Meet Church of the Nativity, Raleigh

By Rebecca Christian

Thirty-three years ago, on December 5, Bishop Robert Estill celebrated the first service of Church of the Nativity. While the parish is relatively new as North Carolina parishes go, it has been lively from the start. After its first service with 75 in attendance, the founding members in one month had a music program and choir, a program for Christian formation, a youth group, a budget and a strategic plan. In 1993 the mission was recognized as a parish at Diocesan Convention.

Since the very beginning, serving beyond the walls has been important. Today outreach is focused on alleviating hunger and poverty, on care for creation and environmental stewardship, and on social justice. One of Nativity’s earliest efforts was to support with volunteers and funds the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. This food rescue and distribution organization was begun by Nativity member Jill Staton Bullard (now a deacon); the church’s support continues to this day.  Now Nativity members are involved in the Capital Area Food Network, support backpack buddies at Leesville Elementary School, annually pack meals for Rise Against Hunger, hold a Martin Luther King bean-packing event for Urban Ministry’s food pantry and deliver food from the community garden to senior housing facilities.

To help churches everywhere care for creation, Nativity pioneered ZeroWasteChurch, a ministry that has spread throughout the Diocese and beyond, offering information, training and inspiration to many who recognize that creation is a gift from God and who seek to understand how our actions may help or harm our neighbors, present and future, nearby and around the world. Partners in this effort include the North Carolina Council of Churches, NC Interfaith Power & Light,  Capital Area Food Network and the Audubon Society, as well as several individual churches. Activities range from cultivating an organic community garden, to installing solar panels to power two Nativity buildings, to using recyclable cups and plates, to partnering with the Audubon Society to make the church campus habitat friendly. Recently Church of the Nativity received a grant to promote composting in North Carolina as a means of sequestering carbon dioxide.

Nativity also supports Haiti Reforestation Partnership/CODEP, which for over 25 years has planted 14 million trees in the Leogane province of Haiti with the result of improving food security for 1500 families and restoring the forests. The church also leads in volunteer support for the annual Episcopal Build of a Habitat for Humanity house.

Nativity members are engaged in social justice listening as well as advocacy efforts ranging from discussion groups and programs to supporting efforts to help farmworkers through the Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry, and participating in advocacy with the NC Legislature and the US Congress on issues related to immigration, criminal justice reform, the environment, racial justice and refugee resettlement.