The Rev. Greta Getlein: A New Vicar for St. Paul's, Pawtucket

The Wardens and Vestry of St. Paul's Church in Pawtucket RI are pleased to announce the call of a new Vicar, The Reverend Greta Getlein. The Rev. Getlein is to Join St. Paul's on May 1st, 2014.  She is currently serving as the Associate Dean and Director of Anglican Studies and Formation at Berkeley Divinity School, an Episcopal Seminary at Yale University.  She concurrently serves as Pastoral Associate at Christ Church, New Haven, CT.  In 2009 she earned her Master of Divinity Degree from Yale Divinity School and Diploma in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School. Upon graduation she was ordained to the Diaconate and in January, 2010 to the Priesthood.

Prior to entering seminary, she served for over ten years as Nurse Manager/Administrator in hospice and home healthcare. She was also a professional chamber singer specializing in early music and sacred music. Throughout this time she was an active lay leader in the Episcopal Church.

Since ordination she has been involved with Chapel-on-the-Green, an ecumenical service held outdoors each week for those who are uncomfortable inside a church. She is also involved with a local food pantry and Community Soup Kitchen, and a twice weekly clothing and food distribution program to folks living in poverty, called the "Midnight Run."

In describing herself she writes, "I believe in the goodness and inherent worthiness of all people and that God's love is stronger and deeper than we can ever imagine. Through the rhythm of daily prayer, corporate worship, sacrament and service we are transfigured to serve God in the world." She believes the most effective pastoral care begins with careful, attentive listening--being present for another. She is very joyful and hope filled about the "Church of the future." She believes we are in a time of transition and transformation and that what we know as church must be opened up, explored, tested, and expanded to open us to the Holy Spirit in new and exciting ways.

She is married to Wanda Strickland, B.S. Nursing and has three grown step-children and a grandson. Her family includes a special needs dog that she and Wanda recently adopted.

What You Didn't know about Forward Movement, the Publisher of the Bishop's Lent Book

Bishop Knisely's book "Lent is not rocket science" was published by Forward Movement, which is a ministry of the Episcopal Church with a fascinating story.  Forward Movement is more than just a publishing house. It's ministry and mission to "reinvigorate the life of the church and to rehabilitate its general, diocesan, and parochial work." grew out of the determination of the General Convention in 1934 to counter a period of anxiety, distrust, and decline in the Episcopal Church by creating a "forward movement".

Forward Movement lives into this mission by publishing "brisk, easy to digest publications on discipleship" and does so at an accessible low cost. They are best known for the popular daily devotional Forward Day by Day, which provides daily meditations based on Bible scripture readings appointed by the lectionary and Daily Office. They also publish a number of books you can find here:http://www.forwardmovement.org

One of the reasons Forward Movement's materials are so inexpensive is because their materials are written by laity, clergy and bishops of the church who write for free (some receive a couple hundred dollars as an honorarium). If you want to write for them, do not expect to get rich! However, if you write for Forward Day by Day, your words will reach hundreds of thousands of people in churches and in hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons where their materials are distributed free of charge. Congregations pay a modest fee for these devotional booklets and many people donate funds to support this ministry.

How did Bishop Knisely get involved? Forward Movement's Executive Director is the Rev. Scott Gunn, is a priest who previously served in the Diocese of Rhode Island. While Forward Movement often invites new bishops to write to give them a national voice, Scott may have had an even greater incentive to ask the new bishop in his former diocese. So far the book has been a huge success. 

The initial print run of 7,000 sold out in a few weeks, and a second print run is being processed as we speak.  Forward Movement plans to offer the book again next year, and they have asked us to not post the entire book on our website. Instead, we encourage you to follow along with us this Lent and support Forward Movement's ministry by buying the e-book, which they just reduced to $1.99 for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook or iTunes. This is a great way for you to support a ministry of the church that reaches far beyond the walls of our churches!

