World Mission Sunday to highlight service of Episcopal Church missionaries
Episcopal News Service. February 15, 2011 [021511-01]
ENS staff
The ministries of Episcopal Church missionaries around the world will be the focus of the 2011 World Mission Sunday, to be observed on March 6, an Office of Public Affairs press release announced.
Resources in English, Spanish and French are available for World Mission Sunday, which has been celebrated each year on the last Sunday after Epiphany since a 1997 General Convention resolution established a commemoration to help Episcopalians increase awareness of and participation in global mission.
The resources, available here, include bulletin inserts, suggested sermons and readings, and information on the Episcopal Church's missionaries.
The theme for 2011 World Mission Sunday is "Lord, it is good for us to be here," from the March 6 Gospel reading of Matthew 17:1-9.
Each year, World Mission Sunday focuses on a different aspect of the church's mission.
World Mission Sunday is a day for the Episcopal Church to "hold up and celebrate our shared commitment and call to mission," said the Rev. David Copley, who as mission personnel officer overseas the ministries of more than 60 missionaries currently serving throughout the world.
The missionaries "serve as teachers, medical professionals, clergy, and in other important capacities in 25 countries around the world," Copley said in a letter announcing the 2011 World Mission Sunday. "They are recent college graduates and established professionals who have answered God's call to go and be in the midst of their brothers and sisters in another part of God's world. They form relationships that strengthen the personal connections within the Anglican Communion and the larger Body of Christ in the world. We are thankful for their presence and witness."
More than 30 Episcopal Church missionaries are currently serving in Africa, 12 in Central and South America, seven in Asia and the Pacific, and five in the Middle East. Furthermore, about a dozen Young Adults Service Corps representatives aged 21-30 are currently serving one-year assignments throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Copley said that World Mission Sunday is an ideal opportunity to connect local congregations and parishioners with the wider church and its international work, the release said. "You can learn about our missionaries -- who they are, where they are, and what their ministries entail," he said. "Sharing stories of Episcopal missionaries is another way of getting involved in our worldwide mission efforts."
Further information is available from Copley at dcopley@episcopalchurch.org.