>> Christina (Cece): Welcome, dear listeners, to a pod burst or a
pocket size episode of Emissaries of Renewal.
I am Christina or Cece, and I'm thrilled to
embark on this transformative journey with you.
>> Denise (DeDe): Hello, friends. I'm
Denise or DeDe This episode is
brought to you by the, uh, Episcopal Evangelism
Society, or ees,
a community committed to spreading the good news
in fresh and inspiring ways.
With its rich history of deep rooted values,
the EES has been at the forefront
of, uh, innovative evangelism within the
Episcopal Church. We're proud to be
associated with them on this journey and to share
their inspiring work with you.
And for me, I'd like to thank Vicki
Suren for suggesting that we call our
pocket sized episodes podbursts.
Thanks, Vicky.
Today, while here at our fall
retreat in this beautiful vacation rental that
we're at with our
fellow seminarians, we wanted to lay the
foundation for what's to come.
Sharing a podcast exploring
thoughtful and ethical
evangelism, church growth and
inclusion through the lens of
two seminarians pursuing our master of
Divinity at, uh, Bexley Seabury,
which is an Episcopal seminary
here in Chicago.
I'll personally share that I am at the beginning of a
journey of discernment towards Holy Orders.
>> Christina (Cece): I'm a postulant on Holy Orders and the Episcopal
Church through the Diocese of Idaho.
Denise and I come from diverse faith
backgrounds, each with our unique
journey to the church, which we will discuss
in upcoming episodes.
Friends, this episode is our humble
beginning. You are not just here to
learn and share, but we hope you
actively engage with us. Your
questions, comments and insights are, uh,
invaluable to us, and we look forward to building a
vibrant community together.
My email is CeCe
emissaries of
renewal.com.
>> Denise (DeDe): You can also find us on social media,
at Facebook or
Instagram, and on threads at
Emissaries of Renewal.
We hope that by joining us here on
the podcast of Emissaries of Renewal,
you'll we'll explore the vibrant faith
communities within the Episcopal branch of the
Jesus movement. This community
is all about love, reconciliation
and caring for creation.
Essentially, we're following Jesus's
example. It's not just a title,
it's a way of life.
In our first full episode, CeCe
is going to give us a
whole picture and we're going to draw for inspiration from one of
the travel courses that she just completed from
London. Personally, I was
supposed to be there too, but had
canceled due to an, um, unfortunate.
What, uh, we'll call it an animal rescue
incident, which we're going to talk about too, in
our first episode. We
also have plenty of our own experience behind us,
and we hope to bridge the wisdom of the
past, fit the stories and insights of
today. Our belief,
well, that comes straight from the wisdom of our
retiring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
What held for the apostles and disciples in the
first century remains relevant
in the 21st century.
>> Christina (Cece): Speaking of wisdom, Dede, let's touch on the
Episcopal Church's goals. Their
steadfast dedication to social
justice, inclusivity
and love isn't merely a topic of
discussion. It's at, uh, the heart of everything that
we do. And here at Emissaries of
Renewal, we'll explore how these values
inform our approach to ethical
evangelism.
>> Denise (DeDe): Absolutely. And
friends, keep your ears perked for future
episodes where we're going to unpack
the Episcopal Church's toolkit on
evangelism. We're hoping
you'll see it as a treasure chest filled with
resources for nurturing, vibrant,
compassionate communities. From
mission strategies to innovative practices,
we're going to do a bit of a deep dive.
>> Christina (Cece): Essentially, we are laying the cornerstone
for a dialogue that will challenge,
inspire and transform us.
Our purpose, to cut through
the chaos and explore the true essence of
evangelism, not through
coercive fear tactics, but through
respectful, inclusive and love rooted
approach. You won't find fire
and brimstone here. Instead, we embrace
authenticity, vulnerability,
genuine connection and
ethical evangelism.
>> Denise (DeDe): Say more, Christina
What do we here at Emissaries of
Renewal mean when we say thoughtful
and ethical evangelism?
