Training Emphasized in Jubilee Program
Episcopal News Service. July 26, 1984 [84152]
NEW YORK (DPS, July 26) -- With a fledgling internship program, an organization of associates, and a prospective new staff officer, Jubilee Ministry, a child of the 1982 General Convention, is beginning to come of age.
Authorized in New Orleans by a resolution which declared "a ministry of joint discipleship in Christ with poor and oppressed people, wherever they are found, to meet basic human needs and to build a just society, is at the heart of the mission of the Church," Jubilee Ministry has, among other things, lifted up 33 designated Jubilee Centers, initiated an Episcopal Public Policy Network, and begun publishing a social ministries journal called Jubilee. Recently, however, a new emphasis has been placed on the training aspect of the Jubilee package.
Two interns, one a lay seminary graduate, the other a college graduate intending to enter seminary, are beginning a pilot program to encourage Episcopalians to commit themselves to ministry with the poor and oppressed. One will work, through the General Theological Seminary, in an urban setting at the House of Prayer in Newark, N.J. The other is in a rural placement in Harriman, Tenn. and will be overseen by staff at the School of Theology, University of the South, in Sewanee. According to the Rev. Richard Gary, executive assistant for National Mission in Church and Society at the Episcopal Church Center, one of the things they will be seeking to discover is "whether this is an effective way of introducing people to ministry on a professional or lay level -- whether it would be best done on a national, diocesan or local level: what is most efficient." He sees 1984 as a testing period, with possible expansion in 1985, but says "We don't want to try to build another Volunteers for Mission."
One of the developments Gary is most enthusiastic about is the Jubilee Associates program, which brings together persons in charge of designated Jubilee Centers. Calling them "the invisible workers of the Church," he noted that they tend not to get to national meetings, to lack access to continuing education programs, and to not know their counterparts. The purpose of this program is to provide opportunities for them to get to know one another and to familiarize themselves with the Jubilee Ministry in its breadth. It is also hoped to provide them with resource materials and to help them relate to organizations with similar goals, such as the Urban Caucus and the Church and City Conference. Two meetings per year are anticipated, with the first having been held in Scranton, Penn. in May in connection with the Church and City Conference, and the next planned for September here.
The Associates program is working to respond to the needs of leaders in these "front-line" positions and thereby foster active collaboration and a renewed sense of commitment -- and help prevent burn-out. It is perceived by its authors as having the potential for stress intervention ministry.
In addition to the Jubilee Centers already designated, there are at least a half-dozen more "in the works," and Gary anticipates that the total may reach 50 by January, 1985 and perhaps 100 by next year's General Convention.
To aid in the further development of the Jubilee Ministry, a new position is being created at the Episcopal Church Center. The title is staff officer for metropolitan ministries, and its responsibilities will include coordination and implementation of the Jubilee Ministry Program.