Introducing the Blue Water Episcopal Covenant

Describe your liturgical style and practice for all types of worship services provided by your community.

▪ Both Holy Family and Trinity are traditional but flexible. We typically follow the Rite II liturgy but often branch out to incorporate different worship rituals and styles. Both parishes hold a single service on Sunday mornings. ▪ Absent a priest, both parishes usually present Morning Prayer led by lay leaders, switching to a Eucharistic service when a supply priest is available. Lay readers are always part of our services.

▪ From March 2020 to June 2021, worship was exclusively via Zoom and Facebook due to the pandemic. As meeting in person has become safer, we are excited to reconnect as this allows us to build relationships more easily. We continue to offer virtual church as a way to connect with parishioners who are absent for health, travel, and other reasons.

▪ At Trinity, a pianist or organist supplies accompaniment for hymns and responses. The choir (small but mighty) presents anthems and leads singing during services. A guitarist often participates in services as well. Holy Family invites church members to volunteer to provide music, including an 11-year-old pianist.

▪ Ambiance is warm and relaxed; we are comfortable with worshipping together.

How do you practice incorporating others in ministry?

▪ We identify new attendees immediately and welcome them to our fellowship. This kind of personal encouragement and interaction is central to the friendly atmosphere that surrounds everyone who enters our churches.

▪ Both Holy Family and Trinity use our annual stewardship drives as a survey, encouraging members to sign up to help in ways that interest them. Such opportunities are reading during the service, offering music, working the food pantry or church resale shop, making prayer shawls, participating in indoor and outdoor maintenance, inviting people to Bible study and seasonal groups, supporting the Christmas Wish program, among other activities.

▪ Trinity fundraising projects such as our attic sale, bi-annual quilt display, Christmas bazaar, and twice-yearly pasty-making are a great opportunity to get people hands-on and interacting together. (For those new to Michigan’s food specialties, the pasty is a handheld meal of meat and vegetables, enclosed and baked in a pie crust case.)

As a worshipping community, how do you care for your spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being?

▪ Both churches have active prayer ministries that connect with members via email and phone. We 
also use traditional mail and personal visits to stay in touch and support those who do not have a 
computer.

▪ We have prayer shawl ministries that deliver hand-knit shawls and lap robes to those who are 
ill, experiencing distress, or in need of comfort.

▪ Our senior wardens and part-time administrators keep people connected through our websites, 
Sunday announcements, emails, and mailings.

▪ We are resuming regular Bible study and similar groups as public health and leadership 
conditions allow.

▪ We talk with one another and share information about needs and conditions.

Describe your worshipping community’s involvement beyond the immediate parishes and in the wider church and geographical region.

▪ Our buildings are used for Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, AL-anon, Girl Scouts, and 
similar groups six days a week. At Trinity the Blue Water Folk Society presents a community- wide 
coffee house once a month from October through March.

▪ Holy Family supports an active thrift/re-sale shop that has been in business for 50 years and is 
widely used by the community. The shop gives away goods to people who lost possessions due to fire 
or other disasters, and to local schools, nursing homes, shelters, and the county jail. Eighty 
percent of earnings from the thrift shop are returned to the community.

▪ Holy Family assists the local St. Vincent de Paul Ecumenical Food Pantry by donating paper 
products year-round and volunteering to work the pantry. We adopt families from St. Vincent de Paul 
at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kids in Distress, a local program that provides clothing, bedding, 
and other goods to children in need, is another active program we help.

▪ Trinity sponsors the Project Blessing food pantry, with parishioners donating goods. The pantry is open to all who need assistance. The Christmas Wish project provides gifts and funds to area families through an affiliation with Sanilac County.

▪ Our parishes work with other churches to sponsor community services and programs. For example, Trinity hosts a regional men’s spirituality group, participates in interdenominational
worship, and sponsors Lexington’s community-wide vacation Bible school each summer. The
community children’s choir periodically visits congregations with an opening song for services.

▪ Participation in ecumenical activities with area churches of various denominations is important. 
Members from Holy Family and Trinity attend special services and events within our communities, 
including Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and others.

▪ Members are encouraged to support local, regional, and national/international non-profit agencies that provide assistance of various types. Members also participate in diocesan programs and training.

▪ The Episcopal Relief and Development Fund is a frequent recipient of contributions to address 
various needs throughout the country and around the world.

▪ We contribute to the diocese by payment of our monthly tithe.

▪ Trinity’s summertime outdoor service at Tierney Park in Lexington’s harbor serves as a beacon to 
the community and is open to all who wish to attend.

How are you preparing for the church of the future?

