Sunday’s campaign launch event was a fantastic one, and will no doubt go down as one of the high points of my tenure at Christ Church, and I have no idea what other great events are yet to come! It was that good. It is always nice to have so many from our parish together in one place, and the positive energy and excitement was palpable. That event was a long time coming, perhaps longer than many realize. There will be details about the plans coming to mailboxes soon, for those who attended and those who didn’t. Today I want to share a bit more than is in the campaign documents, when it comes to the background and how we got to where we are today. Some of you will know all of this already. Many of us haven’t been at Christ Church for the same length of time or participated in various eras of conversation and discernment, so it can be helpful to revisit it from time to time.

Let me start by saying that no project like this is the work of the Rector alone… although Rectors are often where criticism lands for such things. We are used to that. The truth is that it’s not just the Rector, this one, or any other one, that is responsible for this or previous expansion campaigns. It has always been the congregation of Christ Church – what members have expressed a longing for, and more specifically, the Vestry of Christ Church – who has taken action throughout our history to provide for the needs of the parish and its ministry. The faithful arc of our history, of any church’s history, is to accommodate growth when a congregation can grow. Not all parishes can or will grow, but those that can and do must not squander that part of our calling. There has been an awareness of our need to address growth through expansion for decades before my arrival. (Arguably, the last project met part of the need, but was undersized at its completion, based on attendance data).  

Indicators of this parish’s awareness can be found in the land swap which saw us trade acreage with Fort Frederica on the north side of the Fort for six buildable acres along Stevens Road behind the cemetery. The land swap took place a long time ago, although I don’t know the exact date. That land was acquired with future expansion in mind, and some of the thinking about how to use it was for a new church. Similarly, the Vestry began setting aside money little by little after the last building campaign in a “New Church Building Fund.” That fund largely paid for our Master Plan process a few years ago. What set this particular stage in motion was very much the response of the congregation when we asked some questions about how we could accommodate the growth we were seeing in two particular places, the 9:15 am Sunday service, and the Saturday evening service at St. Ignatius.

After a series of Town Hall meetings in early 2016, the Vestry sent out a survey that primarily focused on making room in worship and trying to figure out the best way to manage the liturgical needs of the congregation. More than 250 surveys were returned, and it was in those surveys that we were surprised by the response to a question we had not even thought to ask (our survey consultant added it, as a standard question they ask during similar surveys). The question asked how long it might be before we needed to address space constraints through construction and/or renovation. Sixty five percent of respondents indicated one of the three categories that include five years or sooner (which translates to 2021 or sooner). It was also in this survey that ninety percent of respondents told the Vestry they saw accommodating growth in numbers by making new people comfortable in our spaces was a part of our mission as a congregation. Oh, and we heard that parking was a problem, too.  

When the Vestry made its short-term decision about adding the parish hall service, we also began preparations for a parking lot adjacent to the Wesley Memorial Garden. Before we went too far down that road, however, we pulled back and realized we needed help to think about the big picture and the long-term needs and future of Christ Church. That led us to the Master Planning process of 2017-2018 that took a long and thoughtful look at our facilities and grounds and how we use them. Again, the Vestry went back to the congregation with a series of workshops and surveys. There were many parishioners who shared their thoughts and priorities during that process.

Once the Master Plan was complete and we knew what various pieces would cost, the Vestry asked for more feedback during a feasibility study at the end of 2018. During that study, a combination of interviews and surveys administered by our campaign consultants, we learned what our priorities were and what a reasonable campaign goal might be to achieve the most pressing needs from our Master Plan. We scaled back the scope and focused on some of the most important areas where we needed more space, which is captured in this campaign’s capital goals. We began preparing for a capital campaign in the summer of 2019, the campaign which has now been launched. 

It is our hope, the Vestry’s hope, that each of us will become familiar with the campaign and its components. When we have questions, we want them to be asked. If we don’t already know an answer to a question, we will find one. We’ve already asked a lot of questions to get to this point, and no doubt some will still remain. No matter what, we will do our best to answer God’s leading as faithfully as we can, just as those who have come before us. We are a community that exists to bring people to the love of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ. We can do nothing less for those who will come after us.

Tom+

For more information on the campaign, visit www.ccfssi.org/campaign

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.