Congratulations and Greetings on EPGM's 20th Anniversary
EPGM celebrates it's 20th birthday this year. Greetings have been coming in from around the Anglican Communion, giving thanks and offering continued best wishes for the next decade of mission networking. A sample of greetings:
From The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop of Connecticut, "For two decades The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission has served as a key network for advancing the faithfulness of Episcopalians in God’s mission around the world. EPGM was forward looking and creative in 1990 when it developed a new model of networking Christians committed to world mission across significant theological and ecclesiological differences. Today The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion more than ever needs the united witness of The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission and the many different mission agencies, voluntary societies, committees, commissions, and dioceses it embodies. The great leader of the Church Missionary Society, Max Warren, is credited with saying: 'It takes the whole world to know the whole Gospel.' Paraphrasing Warren, I would say, 'It takes the whole witness of the many organizations of the EPGM to know the wholeness of The Episcopal Church's participation in God's global mission.' As the EPGM enters its third decade of cooperation and collegiality, may we grow in the unity of the many and different ways we serve God's mission in Jesus through the power of the Spirit."
From The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington, "May the next 20 years be just as wonderfully inspiring, compassionate and momentous as the last. I am grateful for EPGM’s vital efforts, and for its ability to respectfully reach out to a diverse array of communities. Your dedication to education, the environment, health issues, and civil rights is essential to promoting goodwill and peace across the globe."
From Canon Patrick Mauney, former director of the Anglican and Global Relations Office, "Congratulations to the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission on its twentieth birthday. In a turbulent time in the life of our Church, EPGM gathered to engage conversation, prayer and action across divisions, undaunted by differences in origin, organization and conviction of its partners. No calling is more sacred today. May the Episcopal Church continue to hold high the prophetic example of EPGM and support it with time and treasure.
Joint EPGM-GEMN Conference - June 9-11, 2010
A major diocesan mission companionship in Africa, mission's parallel with mutuality in marriage, the challenge of mission in post-earthquake Haiti, the gift of mission networking, possibilities for mission education - these topics represented the wide range of Episcopal mission thinking highlighted at the joint annual conference of the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission (EPGM) and the Global Episcopal Mission Network held at Virginia Seminary in Alexandria, June 9-11.
And those were just the plenary sessions attended by the 65 mission activists from around the church. Eight colloquia further enriched the practical, motivational and theological offerings of the conference. The gathering marked the 20th anniversary of the networking movement that began with the founding in 1990 of the Episcopal Council for Global Mission, which in 2000 became EPGM. Read the full report from Titus Presler, noted missiologist, on his blog, Titus on Mission.