By Christine McTaggart
St. Andrew’s, Haw River, is a small church with big energy. One of only two Episcopal churches in fast-growing Alamance County, it is situated between the towns of Mebane and Burlington.
When the Rev. Joe Sroka answered the call to become St. Andrew’s vicar in fall 2023, he found it to be a place of life and energy. He recalled, “If I wasn’t hired here, I’d feel right at home bringing my family to a church like this.”
Since the start, Sroka saw his role to affirm all of the gifts found at St. Andrew’s and facilitate the conversations around how to get the word out about those gifts. He and the congregation have worked together to find creative ways to flourish.
COMMUNAL LEADERSHIP
Sroka is a bivocational priest. He serves half-time at St. Andrew’s, and his other vocation is running Little Way Farm (Disciple, Spring 2023), owned and operated by Sroka and his wife, Michelle. Because he can’t be at the church full-time, he and St. Andrew’s leadership have been creative in its staffing needs. The Rev. Brooks Graebner, diocesan historiographer, serves as priest associate. St. Andrew’s is in the second year of fully funding a seminarian. Between the three of them, they provide a full-time pastoral presence. The result has brought an abundance of gifts.
“[Brooks] has been a huge gift,” said Sroka. “Having him here is a huge affirmation of what we’re doing.” Giving a seminarian the chance to study and do parish ministry simultaneously is “a gift to him, but he’s a gift to us because we’re helping to train someone for ministry who’s excited about the ministry as he’s going into ministry.”
Most of all, the creative staffing creates a climate and culture of life and vitality. “It’s not based on just one person,” said Sroka. “We’re all in this together. It’s communal leadership. It’s communal service. It’s not all dependent on a priest or senior warden to hold this thing together. We share the ministry.”
The communal approach can be seen in how members of St. Andrew’s discern and decide together. “One of the good things about being a small church is that we’re very nimble,” said Sroka. “There’s not a whole lot of bureaucracy involved.”
When working to fund support for their seminarian, one of the parishioners had an idea for a churchwide garage sale. The idea was supported by the congregation, with another member suggesting it was a good opportunity to clean out the unused rooms and basement, keeping what was still needed, offering the rest at the garage sale and taking away whatever didn’t sell.
The sale was a success. Not only did it raise the funds for the seminarian, but when those involved reflected on it after the event, they realized in the week they’d spent cleaning the grounds, preparing the church and organizing the sale items, they’d been given the gift of time and fellowship with each other. Too, in clearing out the extra rooms and basement, they transformed significant space from storage to something usable, and immediately began to think about what could be done with it. They asked, what could this become for our growing children’s ministry? Could we rent office space to a local nonprofit or invite someone else to use the space?
“We funded a seminarian, got deeply involved in each other’s lives, cleaned out the church, and now it’s open to be used for other things,” said Sroka. “And all of it came from one woman’s idea to have a garage sale.”
CONTAGIOUS ENERGY
If there was one concern in Sroka’s early days, it was one to which many churches can relate: the budget. The vestry was faced with passing a deficit budget, something they knew could not continue in the long term.
When the mission proceeds disbursement offering was made available first to historically Black and Latino congregations and churches with annual operating incomes of less than $100,000, St. Andrew’s saw a path to financial stability. They applied for and were granted Phase I funding, and it, along with support from a Missionary Resource Support Team (MRST) grant, helped stabilize St. Andrew’s finances and free them to refocus on their role in their community.
“It has helped us have the space to be strategic about the systems we have in place and give our finance team the space to stabilize our finances and create a stewardship campaign,” said Sroka. “It’s breathed life into the things we want to support and be a part of, and that stuff and that energy is kind of contagious.”
Another source of contagious energy comes from the younger parishioners. St. Andrew’s has a thriving children’s ministry. Led by music leader Megan Whitted, St. Andrew’s finds ways to welcome their children as participants in services. Eight- and 9-year-olds serve as acolytes and read Scripture on Sunday mornings. The children are part of the choir once a month. They help with Holy Week and Christmas Eve. In September, St. Andrew’s held their first children-led service, where children did the prelude and the postlude, and led the congregation in singing. So many children wanted to participate in the processional, it was difficult to find enough for them to carry.
“We had incense, a crucifer, we carried our church banner in and had two children carrying candles,” said Sroka. “One of the children carried the Gospel. They’ve brought so much life to what we’re doing.”
When it was over? The first question asked by the children was when they would do it again.
DEEPENING RELATIONSHIPS
With stabilized finances and abundant energy, church leaders want to continue to be an active part of their community, but with a more intentional approach.
St. Andrew’s has long been known for their generosity. Even with a small annual budget, they regularly contribute to community needs. But while “we did a lot of financial support to different organizations,” said Sroka, “we didn’t know people on the ground in the organizations. So we’ve really tried to shift into getting involved on the relational level. The thinking was rather than casting a wide net, let’s see how deep and personal these relationships and partnerships can be.”
One of the deeper partnerships formed is with the elementary school across the street. St. Andrew’s has supported it for years, fulfilling needs when supply drives were underway or backpacks needed to be blessed. With the new focus on relationships, they’ve grown closer with the school’s social worker, allowing St. Andrew’s to support the teachers and families in need. This past spring, they learned of two teachers at the school struggling with medical bills, and the church was able to assist in alleviating thousands of dollars of medical debt.
Partnerships have also developed through collaborative efforts. In the last year, St. Andrew’s has become involved with another local church that hosts a weekly free-choice food pantry. St. Andrew’s does not have the resources to provide such a service on its own, so instead they provide the volunteers on the second Thursday of each month.
“You’d probably hear very different sermons in our churches on Sunday,” Sroka said with a smile. “But we’re able to partner in mission together. They have the expertise and infrastructure, and we have volunteers to contribute to what they’re doing. Our approach is really just trying to be a resource for our neighbors. I think there are a lot of opportunities for smaller churches to partner on things that may be challenging to do on our own.”
“The whole congregation is thoughtfully engaged in asking questions about how to participate meaningfully in the life of the larger community,” said Graebner.
To help their neighbors know they’re there, St. Andrew’s is excited to be working on a new website. Alamance County is in a moment of substantial growth, and the website is being developed as a tool to introduce the church to its new neighbors, understanding that many looking for a new faith home use websites and other online offerings to explore what a church has to offer.
“Fifteen years ago, I would’ve told you if you were new to town to look online, and whoever had the worst website, that’s the church to visit because they obviously care about other things,” laughed Sroka. “But that’s not the way it works today. As our web developer told us, today’s website is akin to the proverbial red doors.”
ON THE RIGHT PATH
Even with a website still in progress, the results of St. Andrew’s efforts in the last two years speak for themselves. The church continues to look for grant opportunities, including one recent application they hope will help them build skills in asset-based community development. Attendance has doubled, and pledges have increased, contributing further to the financial stability of the church.
St. Andrew’s may be small, but the energy is bigger than ever. “It’s great to celebrate the work that’s been done,” said Sroka. “But there is certainly more we’re being called into, and I think we’re on the path to answer that call.”
Christine McTaggart is the communications director for the Diocese of North Carolina.