Thursday After Ash Wednesday - Lent is not Rocket Science

From Bishop Knisely's new book published by Forward Movement. You can read the first week's meditations here, and download the ebook for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or iTunes at a discounted $1.99 price to follow along as we discuss this book the rest of Lent.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Joseph Butler and the Analogies

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”— The Song of Solomon 2:10 

How should science and religion speak to each other? It’s not clear. Science is built on a ladder of deductions and observations. Religion, particularly in the case of Christianity, is built on revelation and experience. Given that the two disciplines are different at this fundamental level, finding a common language has always been difficult. 

In the earliest days of the church, there was no divide between natural philosophy and theology. One led directly to the other, and people studied natural philosophy—what we typically call “science” today—on the way to their work in theology. But during the Renaissance of Western thought, when pre-Christian thinkers were being rediscovered and studied, a gulf began to grow between the two disciplines. The way scientists and theologians did their work became an increasing barrier to the conversation many expected them to have. The problem became more acute as time went by. 

Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham in the mid-eighteenth century, wrote a book that was primarily a response to the new thinking that Isaac Newton’s work had begun. Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation allowed the natural philosophers of his day to make predictions that were a revelation to their time. Things we take for granted today—like predicting the exact date of an eclipse, describing the flight of a canon ball, or understanding how a barrel of water drains from a spigot—became commonplace for the first time as a result of Newton’s work. The universe was no longer viewed as a living entity with the Holy Spirit as its core, but as a machine, a mechanism that was understandable and predictable. A new view of God began to emerge—the clock-maker God who, having set the universe in motion, had left the scene and was no longer in constant relationship with it. 

Butler’s work, titled Analogy of Religion Natural and Revealed to the Constitution and Course of Nature but commonly known as the Analogy, was considered a tour de force in his day. He undertook to show how the best scientific thinking of his day was not opposed at all to the theology of the church. Rather, he said, all of nature pointed toward the deeper revelation of God. He began by describing the butterfly that emerges from the cocoon transformed with a new and more glorious body as an analogy of what God intended for each of us—and the whole of creation—in the coming kingdom. Butler’s work became the talk of northern Europe, and for a while it was one of the most popular books in print. 

But then scientific thought moved on. The French and German schools began to move beyond Newton’s mechanical models for the universe and toward a view based on the behavior of energy in all its various forms. Butler’s book was now having a conversation with a partner who was no longer speaking with him. Christianity, based on the full revelation of God in the person of Jesus, speaks of eternal truths that must be at the heart of all theological conversations no matter the era in which they occur. Science is constantly moving forward, discarding older ideas that are no longer viewed as adequate explanations and taking up new ones that promise to do a better job of explaining what is observed. It’s not that the two conversation partners have a different language; they are each speaking in ways that the other has trouble detecting. 

And yet we need to have the conversation. And so we struggle to hear each other’s voice. There can be no reconciliation, which is the core of the church’s mission, unless there is conversation. It has always seemed to me that learning to speak to each other, learning to understand how another person thinks, is both the key to empathy and compassion but also a primary gate to be entered as we come into the kingdom of God. 

What conversations have you been neglecting because they are difficult to have? 

Who in your life do you have trouble identifying with or understanding? 

What can you do today to move a little closer to those persons, to take the conversation a few steps further along? Doing that is doing the work of reconciliation. 
____

"Lent is Not rocket Science" was published by Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church which publishes accessible low cost resources on discipleship written by the laity, clergy, and bishops of the church largely on a pro bono basis.

Ash Wednesday - Lent is Not Rocket Science, with Bishop Knisely

From Bishop Knisely's new book published by Forward Movement. You can read the first week's meditations here, and download the ebook for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or iTunes at a discounted $1.99 price to follow along as we discuss this book the rest of Lent.

Ash Wednesday

First the Fire

And the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

— 1 Corinthians 3:13

Many Episcopalians and other Christians will have ashes placed on their foreheads in the sign of the cross today. And many congregations make their ashes the day before, by burning the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday service.

