Our Ministries
Many of our people are involved in several ministries. Many have not found their place yet. Read the descriptions and see if there is a place for you in one of these. Click on the number to take you to the description.
| 1- Bargains Galore | 8- Lay Eucharistic Ministers |
| 2- Episcopal Churchwomen | 9- Outreach |
| 3- Men's Club | 10- Worship Servers |
| 4- Christian Education | 11- Choir |
| 5- Altar Guild | 12- Prayer Shawl Ministry |
| 6-Bookstore | 13- Card makers |
| 7-Christopher Singers |
BARGAINS GALORE - St Christopher's Thrift Store
For more photos of this ministry, click here
BARGAINS GALORE!
Every Saturday morning from 8 am to noon, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church at the corner of 103rd and Peoria Avenues opens two buildings and an outdoor patio to customers. We are fully stocked with clothing, shoes, toys, kitchen and other household items and linens, televisions, computers, small appliances and sometimes furniture, too. Prices are low, low, low!
This is entirely run by volunteers from the church, and all merchandise has been donated. Come by and check us out; we think you'll be a regular customer. Your donations are also accepted. If you have something too large for you to handle, call our church office and see if arrangements can be made.
The Bookstore in the parish hall is also open, with lots of books, cd's, videotapes and DVD's available. You won't find better prices anywhere!
Ladies,
if you are searching for a way to be more involved at St. Christopher's,
consider joining the ECW. We meet on the second Saturday of the month from
November through April. It is a great way to meet other church members as our
focus is on service to the Church, raising money, and doing fun projects.
We have done Fashion Show Luncheons, provided breakfast for the Choir on Easter morning, helped with "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," held bake/craft sales at the Christmas Boutique, held other bake sales to earn money for charity, organized the United Thank Offering (UTO), and an active Prayer Chain.
In 2011, for the first time, we made Easter Baskets for "young" and "old" to be sold, with two large ones to be raffled. A few were left and were donated to the Youngtown Food Bank. Pet baskets were especially popular. That project was much fun and will be repeated in 2012.
Some activities are ongoing; others depend on member choices. One ongoing activity is planning and serving special occasion lunches-funerals, weddings, special meetings, etc. A project being considered is a Tea with the ladies' hats to be judged on creativity.
So ladies, come along and bring all your original and interesting ideas. The time is 9:30 to 11:30 in Middleton Hall.
ECW Officers
Kitty Martin - President
The Saturday following Thanksgiving of 2011, the Men's Club met for the first time in two years, thanks to Andy Faulkner's begging, and Jim Benson's promise to cook. Twenty-four men showed up for Morning Prayer at 8:00 AM, a wonderful breakfast at 8:30 AM, and a rowdy get-to-know one another and a short meeting.
In December they met again for Morning Prayer, breakfast, and a surprisingly spell-bounding account of the Civil War by Bob Martin. January 28th of 2012, the Men heard the remaining chapters of Bob's interpretation of the War Between the States.
The Club has several ministries: preparing the church decors for Christmas, preparing pancakes for the Tuesday before Lent, stringing spaghetti with meat balls, offering companionship and love, and supporting Bargains Galore.
The Men's Club meets on the fourth Saturday morning of each month at 8:00. We encourage all men of the church and their guests to come and enjoy common prayers, good food, tall tales and just plain old fun.
Come! Join us! You'll like us!
Gary Welsh
Growing Our Faith 2012
Growing Our Faith has completed another
successful Sunday School year. We continued with our lectionary based lessons
which seem to help the children share with their families at home. We have added
a new teacher who's turned out to be a real life saver, Margaret Carbaugh alias
G.G. to the children.
The children were able to go St. Andrew's in Glendale for Vacation Bible School in June. They loved every minute of it and we've been invited back this summer! It's a perfect chance for our children to meet and learn with new friends in a fun atmosphere.
Since we've moved the Christian Education to the hour in between the English and Spanish service, we've added 4 more students to our Sunday School class. It's our hope that our children's class will continue to grow into this new year.
The adult English class is being taught by Marinell Eron. Thus far the Spanish congregation hasn't taken us up on their adult class which would be taught by Fr. Peter, but we are forever hopeful.
During the holiday season this winter, we were informed by the National Church that there are a whole new set of nursery standards that each church must uphold. Unfortunately, our nursery is out of compliance which resulted in it's closing until we can come back into compliance with said codes. As of this writing, no new opening date has been set. The children seem to be enjoying their tote bags during the services and we intend to keep them current with activities themed around the lectionary weekly.
Our future for Christian Education at St. Christopher's looks bright. Thank you for all your support.
In His love, Barbara Fabre& G.G.
The Altar Guild continued its work behind the scenes throughout the year, attempting to keep expenses down, and setting the altar with love, according to the preferences of the celebrant each Sunday, on Holy Days, and for memorials.
As Christmas came near, the Guild decided not to purchase a large number of poinsettias with donations from parishioners but to limit the purchase and instead make contributions to the World Vision, an organization that supplies farm animals as well as other items to families with great need. The animals are truly "a gift that keeps on giving." The generosity of parishioners was overwhelming, and the Guild has been able to provide goats, chickens, or ducks to at least eight families overseas.
