sphilo@eastmich.org or sphilo@edwm.org.

The deadline to submit the Parochial Report is Friday, March 1, 2024.

Thank you,

Sara Philo
Chief Financial Officer and Benefits Administrator
The Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan
sphilo@eastmich.org sphilo@edwm.org

BUILDING BRIDGES FEEDBACK SESSIONS

Opportunities to Review and Provide Input on Proposals

The following invitation to further public conversation and feedback was sent to the dioceses in early December. The documents for review and feedback during these sessions are now available and posted to the diocesan websites (see links below). Please register to add your voice to this important process and share broadly with your congregation.

It’s been a busy and complex many years in the Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan. Since Eastern Michigan first issued the invitation to discernment in 2018 and Western Michigan responded with “yes!” in 2019, together we’ve navigated a pandemic, two cases of bishop discipline, and a rapidly changing church. These years and moments have been spirit-filled and not always easy nor perfectly lived, but we’ve navigated them well with deep care for one another, the communities we tend, and for the future of our beloved church.

With a March Special Convention on the horizon, we are in the last few months of our discernment process as partnering dioceses and we need YOUR help!!

At our recent diocesan convention, our Building Bridges Steering Committee offered an extended report about their work over the last several years: what they’ve done, what they’ve heard, what they’ve learned, and – based on those things – what this all tells us about opportunities present for us as Episcopalians in this place. Their report, titled “Better Together” articulates the “why” of their recommendation to move forward seeking “juncture” – the creation of a new diocese out of our combined body.

Click here to access the 2023 Building Bridges Report to Convention.
Click here to access the new Frequently Asked Questions, created from input from delegates.

As articulated in the report, the Building Bridges team is hard at work, gathering leaders and drafting documents that are required for the Agreement of Union – the set of materials which will be submitted to the Special Joint Convention on March 16th in the vote for juncture. Should our joint convention act for juncture, the Agreement of Union would be submitted to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church for affirmation. The Agreement of Union includes:

  • The Draft Constitution and Canons for the new diocese (The canons would then be presented for adoption – with amendment possible – at the first convention of the new diocese in October.)
  • Summary of the financial resources and means of funding the mission and ministries of the new diocese
  • Broad timeline and basic plan for the election of the first bishop diocesan of the proposed new diocese
  • Name of the new diocese

We’ve been working on these drafts to present in full to the pre-convention meetings and Special Convention of the dioceses, however before we finalize them, we need your input and feedback on several areas of recommendation: apportionment calculations, regions/collaboratives, the make up of diocesan councils and standing committees, etc. During these upcoming Feedback Sessions, our committee will walk participants through these recommendations, identifying what the current canons of each our dioceses say, what the committee recommends for a new diocese and why. Your input will directly influence the final, content of the Agreement of Union as it will be submitted to the Special Joint Convention and this critical step in developing our canons and structures.

Your input can also help us identify what we may be yet missing, additional areas of concern, and more. While the canons can be adapted and amended up until their formal adoption at the first convention in October (and in all conventions that follow), we want them as complete as possible when we vote on juncture in March. We aren’t seeking perfection, but have worked hard to develop a good foundation on which a new diocese can begin, get a healthy start, and evolve over time.

NEW: Those draft proposals are now available for review ahead of your registered feedback session.

Constitution and Canons Recommendations Stewardship of Resources Recommendations

These documents are also available on the Building Bridges pages of the diocesan websites. Visit Eastern Michigan or Western Michigan.

We need your voice on this – yes, yours – to present the best of our collective wisdom, expertise, and experience. Please join us for one of five upcoming online and in-person Feedback Sessions (dates and RSVP links below). Your participation is essential to this process! Please share this invitation widely with your congregation.

Questions about this event? Please contact Katie Forsyth, Canon for Evangelism and Networking, at kforsyth@eastmich.org or kforsyth@edwm.org.

DATES & RSVP

  • Tuesday, January 16 from 1-3pm on Zoom (Clergy) – All Clergy Call (No RSVP Required)

  • Saturday, January 20 from 2-4pm at St. David’s, Lansing* (Lay and Clergy)

  • Sunday, January 21 from 1-3pm on Zoom (Lay and Clergy)

  • Thursday, January 25 from 6-8pm on Zoom (Lay and Clergy)

  • Saturday, January 27 from 2-4pm at St. Francis, Grayling* (Lay and Clergy)

*In the event of dangerous weather, our in-person gatherings will transition to Zoom and participants will be notified. 

Ausable Inclusion Center Work Day – The Great Indoors

Saturday, March 2nd from 9-5pm

Calling all weekend warriors, DIY divas, and interior decorating legends! Join us at the site of the soon-to-be AuSable Inclusion Center for a day of renovation, repainting, and redecorating to spruce up our interior space to serve our mission in the community.

