Dylan's resources

Sarah Dylan Breuer, nominee for Executive Council

Sarah Dylan Breuer ("Dylan" to friends) has been nominated as a layperson for the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church. Dylan is:

A seasoned leader:

• Served as editor of The Witness magazine
• Past president of Gathering the Next Generation, TEC’s “Generation X” network, and steering committee member of The Consultation (www.theconsultation.org), a coalition of justice movements in TEC.
• Member of the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, charged in the 2003-2006 triennium with preparing GC to respond to the Windsor Report
• Served on the 20/20 Task Force’s New Congregations team, 2000 - 2003 triennium
• Grassroots organizer with the Gamaliel Foundation, the Climate Project, and two successful union recognition campaigns.

Mission-minded, biblically grounded:

• Member of the Network of Ministry Innovators (NOMI), forming strategy for and support of creative and effective evangelism for the 21st century
• Author of “God’s Justice: A biblical perspective,” Chapter 1 of The Justice Project, ed. Brian McLaren, et al. (Baker Books, Sept. 2009)
• Ph.D. candidate in biblical studies; writer on Exodus, Luke, 1 Corinthians, Romans, and Philippians in Reflections for Daily Prayer (Church House Publishing, UK, Advent 2008 and Easter 2009)
• Served as a short-term missionary in Kenya.

Effectively communicating creative, fresh perspectives:

• Founder and author of SarahLaughed.net, a website providing resources on preaching and formation for over 18,000 faith leaders each week
• Creator of the U2charist, launched with Kathleen Capcara and the Rev. Ken Phelps in the Diocese of Maryland in 2004
• Author with the Rev. John de Beer of the Klesis Project, an innovative series of formation curricula made freely available online in ‘open source’ format for congregations from Alaska to Australia
• Active in the ‘emerging church’ movement and fluent in digital media and networking as well as in print and other traditional media.

Plays well with others!

• Contributor to the Covenant-Communion website as well as The Consultation’s ISSUES newsletter
• Commited to seek justice for all God’s children AND deepen relationships across the Communion to the furtherance of God’s mission.

Sarah Dylan Breuer lives with her partner, Karen, a high school teacher, in Boston. She loves playing guitar and ukulele, cooking, and hanging out with her two cats.

discernment webpages

Some time ago, I wrote a series of webpages for Hear God's Call, a site designed to encourage young people in the Episcopal Church to consider whether they might be called to ordained ministry. I think the pages are more generally useful, though, as a very brief and totally free resource for ideas, some general principles, and a list of further places to explore for those seeking spiritual discernment. So, check out:

Hear God's Call: Discernment Resources

Jonny Baker's "Worship Tricks"

Jonny Baker is part of Grace, an alternative worship community in west London (England), and is a coordinator for  worship at the Greenbelt Festival. He frequently blogs on what he calls "Worship Tricks," creative prayers, ideas, flash movies, and such for use in worship. Some are better than others, as one would expect, but looking through them can help to spark ideas even when the particular "tricks" you're looking at don't fit the particular circumstances and style of your congregation.

Heal Your Church Website

Heal Your Church Website should be required reading for all church webweavers. It gets a little technical at times, but it provides excellent advice on both design and content. Posts there have been infrequent of late, but the archives are well worth browsing. You'll also find some helpful tools, like the (free!) Email Obfuscator, which allows you to post 'email me' links on your site without exposing you to the full onslaught of spam such things usually bring.

Trinity Episcopal Church Glossary

OK, time to get serious about this page, where I'll be posting about resources (most of them free) that you and your congregation might find helpful.

This glossary of church terms from the website of Trinity parish in North Scituate, Rhode Island, makes a great link from a parish website. It's amazingly complete for a volunteer enterprise ... I'm impressed!

new page: tech tips

As I was writing a letter to a friend who's thinking of building his first website, I found myself thinking that what I was saying may be useful to a broader circle of people. I've started a new page of tech tips, and its first entry is my advice for beginners (and parishes or other organizations that need beginners to be able to help keep their site up-to-date) who want to build a site that's useful, attractive, and easy to maintain. Enjojy!

Under Construction

This section of the site is still very much under construction. Please check back frequently for updates!

Scripture Q&A

I get a lot of questions about the Bible, so I've built a Scripture FAQ, where you'll find common questions and answers, along with recommendations for resources.

Last updated: February 12, 2005