Interim, St. Timothy's, Mountain View
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church Profile
St. Timothy’s is an Episcopal church located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Our bishop likes to say that we have “more gifts than any parish has the right to.” We are also in the midst of transition after a separation from our last rector and we are looking for a special interim priest to lead us as we navigate through this time of change.
Demographics
We have 466 members, 142 of them under 16. We are proudly multigenerational, with offerings that attract both retirees and young families. According to a recent assessment, we have a greater proportion of men involved, and on a deeper level, than at most mainline protestant churches. Our church is multigenerational and includes many children: our median member age is below the national average, but slowly trending upward. We like to call ourselves diverse (one former senior warden likes to say that we are diverse – we have both software and hardware engineers), but we are still overwhelmingly Caucasian in the midst of a multi-ethnic area where whites are less than 40% of the population. We would like to better reach and include the ethnically diverse population in which we are situated. Currently our diversity is best described by the different places our congregants find themselves on their spiritual journeys. We have deeply faithful, engaged parishioners and folks who actively participate in community events, but would not yet identify themselves as Christians. We have many parishioners who came from un-churched backgrounds.We are reflective of our Silicon Valley home. We can be intense and involved, but laid back and very informal. Our area is transient, so people do come in and out frequently. We work in high pressure, high expectation environments – and have some of those same expectations of our clergy and each other. We value innovation. We see ourselves as different, which we consider a good thing.
History
St. Timothy's Episcopal Church was founded as a Lenten project in May 1952 when the Moffett Field Air Chaplain began holding services for ten Episcopal families in the Mountain View American Legion Hall. An early newspaper ad proclaimed “All local Episcopalians are welcome to join us.”In the fall of 1954, the bishop announced the purchase of a 1.5 acre site, later enlarged to 2.5 acres, for the new Mission. The site was one of the historically prominent farms in the South Bay, and is marked by a magnificent 450-year-old California live oak.
One distinguishing feature of St. Tim’s has been our long-term associations with rectors. In 1955, Dwight Edwards became St. Timothy's full-time vicar. Dwight guided the church's growth and expansion, including the move from mission status to the rank of full parish in 1963 and the construction of the church building in 1970. He left St. Tim’s in 1973. Ralph Jeffs was called as the second rector in 1974. He added additional emphasis to a ministry of witness, outreach, and service to the community. Ralph also put a strong emphasis on programs of adult education. He retired in 1992.
During the next search, the parish took a close look at ourselves and where we wanted to go. We recognized that, although we were healthy, we were not getting the influx of new, young families needed to keep our parish vibrant. In 1993, the vestry called Kevin Phillips to be our third rector. Under Kevin’s leadership, we attracted young families, built a core of empowered leaders and transformed our service offerings to feature predominately contemporary music. In December 2005, after 12 years, Kevin accepted a call to become the Rector of St. David's Episcopal Church in Ashburn, Virginia.
We hoped to maintain momentum and stability and because we had our long-time associate, who was skilled at the day-to-day administration of the parish available to serve as our priest-in-charge, we opted not to have an interim priest. (That priest was laid off in December 2009 because of our declining budget.) We conducted an abbreviated search and in June 2006, we called Nathan Speck-Ewer to be our fourth rector.
Recent History
Kevin was a very charismatic, strong, visionary leader who was intentional about building disciples. He left a legacy of strong lay leadership. He was a gifted preacher and teacher. Under his watch, our average worship attendance exploded from 69 in 1994 to 321 in 2005. Our budget ballooned from $173,900 in 1994 to $997,000 in 2005.Six months after Kevin’s resignation, we hired Nathan Speck-Ewer. Prior to joining St. Tim’s Nathan was the associate priest at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, Connecticut. We now recognize that we made a mistake in not having an intentional interim and doing the soul-searching work to determine where we as a parish wanted to go next. Earlier this year, Nathan decided to resign from St. Tim’s.
As a result, our parish is hurting and in need of care, attention, and help in rebuilding. Some people, particularly those who came under Nathan’s tenure, feel disappointed that he left. Other people who had stepped back from involvement are beginning to re-engage, but many are skittish. We are trying to come to terms with our reduced size, down to 216 worship attendance in 2009, and life without a rector and assistant priest for the first time in more than a dozen years.
Leadership
When our bishop talks about our gifts, she refers mainly to our people. God has blessed us with tremendous human assets. Our one long-term staff member is Peter Sammel, our incredibly gifted music director. We have bands at two of our services providing Christian praise music with amplifiers and drums. We also use multimedia presentations and project our service on a screen at the front of the church.We also have a core group of leaders that goes well beyond the vestry. When we hired consultants to help us at the end of last year, they were struck by how active our members are. More than 30 congregants reported that they spend at least 15 hours a month on St. Tim’s activities. Many parishioners are still committed to the tithe, study scripture, keep the Sabbath, turn to a small group for support and want to use their gifts for the mission of the church. We aspire to introduce more people to this kind of discipleship.
