[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs] February 10 is World Mission Sunday the Episcopal Church.

“The last Sunday of Epiphany is recognized every year as World Mission Sunday around the Episcopal Church,” notes the Rev. David Copley, Episcopal Church Officer for Mission Personnel.

“The word ‘mission’ comes from the Latin verb mittere ‘to be sent out’; mission is about being sent out,” he noted. “But what are we being sent out to do, and where are we expected to go? The mission that we are all called into as Christians is the mission of God.”

The annual observation of World Mission Sunday was designated to increase awareness of, and participation in, the wider global mission of the Episcopal Church.

World Mission Sunday is an ideal focus for Sunday School lessons, adult education, discussions and forums, prayers of the people and other events in the life of a congregation and diocese.

Copley pointed out that World Mission Sunday is an opportunity to connect local congregations and parishioners with the wider church and its international work.

Copley has prepared a sermon about World Mission Sunday for Sermons That Work; it is available here or http://sermonsthatwork-rcl.com

Resources for World Mission Sunday are here or http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/world-mission-sunday

For more information contact Elizabeth Boe, Officer for Global Networking, at eboe@episcopalchurch.org.

“We ask that parishes and individuals please keep the ministries of all our missionaries in their prayers,” Boe added.