When I was a parish priest, I started asking people in the middle of the season of Epiphany to bring in any palms that had been blessed and that they wished to recycle. We collected the dried-out palms in a bag in the sacristy during the weeks leading up to Lent. After the traditional pancake supper on Fat Tuesday, the day of celebration before Ash Wednesday, I gathered the children to help me with burning the palms.

Over the years I had perfected my technique: Find an aluminum baking pan, a large tin can, and three small, similar-sized rocks. Place the rocks in the bottom of the pan. Use a can opener to take the top and bottom off the tin can so that it becomes a large empty cylinder. Place the cylinder on top of the three rocks. (Children and parents often asked me why I used three rocks, expecting that it had something to do with the Trinity or Richard Hooker’s three-legged stool. I wish I had come up with a better explanation than the one that is the truth—it simply takes three points to make a stable balance for the cylinder.)

On Fat Tuesday I took the palms that we had collected and stuffed them down into the cylinder. I then used a long-necked butane lighter to light the palms on fire from the very bottom of the cylinder. As the bottoms of the palms smoldered, they gave off a growing cloud of tan smoke. Once the tan smoke was rising in a thick column, I put the long-necked lighter back down at the bottom of the can and made a new flame. That flame ignited the column of smoke into a column of fire, and the palms in the can rapidly turned to ash. (I always kept the children way back for this part, of course.) After the fire died out and the ashes were cooled, the children and I took forks and smashed the remaining ashes into smaller and smaller bits until only a fine powder remained. I used that fine powder the next day as the dust for Ash Wednesday. 

The reason the second small flame makes such a dramatic change in the way the palms burn is because when something “burns” what actually ignites are the gasses given off by the material that is decomposing in the heat. The gas is the release of all the complicated organic molecules that the palm tree gathered from the soil in which it grew and the atmosphere it breathed, then combined with the rainwater from the sky and the energy of the sunlight, and stored in the cells of its branches. The first fire that I lit started taking apart all that work, so that the organic molecules trapped in the cellulose of the palm would be freed and lit. The second flame I used ignited the gasses in the rising column of tan smoke, and their ignition created the small fireball and dramatic column of flame. 

I find it very evocative that the ashes we use on this day come from the destruction of the work of creation. The microbes and cellular creatures of creation labored for years to organize the minerals and chemicals that made up the structure of the leaf of palm. When we cut the leaf off the tree, taking it away from its source of nourishment and water, those cells began to die. They dried out and become mere husks of what they once were. But the fire of Fat Tuesday released the molecules back into the atmosphere so that a new plant could use them again. Fire, water, air, and Earth are all present in the moment of the creation of the ashes. And though we put the end product on our foreheads, the life-giving parts have been returned to creation to be used again and again.

In our own lives there are times when the fire must come to release the elements we’ve stored up in careful, complicated containers in our hearts. Ash Wednesday reminds us not to fear that experience but to see in it the wonder of God’s economy, the working out of the plan of creation and salvation.

Where is the fire going to come into your heart this Lent? 

And what will it release to others?

What needs to be broken down in you to release the fire of the Holy Spirit in your life this Lent?
____

"Lent is Not rocket Science" was published by Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church which publishes accessible low cost resources on discipleship written by the laity, clergy, and bishops of the church largely on a pro bono basis.

Follow here as we read Bishop Knisely's "Lent is Not Rocket Science: An Exploration of God, Creation and the Cosmos"

From Bishop Knisely's new book published by Forward Movement. You can read the first week's meditations here, and download the ebook for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or iTunes at a discounted $1.99 price to follow along as we discuss this book the rest of Lent.

Intro: An Invitation to View Lent from a New Perspective

For a long time Christians understood that there were two ways to learn about God. One was by studying the revelations that God made through the writings collected into Holy Scripture. The other was by applying our senses to the world around, the creation that God made and then declared “very good” (Genesis 1:31) This second way of learning about God and God’s intentions for humankind is called Natural Theology. The word theology literally means “words about God,” so Natural Theology means “Nature’s words about God.” 

