Priest Search: Parish Profile

PARISH PROFILE FEBRUARY 2020 OUR CHURCH COMMUNITY TODAY GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Brunswick, Maryland is searching for a new priest-in- charge who will embrace our strong and welcoming community and traditions while encouraging us to embrace new challenges and opportunities in a rapidly-changing world, as we grow together in faith. We hope that the information contained in these pages will help you understand who we are and who we hope to become with the help of our new priest. We have done our best to share our history, the facts and figures of our current church community, and our hopes and dreams for the future. Much of the information contained in these pages is a product of an extensive self-study process undertaken by the Discernment Committee, which included a 30-question online survey, two parish- wide gatherings, and many meetings of thoughtful reflection by the Committee itself. While the survey did not capture information from every single member of the congregation, we can provide a snapshot of statistics from the 42 members (of 77 invitations) who did participate: Participation in the survey was skewed slightly toward females (62%) and people age 45 or older (75%). Almost a quarter of the participants (22%) reported that they have dependents under the age of 18 living in their household, however. More than half (59%) live within 5 miles of Grace or less, with equal numbers (16%) reporting that they live under ½ mile from the church or more than 10 miles away. The majority of respondents have been active at Grace for three years or more (68%), although it should be noted that more than 10% said that they had been attending for less than one year. Unsurprisingly, a large majority (81%) of those who participated in the survey were members who attend Grace “almost every week” or “every week with rare exceptions.” As one participant very aptly summed it up, “Our parish is blessed to be multi-generational. We are also welcoming to everyone. We have active families with young children, as well as active retirees committed to PAGE | 1 community service and servant leadership. We also have newcomers to our parish who are searching for spiritual growth and have found a home in our parish.” The 2018 Parochial Report for Grace Church and a “Sunday Visitation Preparation Form” prepared in 2019 both show a vibrant community that is actively doing outreach in the community, with 115 members and average attendance at our 10:00 AM Sunday service at 58 people. Bi-weekly Children’s Sunday School boasted 8 children, and it was estimated that there were 49 people who are active at Grace under the age of 50. Average attendance at Grace’s several weekly AA meetings was 53, and there were 31 current, active pledge units in 2019 (up to 34 for 2020!). Three marriages, one burial, and five baptisms were conducted at Grace in 2018. MISSION/WELCOME STATEMENT At GRACE CHURCH, we strive to live into our name. YOU ARE WELCOME HERE no matter who you are. We practice a spirit of welcoming all as Christ and believe God has called us together as a people to be the Gospel in the world regardless of our gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio- economic status, level of education, disability or any other outward appearances. For in Christ, "there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male and female" - all are one! GRACE CHURCH is a welcoming and affirming congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. PAGE | 2 THE PRIEST WE SEEK race Church is a vital part of the Brunswick community and has been for nearly one hundred G years. We are a church that contains members from one year of age to one hundred years. As we go forward in these somewhat challenging times, there are several things that our church is looking for in its pastoral care. At the top of our list is that we are searching for a priest who understands and accepts this uniqueness and recognizes it as a positive attribute, one who is “able to build on the welcoming community that is Grace Church.” Most of our members have expressed that we need a priest who is inclusive, open, and accepting of all people, including our overall church community (which spans not just the Brunswick area but Virginia, West Virginia, and communities north and west of Brunswick). We are looking for a “loving, kind, and caring” individual who is compassionate and pastoral while being theologically sound with the ability to “preach a good homily.” Empathy and understanding are also important, as is being someone who is easy to approach and talk to while truly listening, but a “good sense of humor” is also a necessity for us and for our priest. We are committed to our individual church and the Church as a part of the larger Christian community, and we are searching for the priest who can meet our needs and satisfy their personal needs at the same time – one who is “committed to Grace” and “truly wants to be here.” When asked to rank the activities that our next priest-in-charge might engage in, almost 60% of survey takers indicated that “high-quality preaching” was the most important activity to them, with pastoral care and personal counseling coming in second place (30%). When asked about the specifics of the sermon in the weekly service, over 80% indicated that they want it to challenge them to grow, 68% said that the homily should apply to personal issues faced in daily life, and 60% indicated that they want it to be intellectually stimulating. In addition, while 27% reported that they were “moderately comfortable” with a priest who is openly political, over 40% of the respondents said that they were “uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” with overtly political clerical leadership. In PAGE | 3 addition, members of Grace are clearly looking for someone who embraces traditional elements of worship through liturgy, weekly communion, Holy Days, music, and special services. As a parish that has had to become mostly lay-led over two and a half years of transition, we need our next priest to respect and to continue to support this movement toward lay involvement. In fact, when asked to describe what they liked best about worshipping at Grace, respondents said that the involvement of congregants in worship and planning was one of the things that they liked best. In terms of leadership style itself, large numbers of congregants reported that they prefer a priest-in- charge who collaborates with (58%) or empowers (32%) staff and laity. As one survey taker put it, “…our next priest should be willing to coach and teach others…a single person cannot run a church.” GRACE’S RECENT LEADERSHIP Through 1963, the rector at Grace Church would serve St. Mark's, Petersville, and St. Luke's, Brownsville, as well as Grace. In 1965 and 1966, St. Paul's in Point of Rocks was renovated. Services were held there only two times a month and the Grace Church rector celebrated there until 1980 when they obtained their own priest. The Rev. Frank E. Fortkamp served as rector at Grace Church from September 2002 to October 2010, and his retirement initiated a time of transition for Grace. In these transitional years (2009-12), the parish atrophied to no more than 12-15 active members. Weekly services were conducted by supply priests, and the parish could not afford a full-time priest. The vestry issued a call to a newly ordained priest to be our half-time Priest-in-Charge, and the Rev. Anjel Scarborough accepted this call and partnered with Deacon Tom Claggett in leading our parish. Under their joint effort, the parish experienced profound growth and Grace was able to call Rev. Scarborough to be our full-time rector. This growth was facilitated by adopting a theology of inclusion and reaching out to those who felt unwelcome and often wounded by experiences in some nearby parishes. Our parish also grew into a regional parish during this time, with many members coming from Frederick and Washington Counties in western Maryland, Loudon County in Virginia, and Jefferson County in West Virginia. As Grace’s Senior Warden recently wrote, “We have become a lay-led parish by necessity because it has been 2.5 years since we have had a full-time priest. Our full-time rector (Rev. Anjel Scarborough) left our parish and became the Priest-in-Charge at St. Peters in Ellicott City, and less than a year later, our new Priest-in-Charge (Rev. Spencer Hatcher) left our parish for a new career assignment in California. Our past deacon (Rev. Tom Claggett) had retired about five years earlier. We were not given viable candidates to interview for an interim priest, however, we were blessed to secure the ministry of a recently retired priest (Rev. Charles Holder) who agreed to become our long-term supply priest. While our spirit has been rejuvenated and our parish is experiencing renewed vitality during the ministry of Fr. Charles Holder, we yearn for and feel the need for more permanent ecclesiastical and administrative leadership.” PAGE | 4 PROGRAMS, ACTIVITIES, AND OUTREACH list of the types of ministries offered at Grace includes, but is not limited to, addiction recovery A support (AA, NARCAN training), contributions to Episcopal Relief and Development, altar guild, Eucharist for the homebound (LEV), pastoral care, choir, Bible study, children's church, youth group, Warmth and Welcome, Trunk or Treat, the Food Bank, Veteran's Day parade, potlucks, bazaars, Brunswick House Christmas caroling, St.

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