September 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Christ Church in San Antonio.

On Saturday, September 16, Mary Foster Parmer will lead a ministry summit in our diocese. Mary is the author and creator of Invite Welcome Connect. She brings decades of experience helping congregations assess the ways they connect to people in their community and inviting them into a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ as they are incorporated into the congregation. She currently serves on the Task Force on Clergy Leadership Formation in Small Churches for The Episcopal Church, and served previously as director of the Gathering of Leaders.

If you have ever asked these kinds of questions, you would benefit from this ministry summit:

• How do we invite people to visit our church?
• Why do some people visit and not return?
• What are the obstacles that keep people from joining us?
• What happened with that couple that visited three times and drifted away?
• How do we do a better job of following up with folks after VBS, Christmas Eve, Rally Day, or other events?
• How do we create a culture of hospitality across all the ministries of our congregation?
• How do we empower the laity for ministry?
• What are practical tools we can use this fall?
  

Gather a group from your congregation – vestry members, ushers, greeters, lay leaders, staff members – and bring them to this summit.

Space is limited, click here to register by Friday, September 8, at 9:00 a.m. in order to help Christ Church prepare. Contact Melissa Soderberg, at melissa.soderberg@dwtx.org, with questions or for help with the online form.

Registration for this event will close on September 8.

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More about Mary Foster Parmer

Born and raised in the deep South, Mary Parmer is the founder of Invite Welcome Connect, a transformational ministry that equips and empowers congregations and individuals to cultivate intentional practices of evangelism, hospitality, and belonging. Invite Welcome Connect has circulated throughout The Episcopal Church and to date, has been presented in 65+ dioceses, three Episcopal seminaries, three universities, the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, the Anglican Church in Canada, and Lutheran congregations in Akron, Ohio.

Mary’s award-winning book, Invite Welcome Connect: Stories & Tools to Transform Your Church, was published by Forward Movement in 2018. Mary served as Lay Deputy to four General Conventions of The Episcopal Church, and she is past director of the Gathering of Leaders, a national leadership gathering of young Episcopal clergy. Mary holds a degree in Religious Studies from St. Edward’s University in Austin, and she formerly served as Director of Adult Ministries & Evangelism at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Beaumont, Texas.

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