New to St. Stephen’s?
Welcome!

We invite you you first to check us out here on our website and then invite you to join us in worship, in growing in faith, and in loving and serving one another.

Our Community

Who are the people I will meet at the church? Pretty much all different types of people… just as God created us. What we have in common is a desire to come closer to God, to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, and to extend the love of God to others around us in our daily lives. Churches go through life cycles and currently we are in a senior life cycle, our kids grew up and moved on. We are eager and hopeful for younger generations to discover us and help us rejuvenate the church into its next cycle with parents and kids.

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Parking

Where do I park? If you need to avoid stairs, please park in the upper lot. Otherwise, anywhere in the lower parking lot is fine.

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Our Campus

Where do I go on your church campus? We have two main buildings on our property. After you turn into the parking lot there is a building to the right and a building to the left/ahead. The one to the right contains the Church and Parish Hall. The building to the left/ahead contains the Church offices and a bigger meeting room which we call “The Education Building”.

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More Information

We are pretty casual overall, but if you want to dress up, we are fine with that too. Whichever way you are comfortable.

Yes, they are. We have a special “kids’ corner” with some books and toys where kids can be kids and parents can be with them. We prefer to have kids stay in the worship service so that they learn what it is like to be in church and how the worship service proceeds from start to finish. For that reason, we do not have a separate nursery/or Sunday School for kids.

Wherever you are comfortable… no assigned seats, here.

In the adjacent Parish Hall, there are two bathrooms for all genders, whichever is available/unoccupied for use.

We average about an hour… sometimes a bit longer, maybe an hour and ten minutes.

We follow an order of service called a “liturgy” with the first part of the service focused on hearing and reflecting on the Word of God (Bible lessons). The second part of the service is focused on the Lord’s Table or Communion or Holy Eucharist in which we remember Jesus’ desire that whenever we share the bread and wine, we do so to remember Jesus and his giving of himself to sustain us in our daily lives. The congregation participates with spoken or sung parts of the service. Our bulletin will guide you through the service.

If you enjoy music as part of your worship experience, you will want to come to the Sunday worship service. We have an amazing pianist/organist who plays our hymns and songs. The music tends to be a mix of traditional church hymns and some more modern hymns. Saturday’s and Wednesday’s worship is a spoken service without music.

Yes. We believe that God would want everyone to come to the banquet, the supper, the meal, the opportunity to be in union with God through the receiving of the bread and wine. Jesus himself did not deny anyone, including Judas who betrayed him, from receiving the bread and wine.

We try to be sensitive to people’s needs so that everyone feels included in receiving communion together. We use gluten free bread. We use real wine. If you are someone who does not drink alcoholic beverages, you may receive the bread alone and that is considered a full participation in the Communion. When taking communion, we allow you to choose one of two ways to receive communion. One way is to dip/intinct your bread into the cup of wine and consume the bread and wine together. The other way is to eat your bread and then take a sip from the cup.

That is okay too. We invite you to come forward and cross your arms over your chest to receive a blessing from the priest in lieu of the bread and wine. You can also remain in your seat during communion, if you prefer.

Currently only for adults as we don’t have kids regularly attending church. We have several options to grow in the knowledge and love of God through study or discussion. Each week we have Adult Forum on Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 12pm. There are also other offerings for classes or discussion described on this website under Ministries: Grow in Faith.

On Sunday, we hold what Episcopalians sometimes refer to as the 8th Sacrament: Coffee Hour… or tea or juice… with refreshments and an opportunity to talk with each other about our daily lives. Our Saturday congregation has a monthly 2nd Saturday Supper where we go out to a local restaurant to eat and have fellowship together.

Yes, inside the Parish Hall on the wall there is a rack with various informational topics. Looking for more info now? Check out The Episcopal Church’s denominational website: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/

Technically, all you need to do is take communion three times in a year in the church and be “known to the treasurer” (give something financially to the church). If you want to be more formal in your joining the church, there are the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and reception. Ask the priest to determine which is the right one for you.