• Diocesan Home
• Find a Church
• People
• News
• Events
• Giving

Jubilee Ministries in the Diocese

To be a “ministry of joint discipleship in Christ with poor and oppressed people, wherever they are found, to meet basic human needs and to build a just society.”

This is at the heart of the mission of the church.

• Diocesan contact: The Ven. Canon Dennis McManis
• Episcopal Church contact: Visit the Jubilee Ministry website

About Jubilee Ministry

Enabling Episcopalians and others to face the facts of poverty and injustice and to take an active role in improving our neighbors' situations sometines requires challenging, occasionally confronting and encouraging new behaviors. Jubilee Ministries take an active role in meeting the needs of the poor and in the struggles against the causes of such suffering.

The overarching goal set by the Episcopal General Convention in 1982 was to locate and affirm Jubilee Centers. These  congregations or ecumenical clusters are directly engaged in mission and ministry among and with poor people. The diocese, along with Jubilee Centers:

• Train clergy and lay volunteers, including poor and oppressed people, in the work of Jubilee Ministry
• Identify persons with gifts and skills helpful in Jubilee Ministry
• Select particular Jubilee Ministries as models, and communicate their work and methods to the whole church
• Report on issues that affect the poor, and on public policies and church policies related to those issues
• Cooperate with other organizations to develop an active network to respond quickly and significantly on public issues of peace and justice
• Promote evangelism, especially in the formation of minority-led congregations
• Issue grants as a concrete expression of the church’s commitment to this ministry

Source: General Convention Resolution 1982-A080 (Enabling legislation that created Jubilee Ministries)

Criteria for Jubilee Ministry Recognition

Jubilee Centers must be an Episcopal congregation, Episcopal cluster or an ecumenical cluster with Episcopal presence, and/or an agency with connections to the Episcopal Church. It must be involved in mission and ministry among and with poor and oppressed people wherever they are located. The mission and ministry must be rooted in worship. The mission and ministry must include several programs, including at least one human rights advocacy program and one human services program. Once designated a Jubilee Center, the ministry must be willing to:

• Demonstrate the operation of its programs to others as models
• Maintain “how to” files
• Act as a resource center and funnel for information
• Be subject to annual review.

Source: Executive Council Resolution EXC021983.29 (Criteria for the Designation of Jubilee Center)

2011 Jubilee Center Designation

In 2010, Bishop Dabney Smith announced designations for Jubilee centers throughout the Diocese.  

"Responding to human need is complimented by the mark of mission that seeks to transform unjust structures of society. Looking through this lens we have established a Jubilee Network of churches in this Diocese to be the foundation of our future community-based charitable works. Jubilee Centers are recognized for their existing community leadership and outreach programs in response to the Jubilee Ministry Mandate of the Episcopal Church...

The initial Jubilee Network churches in the Diocese are:

• All Souls, N. Fort Myers
• Church of the Ascension, Clearwater
• Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota
• St. David’s, Englewood
• St Giles, Pinellas Park
• St. Marks, Marco Island
• St. Marks, Venice
• St. Mary’s, Bonita Springs
• St. Peter Cathedral, St. Petersburg
• St. Augustine’s, St. Petersburg
• St James House of Prayer, Tampa

 

---

Jubilee in the Diocese

---

8005 25th Street East | Parrish,  FL 34219-9405
(941) 556-0315 — Main | (941) 556-0321 — Fax | Contact Us |Website Login