The mission of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is to recognize that we are called, as followers of Jesus, to become authentically human in communion with God, with creation, and with each other and to cultivate this within ourselves through the disciplines of prayer, worship, study, and service that we might become a people of inquiring and discerning hearts, courageous to will and to persevere in what we are called to do, filled with the knowledge and love of God, and blessed with the gift of joy and wonder at the mystery of creation.
St. Andrew’s is first and foremost an inclusive community encompassing a spectrum of beliefs where all are respected and honored; a community that Richard Hooker, 16th century founder of the Anglican theology of comprehensiveness and tolerance, would rejoice to find flourishing in the 21st century. We are a vital, thriving, multigenerational parish, embracing the healthy traditions of our Anglican heritage while looking to the future and the fruits of continuing spiritual and intellectual growth. We are a loving community, a place of connectedness, acceptance, support and safety. And our community is on the cusp of expansion, with children and their families leading the way in their thirst for music and a spiritual life.
Our excitement about the St. Andrew’s community stems from many sources. In our worship together, we thrive on the relevance of the sermons: they are inspiring, intellectual, wise, loving and help us to apply biblical teachings to today’s world. Music also inspires us, with a lively and growing program for children, an evolving and strengthening adult choir, a superb organist/pianist, and a mix of both stimulating new and cherished old service settings and hymns for the entire congregation. The deep sense of loving community sustains us: the open-minded acceptance of diverse opinions, traditions, and backgrounds; the knowledge that this is a safe place to ask questions and discuss new ideas; the exploration of interfaith connections; and the welcoming of children and commitment to the programs they need.
Our hopes and dreams for the future are an expansion of all that excites us about our community, especially in the area of new families and their children. We are convinced that the future of St. Andrew’s lies with a burgeoning children’s/youth/family ministry and we hope for our parish priest to be actively, energetically involved, especially in guidance for our youth program. While we hope for continued and sustained growth here, we also recognize the challenges: as with tilling a field, working too quickly tears up the ground and wrecks the machinery, while working too slowly simply digs a hole. Growth will require both solid program leadership and a joint parish/rector commitment to creating an environment that encourages young families to invest in church involvement. We look forward to increased interaction and collaboration with our sister parish, St. John’s, Emigrant, particularly in the area of educational programs. We also hope for new ways of communicating with and learning about each other. These might include expanded use of social media, a St. Andrew’s blog, and a catalog of skills and talents within the St. Andrew’s community.
Our parish life is rich indeed. We worship together in joyful gratitude for all we’ve been given. We meet and work together as members of the Altar Guild, the ECW, the Vestry, the Finance Committee; as Sunday school teachers, coffee hour hosts, choristers, and ushers; as volunteers for Meals on Wheels and for Livingston’s soup kitchen, Loaves and Fishes. We organize food, comfort and care for our home bound. We place a high value on teaching and learning together, treasuring the opportunities for spiritual formation in our adult, youth and children’s education programs, as exemplified in our collaboratively lay/clergy-developed Church School curriculum, our past interfaith forums and Celtic spirituality presentations and our upcoming series on children’s/youth spiritual growth. And during our much-loved coffee hour, both new and long-time parishioners, as well as younger and older members of the community, feel welcome to sit down with each other and share ideas, experiences, recipes, aggravations, laughter, and frustration, knowing all will be heard in the spirit of family.
Pastoral care of our new members and of our home bound, ill, troubled, and bereaved or dying parishioners is crucial to the health of our St. Andrew’s community. We are sustained by our rector’s attention, support and counsel, but also recognize our responsibilities to assist in this ministry. We commission lay ministers to bring the Eucharist to those who cannot attend services, we organize ways to care for our ill and home bound members and we ensure that those who need prayers and/or pastoral care come to the attention of our rector, our parish administrator, and our lay ministers. We will shortly be adding an enclosure in our service bulletin to provide yet another way of making requests for pastoral care available to our congregation.
Our community involvement is of long standing and takes many forms. St. Andrew’s parishioners volunteer with Livingston organizations such as Meals on Wheels, Loaves and Fishes, the Food Resources Center and many others. We make space available for concerts and other community events. Our educational programs are widely advertised and available to all who are interested. And most recently, we have formed the Friends of St. Andrew’s, a 501 (c) (3) whose purpose is to extend our reach to make a difference in the spiritual health of our wider community.
St. Andrew’s is a parish that is growing; our membership has increased since 2010 from 123 to 196, our average Sunday attendance from 46 to 65, and our pledging families from 34 to 42. We are located in Livingston, Montana, in what was formerly a railroad and agricultural center but is now increasingly identified with both the arts and with outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing. We continue to have roots in the local ranching community but we also have strong ties to Livingston’s artists, writers, musicians, and actors. We come from diverse spiritual backgrounds; some of us are cradle Episcopalians, and some of us are taking a fresh look at the beauty and richness of traditional liturgical worship and exploring new ways of thinking about the faith of the Christian tradition. We celebrate the many different ways that people experience the presence of God in their lives and we hope to represent the best of Christian hospitality in welcoming all who come through our doors, no matter where they are on their faith journey.
12 Narrative Responses, St. Andrew’s Answers
- A moment in St Andrew’s worshipping community that we recognize as one of success and fulfillment:
The celebration of St Francis Day is a long-standing tradition in our parish. This year brought together the blessings of our congregation’s companion animals and the joyful voices of our new Children’s Choir.
This is a time when families of all configurations find their spiritual needs met.
- We are preparing St Andrew’s for the Church of the future by recognizing, in the words of our mission statement, that we are called, as followers of Jesus, to become authentically human in communion with God, with creation, and with each other. We strive to cultivate this calling within ourselves through the disciplines of prayer, worship, study, and service, that we might become a people of inquiring and discerning hearts, courageous to will and to persevere in what we are called to do, filled with the knowledge and love of God, and blessed with the gift of joy and wonder at the mystery of creation.
