St. Francis' Episcopal Church

Serving Eureka, Wildwood, and Surrounding Communities

Moving On

At Mother of Sorrows Church in Rochester, New York, where I grew up, the “chapel” was a Quonset Hut.  Yes, WWII vintage, olive drab, Quonsett Hut.  This was a temporary solution to a growing congregation and a very small church building.  This temporary building was in use for at least 15 years.  It followed the adage that in churches, what was meant to be temporary is often permanent.   

The congregation of St. Francis’ has had three temporary locations:  the Ramada Inn in Eureka, the Methodist Church in Eureka, and the LaSalle Retreat Center.  As Bob and Jerry Smith, who worshiped at the Ramada Inn, point out, LaSalle was always meant to be temporary.  And St. Francis’ has been there for 16 years. 

The Building/Transition Team has unanimously recommended and the Bishop’s Committee unanimously approved this congregation’s next move.  St. Francis’ has rented a building in downtown Eureka (Old Town) and will move the Parish Office there on September 30.  Through October and November the congregation will continue to worship at LaSalle, but on the first Sunday of Advent this year, December 3, we will begin worshiping at another, larger, location.  This will probably be Blevins Elementary School in Eureka.  (As of this writing, details have not yet been finalized with the principal of Blevins—that happens on September 5.) 

Why this? Why now? Why there?  St. Francis’ Episcopal Church is called by God to grow in order to bring others to a closer relationship with God and in order to more fully witness to the Kingdom of God in the world.  For the past five years, the congregation has remained at about 96 people with an average Sunday attendance at between 55 and 60.  Yet, we regularly see and welcome new faces into the congregation.  Well, another piece of church-growth wisdom is that a congregation is limited by the size of its worship space.  We are maxed-out at 55-60 people.   

I recognize that this decision feels fast.  But the reality is that Bishop Rockwell, Bishop Smith’s predecessor, was encouraging St. Francis’ to move long before I arrived.  Members of this congregation attended “Start Up! Start Over!” 3 1/2 years ago, became convinced that a move was necessary to grow, and immediately began to talk about such a move within the congregation.  The Building/Transition Teams have been active for nearly a year anticipating the congregation’s next steps.   But part of the urgency is financial.   

The Diocese of Missouri has been extremely supportive of St. Francis’ over the past five years, but their financial support has been steadily decreasing.  In part, this is due to the Diocese’s increasing financial constraints, but it is also partly our choice.  The Identity Task Force set a goal of financial independence from the Diocese as of 2005.  They also set a goal of doubling average Sunday attendance by June of 2004.  Neither of those has happened.  Therefore, the same number of households (though some of them change) is carrying a greater share of the financial burden.  The same number of people are also carrying the “ministry” burden.  As I said in the Parish Meeting on August 27, we could use an additional two Sunday school classes because of the ages and numbers of children in our congregation, but we do not have the people who feel called and have the gift to do that ministry.  A high percentage of the adults and children of St. Francis’ are engaged in the regular ministries of this congregation, but we don’t have enough people to support the increasing financial and activity needs of this wonderful, active, enthusiastic part of the Body of Christ.  The scary reality is, if we do not grow, we will not be able to sustain ourselves even at our current level through 2007. 

Why there?  When we learned that the deal for the “land across the street” had fallen through, The Rev. Canon Dan Smith told us that he would look for a great location in either Wildwood or Eureka.  The leadership felt that to move further north would put us closer to St. Martin’s geographical “parish.”  It makes more sense for us to be in Eureka to extend the Episcopal Church’s welcome to a wider area.   And, Eureka was where St. Francis’ was first established.  It is a growing region, and there is no church there that offers what the Episcopal Church can offer.   

This is an exciting step for St. Francis’.  And, yes, it is a leap of faith.  By definition that means that one is not sure of the outcome.  But our faith is in God.  I have always felt that God wants a growing, thriving, vibrant Episcopal Church in far West County.  And I think that God is giving us a nudge out of our comfy nest in order to let us see that we can, indeed, fly.  

You probably have questions that cannot fully be answered in a brief column.  Please feel free to talk to me or to a member of the Bishop’s Committee or the Building/Transition Team.  They are listed below.