Southern Province of the Moravian Church in North America

04/11/2024

These changes are happening over on the Moravian Church Southern Province page! Previously, that page was named Commission on Congregation Development. The two pages are being combined into one. If you aren't already following the other MCSP page, this is your sign to do so! We want to keep you in the loop!

In the coming weeks as this page winds down, we will remind you a few more times. Eventually, the page will be archived and the only MCSP page on Facebook will be the other one!

03/12/2024

This past weekend a number of Southern Province members were at the Board of World Mission board meeting and staff retreat. We are so grateful to participate in the work BWM does across the Unity.

02/28/2024

Did you know that two of our Moravian sisters from St Philips Moravian Church were at the historic March on Washington in 1963? Last year was the 60th anniversary of that event, and we asked them to share their reflections on the experience.

https://www.moravian.org/southern/2024/02/the-march-on-washington/

02/25/2024

In 2022, a number of Moravian pastors from the Northern and Southern Provinces went on a Racial Justice Pilgrimage to Montgomery, Alabama. We asked several of them to tell us about their pilgrimage and what it meant to them.

Two parts, each 35 min.

https://www.moravian.org/southern/2024/02/pilgrimage-to-montgomery/

02/25/2024

We asked two veteran Moravian pastors to talk frankly about race and the church in a two-part series called "Awakenings: Conversations of Race and Church." The Rev. Dr. Robert Sawyer and the Rev. Richard Sides share their reflections on the past and their observations of today. Parts 1 & 2 are each short enought to view together in a Sunday School meeting and still have some time for discussion.

https://www.moravian.org/southern/2024/02/awakenings-conversations-on-race-and-church-with-robert-sawyer-and-richard-sides/

02/16/2024

Come together for a Day of Prayer lovefeast on Sunday, February 18th at 2:00 P.M. The service will be held at Christ Moravian with speaker Rt. Rev. Lane Sapp. Nursery will be provided at the service. This service is shared on behalf of the Provincial Women's Board.

01/29/2024

Reminder about this exciting event to help you and your church connect with emerging generations more effectively. First session of four is tomorrow, Jan 30th at 7pm on zoom. Check out the events tab on our page to find registration information!

11/08/2023

05/26/2022

New Archives Commission Members Named

The PEC is also pleased to announce the members of the restructured Archives Commission, reported in May’s Provincial Ties. The new structure includes the PEC president, to whom the archivist reports; two members who are clergy/Christian educators; two members who are laity; a representative of the Provincial Elders Conference; a representative of the Salem Congregation board; and the president of the new Friends of the Moravian Archives. Providing continuity from the previous to new commission are Heather Fearnbach, John Jackman, Karl Kapp and Paul Knouse, with Paul representing the new Friends group. Joining the new Commission is Frank Crouch, retired Dean of Moravian Seminary. Peggy Carter continues to represent the PEC until a member of the new PEC replaces her. We expect Salem Congregation to name a representative from its board soon. After the new PEC is seated, the Commission will elect a chair from its members. The PEC is grateful for the work of Toni Bigham, Zack Routh, Kirk Sanders and Madi White along with Heather, John, Karl, Paul and Peggy on the Commission during the challenging COVID years and search for a new archivist.

05/26/2022

Southern Province Archivist Named

The Provincial Elders Conference is pleased to announce that Meaghan O’Riordan has been chosen as the new archivist for the Southern Province. Meaghan has been an archivist at Emory University’s Rose Library since 2016, where her career has focused on developing, implementing and overseeing a programmatic approach to ensure manuscripts, archives and rare book collections in all formats and across all collecting areas are appropriately tracked, accessioned, described, discoverable and available for use. She also completed several projects to enhance collection management, including a database of containers in the Library's holdings, a database of Rose Library acquisitions from 2012-present and transcription of legacy accession records into ArchivesSpace.

Meaghan’s resume lists more than 15 professional presentations and 11 professional publications she has authored or coauthored since 2014 including most recently: Davis, R.K.J. & M. O'Riordan. Accessioning, archival in P. Franks (Ed.), The Handbook of Archival Practice, 2021. She is professionally active in the Society of American Archivists, for which she co-chairs the Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group and sits on the steering committee for the Accessioning, Acquisitions & Appraisal Section. She also is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies and member of the Rare Books and Manuscript Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

A native of Welcome, N.C., Meaghan simultaneously earned two bachelor's degrees at NCSU, one in English and one in Religious Studies, graduating summa cm laude. She holds two master’s degrees: an MS in Library Science from UNC Chapel Hill and a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University (with transferring credits from Duke University). After completing her MLIS, she worked in the Special Collections Research Center at North Carolina State University. She also has public library experience.

Meaghan is very familiar with the Moravian Church and its history and knows German. She and her husband were married in St. Philips Moravian Church.

The PEC expresses great appreciation to the search committee that shepherded the archivist search, including Margaret Burri, assistant director for Academic Liaison and Special Collections at Johns Hopkins University’s library; Dr. Kevin Cherry, retired deputy secretary and director of North Carolina’s Office of Archives and History, Dept. of Cultural Resources (the only committee member not a Moravian but who knows the Moravian Archives well); Heather Fearnbach, president and owner of Fearnbach History Services, Inc. and member of the Archives Commission; Paul Peucker, archivist of the Northern Province Archives; Tim Pyatt, dean of Wake Forest University’s libraries; Chris Thore, PEC president; and Peggy Carter, PEC representative on the Archives Commission.

A welcoming event will be held for Meaghan after she joins us in August.

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11/22/2021

Sorry we can't meet in person this year -- but spend a few minutes with us virtually to learn about the future of our past!