During the Reformation in the sixteenth century, theologians began to become increasingly wary of humanity’s ability to use reason properly. During the medieval period, the “scholastic” movement within theology had worked to apply the best of classical philosophical thought, primarily that of Aristotle, to reasoning about God. This way of thinking reasoned that the Earth was the center of the universe, that the lights in the sky revolved around it, and that planets moved because of the angels who propelled them with their wings. But as scientific observations about the nature of the solar system and gravity began to overthrow these ideas, theologians reacted by giving more importance to the revelation of Holy Scripture than that of Natural Theology. Today the situation has gotten so extreme in parts of the church that special courses taught in schools and universities focus on “Christian Science” and hold that anything that is seen to contradict the literal and plain meaning of Holy Scripture must be considered wrong and be dismissed. This leads some Christians to be suspicious of the study of evolution, cosmology, and geology. 

During this Lent, I invite you to return to an earlier understanding of Natural Theology. I invite you to see it as a channel of revelation about the nature of God that is not absolute in itself, but is an equal partner in conversation with Holy Scriptures and the traditions of the church. Paying attention to the world around us—to the intricate structures of nature, to the mind-bending reality of the cosmic and microscopic realms—will invite us to recognize that the God we worship, and with whom we have an ongoing relationship, is present in the raging storm, the fiery whirlwind of the surface of a star, and the deep silence of intergalactic space. 

I invite you to open all of your senses to seek God’s presence in nature. God is not nature, nor is God bounded by nature, but God is most certainly nature’s author—and nature’s “words” can point us onward to that which is beyond its bounds. In the coming days and weeks of Lent, I invite you to journey from the largest scale of the created order inward to the very smallest scale we can speak about. Some of the images will be familiar, some of them will require a bit of meditation and imagination to understand, but all will hopefully lead us to new insights about God’s relationship with us.

W. Nicholas Knisely

XIII Bishop of Rhode Island 

Providence, Rhode Island 

Lent 2014
_____

"Lent is Not rocket Science" was published by Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church which publishes accessible low cost resources on discipleship written by the laity, clergy, and bishops of the church largely on a pro bono basis.

Get your Ashes to Go Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday

Deacon Janice Grinnell on URI's  campus for Ashes to Go 2013

Tomorrow for the third year in a row, Clergy and Laity from Episcopal churches across RI are taking ashes outside of their church buildings and into their neighborhoods, to offer the imposition of ashes and prayers to people on the streets for Ash Wednesday.

As chief organizer, The Rev. Edmund Harris says “Of all the days in the Church’s year, we thought, Ash Wednesday is a day when God’s love and mercy meets people wherever they might be, whatever their connection to church or God has been."

The Rev. Edmund Harris is Priest in Charge of Epiphany in East Providence, and the founder of Church beyond Walls (CBW). CBW is a congregation that feeds the hungry physically and spiritually by holding worship and distributing food in the park at Kennedy Plaza. CBW aims to equip parishes to better reach outside of their doors and meet the needs of their communities.

“Ashes to Go.” Was inspired by a similar program in the Diocese of Chicago founded by The Rev. Emily Mellott, and in past years this has been a powerful event which has made a huge impact on both those who offered and received ashes. We hope to see you outside tomorrow! 

Ashes to Go 2014 Participants & Locations

• Stephens, Providence: Outside church after noon mass (12:30-12:45ish)
• Ascension, Cranston: outside church 7-8am during commuter hours and 2:15-3pm as school lets out.
• Holy Trinity, Tiverton: Drive up Coffee and Ashes in Church parking lot 6:30-9:00am
• St. Marks in Warwick and St. Thomas in Greenville will be at TF Green Time TBA
• Epiphany, East Providence: and Church Beyond the Walls: Kennedy plaza from 7-11am
• Transfiguration, Cranston: Washington Park Square starting at noon
• Redeemer, Providence: Hope Street at Fourth Street in Providence, 7am to 9am 401-331-0678
• St. Augustine's at URI: Kingston Train station 5:45am to 7:30am or so, URI Campus (in front of Memorial Union on upper end of lower college road) 9am-11am
• St. Martin's, Providence: Providence Train Station, Time TBA
• St. Matthew's Jamestown: Outside in front of church during morning commute