The AuSable Inclusion Center is a New Episcopal Community in the Diocese of Eastern Michigan seeking to officially launch in June 2024. It will provide programming for rural LGBTQ+ people and those marginalized by their economic status, organized around four pillars: social/emotional support, material support, spiritual support, and education/advocacy through both online and in-person programming. They also envision resourcing parishes in the dioceses seeking to deepen their own invitation to this population through education, advocacy, and potential collaborations. A more detailed report on the Center and its mission is included in the 2023 Convention Booklet, on page 92.

There are projects for a wide range of gifts and talents, but volunteers with a gift for woodworking and painting would be especially helpful for accomplishing our vision for the space.

Supplies, snacks, lunch, and a killer playlist will be provided. We’ll be working from 9-5pm, come for the whole day or as long as you can!

Questions about this event? Please contact ministry developer, the Rev. Beckett Leclaire, at bleclaire@eastmich.org or bleclaire@edwm.org.

Unable to contribute labor but would like to support the new Ausable Ministry Center in other ways? Please check out our building wishlist and library wishlist. Financial donations are welcome also! Please write checks out to “The Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan,” marked for “The Ausable Inclusion Center” and mail to the Diocese of Eastern Michigan, 124 N. Fayette St., Saginaw, MI 48602.

LOCATION

The AuSable Inclusion Center
Signage remains for the former St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church
789 Ryno Rd.
Mio, MI 48647

RSVP

Please RSVP by February 24th so that we can plan for food and projects.

There is no cost to attend; we’re grateful for your contribution to the planting of this new ministry!

Preaching Lent and Holy Week

Continuing Education for Clergy and Lay Preachers

Join with other preachers across the diocese to dig into the rich texts of Holy Week and Easter, together considering our ministry of proclamation in the liturgy.

Our bi-diocesan office of Adult Formation will offer a one-day continuing education workshop geared toward already-licensed lay preachers and clergy. We will consider themes of the seasons and begin crafting possible outlines for sermons, together preparing to proclaim the word this season. Our facilitator will be the Rev. Tracie Little, D. Min., Canon for Adult Formation and the Southern Collaborative.

This workshop meets the requirements for already-licensed lay preachers’ expectations for continuing education. Learn more about licensing – Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.

Questions about this event? Please contact the Rev. Canon Tracie Little, D. Min, Canon for the Southern Region and Adult Formation at tlittle@eastmich.org or tlittle@edwm.org, or at 810-300-9177.

DATE & LOCATION

Saturday, January 27, 2024
10:00-2:00 pm

St. John’s Episcopal Church
206 W. Maple Street
Mount Pleasant, MI 48858
stjohnsmtpleasantmi.com

REGISTRATION

The cost to attend is $25 per person.

Please register by January 20th. Space is limited and may fill before the deadline.

Christmas Message from Bishop Skip | 2023

Christmas greetings dear Michiganders East and West.

As we approach the Feast of the Nativity I remind us of a reading from the Letter to Titus as one of the propers appointed for Christmas Day:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all”. Titus 2:11

I sometimes think that God is afraid I won’t get it. One year, twenty minutes before a Christmas Eve service was to begin, a woman and her two small children showed up at the church to ask for food. Another year, a young woman of 17 called me on Christmas Eve to tell me she was pregnant and terrified to tell her parents.  Then there was another Christmas Eve when I drove into the church parking lot, to find a young man standing on the parish hall landing, who had just been released from prison and had no money to get home.

Based on such circumstances, perhaps you are thinking that I am going to say that Christmas is about helping people. Well, yes, but it is much more and goes far deeper. It seems that God is trying to tell me that the truth of the Manger is found precisely in people like the three I mentioned, and the sermons this preacher needs to hear or see are those right in front of me. The “grace of God has appeared” in these broken, vulnerable people. They are the presence of Christ, are Christ, and it is as if God is saying, “If you cannot see me in them, then neither will you see me in the Manger.”

In the Manger, God becomes touchable and seeable, flesh and blood. It also means that becomes woundable and killable, thinking ahead to Good Friday. Yet, taking that risk, God has appeared and does appear in broken bread and a cup of wine, in a newborn child or a family feast, in a kind word spoken or in Holy Scriptures, in a pregnant teenager, a man just released from prison, or a hungry family.

The Manger proclaims that God loves us in our full humanity and is, for us, in brokenness as well as joy. My hope is that we will be willing to touch the Christ, however they appear, knowing the Christ-Child who first comes to touch us. Secure in God’s embrace, we embrace the world he came to save, wherever and however God shows up.

