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All Saints' Episcopal Church All Saints' Day School Holy Child Filipino Ministries Iglesia Episcop�l deTodos los Santos 4201 West Washington Avenue - Las Vegas, NV 89107 (between Decatur and Valley View) 702 878-2373 - Fax: 702 878-1829 - Email the Parish Office Some pages on our site require "Adobe Reader�" or equivalent software - get "Adobe Reader�" through this link |
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This is the report Fr. Ed submitted to Bishop Dan Edwards A Trip Report Episcopal Asiamerican Ministries Consultation June 6 � 10, 2008, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Attendees from All Saints�: The Rev Ed Lovelady, Rector; and Ms Melissa Sese, Holy Child Filipino Ministries Melissa Sese and I attended this conference representing Holy Child Filipino Ministries, and by default (since we were the only people from Nevada) the Diocese of Nevada. Melissa is a co-convener of the EAM Youth and Young Adult Convocation. Fr. Arsie Almodiel, Assisting Priest for Filipino Ministries, usually attends these conferences, but his year he was not available. The registration and travel was funded from the Filipino Ministries Grant we received in 2006 from Domestic Missionary Partnership Grant (we had to spend it this year of send back any unused funds). We also received a $100 grant from Province VIII. We departed LV on June 3rd and arrived in Taipei on June 5th. The diocesan treasurer of the diocese of Taiwan met us at the airport and took us to the Taipei YMCA where we spent the night on June 5th. The next morning, representatives from the diocese picked up our luggage and led us the two blocks to the train station for boarding the High Speed Rail to Kaohsiung. Once in Kaohsiung, we were picked up by a bus and taken to the Grand Hotel, where we stayed and the consultation events were held. The consultation was attended by about 120 clergy and lay leaders from all over the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, Taiwan, Korea, Hawaii, Japan, and Saipan. Some of the more distinguished participants were: our Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Shori; the Bishop of Taiwan, David Lai, the Primate of the Anglican church in Korea, Francis Park, the retired Bishop of Hawaii, Richard Chang, the Bishop Coadjutor of Seoul, Paul Kim, Bishop Suffragan of Olympia, Nedi Rivera, Assistant Bishop of Los Angeles, Sergio Carranza, Bishop Suffragan of Virginia, David Jones; and the Retired Bishop of Ohio, Arthur Williams, Our time was spend in worship (daily offices, opening and the Commissioning Holy Eucharist, two sessions with the keynote speaker, convocation meetings, meals together, and a banquet). Melissa and I sat in on the Filipino Convocation, which directed its attention to developing some goals for ministry. The final goal developed by the convocation was focused on youth and young adults and creating a worship and ministry environment and opportunity that will attract and support ministry for this age group, as well as provide opportunities for faith and leadership development. Bishop David Lai celebrated the opening Eucharist and The Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, preached. Vergara challenged us to �move form the margins to the mainstream of the American Church life and mission, to pray for revival in spirituality and mission and to be instruments in the ministry of reconciliation for the healing of a broken world and a broken church.� The keynote speaker, The Rev Canon Chye Ann Soh, using a PowerPoint presentation talked about the context of mission in an age of globalization. He used the works of Alvin Toffler (�Future Shock�) and Thomas Friedman (�Flat world�). It�s interesting that I had begun to read Friedman�s book just before I went to the consultation. Canon Soh challenges us to become �Broadband missionaries� and ended with the commission �Nothing happens by chance, everything happens for a reason. That is why you are here because God is using you, and will be using you, in Christian ministry not just in America but all over the world.� The text from his presentation is posted on our parish web site, www.allsaintslv.com - through the FILIPINO MINISTRY link. Also posted are some photos from the consultation. Melissa met with the Youth and Young Adult Convocation, with the nine other young people who attended the consultation. They decided to work on communications to keep the young people in all EAM congregations connected. Fr. Fred Vergara invited Melissa to be part of a �Does it fit� project to consider ways to encourage and support young adults to discern a call to ordained or lay ministry. I have asked Melissa to prepare a report on the trip from her perspective. I had a conversation with Laus Delia, from St. Andrew�s seminary in Manila about summer intern opportunities for their students. I asked that he keep in contact about the possibility of inviting as student to come to Nevada for an internship. I was approached by the Korean Convocation about their planned meeting in Las Vegas in August of this year. They plan to plant 20 Korean congregations in the next 12 years and have Las Vegas on their list of possible places. I suggested that they make arrangements to meet and talk with you when they come to town. I talked to David Jackson, Dean of Bloy House seminary in Claremont, CA about what extension programs the school offered that we might use in our diocese. He said that right now they did not have much, but were in the process of development. On Sunday we had the choice of several places for worship and sightseeing. I went to Grace Church in Tainan. The rector, Paul Mun was on the bus that picked us up from the hotel. Worship was in English and Mandarin and we sang familiar hymns, and said the liturgy each in our own language. After church we were served a special lunch with rice cakes made especially for the annual Dragon Boat festival (going on all over Taiwan that weekend). After lunch we had a guided tour of some of the historical landmarks in Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan. Our day ended with dinner at a restaurant that specializes in authentic Taiwan cuisine. We had seafood of all sorts, including eel, shrimp, oysters, and scallops, prepared in what were new ways for most of us. As we arrived back at the hotel, Bishop Katharine was just arriving. She seemed surprised to see me. Bishop Katharine presided and preached for the Commissioning Eucharist. In her sermon she expressed appreciation for the work of the EAM and likened it to the life and mission of St. Columba; as he set out in a small boat not knowing where he was going, but confident that God would get him to where he was supposed to be. The banquet following the Commissioning Eucharist was rich with Chinese and Taiwanese foods and lively conversation, with lots of picture taking. After dinner Kindergarten students from one of the Kaohsiung parishes entertained us with a bell choir, dancing, and singing; an adult choir from St. Timothy�s in Kaohsiung sang and did a puppet show. The hospitality of the diocese of Taiwan was excellent. We ended our trip by a return trip by Bullet Train to Taipei and overnight at the YMCA. We did some sightseeing, visiting the tallest building in the world, with the world�s fastest elevator, Taipei 101, and with Melissa as my guide, managed to cover lots of shopping areas. We flew out of Taipei on June 11th, arriving back in Las Vegas on June 11th. I had some conversations with diocesan Ethnic/Multi Cultural ministry representatives and suggest that we develop this in our diocese, either as an individual or a commission. I believe that one of the most fertile fields for mission and ministry for our diocese is multi cultural ministry. It has been, for me, a most challenging and rewarding ministry in all of what we�re trying to do in All Saints� with both Asian and Hispanic ministry. I hope to talk to you in some detail about this next month after I return from the Hispanic Ministry Conference in Atlanta. To say this was a great trip is an understatement. The contacts and conversations, the fellowship and worship, and even the convocation meetings help me gain some wonderful insight into Asian ministries in our Church in its great and wonderful diversity. I had not been to Taiwan before, so that was a great experience for me. I love Asia and the Asian people. My dream when I retire is to spend some significant time in ministry somewhere in Asia. I cannot describe fully the experience and I trust this experience will help me in my ministry as rector of All Saints� and is an experience that will help our mission district and diocese in the development of Asian ministries. Thank you for your support for this adventure and of our multi cultural ministry at All Saints�. Yours in Christ, Ed Lovelady |
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