Ecumenical Leaders 'Dare to Share' about Ministering Together

A clergy day for ecumenical leaders to “Dare to Share” and discuss further possibilities for creating Ecumenical Shared Ministries (ESMs), was well received by the Rev. Dr. Scott Sharman, Canon to the Ordinary, and Bishop Stephen London, Diocese of Edmonton.

“This past Thursday (April 25), nearly 50 clergy and lay leaders from Anglican, Lutheran, Moravian, and United churches in the Greater Edmonton and Central Alberta areas gathered for a day retreat and workshop to pray together, build relationships, and explore emerging opportunities for sharing worship services, buildings, clergy, staff, ministries and outreach initiatives in local faith communities and beyond,” says Sharman in a Facebook post.

“This is now the second year we have done something like this. I think we will keep doing it, and it is definitely a model I can see being transferable and having similar benefits in other regions. 

“One theme of the day was about how, in history, God has often been able to work within experiences that God's people might think of as loss, decline and failure, to invite us to discover a new kind of abundance. As the prophet Isaiah once wrote: ‘Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?’"

Bishop London also posted to his Facebook page, saying “One of the most exciting parts of being the church today is the promise of ecumenical ministry. In the larger church history, we have spent a lot of time and energy building walls between churches. It is exciting to be in a time in which many of those walls are coming down.” ESMs are initiatives by different church traditions working together to share the Gospel in the local community. 

“The day was both instructional and for networking so that we could get to know each other. A great day at Glory Lutheran in Sherwood Park.”

Pictured from left: pastor James Lavoy, District Board, Moravian Church in Canada; Shannon McCarthy, Executive Minister of the Northern Spirit Regional Council, United Church of Canada; Bishop Larry Kochendorfer, Synod of AB and NWT, Evangelical Church in Canada; Bishop Stephen London, Anglican Diocese of Edmonton; Canon Scott Sharman, Anglican Diocese of Edmonton.