A holy and blessed Christmas to all.

Bishop Skip


Saludos navideños estimados Michiganders del este y oeste.

Al acercarnos a la fiesta de la Natividad, recuerdo una lectura de la Carta a Tito como uno de los apoyos designados para el día de la Navidad:

“Porque ha aparecido la gracia de Dios, que trae la salvación a todos”. Tito 2:11

A veces pienso que Dios tiene miedo de que no lo consiga. Un año, veinte minutos antes que comenzara un servicio de Nochebuena, una mujer y sus dos hijos pequeños se presentaron en la iglesia para pedir comida. Otro año, una joven de 17 años me llamó en Nochebuena para decirme que estaba embarazada y que le aterrorizaba decírselo a sus padres.  En otra Nochebuena, entré en el estacionamiento de la iglesia y me encontré a un joven en el rellano del salón parroquial que acababa de salir de la cárcel y no tenía dinero para regresar a casa.

Basándose en tales circunstancias, quizá esté pensando que dirá que la Navidad consiste en ayudar a la gente. Bueno, sí, pero es mucho más y va mucho más allá. Parece que Dios está tratando de decirme que la verdad del Pesebre se encuentra precisamente en personas como las tres que he mencionado, y los sermones que este predicador necesita escuchar o ver son los que tengo delante de mí. La “gracia de Dios se ha manifestado” en estas personas rotas y vulnerables. Son la presencia de Cristo, son Cristo, y es como si Dios dijera: “Si no puedes verme en ellos, tampoco me verás en el Pesebre”.

En el Pesebre, Dios se hace tocable y visible, de carne y hueso. También significa que se convierte en herible y matable, pensando en el Viernes Santo. Sin embargo, asumiendo ese riesgo, Dios se ha aparecido y se aparece en el pan partido y en la copa de vino, en un recién nacido o en una fiesta familiar, en una palabra amable pronunciada o en las Sagradas Escrituras, en una adolescente embarazada, en un hombre recién salido de la cárcel o en una familia hambrienta.

El Pesebre proclama que Dios nos ama en nuestra plena humanidad y está, para nosotros, tanto en el quebranto como en la alegría. Mi esperanza es que estemos dispuestos a tocar a Cristo, aparezcan como aparezcan, conociendo al Niño-Cristo que primero viene a tocarnos. Seguros en el abrazo de Dios, abrazamos el mundo que Él vino a salvar, dondequiera y comoquiera que Dios se manifieste.

Una santa y bendita Navidad para todos.

Obispo Skip


It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100191 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Feedback Sessions with Building Bridges

Opportunities to Review and Provide Input on Proposals

It’s been a busy and complex many years in the Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan. Since Eastern Michigan first issued the invitation to discernment in 2018 and Western Michigan responded with “yes!” in 2019, together we’ve navigated a pandemic, two cases of bishop discipline, and a rapidly changing church. These years and moments have been spirit-filled and not always easy, but we’ve navigated them well with deep care for one another, the communities we tend, and for the future of our beloved church.

With a March Special Convention on the horizon, we are in the last few months of our discernment process as partnering dioceses and we need YOUR help!!

At our recent diocesan convention, our Building Bridges Steering Committee offered an extended report about their work over the last several years: what they’ve done, what they’ve heard, what they’ve learned, and – based on those things – what this all tells us about opportunities present for us as Episcopalians in this place. Their report, titled “Better Together” articulates the “why” of their recommendation to move forward seeking “juncture” – the creation of a new diocese out of our combined body.

Click here to access the 2023 Building Bridges Report to Convention.
Click here to access the new Frequently Asked Questions, created from input from delegates.

As articulated in the report, the Building Bridges team is hard at work, gathering leaders and drafting documents that are required for the Agreement of Union – the set of materials which will be submitted to the Special Joint Convention on March 16th in the vote for juncture. Should our joint convention act for juncture, the Agreement of Union would be submitted to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church for affirmation. The Agreement of Union includes:

  • The Constitution and Canons for the new diocese (The canons would then be presented for adoption – with amendment possible – at the first convention of the new diocese in October.)
  • Summary of the financial resources and means of funding the mission and ministries of the new diocese
  • Timeline and basic plan for the election of the first bishop diocesan of the proposed new diocese
  • Name of the new diocese
  • And more!

We’ve been working on these drafts to present in full to the pre-convention meetings and Special Convention of the dioceses, however before we finalize them, we need your input and feedback on several areas of recommendation: apportionment calculations, regions/collaboratives, the make up of diocesan councils and standing committees, etc. During these upcoming Feedback Sessions, our committee will walk participants through these recommendations, identifying what the current canons of each our dioceses say, what the committee recommends for a new diocese and why. Your input will directly influence the final, content of the Agreement of Union as it will be submitted to the Special Joint Convention and this critical step in developing our canons and structures.

