Story and Photos by Canon Debbie Low-Skinner+
On Saturday, February 24, the Rev. Cn. Debbie Low-Skinner, Canon to the Ordinary and head of the DioCal Congregational Ministries Working Group, attended the all-day Vital+Thriving (V+T) Winter Gathering held at Trinity+St. Peter’s, San Francisco.
This training and mutual-listening event was led by DioCal Canon for Formation, Canon Amy Cook, and Center for Church Innovation faculty—the Revs. Beth Horsch, Patrick Kiefert, and Janet Hunt (who came despite recently breaking her leg). In attendance were nearly 70 laity and 17 clergy, whose 22 churches are participating in our Vital+Thriving (V+T) Congregational Development Program.
Among the eight churches that joined the pilot/initial V+T cohort in December 2021, Trinity+St. Peter’s and the rest of the cohort have completed their data-gathering/discovery phase. They are now developing their missional innovation experiments to explore how to expand their ministries and build Beloved Communities in their neighborhood contexts.
The other two cohorts (of which Cohort 2 started in Dec 2022 and Cohort 3 started in Dec 2023) are also making great progress in their V+T work.
The event started with Morning Prayer, led by The Rev. Kira Austin-Young of St. Mary the Virgin Church in San Francisco. The Dwelling in the Word Bible reflection used Philippians 1:27, 2:5-11. Hymn accompaniment was provided by Trinity+St. Peter’s Music Director Robert Gurney.
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