Over 60 participants from over 25 small churches around the diocese gathered at Grace Episcopal Church, Canton, for the second annual Small Church Conference on March 21-22. Joined by the Canon to the Ordinary, the Rev. Gary Meade, we celebrated the gifts of small churches while also exploring current challenges and drawing from the riches of our tradition and community to find solutions. One topic of conversation during our plenary and small group sessions was how to strengthen our skills in offering Morning Prayer and other non-Eucharist services, recognizing that many of our small churches do not have access to a priest every Sunday. We explored a variety of musical and homiletical formats as we worshiped together during the weekend, demonstrating that engaging worship is a matter of intention and working with what we have. Thank you to our lay worship leaders, LaWanda Washington and Carolyn Burton, for leading our worship, our musicians James Anderson and Cecil Fox, and our lay preacher, Bobby DeLaughter. During our workshop time, we explored topics such as music in the small church, creation care, stewardship of volunteers, and congregational thriving.

Thank you to all those who contributed their time and talent to making the Small Churches Conference a success, particularly Rev. Beth Foose and Grace Episcopal Church, Canton for their fabulous hospitality and beautiful space. Our Small Church Collaborative monthly Zoom meetings continue on the first Tuesday of each month at 2:00 PM. To be added to the email list to receive announcements about these meetings and other small church events, please email the Rev. Elisabeth Malphurs at emalphurs@stalbansbovina.org.