Watch online as it unfolds by following these lists of our churches:

49 on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lists/682849971770

15 on twitter: https://twitter.com/EpiscopalRI/lists/ri-episcopal-churches

ECC's "New Church" Attracts 70 to First Service

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

Last Sunday night, 70 people came to the very first service of “New Church” in Pascoag, an Episcopal Church plant associated with our Camp and Conference center. For the first time in many years, the church that was formerly Calvary Church, at 158 Broad Street in Pascoag, was full of people who had come to worship.

It was over five years ago that Calvary made the decision to merge with St. Thomas’ in Greenville, and that merger led to a healthy and thriving parish that is living fully into God’s call to care for one another and the world. The merger allowed for new life, new beginnings, and new ministry at St. Thomas’. The merger also left a building behind nestled in the Northwestern most corner of the state, and only two miles from the Episcopal Conference Center.

When the Bishop and ECC Director Meaghan Kelly started talking about forming a new worshipping congregation that was associated with the summer camp program and ministry at ECC, the empty church seemed like a natural place to start holding worship services.  The idea was to start something new and just a little bit different from the other options that we have for churchgoers in the Diocese.  The primary weekly service would be held in the evening instead of the morning and the music would be accompanied by guitar and drum, incorporating some of the songs used at camp.

The Rev. Meaghan Kelly admits she was hoping for 20 people at the first gathering – a Celebration of the Holy Eucharist and a potluck at her house (the former rectory) next door afterward. She was surprised and overwhelmed when 70 people arrived, with many children in attendance.  Some folks came just to check it out and support this effort, but many came and were excited about being part of this ministry, including several people from the neighborhood.

New Church will meet again next week for worship (at 5pm) and a potluck dinner (at 6pm). At the start of Lent, as New Church pays close attention to the experience of being in the wilderness, The Rev. Meaghan Kelly says they will begin to pray and discern in earnest.“We will listen for God and explore who we are going to be, where God is calling us into ministry, and how we can share the light of Christ in Pascoag and in the world.  Please pray for us and with us as God makes something new!”

Taking worship to the streets: Ashes to Go 2014 How-to

Your Church Participating this year? Let us know! We'll include you in diocesan publicity. Email Edmund@epiphanyep.org

Every year on Ash Wednesday, the Church invites us “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and

meditating on God's holy Word.” Our foreheads are marked with ashes as we remember our mortality and need for repentance as well as the scope of God’s love and mercy.

Have you ever considered taking this invitation to the streets? This Ash Wednesday, Bishop Knisely and Church Beyond the Walls invite you and your congregation to do just this by taking part in Ashes to Go. On March 5, Episcopalians across Rhode Island will be participating by offering ashes, prayer and an invitation to be part of church on street corners, outside of coffee shops, at train stations, bus depots and airports throughout Rhode Island. Will you take part?

Planning an Ashes to Go event in your community is easy. The Reverend Emily Mellott of Calvary Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Chicago provides some excellent tips:  

Choose a place that allows you to meet people where they already are on a Wednesday.

Choose a liturgical option that fits that place.

The liturgical action can be as simple as offering the ashes themselves (“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”). A prayer (the Collect of the Day works nicely, or the prayer over the ashes from the Ash Wednesday liturgy) before imposing ashes, and a simple “Go in peace,” give the symbol a toe-hold in our common prayer. This option can go nearly anywhere, from transit stops to McDonalds to hospitals. You can do it with a small group of people, or one-on-one. If you wish to use the Lord’s Prayer, remember that different traditions learn it differently! In a location where you may encounter people in groups, or with more leisure, you can use more of the day’s liturgy and enrich the symbol.

