“Embrace Our Hope in Christ – Respond with Generosity”
Vision for the Episcopal Church of the Apostles
Ministries 2011
Our church was founded in 1992 and we began to occupy our building by January 2004. Our original goal was to “Make friends who become apostles in the way of Jesus”. We have settled into becoming “home owners” and retain our vision and hope of becoming a thriving, independent, Parish which actively serves Christ in the Oro Valley area (and beyond).
We have taken steps toward that end with a newly established ministry to our teens and much broader support for our families in Sunday School. Actively serving our younger families is how we begin to thrive as a parish. We established our Teen Readers last fall; we have begun regular sessions of study and teaching with our teens, interspersed with outings this fall. We started the Parents Nite Out ministry last year and it continues along with a much larger contingent of helpers for our Sunday School Team. VBS began again last July.
We acknowledge that we are still in “Mission Status” after all these years. Further, we are dependent on the diocese: they pay our mortgage for us each month. We hope to address that lack in the nearer future with a plan of tangible steps which will conclude with our financial independence. Gladly, in the last two years we have substantially improved our ability to pay our regular diocesan assessment.
Naturally our future plans will involve more than just stepping up to our mortgage obligations. We plan to thrive in many areas. We can foresee the need for more classroom space in the future and can imagine solving that delightful need with a portable classroom. Our adult focused ministries and education continue strongly. We look forward to a growing team of members who can offer hands-on efforts to serve our Tucson neighbors who are in distress. We have another team who is eager to develop a ministry of healing prayer for Sunday mornings. We would like to broaden the outreach of education and worship already begun in Saddlebrooke.
We trust that by following Jesus closely, in studying the Word of God which he knew so well, in our daily following of Christ, in worship, prayer and in serving others, that we will experience the abundant life he promised his disciples... Jesus is the Good Shepherd who said “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10.
Join us this fall in pledging to follow Christ more closely. Happily share with us your gifts of time and talent and treasure, and discover God’s purpose in your life, and your purpose in this community of faith and in God’s wider world.