Coalition’s Numbers GROW During the Pandemic

The Diocesan Service & Justice Coalition, (formerly the Diocesan Service Coalition) began in 2011 by Sarah Shealy at Christ Church Coronado. The DSJC is a group of dedicated service/outreach and peace/social justice coordinators at parishes throughout our diocese who strive to network and share ideas and collaborate on projects to make a greater impact in our community.

Our quarterly in-person meetings (halted due to the pandemic) were switched to online Zoom meetings beginning in April 2020. Not only have we had more people at our meetings, but parishioners in places outside of San Diego, like Hemet and Palm Desert, people who would have had a hard time getting to in-person meetings, are able to join us now! Even those who faced a 15-minute drive on a Saturday morning are finding it much more convenient to attend from the comfort of their homes.

Early on, the group tried to include every church in the diocese. In 2013, Sarah went out to the desert with Bishop Mathes on one of his visits and hosted a Service Summit with several parishes out that way, hoping they’d start their own group. There was a little energy at first but no one really jumped on leading it, so we continued to encourage attendance by having our meetings at churches farther outside of central San Diego, but it was a struggle.

With virtual Zoom meetings, the distance between our churches doesn’t matter! Before the pandemic, our in-person attendance was averaging about 16 people but now we average 21 and our meeting in January had 27 attendees! About 65% of the EDSD churches (28 out of 43) have participated in a Service Summit and we’d love to see that percentage grow. It’s easier than ever now!

Outreach workers from all churches in our diocese are invited to come to our give-and-take meetings. Join other Episcopalians who want to get the church involved in the issues facing our neighbors, communities, and our world today. Share how you do it at your church, learn how others are doing it, troubleshoot problems, pool resources, and collaborate on service and justice projects larger than your one church. A guaranteed inspiring dialogue at every meeting!

The coalition currently meets every other month on the 4th Saturday, online. The next meeting is July 24, 2021 from 9:30-11:30am. Go to EDSD DSJC webpage to get your meeting invitation, more information on the DSJC, or to view minutes of past meetings.