Your input can also help us identify what we may be yet missing, additional areas of concern, and more. While the canons can be adapted and amended up until their formal adoption at the first convention in October (and in all conventions that follow), we want them as complete as possible when we vote on juncture in March. We aren’t seeking perfection, but have worked hard to develop a good foundation on which a new diocese can begin, get a healthy start and evolve over time.

We need your voice on this – yes, yours – to present the best of our collective wisdom, expertise, and experience. Please join us for one of five upcoming online and in-person Feedback Sessions (dates and RSVP links below). Your participation is essential to this process! Please share this invitation widely with your congregation.

We’re still finalizing these recommendations as we incorporate feedback from our diocesan leadership that met just a few weeks ago. Once available, this information will be emailed to registered participants and posted publicly to the Building Bridges pages of our diocesan websites – Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.

Questions about this event? Please contact Katie Forsyth, Canon for Evangelism and Networking, at kforsyth@eastmich.org or kforsyth@edwm.org.

DATES & RSVP

  • Tuesday, January 16 from 1-3pm on Zoom (Clergy) – All Clergy Call (No RSVP Required)
  • Saturday, January 20 from 2-4pm at St. David’s, Lansing* (Lay and Clergy)
  • Sunday, January 21 from 1-3pm on Zoom (Lay and Clergy)
  • Thursday, January 25 from 6-8pm on Zoom (Lay and Clergy)
  • Saturday, January 27 from 2-4pm at St. Francis, Grayling* (Lay and Clergy)

*In the event of dangerous weather, our in-person gatherings will transition to Zoom and participants will be notified.

Update on the Search for the Northern Staff Canon

Dear Courageous Disciples,

We are eager to call the new Canon for the Northern Collaborative, Beloved Community, and Creation Care – an essential member of our diocesan staff team and for this crucial ministry area of our dioceses!

While we have had some interest, we have yet to call the right person into this key position. However, especially in its support for the Northern Collaborative, filling this position as soon as possible with a qualified, future-focused candidate is a priority of our Joint Standing Committees.

The priest called into this role will coach, encourage, and equip congregations to align with the mission and vision of the dioceses in their local contexts of ministry working closely with the Canons serving the Central and Southern Collaboratives, our whole bi-diocesan staff, and all diocesan leaders. They will visit faith communities within their jurisdiction on Sundays and at other times and provide pastoral and other support for the collaborative’s clergy and lay leaders. With a bi-diocesan-wide focus on Beloved Community and Creation Care, the Canon will coach to inspire and resource congregations to practice inclusion, reconciliation, and active ministries addressing issues of racial and other discrimination, and the care of all creation and our island home.

The search process – updated since our change in the episcopate – will follow these steps:

  • Applications will be first received by Eastern Michigan Standing Committee President, Barbara Ilkka (St. John’s, Saginaw)
  • Application is forwarded to bi-diocesan Transition Officer, the Rev. Canon Tracie Little, for initial vetting and reference checks
  • Application is forwarded to assisting bishop, the Rt. Rev. Skip Adams, for a bishop-to-bishop call (if they come from another diocese, this is a reference check with their current bishop)
  • Applications are forwarded to the bi-diocesan Search Committee, who will communicate with the applicant for additional questions, conduct Zoom interviews, and make a recommendation for finalist(s) to the Joint Standing Committees and Assisting Bishop.
  • Full background check is initiated.
  • Joint Standing Committees and Assisting Bishop conducts final interview with finalist(s).
  • Joint Standing Committee and Assisting Bishop, with support from the Transitions Officer, negotiates and drafts Letter of Agreement with the finalist.
  • Once the Letter of Agreement is finalized and signed, we will share news of a new call broadly and with joy!!

Canon Little is working with the Joint Standing Committees on a renewed push to advertise this position. We are asking all interested candidates to apply by the end of the year, December 31, 2023. Click here to access the Office of Transition Ministries (OTM) posting.

Those with networks in the greater dioceses and Episcopal Church, please prayerfully consider who you might invite to consider applying for this life-giving and impactful position. Please share on social media and in clergy professional groups – we could use your help spreading the word about ministry in these amazing dioceses and in this beautiful peninsula! And please continue to pray for this process, for our dioceses, and for the priest who will step into this call.

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a Canon for these dioceses, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, page 818)

Yours in Christ,

Barbara Ilkka
Standing Committee President
Diocese of Eastern Michigan

The Rev. Anne Schnaare
Standing Committee President
Diocese of Western Michigan