Greetings from the Vergers' Guild! So many exciting things are happening for the Guild. Thank you for allowing me to share some of our ever growing news!

First our membership has surpassed one thousand active members! In our short twenty three years of formal organization, the Guild has evolved from a band of several dozen vergers seeking support for their individual ministries in parishes around the country to what is becoming a notable presence in the national church today.

The Guild last met in October  2010 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. for the 2010 VGEC Annual Conference and Eucharist which was held in conjunction with the National Acolyte Festival.  Our conference Keynote Speaker was The Rev. Charles Robertson, PhD, Canon to the Presiding Bishop who spoke on "Conflict and Concord in the Anglican Communion." Also joining the conference was The Rt. Rev. John Chane and The Very Rev. Sam Lloyd.

Our Board met in April 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio to complete the planning of the upcoming 2011 Annual Conference and Eucharist which will be hosted by Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio. The dates for this conference will be Thursday September 29 through Sunday October 2, 2011. Please keep checking for updates and plan to join us then!

The second and important work of the Board this year has been the building of the infrastructure to support our national organization as we continue to experience phenomenal growth. These activities are:

We are working to continually improve our online presence and overall communication processes which are supported by Scott Smith, verger from Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville who serves as Communication and Technology Officer. Scott has shared his talents from the corporate world as CIO (Chief Information Officer) and a principal of Atiba Software, LLC to create our vergers.org website and online communication infrastructure that we have today.

The membership process is now supported by a complete online membership system for new members and renewing members. Photographs and membership directory information are now available online and annually by printed directory. We are happy to receive memberships by mail. We would also like to welcome Cheryl Cantrall of All Saints Episcopal Church in Lakeland, Florida as our new Membership Secretary.

Verger logo items will continue to be popular. Also our Guild Shoppe will continue to provide the resources listing for verger vestments and virges.

In addition to the VGEC Training Course, we are expanding our mentoring support in this area. There are over 150 "Fellows" of the Guild who have completed the Training Course and over 300 courses in the process of completion. We welcome Walt Kindergan from Christ Episcopal Church in Pensacola, Florida as our new Training Mentor.

 

We are just beginning to build our Verger Document Library. It is now time for our Guild to continue and broaden the support of our individual members in their duties in their churches. But we also have the resources to assist the broader church. We have such talent in the vergers within our ranks. We have pages of documents, customaries, and manuals available to share. Think of all the checklists, processions, and service outlines that we all have. Think if these could be tapped by any clergy or lay person as a starting point for their work, specific to their task, how helpful that would be!  We will begin to have this available on www.vergers.org.

We have made great strides in raising awareness within clergy ranks of our ministry of service. The Guild continues to be active in the liturgies of General Convention. For the first time, this past General Convention, the Guild was given a formal acknowledgement in all the daily service bulletins. In the GC Exhibit Hall, we introduced our ministry to many clergy and met many vergers serving in churches who were not familiar with the Guild. Many of the bishops are very pleased with the verger ministries in their dioceses where years ago they were unsure if vergers were needed. The Guild is known to several of our Episcopal seminaries and we hope to strengthen those ties as time progresses. There is work to be done, but with the help of our gifted and dedicated board and chapter presidents, we are making great strides. Please let me know if you are interested in assisting as we continue to build the Guild or work on a chapter in your area. There is always something to be done! 

In your own parish I am sure that the verger responds to the needs of the parish as defined by the clergy. Similarly, our Guild stands ready to continue the support of this ministry to more parishes within the whole church. I feel that as dedicated trained lay persons, we are making significant contributions to the growth of our parishes. This is our part in making the Episcopal Church that welcoming presence for Christ in the world. Thank you!

Christ's Peace,

Margaret McLarty, VGEC President