City of God: Celebration Picnic
On Saturday, May 16th, Holy Family members gathered for our annual spring outdoor Eucharist and parish picnic. This year the event was the final in a series of special occasions related to our City of God capital campaign.
Father Mike and Deacon Cathy led the congregation in a beautiful liturgy under a large tent.
Music was provided for the service by youth group members led by guitarist Ethan Everett.
Father Mike invited congregation members to bring forward their City of God pledge cards and mite boxes to be blessed during the Offertory. In addition, congregation members returned their river stones that they had personalized earlier during the campaign. The stones will be added to the foundation of the new building during construction.
Father Mike blessed all of the items as well as the regular offering.
Following the service we celebrated with a picnic of grand proportion. Our City of God logo, designed by Holy Family member Stephen Beard, took center stage on a delicious cake. At the picnic’s end, Father Mike announced an updated in-gathering amount of $615,000 toward the building project. More information about our City of God campaign can be found by clicking HERE.
City of God: Advanced Commitment Dinner
On Friday, May 8th, members of Holy Family’s congregation gathered at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Carmel for fellowship and the Advanced Commitment dinner for the City of God capital campaign.
Father Mike shared a few words about the campaign and his hopes for Holy Family’s future.
Envision Our Future committee members Charles Forman and Dan Chillemi gave updates on the campaign so far.
Generis fundraising consultant Tom Melzoni shared stories from his extensive work with other churches and their capital campaigns.
The event’s guest speaker was the Reverend Canon Gray Lesesne. Reverend Lesesne was appointed by Bishop Waynick as the Vicar of the new Episcopal community in Brownsburg, Indiana.
Following the main address, congregation members were invited to prayerfully discern their campaign pledges and return their pledge cards to a collection basket.
Church members lit a City of God candle during this special ceremony and were invited to take them home at the end of the evening. Our initial ingathering of pledges yielded $582,000 toward a total project goal of $1 million. More information about our City of God capital campaign can be found by clicking HERE.
City of God: Clypping the Church
On Sunday, May 3rd, we joined together as a holy family to participate in “clypping the church.” Clypping the church involves the congregation members processing outside to surround the space designated for expansion.
Congregants held hands while surrounding the new space and then turned to face the larger community while a prayer service was held. In this manner, both the church and the community are embraced by the parishioners.
Readers were chosen to represent our 8 AM and 10 AM services as well as our youth population. We gathered to celebrate that God is found in our church community and our surrounding community.
Following the liturgy we enjoyed traditional clypping buns (hot cross buns.)
Father Mike, Deacon Cathy, and members of Holy Family’s congregation were joined by Aspen Group architect Doug Franklin. Doug has been working closely with our City of God team to design our new building spaces.
Delaware Township Trustee Debbie Driscoll participated in our event as well. Pictured here with Brotherhood of St. Andrew “senior brother” Joe Spangler, Debbie accepted our most recent donation of items for the township’s food pantry. Debbie also took two trays of hot cross buns to share at the township office. For more information about our City of God campaign, please click HERE.
City of God: Building a Firm Foundation
On Sunday, April 26th our congregation participated in a variety of activities related to our City of God capital campaign. Deacon Cathy met with all students from preschool through high school. The children were asked to use blocks to build a church and were challenged with questions about where people pray, meet, and learn about Jesus.
The children were asked about ways to reach deeper into the community and surrounding areas to share the story of the Good News with others. They were given brick-themed mite boxes and asked to build onto their church building to create new spaces for feeding ministries, bible studies, retreats, and concerts.
Children who wanted to take their boxes home were encouraged to do so. Some kids shared ideas for washing cars or dogs, mowing lawns, holding bake sales, or selling unwanted items at garage sales to raise money for our campaign.
Deacon Cathy led the children in singing the refrain of “City of God” and reading aloud the kid-friendly version of our City of God corporate prayer.
Following our church services on Sunday, Deacon Cathy encouraged congregation members to personalize river stones with their family names. The stones will be returned to church during our Celebration Picnic on May 16th to be collected, blessed, and added to the foundation of our new building addition.
Members were invited to take home a card with the City of God corporate prayer as well. More information about our City of God capital campaign can be found by clicking HERE.