▪ Formulating the Blue Water Episcopal Covenant is the church of the future, as more and more 
modestly sized parishes combine resources to enable a range of programs that extend ministry and 
mission to members and communities alike. An important focus is support of a rector. The document 
entitled Blue Water Episcopal Covenant and Operating Principles is available upon request and 
outlines the role of the rector within the covenant structure.

▪ We understand that live streaming of services, activities, and meetings is now a way of life. We 
acknowledge the relentless expansion of social media and are looking for ways to take advantage of 
platforms and communications ideas. Broadcasting services live from Trinity via YouTube and by Facebook live-stream at Holy Family is part of that effort.

▪ Holy Family came into existence in 2017 as a combination of three parishes; this has required 
that we change, grow, and be flexible and open to new possibilities. Strong, reliable, capable 
church members have kept us afloat and viable.

▪ We are exploring innovative strategies to bring non-members into the church. As congregations 
with older members, we are looking for ways to attract younger people and families. Finding and 
building youth connections throughout the community is a focus.

▪ Revitalizing our physical plant is important to keep us looking inviting, active, alive, and 
vital.

What is your practice of stewardship and how does it shape the life of your worshipping community?

▪ Both parishes hold an annual stewardship campaign to gain pledges of financial support for the 
upcoming year. Pledge cards also provide an opportunity for members to commit their time and talent in areas of interest to the larger good of the church.

▪ Entering the Blue Water Episcopal Covenant recognizes our financial positions and the need to be purposeful stewards of available, limited resources to accomplish desired goals. Among those goals 
is sharing a rector who serves both parishes.

▪ Our senior wardens and other lay leaders attend stewardship training and share information with 
other local wardens. Senior wardens plan with the vestry and treasurer and keep the congregation 
abreast of relevant financial information.

▪ We are realistic about the financial needs of our parishes and recognize that monies are 
finite.

▪ At Trinity we hold an annual attic sale, Christmas bazaar, pasty-making and sales project, 
Independence Day parade bake sale, and other activities to bring in additional funds. Every other year we host an area-wide quilt show with dozens of gorgeous handmade quilts on display, selling tickets to raffle an original quilt to a lucky winner.

What is your experience leading/addressing change and conflict in the church? When has it gone well? When has it gone poorly? What did you learn?

▪ Both Holy Family and Trinity have had our share of changes and learned to deal with conflict. 
Holy Family came into being when three parishes were forced to close and combine as one. A priest 
was assigned and as part of the transition, two buildings were sold and a third was remodeled. The 
churches that combined had different personalities, traditions, activities, and services. We continue to discover who Holy Family is and work on relationship building.

▪ For Trinity, after operation for many years with a full-time priest, the move to share resources 
within the Blue Water Episcopal Covenant in order to employ a priest responsible to the covenant is a new way of thinking, organizing and doing business.

▪ Both Holy Family and Trinity continue to hold weekly worship services by either bringing in 
supply priests or offering Morning Prayer services facilitated by lay people.

▪ The pandemic, which brought many restrictions and closures, taught both churches that change is 
constant and unpredictable and that open communication is key to figuring out what to do. We make efforts to talk to people, listen, and adjust based on what our congregations want. Because of Covid, we were forced to find new ways of keeping ourselves connected, including simulcasting services on YouTube and Facebook and holding vestry, annual, search, and other meetings via Zoom rather than in person. Keeping financial support current was another essential challenge that we both successfully met.

▪ We know that some people will never be satisfied and at some point, need to redirect repetitive 
complaints toward positive solutions. We learned that some people would rather walk away than deal 
with change and that it is our responsibility to focus on sustaining those who remain loyal and committed.   

Describe the gifts and skills essential to the future leaders of your worshipping community.

▪ Desired pastoral skills include accepting and welcoming diversity among all ages, ethnicities, 
genders, religions; encouraging participation in parish life and programs; and connecting us to 
what’s happening in the community and world beyond.

▪ Worship skills prioritize inspiring sermons and relating to liturgical tradition, while being 
open to new ideas.

▪ We seek a rector who is a team player, passionate and caring, a spiritual leader and good a communicator.

▪ Flexibility and willingness to approach ministry in a new way are at the heart of BWEC. Because the covenant is new, our rector and members of Holy Family and Trinity will be inventing together how to be the church in intriguing, purposeful ways.

▪ We are looking for acceptance, leadership, and community involvement, as well as a leader who 
recognizes, supports, and encourages lay people to get involved in various roles.

▪ Our leader should be one who listens to the parishes and helps guide and equip us with the skills to move forward.

▪ We want our priest to reach out and interpret what’s happening in the world beyond our 
doors and bring the Christian perspective to outside events.

▪ Personal traits we value are following through on commitments, being open-minded and receptive 
to new ideas, demonstrating solid organizational skills, and encouraging growth and vitality.