>> Christina (Cece): Good question, Denise. To start
with, I would say that to be
effective, evangelism needs to
combine grace, truth
and action that reflects Jesus example,
sharing the good news with integrity,
compassion and respect for others
beliefs. It involves being
honest, respectful and
considerate of, um, not only ourselves,
but each other.
>> Denise (DeDe): Right. We aim to present a biblical view
of evangelism and mission
for me and for cece. This evolution
from a narrow understanding of mission to
a liberating dialogical
approach is essential to
what we're trying to do here.
>> Christina (Cece): It is a testament to the power of mutual
respect and transformative potential of
engaging with others not as targets
of conversation, but as partners
in a shared spiritual journey.
Just open hearts and minds and commit to
reflecting God's love Me.
>> Denise (DeDe): I want to peel back the
layers of misunderstanding
and kind of illuminate the
true nature of evangelism. Do you
want to break that down a little further, Cece?
>> Christina (Cece): Absolutely. Go for it, DeDe I was just going to go look at the
definition in Webster's dictionary.
>> Denise (DeDe): Hey. Hey. There's nothing wrong with consulting a
Dictionary. Um, I'll turn to the Bible
Dictionary from HarperCollins a lot.
I mean, and not just as a seminarian, but,
you know, just trying to understand what's happening when you read
the Bible. Um, but,
okay, let's. Let's start from the beginning a little
bit, dive into the term of
evangelism as a whole. When
we return to the Greek word, which
is you and galleon,
it just simply translates to
excellent or good
announcements, which,
I don't know. Personally, I like that
good announcement or, uh,
I probably actually prefer the excellent announcement.
So you good
announcement and galleon, the
gospel, the good news. That's what
gospel means. So think about it. The
early days of the church,
um, you know, when they called it the way or
following of the Nazarene or what we
know now as being Christians.
And they were out there, the apostles, all
the followers proclaiming the
Christian gospel. That's what evangelism was.
That's what they did. Um,
they all took up that task. And so let's think of
Philip, for instance. He earned the
title of evangelist in Acts
21:8. And we're not
talking about the Apostle Philip, you know, the one who
went after, you know, Nathaniel. Uh,
we're talking about the one who had the four
daughters. As time
passed, he was given the title
of evangelist, and evangelism
itself evolved into an
office, a ministry. And
in Ephesians 4:11, it's
one of the highlighted spiritual gifts
that we have today. Like many of,
uh, many other faith denominations, the
Episcopal Church carries forward
that tradition, you know, of
find, you know, of having those gifts. We were
actually having that conversation not too long ago, my
priest and I, about spiritual
gifts and offices. That the Episcopal
Church has canons for both lay and
ordained. And evangelist is
one of those offices that's still there and
recognized as a gift from the Holy Spirit,
you know, for us. It's sharing
good news with respect, though, and
inclusivity, a heart deeply
rooted in the ways of
love. We've
said it earlier in the podcast. The Episcopal
Church stands as the Episcopal branch of the
Jesus movement, which is continuing
the work toward becoming beloved
community and
embracing evangelism. These
are the very topics that
I would like, and I believe you as well,
cece. We are going to be discussing in
our future episodes as we break down what
thoughtful and ethical evangelism is.
>> Christina (Cece): So buckle up, friends. Consider this
episode our invitation. We're
just getting started, and the road ahead is
exciting. There's so much ground to
cover, and we'll discover what it means to
be emissaries of um,
renewal.
>> Denise (DeDe): And so as we conclude this pod
burst, this episode, we would like
to and I think all of our episodes what
we're going to do is we would like to always do
a reflection on Scripture. So today
let's reflect on the words from First
Corinthians, chapter 12,
verses 12 through 13.
For just as the body is one and has
many members and all the members of
the body through many are, uh one
body, so it is with Christ.
For in the one spirit we were all
baptized into one body, Jews
or Greeks, slaves or
freed and we were all made to drink
of uh one spirit.
This passage invites us to celebrate
our diversity as a gift that unites
us within the body of Christ.
So let us embrace this
unity as we live out our faith together.
>> Christina (Cece): Until next time, keep the faith
alive, keep the doors open,
love one another and uh, keep listening.
>> Denise (DeDe): Farewell, friends. Until next time.