If you visit on a Sunday Morning (all are welcome during the week too!) you’ll see a table with some name tags. One of our parishioners developed early dementia and asked us to wear name tags, so we wear them for them and all others who have trouble remembering names (the vicar included).

If you brought children, see next FAQ for what to do.

We are a small church, so it is likely that someone will say hello to you. To avoid this, enter the Nave quickly (where we worship), sit down close to the wall, and bow your head as if praying. No one should bother you then 😂. Remember, all of us are relatively new to this church, so you are not alone in your feelings of awkwardness.

Our worship service is from the Book of Common Prayer (1979). We use the actual paper prayer book so page numbers are spoken aloud. If you aren’t able to find the pages, you can always just listen along. Worship in the Prayer Book traditon goes back to early Christianity when Jesus disciples asked him, “Teach us to pray.” Jesus’ respons was to teach them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. We will pray this prayer at every service and many others written by Jesus’ followers who are learning to pray.

We will sing from the hymnal and pray from the prayer book. There will be a sermon that lasts around 15 minutes.

The seond half of the service is Holy Communion. Anglican Christians believe in communion with God and with each other. Are prayers are what we beleive about this special meal that Jesus gave us. All christians who have been baptized in ANY church are most welcome to receive communion in our church. Just follow the person in front of you up to the altar and someone will hand you a piece of bread. You may put your hands out to recieve it and eat it immediatly, then sip out of the chalice. If you would like to dip the bread in the chalice, please request a gluten free wafer to do this by saying ”gluten free” or using hhe secret sign: holding your hands “down” intead of “up” so the vicar will know to give you the gluten free wafer that won’t disintegrate in the chalice. Communion is a sacred meal with the presence of Jesus, but it is a real meal with practicalities that make it always a little awkward, just like real meals.

If you don’t want to receive communion, please come forward in the line for a blessing. Just place your hands over you heart in the “Wonder Woman” or “Wakanda” salute, and the priest will pronounce God’s blessing upon you and lightly touch the top of your head.

If you are not baptized and you would like to take communion, we can baptize you during or right after the service, or at another convenient time. Please let someone know you have questions about baptism as we love to talk about baptism!

We keep most Sunday services to 1 hour and then we have our coffee hour in the parish hall/bistro. You are most welcome to stay and ask questions or just chill. Around 11;15 most Sundays we have our Adult Education called The Vicar’s Hour until 12.

The safety of your children is our first concern. Jesus made this very clear by blessing children, by warning anyone who threatened them, and by not rebuking noisy children, but the adults who complained! Our church is serious about keeping our Safeguarding Standards high, as directed by our bishop and Safeguarding Office https://www.epicenter.org/for-leaders/ministry-integrity-and-wellness/

Children are noisy and we expect them to be at church. Children are welcome to our main service as they are full members of our church, not just future members. They are also welcome in our Childcare Center. You will see the door near the name tag table. Trish, our Children’s Ministry Leader (a professional nanny), will be happy to answer any question you have about your children’s unique needs.

Here’s the Morning Sunday Service Schedule for Our Children

We open at 9:30am every Sunday Morning.

PHYSICAL PLAY at 9:30-10am

All Children are invited before our service whether they are staying or not, to participate. This is when we can let loose, get loud, break the ice with each other in a fun atmosphere with great Christian music! From just shooting hoops to playing H.O.R.S.E., to Gaga Ball, to Eye Spy, or even being able to create their own obstacle course, our children get their energy up and their wiggles out in a healthy way!

FREE TIME AND PLAY from 10-10:30am

By 10am, children that are staying during the service need to be signed-in by this time. If we have any new children visiting, we like to play an ice-breaking game to help everyone get to know each other better and then we give them time for free play. This is the time we dedicate to giving our kids a say in what they might like to do in our area. We find giving children choices and options helps our children feel they are being heard.

During this time, we also color and play games with the children that would like to participate.

TAKE A WALK at 10:30am

This is the time we let our children stretch their legs and use the restrooms, if needed.

SNACK & STORY TIME Before Communion

Right after stretching our legs, we have Snack and Story time around our table. We sit around the table, pass out snack, and have our Bible based Sunday School Lesson of the day and create crafts until Communion.

COMMUNION OR BLESSINGS

Parent/guardian and child decide to stay with the congregation or come back to the Children’s Ministry. Giving this flexibility for both has been extremely helpful when seeing parents worshipping in the Nave (where we worship).

AFTER COMMUNION

When we come back, we finish our crafts if not completed and then allow free play or to watch a bible-based children’s show from “GoMinno” before the parents/guardians arrive.

AFTER SERVICE

When the service is over, we continue to provide care for the children until signed out by their parent/guardian that originally signed them in. Parents are encouraged to socialize in the Parish Hall after service before picking up their children.

CLOSING TIME 11:45am

We will be wrapping things up and requesting that all children be picked up by 11:45am, so that our team can clean properly for our next service.

Please call or text the vicar with any questions. 512-571-4124

Not at all. Most of our church is new to The Episcopal Church and are learning how to pray the Episcopal way. In fact, you don’t have to be a Christian to come. Queen Elizabeth I famously said, “We will not make windows into men’s souls” at a time of great religious controversy. We won’t do that to you either. Your soul is yours, and your privacy is important to us.

YES!