St. Bartholomew s Episcopal Church Profile 2014 St. Bart s strives to be an open and inclusive parish, friendly and welcoming to all people, regardless of who they are or where they might be in their spiritual journey with Christ. The result is that the parish is a melting pot of Christians who represent broad spiritual and cultural backgrounds, and a seemingly limitless range of perspectives on all matters of life and faith. The parish has among its membership families spanning four generations. History St. Bartholomew s started off as an Episcopal Mission in early 1960. At that time, Poway was a quiet little town that had nearly as many horses as people. One of our first parish homes consisted of two store fronts in an Old Poway center, located between a liquor store and an antique store. The sign out front read, Liquor, Antiques, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You. Train tracks were adjacent to the building, and our Sunday service would need to pause as the train rumbled by. The area started growing in all directions and sleepy little Poway was soon surrounded by the new San Diego suburbs of Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Mira Mesa, and Scripps Ranch. As Poway and the new suburbs grew, so did St. Bart s. In 1968, having grown to 222 parishioners, we moved to our current location and built our first sanctuary, which now serves as our Parish Hall. In 1975, we became a parish church and in 1980, our current 4,800-square-foot sanctuary was dedicated. In 1991, our 6,000-squarefoot administration building was completed. It houses the front office, a conference room, library, and youth room. The Susan S. Cashmore Columbarium was dedicated in 1993, and is located on church grounds on a serene hilltop. Our 12,000-square-foot educational building was dedicated in 2002 to house the newly formed preschool, as well as our Sunday School, music department, and music academy. 1
Today, we are 1,468 strong. We have a large, beautiful, and functional campus in constant use by our many ministries and community organizations. Most significantly, we have room to grow and a strong desire to grow. Our North Inland San Diego location (17 miles from the beach) is one of the most desirable living areas in the entire San Diego metropolitan region. We have one of the finest school districts in the country, prestigious colleges and universities, and nationally-ranked top hospitals and medical centers. We have fine arts, sports, and recreation readily available. To learn more about our location, please click here to visit our area profile. Our Worship Services and Styles Worship services are the core of our church life. Our congregation finds spiritual nourishment in Eucharist-centered worship. We appreciate strong preaching with challenging sermons that inject the lessons of Scripture and Christian tradition into modern lives and lifestyles. We enjoy traditional Anglican and blended worship services accompanied by inspiring music. Our four weekend services are held on Saturday at 5:00 pm, and on Sunday mornings at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:15. In addition, a Wednesday Healing service is held at 9:30 am. Weekend attendance is approximately 370 parishioners. Our Youth Group and Sunday School meet during the 9:30 am service and join the congregation following the Peace. St. Bart s is blessed with a wealth of ordained clergy: one part-time assistant who provides professional and appropriate pastoral care, an outstanding part-time deacon, and a retired Bishop-in- Residence (the 12 th Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East). Other retired clergy live in the community and enthusiastically play a role in church life. 2
Alternative Services St. Bart s has a rich history of different worship services. The first Sunday of the month is our Youth Sunday at the 9:30 service. This embraces our younger members serving in all capacities, and is complete with the Children s Choristers and a youth-centered sermon. We also have alternative Children s services at Christmas and Easter that are interactive for children and their families. The congregation has enjoyed worship enhanced by gospel, jazz, modern rock, and plainchant. Music Music has an important place in worship at St. Bart s. The congregation experiences choral and instrumental music in styles that range from traditional to contemporary. We have several music ensembles that lead our praise and worship throughout the year. These include: the forty five-member Coventry Choir, the Schola Cantamus that sing in plainchant, the Children s Choristers, the String Ensemble, the Bell Choir, the Double Quartet, and many wonderful soloists with a variety of instruments. Gathering songs, with guitars and other acoustic instruments, precede our 9:30 am service. Our music department presents community concerts and offers private music lessons to the public. 3
Christian Formation and Education Youth and Young Families St. Bart s Preschool serves our community with classes for two-year olds to pre-kindergarten. It provides a focused education, which builds confidence, social skills, character, and faith. The 85 preschool children play with a purpose, attend a weekly chapel in our sanctuary, partake in enrichment classes, and learn the basic academic concepts needed for kindergarten readiness. They leave our school with a love for learning. The Sunday School program at St. Bart s, the largest in the diocese of San Diego, is available to all children from two years of age to sixth grade. Lessons follow the church lectionary year and are based on the weekend Gospel reading, tailoring to the age group. Each class attends Godly Play once per month where an experiential approach is used to understand specific Bible stories and feel the presence of God. Sunday school children begin at an early age to understand the importance of outreach. They sponsor a child in a Mexican orphanage, participate in our Church Challenge (gathering food and supplies for the needy), and entertain and chat with residents in a local nursing home. They leave