Recruit a team

Ashes to Go is a ministry that lay people may lead as well as bishops, priests and deacons. It’s great to have teams that include both clergy and lay people not only to offer ashes, but also to engage in conversation – about Lent or about life – with people who receive ashes and those simply passing by.

Let people know what you’re up to

In addition to recruiting in the congregation, let local media know that you’ll be doing something new and interesting. Ashes to Go is photogenic, and makes great copy for local papers. Chicago congregations found themselves in the traffic and transit reports and on

the evening TV news in 2011, as well as in local papers.

Equip your team

Dress for the weather and dress for the liturgy. For liturgy on street corners and transit stops, it’s probably a good idea for at least half of your team to wear vestments. This makes you stand out in the crowd, and gives passers-by a sense that something special is happening.

A sign isn’t usually necessary, but consider your location, the style of your congregation, and what will help make you visible. If you use incense every Sunday, take a thurifer as part of your team. For a rainy transit platform, our team borrowed patio umbrellas from a parishioner, which doubled as shelter and a way to locate us. It’s good to bring ashes in a sealable container, especially if the weather is windy or wet. You can often find small screw-top jars sold for travel toiletries which work great for ashes.

Give people a take-away

The liturgical moment speaks for itself. But participants may want to find a way to reflect on the encounter, or know who it was who met them with a moment of grace in a busy weekday. Prepare a give-away. Consider Lenten reflection booklets from Episcopal Relief and Development. Or create a prayer card or leaflet that includes prayers for Lent and information on your congregation’s Lenten program. Make sure to include your contact information and weekly service times!

Pray

Pray for the people you will meet, for your team, and for all God’s people looking for a moment of grace.

We want to know where and when your congregation will be offering ashes on Ash Wednesday. So that we can share this information with local media outlets, drop us a line and let us know by Monday, March 3. Email the Reverend Edmund Harris, Priest and Organizer for Church Beyond the Walls, at Edmund@epiphanyep.org.

For more information about Ashes to go, including additional resources, check out the Ashes to Go website here (http://ashestogo.org/).

See you on the streets!

Where are the people who are not in church on Ash Wednesday? On trains and buses? At the store? Doing shift work? Having lunch on the run? Shuttling the kids to school? Where else? 

Places with a lot of pedestrian traffic and an opportunity for drivers to pull up are ideal for brief Ashes encounters. You are looking for a place where people can pause for a few minutes without blocking traffic. If your church opens onto a busy sidewalk, you are in luck. Public sidewalks near transit or shopping might be good options. 

If you are on private property (such as shopping centers) you may be asked to leave, unless you make arrangements with the property owner. 

Ashes to Go can also mean encounters at the tables of a coffee shop or somewhere people have to stand and wait. Do you and your congregation have a good relationship with a coffee shop or local business?

St. Martin's Youth to be featured on PBS

St. Martin’s Youth at TAP-IN with Director Lynn Moran

St. Martin's Youth Group was filmed by RI PBS filmmaker Jim Hummel last Sunday for a documentary on TAP-IN, the East Bay food pantry in Barrington.  The young people will be featured in The Hummel Report in 2-3 months.  The story will air on local news, RI PBS and on-line.

They delivered about 15 cases of food, met the Director Lynn Moran, organized and stocked the shelves and had a tour.  Not only was it a service mission for the Youth, it was an educational experience as well.  They learned that TAP-IN has an ongoing need for toothpaste, shampoo, soap, coffee and toilet paper.

The event was part of our spring program for the Youth: Come Hungry.  Raquel Ray, the Christian Formation Director at St. Martin's, is leading the group through three learning modules that mirror their church's mission statement "Come as You Are, Grow With Us in Faith, Go Forth in Peace: Come Hungry, Be Fed, Feed Others."