- Words that describe the gifts and skills essential to the future leaders of our worshipping community:
- Progressive preaching
- Intellectual scholarship
- Multi-generational teaching
- Compassionate pastoring
- St Andrew’s liturgical style and practice for worship in our community balances the traditions and rituals of our historical past with the modern present. It is Christ-focused, rooted in scripture, for all ages, and emphasizes loving kindness. The four cornerstones of our faith are:
- Scripture: we are not biblical literalists, but we know that the word of God is living and active, and speaks to both heart and mind;
- Reason: we believe that we are called to think carefully in our search for understanding and truth;
- Tradition: we believe that we have much to learn from those who have preceded us; and
- Experience: we believe we are called to reflect upon the experience of everyday life as an ongoing journey of faith.
Music also inspires us, with a lively and growing program for children, an evolving and strengthening adult choir, a superb organist/pianist, and a mix of both stimulating new and cherished old service settings and hymns for the entire congregation. We are known for asking good questions rather than providing simple answers for complex issues. And we are known for our inclusiveness; we recognize that Christ’s banquet is large enough to include every person.
- St Andrew’s ministry begins with worshiping together in joyful gratitude for all we’ve been given. We grow through opportunities for spiritual formation in our adult, youth and children’s education programs such as our collaboratively lay/clergy-developed Church School curriculum, our past interfaith forums and Celtic spirituality presentations, and our current emphasis on children’s/youth spiritual growth.
Parishioners respond by becoming involved in a full range of ministries. We meet and work together as members of the altar guild, the ECW, as Sunday school teachers, coffee hour hosts, choristers, and ushers; as volunteers for Meals on Wheels and for Loaves and Fishes. We organize food, comfort and care for our home bound.
The vestry’s committee structure invites the members of the parish to participate in the organizational life of St Andrew’s. Committees include: Finance, Education, Worship, Pastoral Care, Community Outreach, Youth and Young Families, and Vision 20/20.
- We are a loving community, a place of connectedness, acceptance, support and safety. We are sustained by our rector’s attention, support and counsel, but also recognize our responsibilities to assist in this ministry. Emerging out of the loving, caring atmosphere of the parish we tend to the spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being of our worshipping community in a variety of ways. We commission lay ministers to bring the Eucharist to those who cannot attend services, we organize ways to care for our ill and home bound members and we ensure that those who need prayers and/or pastoral care come to the attention of our rector, our parish administrator, and our lay ministers. We maintain a prayer list and acknowledge parishioner’s significant landmarks in the course of our worship. We insure access for all with the installation of an elevator, ramps, and accessible rest rooms.
And we recognize the importance of our much-loved coffee hour, where both new and long-time parishioners, as well as younger and older members of the community all feel welcome to sit down with each other and share ideas, experiences, recipes, aggravations, laughter, and frustration, knowing all will be heard in the spirit of family.
- Pastoral care of our members and of our home bound, ill, troubled, and bereaved or dying parishioners is crucial to the health of our St Andrew’s community. We recognize, however, that this responsibility doesn’t end at the church doors. Our rector provides counseling to anyone who requests help, whether a parishioner or not. And our congregation, nurtured by the parish’s spirit of loving care, finds renewed energy to minister to the wider community’s needs, loving our neighbors as ourselves and ensuring that no one walks alone.
- St Andrew’s reach extends beyond Livingston into the surrounding rural community and includes our sister-parish St John’s Episcopal Church in Emigrant.
Our interfaith educational outreach also extends into the wider community and links to the Gallatin Inter Faith Forum in Bozeman. And finally, we are proud of our parishioners’ involvement with the Japanese Sister City Program and open our doors to them when they need a space for meeting.
- St Andrew’s children’s programs grew from what was basically a child care program several years ago to a full-fledged Church School program, tailored to children of 4 to 8 years old, focusing on addressing essential questions of religious tradition and spiritual development which will be important throughout their lives. Examples of the questions include: What does it mean to pray? How does prayer take many forms? What do we learn from Jesus about living our own lives? All questions are examined from the fundamental understanding that ours is a loving God. It is important to note that this collaboratively lay/clergy designed curriculum was built specifically for the needs of our parish. Out of this successful program came the request for a children’s choir. The children now sing regularly for our worship services and when they sing the parents and the grandparents fill the pews. Now as these children have grown older the parents are organizing a program for our youth ages 9 and older.
Continued growth will require both solid program leadership and a joint parish/rector commitment to creating an environment that encourages young families to invest in church involvement.
- St Andrew’s stewardship practice is one of recognizing the gifts which have been entrusted to us and then sharing our time, talents, and money for the good of all. The annual narrative budget forms our congregation’s understanding of our financial needs as they connect to our values. Our parish growth is one result of our stewardship values: our membership has increased since 2010 from 123 to 196, our average Sunday attendance from 46 to 65, and our pledging families from 34 to 42.
- Within every problem lies an opportunity. An example of a conflict for our 3-parish cluster has been grappling with the ever-increasing demands of our growing churches while served by a solo rector. Problems of growth are good problems to have … but they are still problems. Over a year-long evaluation, we came to consensus. One church is seeking a part-time rector and St Andrew’s and St John’s determined that going to a 2-parish partnership was the best way to meet our joint needs.
- Our experience of leading and addressing change in our church has centered around our growth in spirit and numbers and the change from a priest-focused to a program-focused parish. These changes have been neither simple nor entirely straight-forward but certainly rewarding. And now we believe that a rector with vision will grow with us rather than see a need to “fix us.” As we go confidently forward and thrive, we will continue to speak the truth in love and act with grace.