Sunday School gaining knowledge, new friends, a smile, and a donut on the patio with their parents! St. Bart s is in the process of forming a Youth and Young Family Support Ministry that would allow the entire congregation to be involved with programs aimed at youth and children. We envision this to be a mix of parents, grandparents, and other parishioners each with unique gifts to share. Some may be simple, like mom-to-mom mentoring, while others may be large, like helping to organize and support a youth mission trip. St. Bart s Youth Group program, the CREW (Continuously Riding the Eternal Wave) is centered on youth connecting with Christ, be it through Sunday worship or a trip to Disneyland. The CREW involves youth members from 6 th to 12 th grade in various community service projects, such as creating care packages for the homeless, or collecting food items for a local pantry. The group meets twice a week to discuss the Gospel, with dinner and activities. Our members have the opportunity to attend sailing events, community-wide scavenger hunts, and the diocesan-wide youth retreats called Happening. These activities promote healthy peer relationships in a Christian setting. 4
For those Young at Heart The adult education and formation programs are varied in topics, length, structure, and even venue. Forums are held on Sunday mornings and most often feature a guest speaker. During Lent, we offer the popular Soup Suppers, open to the community, with five weeks of specialized discussions. When we offered a study in comparative religions, not only did we run out of soup, the gatherings were often standing room only. Adult Bible studies are offered twice a week with approximately 75 people attending. Word of mouth keeps increasing this number. Currently, our deacon is leading a threemonth study of the Old Testament. Many at St. Bart s have expressed the desire for Christian Education between services on Sunday morning. This is an opportunity our congregation will need to explore in the near future. Pilgrimage Foreign study has taken our adult members to various parts of our globe. In the past years, there have been four trips to the Holy Land. This year, our Sojourners travel group will go to England and Scotland to study Anglican history. Our choir will be traveling to France to sing at various churches. Whether an adult attends a Sunday forum, a month-long biblical study, or travels abroad, they are enriched with more friends, and a fuller knowledge of God at work in the world. Parish Life St. Bart s has an Incredible parish life. Parish Life centers largely around the groups of people working in our various ministries and education programs. However, we have many other events, large and small, incorporating the entire congregation. We engage in regular activates such as Take 5 on the patio where we take 5 minutes after each service to meet someone new. We also have newcomers activities, a large annual St. Bart s Day Event, annual stewardship kickoff dinner complete with entertainment, Trunk-or-Treat, a softball team with supporting fans, and many, many more. 5
Internal and External Outreach Ministries With over 70 ministries here at St. Bart s our hearts are full and our hands busy. For a complete list of ministries, please see our ministry brochure. Some of our most popular and inclusive ministries address the areas of laity assistance for pastoral services; feeding and housing the homeless; bringing Christmas to the children of incarcerated parents; providing prayer quilts to those in need of prayer; delivering Thanksgiving baskets to financially impaired persons; filling the food pantries of local shelters; and packaging food for global areas of need. 6
Stewardship Our God is a Generous God a Generous God leads a Generous Church the kind of church we strive to be at St. Bart s. The focus of stewardship at St. Bart s is service to others as an extension of our commitment to Jesus Christ. We believe we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. Our annual stewardship campaign encourages parishioners to share their time, talent, and treasure. We do this in different ways throughout the year. Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total Income $821,400 $827,600 $836,500 $875,000 Led by an active lay Stewardship Committee and inspiring sermons by clergy, parish financial resources have grown each of the past three years. Since 1999, the parish has raised over $2 million to erect the education building that houses the music department and St. Bart s Preschool. We offer a series of programs in planned giving and hope to expand our endowment in the future. The parish staff, in consultation with the Finance Committee, develops the operating budget, and the rector and Vestry maintain budget control. The Rector We Seek We are actively seeking a rector who has the ability to connect people to God's Word: a leader who inspires parishioners to seek a deeper relationship with God, to find a closer relationship with one another, and develop new ways to minister to the world around us. We desire a rector who: Is a pastor, an inspirational preacher who loves worship - helping parishioners into a deeper relationship with God, building closer relationships with one another, and developing new ways to minister to the world around us. Is a strong communicator who will develop lay participation and leadership for all age groups - in worship, ministry, devotional study, and Christian education. Can facilitate a process for determining St. Bart s role in ministry in the world -helping us define our mission, clarify our vision, and equip us for that mission. 7
Will support and implement church growth - particularly in the area of young adults and, families with children. "Dear Lord, of you three things I pray: to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly, day by day." These are words of an ancient prayer, but at St. Bart's we seek to put them into practice in our modern, rapidly-changing world. We are thankful for who we are and how far we've come, and now we are ready for the next chapter. 8