The Sanctuary Candle which glows above the aumbry where the reserve wine and hosts are stored was kept alight by the faithful contributions of a number of parishioners. The Guild looks forward to more congregants taking part in this ministry during 2012.
When donations for live flowers were not given, the Guild used the silk flower arrangements kept available. Altar Guild members also hope to see more donations made this year. For $35 to $45, donors can arrange their own selection of flowers or purchase the many flowering potted plants available at local grocery stores.
Many thanks go out to the ladies of the Guild: Beth Mayhew, Doris Schoeben, Mary Wissler, Marj Kassien, Betty Roddy, Carol Masters, Jane Meyers(and her husband), Eva Quiles, Graciela Veldderrain, and Luz Salinas.
The Bookshelf
continues to be open every Sunday before and between services, and on Saturdays
during Bargains Galore sales. We appreciate all your donations and purchases.
Thanks to help from Barbara Welsh, our fiction is alphabetized by author and our non fiction section has been revised & organized. Paper back books sell very well and we always need replacements. In the book department, mysteries and Westerns seem to go fastest.
We also need more video tapes and CD’s. We have a separate area for New Arrivals Fiction and New Arrivals Non-fiction so it should be easier for you to check that out. We have a lot of children’s books & jigsaw puzzles. They sell very well and are a bargain at only 50 cents.
We have never had any expenses for the bookshop. Everything we have has been donated including the book cases. We operate on the honor system. Put your money in one of the book banks, located on the bookshelf and table. All money raised goes for church support & projects. So far we have been able to contribute several thousand dollars to our general fund.
Charlotte Powley
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For several years now we have been meeting and singing the old songs and hymns. We visit area nursing homes to do our sing-alongs. If you love people and the old time songs and hymns come to a Sing-a-Long and try us out. All the songs are printed out so you don't even have to know the words.
Joanne David & Marion West - co-ordinators
LEM - Lay Eucharistic Ministers
It is the mission of this
group to bring communion to shut ins and our brothers and sisters who are unable
to come to church. It is important that our people know that their church has
not forgotten them, just because they are unable to be here. Besides communion,
we bring them news of the church and greetings from their friends here.
Contact the church office if you or someone you know is in need of this ministry.
Marinell Eron
During 2011 our Outreach
ministry gave 75 baby blankets and 45 lap robes-these were given to the Crisis
Nursery, Sojourner's, Adienta Clinqua, and Banner Boswell and all were handmade
by members of our church. The Card Group gave over 1800 cards to Boswell
Hospital, Hospice of the Valley, Packages from Home and several small, local
Hospice groups.
At Christmas we were able to give over 50 Payless Shoe Gift Cards to children at: Sojourner's, The Crisis Nursery, Liberty Charter School and to Cheyenne Elementary School. Bargains gave us children's clothes and toys for Sojourner's and men's underwear and socks for the men at the Rescue Mission. Our Outreach continues to collect the following items for various child care units, Sojourners and The Phoenix Rescue Mission: old cell phones with the charger, hotel size soaps and shampoos, calendars, fronts of old greeting cards, new greeting cards, pens and pads of paper.
Ann Gay - Outreach Coordinator
This group consists of all the men & women who assist in our services. They are subdeacons, lay readers, chalice bearers, two vergers, acolytes, and crucifers. They enrich our service by being a lay presence in our worship. They dedicate hours learning their positions and practicing their readings. We always need more people willing to take part in this ministry and we recognize the need for fresh faces at every service. With rotation, the responsibility is shared by many and we always enjoy having new people volunteer for all positions.
The church is alive with the sound
of music. The choir is under the leadership of our Music Director, James
Gerber. The choir members work very hard through out the year learning new
anthems and seasonal works. If you love to sing, this may be the ministry for
you. Come to rehearsal on Monday evenings and see if this fits.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry was started six months ago at St. Christopher's with only two ladies and we've grown to 10 nimble fingered people. Thus far we've been able to knit or crochet many beautiful shawls with our blessed hands. Each shawl is a work of love, prayer and beauty. In our six months of yarn working we've given out 24 prayer shawls to people in some sort of prayerful need. When a shawl is needed it's blessed by Fr. Peter, wrapped in tissue paper and a prayer card is attached and it's delivered. Our shawls are not only for the St. Christopher's family and friends, but we've also sent shawls to states as far away as Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
The members of the Prayer Shawl Ministry Team feel so very blessed to be able to make something that delivers comfort to those in need of spiritual love and light. We have been blessed with a generous donation of yarn, but it goes out as fast as it comes in. We hope more friends will join in this friendly ministry.
With loving peace, Barbara and the Team
for a newspaper article about this ministry - click here
The Card Ministry is an
active outreach at our church. We meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays in Middleton
Hall. All supplies are provided along with kits to make about 20 cards. To build
these cards, all one needs to do is cut, paste, and assemble.
The cards are used by our church CARES program for our members who are going
through one of life's bumps. We also give over 250 cards to Banner Boswell
Hospital each month as well as over 100 cards to various hospice units in the
area.
Please join us in this exciting ministry.
Ann Gay