Join St. Paul’s parishioners Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis and Dr. David Coogan as they co-facilitate our monthly Faith and Culture Conversations. We invite speakers who have experience with pressing issues in our community and nation, discussing them through the lenses of faith and culture.

April Topic: Faith, Culture, and Environmental Stewardship

Featured Speaker(s): Michael Lipford (see bio below).

ONLINE ONLY. Registration required – CLICK HERE to register.

OUR CONVERSATION PARTNER(s):

Michael Lipford | After a 36-year career, Michael Lipford retired from The Nature Conservancy in 2022, having served as Director/Ecologist of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, Virginia State Director for 25 years, and most recently, Southeast Region Director. Currently, he is Director of Conservation Partnerships for the Capital Region Land Conservancy. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech and M.S. in Biology from James Madison University. His studies focused on river and forest ecology.

Michael, a Richmond native, has followed his call to care for creation in all aspects of his life. He is a member of Richmond’s First Baptist Church where he serves as a Deacon, Bible Class Teacher, and on the Board of the Endowment Fund. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have restored an 18th Century home in Henrico County where they raised their three daughters. In his personal time, he pursues drawing, beekeeping, gardening, and exploring the outdoors in many ways.

Please join us on Tuesday, March 7th from 6-8 as St. Paul’s is honored to host the launch of Faith, Race, and the Lost Cause: Confessions of a Southern Church, by Christopher Graham. The book, an updated and expanded version of the HRI report titled Blind Spots, has new introductions and conclusions as well as some new historical material. The heartfelt and often difficult work that resulted in this book reflects St. Paul’s desire to come to terms with its past and chart a course for a more just and equitable future.

With the support of many parishioners, Graham has carefully documented the parish’s journey as it uncovered its 175+ year history and moved through often painful periods of that history. This very readable book offers the reader an opportunity to take this journey with us. Come enjoy light refreshments and a chance to meet the author and hear from Rev. Melanie Mullen who wrote the book forward.

Books will be available for purchase (and get a signed copy for yourself!).

CLICK HERE to RSVP so we can plan accordingly.

Join us Sunday, March 12 at 5 PM for Stone Soup 2023.

Stone Soup is a micro-fundraising dinner featuring three area non-profit groups who will give a presentation about their organization and how they will use the proceeds from the dinner for a specific project. This year the groups will be Urban Hope RVA, Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together Richmond.

The event is ticketed and will be $10 per person or $70 for a table of 8. There will be a choice of soup, bread and light dessert. All proceeds from the dinner will be divided equally among the three groups.

Tickets will be available online and in person on Sunday mornings from February 19 to March 5. All reservations must be made for the dinner by Wednesday, March 8. Online and in-person donations will be accepted through March 15. Raffle tickets also available!

CLICK HERE to get tickets.

Join St. Paul’s parishioners Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis and Dr. David Coogan as they co-facilitate our monthly Faith and Culture Conversations. We invite speakers who have experience with pressing issues in our community and nation, discussing them through the lenses of faith and culture.

January Topic: Faith, Culture, and Incarceration Justice | Voices of Jubilee

Featured Speaker(s): Rev. Lauren Ramseur and Rev. Ashley Diaz Mejias (see bios below).

ONLINE ONLY – CLICK HERE to REGISTER.

OUR CONVERSATION PARTNER(s):

Voices of Jubilee is a new worshipping community of hope and liberation accompanying incarcerated youth and their families in central Virginia: www.voicesofjubilee.org.

Rev. Lauren Ramseur is a Co-Pastor of the Voices of Jubilee along with Rev. Ashley Diaz Mejias. She has served as a pastor for over 20 years in a variety of contexts. She has served as pastor to men on Georgia’s death row and has been deeply involved in the death penalty abolition movement. She is a restorative justice practitioner and serves on the board of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and Rise for Youth. Lauren and her husband Doug are the parents of two children. She is a graduate of James Madison University and Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Rev. Ashley Diaz Mejias co-pastors the Voices of Jubilee, a new worshipping community accompanying incarcerated youth and their families in central Virginia. Ashley also works with the Richmond Community Bail Fund and lives in Richmond with her husband and three daughters.

Join St. Paul’s parishioners Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis and Dr. David Coogan as they co-facilitate our monthly Faith and Culture Conversations. We invite speakers who have experience with pressing issues in our community and nation, discussing them through the lenses of faith and culture.

December Topic: Faith, Culture, and Affordable Housing: Maggie Walker Community Land Trust

Featured Speaker(s): Erica Sims (see bios below).

This will occur in person with a possible live stream option. Conversations will last approximately an hour. Light refreshments are available before and after the conversation. CLICK HERE to RSVP.

OUR CONVERSATION PARTNER(s):

Erica Sims, Chief Executive Officer, Maggie Walker Land Trust

The Maggie Walker Community Land Trust (MWCLT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to develop and maintain permanently affordable homeownership opportunities for low and moderate-income households and to foster racially equitable communities.

Erica Sims has worked in the non-profit management, affordable housing development and community organizing fields for over 17 years. Her focus has been on social and economic justice through housing and economic development. Ms. Sims has held private sector, nonprofit and government roles and has overseen the development of over 2,500 units of affordable housing and 50,000 square feet of commercial development space in new construction and renovation projects. Prior to joining HDAdvisors in 2017, she acted as Deputy Executive Director of Mutual Housing Association of New York, an non-profit affordable housing developer, owner and manager with a portfolio over 1,500 units of affordable housing. She received a Bachelor’s in Economics and a Bachelor’s in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and a Masters of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Join us Wednesday, November 16 at 7:00 PM for our Community Engagement Book Discussion. We will be reading How the Other half Eats: The untold Story of Food and Inequality in America by Priya Fielding-Singh, PhD. The discussion will be facilitated by Anne Dobson and Sheena MacKenzie

This gathering will be in-person in the Palmore Room.

CLICK HERE to RSVP

The Community Engagement Summer Book reads will host book discussion groups this Fall. Please join us for lively conversations about the summer reads. Book and group dates are as follows:
September 28th – Rust- A Memoir of Steel and Grit by Eliese Goldbach, Facilitated by Barbara Holley and Lynn Blankman
October 26th – The Home Place – Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, Facilitated by Rev. Gwynn Crichton and Steve Otto
November 16th – How the Other half Eats: The untold Story of Food and Inequality in America by Priya Fielding-Singh, PhD, Facilitated by Anne Dobson and Sheena MacKenzie
December 14th (virtual) – Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, Facilitated by Matt Stehle and Mary Hayden Stehle