A five-week study group with Bishop Hughes and Canon Clark for lay leaders at churches without full-time clergy.
In these unsettled times, it can be challenging for churches to discern where God is calling them – a challenge that can feel particularly overwhelming for churches without full-time clergy. Taking into account churches with no clergy or part-time clergy as well as churches currently in transition between clergy, this description fits more than half the churches in our diocese.
Knowing this, Bishop Hughes is making her 2023 Study Group an opportunity for lay leaders from these churches to join her and Canon Clark, the Canon for Congregational Life, in prayer, study and conversation about how to get unstuck and restart in what seems like a whole new world. The goal of this work is not to find a strategy to restore things to what they were – it is to look together at how we can discern God’s call in this time.
The Study Group will meet on the following five Tuesday evenings from 7 to 8:30 PM:
- January 17
- January 31
- February 7
- February 21
- February 28
The first three sessions will be on Zoom; the remaining two sessions will be in person at a location to be determined.
In order to participate, it is required that each church be represented by a team of no fewer than three and no more than five lay people, which includes at least one warden and two vestry members. Ideally, the treasurer would be one of the team members, but this is not required. (Note: this study group is for laity only.)
How to sign up
If you believe that this is something that would be beneficial for your church, please RSVP with your team members’ names and email addresses to Bishop Hughes’ Executive Assistant, Chloe Caprice (ccaprice@dioceseofnewark.org). Registration for these sessions will close at 5 PM on Wednesday, January 11.