The objective is to raise awareness of global, national and local hunger.  We’re looking at hunger in terms of physical and spiritual and how the church can satiate that longing in both aspects. So far, they have traveled to Heifer International’s Overlook Farm in Rutland MA, collected soup for the Souperbowl of Caring, listened to speakers Rev. Albino Barreira (Professor from Providence College), Professor Sean Mulholland (Stonehill College and St. Martin’s member) and New Urban Farmers.  Through the spring they will meet Michelle Wilcox from Crossroads and Diana Burdett from Pica.  They will be encouraged to participate in 30 Hour Famine, Nightwatch and Happening, and all ECC events.  In the process, Raquel hopes to encourage a group cohesion as they transition from Rite-13 to J2A and guide the youth to find their own mission by the fall.

Each module will conclude with a capstone mural project with artist Heather Annis, who is a Youth Minister and member of St. Martins.  Heather will be working with our young people to create three murals that will enhance St. Martins’ Youth Space. 

Canon's Corner: Silent Auction How-to

By The Rev. Linda L. Grenz, Canon to the Ordinary

One of the easiest ways to raise money for your church is to hold a silent auction, and now is the time to ask merchants for a donation to yours. 

Most businesses set aside a specific amount to give in response to requests like this and they give them out on a first come, first served basis. If you ask in August, you may be out of luck, so ask in the first quarter of the year.....preferably February or March (they often haven't done their inventory and closed the prior year's books until the end of January).

When you ask, have a specific fundraising purpose you and your parishioners can describe to potential donors. Ask your parishioners to think of goods or services they can donate, or places beyond your local community that might be willing to support this effort. 

It isn't unusual for parishioners to donate a time-share unit they don't plan to use this year, or for them to ask the ski resort they frequent to offer free ski lift tickets. Also, think beyond the usual food baskets, toys, artwork and dinners. A swim club might offer a free family membership (which was THE most popular item at one church), a museum might offer free admission, and a roller rink might offer free skating for an evening. Approach any business your church uses as a vendor and ask parishioners to tell you their favorite stores, events and organizations so you can ask them for a donation.

Business people want to make a difference in their community, but they also need to earn a living. Some may ask you "What is in it for us?"  Tell them you will give them credit at your event, and then make sure you do so. Put their name in a booklet you hand out and/or on the paper next to the donated item -- you can even put out a business card or small flyer about their business. Send them the usual thank you letter with the IRS tax deduction statement when they donate. And then remember to send them another letter after the auction, thanking them for their donation and telling them how much you raised at the event and what you will do with it. In other words, tell them how their contribution will help make a difference in your cause and their business.

If you set up form letters for your requests and thank you letters, you can easily solicit many vendors. Some will require you to use your shoe leather and personally request it, but some will respond to a letter. You can always follow up with those who didn't reply to the request letter.

There are many people outside the church who want to make a difference and will support a cause by attending your event even if they couldn't donate an item, so promote your cause widely outside the church. Then, at your event give attendees a way to make a difference regularly and they will begin to identify with your church -- some will begin to see it as "my church" even if they don't attend worship. If they feel belonging in this way it more likely that they will turn to you at other times in their lives, or even just start coming to your church!

At the auction, have a set opening and closing time. Be sure you collect names, emails and phone numbers so you can follow up with winners who left early (and so you have that information and can invite them to your next event!). Prepare some interesting food (appetizers and desserts are good) and music, then arrange your silent auction items on tables around the room and let people browse. If you have really good food and music, you can even charge a modest cover charge ($5/person) which increases the income. And don't forget to have your parishioners circulating, getting to know people and inviting them to church.

If you have a beautiful church building, you can even have the organist playing (or set up some quiet recorded church music), light lots of candles and offer people a chance to tour the church. You'd be surprised by how many people will take you up on that -- and, again, it gives you an opportunity to connect your church with people in a way that makes it easier for them to turn to you when they are seeking God.

This (and every fundraiser) can have some, or ideally all, of these goals: 1) raise money, 2) build relationships with people, 3) invite people to church, 4) provide an opportunity to serve and 5) be a fun/joyful/rewarding experience for participants.