If you had told me two weeks ago today that I would be going to an Anglican conference in North Carolina, I wouldn’t have believed you. And that’s exactly what happened.

Each year in January, the outreach ministry at The Falls Church hosts an annual Week for the World event. As the outreach programs have grown in the past decade, so has this event! We are growing new ways for the church to learn about sharing Christ’s love with our neighbors. This annual event started off as a Sunday for the World program, then grew to a Weekend for the World event, and now is an annual full week of activities for the whole family focused on learning how we can reach out to our neighbors locally, nationally, and internationally.

In 2006, the DC Government determined that a shelter for the homeless was the best use for the historic Gales School at 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW. The city was concerned about not only renovating the decrepit structure but also providing services for the community. After failing to sell the facility, the District requested proposals for a long term lease. Out of three applicants, the proposal submitted by Central Union Mission (where St. Brendan’s in the City worships) was selected. Following a lengthy lease negotiation, this July, the District Council agreed to release the property from government use and to allow the Mission to lease it for 40 years with a subsequent 25-year extension available.

Last week, we held our first Clergy Day as 60 of our priests and deacons gathered at The Falls Church. We began with the Eucharist and I preached on 2 Timothy 4:1-5, focusing on Paul’s two commands: “preach the Word” and “do the work of an evangelist.” We then spent all but the last hour of our time together sharing about the joys and challenges of our ministries in these two areas and praying for each one to be more effective in proclaiming the Gospel. (That’s the priority I’m hoping we’ll live out in this Diocese: give most of our time to the central work of our mission and let the business matters fill in as needed.)

On August 6, 2011, Central Union Mission and Mission Partners will be hosting Operation Backpack, an annual event where children in need, grades Pre-K through High School, are given backpacks filled with school supplies for the upcoming school year. Your help with the event will be instrumental in making it successful.

The fundraiser was an unbelievable success. Just over $200,000 was donated in cash and pledges for the purpose of building a primary school at St. Nicholas. An overwhelmed Tony Moscati exclaimed, “To God be the glory! We are thrilled to be building a school at St. Nicholas. The August 20 ground¬breaking that the Archbishop announced in faith will become a reality. We now have about 2/3 of the construction costs for Phase I of the school and every expectation that God will continue to provide.”

Mission Haiti 2011 is in the final days of getting ready to go and minister at the Lacroix New Testament Mission in Lacroix, Haiti which is found about 80 miles north of Port au Prince along National Road One. Founded by the Rev. Vaugelas Pierre and his wife Ermithe in 1980 the mission now feeds and educates 3,500 children in seven locations every school day.

Each year TFC sends several short-term mission teams (“Global Engagement Teams”) to countries around the world. Though these teams, we seek to be the hands, feet and lips of Jesus Christ as we travel to places off the beaten path, embrace people who others avoid, and lovingly share the Good News of Jesus Christ through our words and service with those who have not heard.

In particular, we are all invited—summoned, actually—to discover, through following Jesus, that this new world is indeed a place of justice, spirituality, relationship, and beauty, and that we are not only to enjoy it as such but to work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven. - N.T. Wright, Simply Christian One of the commitments that St. Brendan’s has held since our 2005 beginning is to give away for outreach purposes 30 percent of the tithes and offerings we receive. Although a small congregation, we are grateful to have met this commitment almost every year with the help of God, and the generous financial support of The Falls Church and other donors during our early years.

Our very own ADV Deacon, The Rev. John Nuzum (Associate Pastor, Church of the Holy Spirit in Leesburg, ACNA Diocese of the Holy Spirit), heads up the education arm of this ministry and is coordinating a short-term mission trip during Holy Week of 2011 (the week of April 17, 2011). Churches from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia serve the mission of Pastor Pierre and his wife, Ermithe.

St. Stephen's Anglican Church in Heathsville, VA will host the final in our three-part series: China: the Emerging Giant at 6:30pm on Friday, January 21st, 2011. Our speaker will be Dr. G. Wright Doyle, Senior Associate of the Global China Center in Charlottesville, VA. His subject will be "Christianity in China".

ADV member parish St. Brendan's in the City recently participated in the Fannie Mae Help the Homeless Walkathon in Washington, DC.

I have been to Ukraine four times before on short-term mission trips, and I loved introducing a new team to the charms of Ukraine, including the beauty of Kiev and the delights of Ukrainian food. But most of all I loved seeing my American friends immediately warm up to the Ukrainian people, finding friendships and a spiritual kinship that transcends distance and culture. It was a great joy introducing Alpha to such an enthusiastic group, knowing that at the end of our two days of training they were well prepared and determined to start Alpha so that they could reach their friends and communities with the love of Christ.

When Rector Elijah White of The Church of Our Saviour – Oatlands met Mother Superior Clare in Fiji, the parish’s Third-World Scholarship Fund for educating young Anglicans in impoverished countries came to life. Mother Clare suggested 12-year old Anita for the program, who became the first child from St. Christopher’s Home for the orphaned to graduate from high school. Fulfilling Mother Clare’s assessment, she earned a coveted admission to the University of the South Pacific, the only one in the Islands, where The Church of Our Saviour paid for four years of education and she graduated well in her class. Anita then became the only Christian teacher in a Hindu Indian high school, where she bears quiet but unashamed witness to her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In July, sixteen ADV members from Potomac Falls Anglican Church and Church of the Word set out on a week-long mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Organized through Orphanage Outreach, the trip gave them the opportunity to stay on the grounds of a boys’ orphanage in a town called Jaibon. Liz McCaslin, youth director at Church of the Word, and Amanda Holz, volunteer youth leader at Potomac Falls Anglican Church share their experience below.