Russ Williams (U.S. Coordinator and Ulfilas Board Secretary Pro Tem.) is working with the clergy at his parish to start an Ulfilas local partner group. His congregation is All Saints' Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, California. This parish calls these kinds of gatherings "small groups." His vision for this mission is that it would be a Goth Christian group devoted to mutual support and, eventually, to outreach. 

"This will be slow getting started for a lot of reasons," Williams said. "My church is going through leadership changes, plus it's a very large, deliberate-moving parish. Also, we have a lot of prep work to do breaking down the typical stereotypes most Christians have about Goths. But the clergy involved are in favor of getting this started." 

Williams concluded, "The best thing that has come out of my clergy discussions is discovering that there are other Goths in my parish besides me! As I get their names and contact info, I can start doing informal networking with them while we're waiting for the church bureaucracy to move on creating an 'official' small group." 

The first discussion topic for the new small group has already been decided: What does it mean to be Goth and Christian?