St. John s Episcopal Church Youngstown, New York

St. John s Episcopal Church Youngstown, New York

Who we are: St. John s, Youngtown We are a small, rural, and mature congregation looking for a partner to work with us in building our future. We have found great energy in Bible study and the movement of the Holy Spirit. We are looking for someone to help us to continue on our journey. Our strengths: The people of our congregation and the relationships we have with each other. We are connected one to another, support each other, and miss one another when we aren t here. We have recently seen a large growth in our spirituality and a desire to go deeper in our faith. Bible study Our buildings are lovely, historic and well maintained and we use them as a place to welcome our community. Our church building is on the National Register of Historic Places. We have a focus on outreach. We want to reach out to our community and be of service to those outside of our congregation. We do not have a single project that we focus on. We have many small projects. We come together, give what we have and do what is necessary. Our weaknesses: Because we are a close knit community we have the problems that come with that. It is sometimes difficult for new people to become a part of our community and we can annoy and pick at each other. We are working on our communications but we aren t all the way where we need to be. We need more (or maybe just different) ways to reach some groups that are under represented. We don t have very many children or young families. Our numbers: Our average Sunday attendance has ranged from the low 40 s to the low 50 s in the last several years. Our church school enrollment has been less than 10 for the last several years. We have had no church school enrollment for the last 2 years. St. John s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, NY Page 1

We currently supplement our budget with a major fundraiser and funds from our savings. We have sufficient savings to continue that for a few years but we would really like to increase the percentage of our budget that comes from our stewardship and giving. Who we have been St. John s started in the early part of the 1830 s by residents of Youngstown who wanted Episcopal worship. During most of the next 50 years we worshiped in people s homes and in the buildings of other congregations. Our congregation has a history of being inventive, resourceful, independent, and focused on the needs of our local community. These traits recur generation after generation and still mark who we are today. In 1878, Ordnance Sergeant Lewis Leffman, who served at Fort Niagara, gave the property on which the church stands. The church building was purchased as a kit and the parts came to Youngstown via the Erie Canal. In 1925 we started a Strawberry Social. Two women served cake, ice cream and strawberries on the lawn of the church. This social has grown into the annual Strawberry Festival which draws 500 people from Youngstown and well beyond to join in the fun. In the late 1950 s we faced the problem of our parish hall being too small for our large and expanding Sunday School. We discovered that the Sisters of St. Frances who ran a girl s school right across the street, had a hall available that would be perfect for us and all we d have to do is move it. So we did. It is the parish hall we still have. pageants and of course Strawberries. Parish Hall In the 1970 s we had the first female warden in the Diocese and were among the first to have female vestry members and acolytes. We continued to focus on the children of our community and were known for our Christmas In the late 1980 s we faced conflict and dissension largely due to issues of alcohol and extra marital affairs. When people asked the bishop for help they were told, if you don t like it, leave and many did. This also led to problems and dissent not being openly discussed. The combination of a lack of open discussion and feedback; and our independence and resourcefulness not having clear outlet has led to some conflict with our recent clergy. In the midst of these issues, we continued to care for our building, began our memorial garden and remained a place of worship in the community. St. John s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, NY Page 2

Looking at our history has helped us identify our recent issues and it is clear to us that we need to recapture the inventiveness, resourcefulness, independence, and focus on the needs of our community that have marked most of our history. We also are aware that we need to provide opportunities for people to give feedback to the leadership at regular intervals so that problems can be discussed before they become major issues. Who our community is Youngstown sits on the shores of Lake Ontario and immediately across the Niagara River from Canada. In fact a three mile radius from St. John s takes in more area in Canada or Lake Ontario than land in the United States. Youngstown is best known for sailing and water sports, Old Fort Niagara, and the fruit belt. Above: Sailing on Lake Ontario. Left: Old Fort Niagara. Below Main Street, Youngstown, NY We are 20 minutes from Niagara Falls, 45 minutes from Buffalo, 90 minutes from Toronto, and 90 minutes from Rochester. The Youngstown community is relatively stable, there has been some population decline and we anticipate some more in the next several years but the decline will amount to less than 5% of the population. Youngstown is a slowly aging community with a median age in the mid 40 s. Youngstown is made up mostly of middle class people, ranging from lower middle class to upper middle class encompassing both low income and wealthy people. By and large the people of Youngstown are focused on family and community. Our community values many things that are seen by more urban areas as old fashioned such as community festivals (strawberries!), clubs and groups, civic, school and church functions. The people in our community turn to the newspaper or TV for news, rather than the web. In the recent past we have become somewhat disconnected from the wider Youngstown community. We want to change that. It isn t clear to us at this point what people in Youngstown St. John s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, NY Page 3

think about when they think about St. John s (other than strawberries, of course), but we plan to find out. We would like for Youngstown to see Saint John s as a place that lets our faith shine through, that reaches out to the town, invites them to come, welcomes them when they do and that will be a part of the community for a long time to come. Who we want to be: Our hopes: We hope to be a congregation that shows the world the presence of Christ, that inspires and energizes; a place that radiates faith, inspiration and energy. We hope to be a presence in our community a place that everybody knows and where everyone feels comfortable. We hope to a place where the Holy Spirit can be felt by all. We hope to be the place that our community thinks of when they think of church. If we fulfill those hopes we think we will meet our other goals to invite people to join us and to be sustainable in the long term. Our plans We need to have an open discussion and come to a consensus about some common goals that energize and engage our members. We are continuing to work on our communication. We are working on ways to discuss conflict and to get feedback from parishioners on a regular basis. These all come together in the idea that we have a new mind set and are seeking a common purpose. We believe that new or adapted activities will evolve out of our new mind set and purpose, but we don t want to let activities drive the purpose. We want to identify the purpose and let that drive the activities. What we are doing Some exciting things have been happening in the last few months: We have come to appreciate more and more the support, encouragement, cooperation and joy that is the heart of our congregation. We have started praying for each other we have a list of all of the members and we pray for different people every day. We have a book study but more important than the book, this has become a place where we feel safe to ask questions, share and deepen our faith, and to feel the Bible come alive. We have revitalized our pastoral care including sending cards to people who aren t here to let them know that we miss them. St. John s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, NY Page 4

Perhaps the most exciting the Strawberry Festival which has been a major fundraiser this year we made a gift to the community we didn t charge anything for any of the food, we just invited people to come. We also gave all of the Strawberry Hulling almost $2000 that the basket auction raised to the local hospice we see this as an icon of our new hopes and vision a turn from focusing on ourselves and our needs to a focus on our community and what we can do to be of service to them. Serving strawberry shortcake at the Strawberry Fest. What we need from our next pastor We need a shepherd who can guide, love and care as much as lead. We need a teacher who can inspire us to deepen our faith. We need an encourager who can cheer us on and point to hope. We need a partner who can work alongside us. St. John s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, NY Page 5

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