Dear friends in Christ,

Bishop Anne shared this week a pastoral letter promising prayerful support and practical assistance for congregations during this election season. Here are a few of the resources provided for faith communities during this election:

The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations Election Resources Page 

This page has a wealth of resources to cover all aspects of election engagement. The introduction to the page notes:

Doing election engagement well does not mean taking on everything there is to do and being overwhelmed. Effective election engagement begins with looking at what your community’s needs are, what resources, skills, and interests you and your church have, and then proceeding based on how that capacity can help meet those needs.

... Whatever your path, we hope you are inspired to do more as a faithful Episcopalian modeling healthy and constructive civic engagement. All election engagement work must be non-partisan, and please heed local laws, election details, and Episcopal safe church practices as you promote voting. 

Resources include a Toolkit on everything from how to organize a “souls to the polls” Sunday to prayers of the people and hymn suggestions for a pre-election service, and, on the very first pages, a briefing on how to remain IRS compliant while engaging in permitted political activity as a church. The page also links to pre-packaged communications tools such as bulletin inserts and announcements, civil discourse training tools, advice on combatting disinformation and responding to political extremism, including de-escalation training, and more.

The Ohio Elections website

Here you can find information to assist congregants and community members in verifying and/or updating their voter registration (deadline: October 7, 2024 for the November 5 election), check their voting precinct, early voting opportunities, etc. 

Neighbor to Neighbor, Toledo presented by St Michael’s in the Hills

A series of events, conversations, and a call to “Intentional Acts of Kindness” surrounding the election season. 

Forward Movement’s Novena (9-day prayer cycle) 

“Sometimes people draw a distinction between prayer and action,” said the Rev. Scott Gunn, executive director of Forward Movement. “I am here to tell you that prayer is action. Prayer changes hearts and lives. Prayer may result in changes that are scarcely imaginable. Prayer may prompt us to engage in other actions. Above all, prayer helps us attend to our relationship with Almighty God, and this reminds us of who we are.”

The Novena runs October 19 through November 6, the day after the general election. Daily prayers are available via social media and as downloadable bulletin inserts.

These resources may continue to grow as we receive word of more helpful tools. As we know, our greatest assistance comes from God, and I echo Bishop Jolly in encouraging us to remain prayerful and engaged with God and one another as we seek to Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God through this election season.

Rosalind +

Additional resources:

How to support our neighbors in Springfield: some ideas and resources from the Rector of Christ Church, Springfield, Ohio

• Please continue to ask your congregations to stop spreading memes about Springfield on social media. Regardless of which side they are on, they continue to fan the flames of a fire that the people in Springfield wish would simply go out.
• Those who wish to send cards and other tokens of your prayers and good wishes to the Haitian community in Springfield may package them together and send them via Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield, to be hand delivered to one of the six or so Haitian churches that meet in Springfield (For obvious reasons, they are a little nervous about getting packages in the mail.)
• For those who would like to offer financial support, the Haitian Community Help and Support Center is recommended – online at www.haitiansupportcenterspringfield.org.
• Consider offering your parish some information and formation around the topic of immigration, migration, and loving our neighbors in your own context. Further resources here.
• If your congregation is inclined to activism, please encourage them to contact their political leaders to combat hate speech in all of its forms.