In the last few days I have seen several “Top Ten Signs…” blog posts floating around Facebook and Twitter and it only seemed right to add my voice to the chorus. Here are the Top Ten Signs of Resurrection in The Episcopal Church, according to me:

10. This list and the Acts 8 Blogforce

9. Church leaders who are not shrinking from the challenges of the 21st century, but are walking toward them full of hope for the future. Folks who aren’t trying to maintain a church model that worked in 1950, but are working to build the Church in 2014.

8. Churches that are offering unique and inventive new ways to be the Church, like The Gathering at St. John’s, Roanoke, VA, and the Come as You Are Service at St. Anne’s, Reston, VA.

7. Ashes to Go, Palms to Go, and Prayers to Go – happening across the Episcopal Church.

6. Folks recognizing that the way to reach young adults is not by adding a guitar to your evening service or dressing your priest in jeans, but by actually talking to young adults about what they want and need from church (Hint: its probably a lot more similar to what you want from church than you think).

5. EYE (Episcopal Youth Event) and other vibrant youth ministries across the church.

4. Episcopal Summer Camps.

3. Episcopal Seminaries that are (just now) starting to shake off the dust and realize what they need to do to train priests for 2014.

2. A small, but growing, group of Episcopalians who believe that the arrogance, pessimism, and cynicism that we have inherited from our church elders is not only unhelpful, but is downright destructive.

1. Easter Sunday, where we see that the Body of Christ has been killed and raised once before, so it cannot die again.