Our congregants want to feel a sense of ownership, but our lay leadership also requires strong inspiration and direction. It is not a completely self-sustaining, self piloting effort. Under Kevin’s leadership we had a very effective, but unarticulated power structure. One task for our interim priest is to help us better understand our leadership model – which portions of it are effective and which we should do away with.
Worship
We offer three different services, each with its own flavor. The Eucharist is celebrated at every serviceOur 7:45 am traditional service offers an opportunity for quiet reflection and contemplative prayer. The congregation is predominately older parishioners, some of whom have been here since the church’s early days.
Our 9 am Children’s Service gives families a place to worship together in a way that makes sense to children without neglecting the spiritual needs of adults. Children and teens serve as lectors, acolytes, greeters, and band members. We project the words of the prayers and the songs on the wall so parents’ hands may be free to manage small children. The contemporary music is accessible to children without being “childish.” There is a children’s homily, with the children joining the priest or storyteller on the steps of the altar. After communion the children follow their teachers to Godly Play while the adults join the preacher in our social hall for a cup of coffee and the adult sermon.
Our 10:30 service is a contemporary interpretation of the ancient liturgy of the Church. The sound of our worship band unites the congregation in worship with a blending of styles including hymns and sacred liturgical music, as well as contemporary and gospel praise songs. This congregation is a mixture of adult couples, singles, and a few younger families, ranging in age from 5 to 85.
Ministries
Covenant Groups are one of the cornerstones upon which the parish community is built. Over 130 people meet weekly in 15 groups to share, study the Bible, and pray together. These covenantal relationships sustain us both individually and communally. Covenant Groups help us know the presence of Christ. They are a safe place to explore faith and support one another. People grow spiritually as they are nurtured in relationships of spiritual intimacy.Our adult education program has historically been strong (our current supply priest called us a “learning community”), although this has waned over the last few years. We still, though, have a solid foundation of parishioners who have graduated from and some have gone on to teach The Book, our 40-week study of the Old and New Testaments. Other past favorites have included A Covenantal Response to Poverty, Developing Capable People (Parenting), The Gift of Years, Responding to Disbelief, The Virgin Birth?, The Gospel According to Shrek. Our congregation includes a number of capable and committed teachers and facilitators.
Stephen Ministry is a structured lay pastoral care program founded in 1975, and is found in Christian communities of numerous denominations throughout the world. It was established at St. Timothy’s in 1999. Stephen Ministers are trained to provide one-to-one Christian care to individuals who are experiencing a minor or major life crisis or transition. Stephen Ministry is confidential and those receiving care can be sure that their identity and what is shared in the caring relationship will remain private. Stephen Ministers are not counselors, but rather someone who walks alongside, listens to, and cares for an individual in need of support. Stephen Ministers are given 50 hours of training prior to being commissioned and, once commissioned, they continue to study and learn about topics such as forgiveness, death, grief, prayer, goal-setting, and spiritual growth during bi-monthly supervision and continuing education sessions.
St. Timothy’s Preschool, a non-denominational school, has been in operation since 1961. The school offers a developmental program that emphasizes academic and social readiness in preparation for kindergarten. The school encourages supportive play and successful, positive interaction between a child and his or her peers. We respect and encourage each child’s uniqueness.
The parish’s Sunday School program is called Godly Play. We serve children aged 3-10 years in five classrooms on Sunday mornings. Everything that happens in a Godly Play classroom – the classroom set-up, the carefully chosen and placed materials, and the management of the community of children – serves the child’s relationship with God.
Teachers focus on spiritual preparation and relationship-building among teachers, children, Christ, and families. Older children participate in Breakfast Club where they meet in a small group to explore the meaning of the Gospel.
Youth group, for 6th-12th graders, is led by an energetic team of adults. The hope of youth ministry at St. Tim’s is to create a place where teens support and encourage one another as they face the challenges of school, family, friends, and have fungrowing in faith together.
Goals and Expectations
We are looking for a strong, experienced interim priest, who is excited about who we are and is interested in helping us move forward again. Specifically we need:
Strong preaching: We value challenging, but restorative sermons with a clear take-away and relevance to daily life. We want to walk out with something we can continue to think about, talk about and might even want to share with a friend or neighbor. We like having a connection to scripture. We aren’t afraid of using the name “Jesus” and our priest shouldn’t be, either.
Relationship building: We often talk about being a “covenant community,” but we need help to again come together as a cohesive community and build unity of mission. We are looking for someone who can connect quickly with our parish and establish rapport. We need someone who is excited about us and our gifts, but can also challenge us to move forward and experiment. We need someone who gets us, who appreciates the fact that we are innovative and not totally traditional, who loves the involvement and chaos that comes with kids.
Communication: We need a priest who is an effective, transparent communicator. We also need someone who can listen. We need someone who is emotionally available to us, is interested in knowing our lives, and who is interested in sharing some of his or her own life, too.
Confidence: We are looking for a priest who is engaging and confident and knows him or herself. We would like to work with someone who can quickly establish trust and let his or her guard down to partner with us.
Leadership Style: We are looking for someone who believes in shared leadership, but is also providing inspiration from the top.
To apply as an interim candidate, please send your resume, CDO profile and a cover letter via email to Canon Brian Nordwick: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it