Welcome to all who seek the love and Lordship of Jesus Christ
We at St. Stephen's Anglican Church are committed to the mission
of the Christian Church: To know Jesus Christ and to make him known to
others. We seek an on-going, growing and deepening relationship with Jesus
Christ, as God our Father and Creator intended. Our source of knowledge
about God is the Bible, the divinely-inspired Word of God... true, consistent, complete... and the only trustworthy source of knowledge about God and
His will.'
The Bible tells us that God made every human
being in His image, so that we could glorify Him and be with Him forever.
However, all have sinned and fall short of this glorious destiny. Sin
is that force in us that pollutes us, imprisons us, and alienates us from
one another and from God. We are powerless to save ourselves form this
tragic condition. But God has done what we cannot do ourselves. He sent
His Son Jesus Christ to take our sins upon Him and die on our behalf,
and to rise again from the dead. God has provided the way – the only way – to
rescue and free us from the inevitable destruction our sins guarantee.
This is a message for all people, no matter who they are and no matter
what their circumstances. Everyone who turns to Jesus as Savior for the
forgiveness of their sins is given a new life of peace with God, a life
with all the possibility of joy, hope and meaning that only God can give
us, now and forever.'
We welcome all who are seeking a church home and the
truth of Christ faithfully proclaimed. We invite you to join us
and become part of a community seeking to follow and serve the One
who said, "I have come that my joy may be in you and your
joy may be full."
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About Our Worship
Sunday Worship Service 10:00 AM
Worship is the most important thing we do at St. Stephen's. Our worship is Christ centered. We celebrate Holy Communion commemorating Christ's Last Supper and our worship follows the Book of Common Prayer. We consider every worship service a celebration - an opportunity to praise God, be blessed by his Word in Holy Scripture, and receive the sacramental blessing of Holy Communion. Music is an integral part of worship, and we value good music highly. We sing parts of the service, and our hymns are both ancient and modern, and come from several Christian traditions, including African-American. We also have youth on our regular roster of ministers who serve during Sunday worship.
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Adult Education
Adult Education: One of our stated purposes as a church is to make disciples. Disciples are always growing in our knowledge of God and His Word, Jesus, the Gospel and our salvation. Responsibility for the teaching ministry is shared by many people at St. Stephen's. We have an abundance of gifted teachers. Our current Bible study opportunities are as follows:
Bible Studies:
Sunday Morning 9:00 AM Led by Tad de Bordenave, and by one of several others in his absence. Attended by upwards of 25 people each week. They have just finished the Gospel of John, and will be studying the people surrounding the Advent Gospels.
Sunday 4:00 PM Youth Bible Study, led by Jeffrey Cerar, attended by 6 youths. Currently studying the life and ministry of Jesus.
Sunday 4–6 PM Led by Todd Lewis, attended by three people. Currently studying the Book of Hebrews.
Tuesday Prayer Breakfast 8:00 AM Led by Shirley Smith. Attended by 11 people, currently studying Romans.
Tuesday 2:30 PM Attended by 8 people. Leadership rotates. Just finished Hebrews and moving on to the Book of Numbers.
Tuesday evening 7:00 PM Led by Jeffrey Cerar, and by one of several others in his absence. Attendance ranges between 18 and 24. Currently studying the Psalms and will go next to the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus.
Wednesday morning 8:00 AM The "Fishermen" men's group, attended by 8-12 men, is currently studying Isaiah using the Dick Woodward tapes. Discussion leadership rotates.
Wednesday morning from 10:00-noon Todd Lewis leads a group of four who currently meet at Sandy Baranski's home. They are finishing the Book of Acts, and plan to move on to a study of spiritual warfare.
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Home Groups:
Sands on the Potomac, organized by Tad de Bordenave, Wednesdays at 2:30, attended by 10 people, including several who are not members of our church. Currently studying Exodus. Leadership rotates.
Kilmarnock, Wednesdays 7:30-9:30, attended by 16 people who meet at a different home every week. Having recently completed a five-year study of the entire Bible using Dick Woodward's tapes, the group is now studying David Jeremiah's series on the end times. An evening consists of dessert, conversation, Bible study and prayer. This group used to include several who were not members of St. Stephen's, but all have joined!
Merry Point, organized by Mary Swann, meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, attended by 13 women, four of whom are from other churches. Currently studying women of the Bible. Led by Mary Swann and Donna Soule. This group enjoys an active social life and engages in group ministry, such as supporting a child in the Dominican Republic, and preparing food for a special event.
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Other educational events during the year are:
Lenten Series (five Thursday night soup suppers and program in Lent): This year's series was "A Christian Perspective on Aging," five different speakers teaching about the biblical context, care options and opportunities, a presentation on Alzheimer's, legal preparations, and a panel of perspectives by "seasoned" adults from the congregation.
Parish Weekend, which includes a four-session teaching series. This year's topic explored the evidence being discovered in the fields of cosmology and DNA research that points to our Creator.
Table Talk, 3-session dinner and program series twice a year, educational and oriented toward drawing in the public. This year's series, which will conclude on January 23, 2012, is on Egypt. Attendance is always between 100 and 110.
You are welcome to join any of the Bible Studies. If you think you might like to join one of the existing home groups, please call the organizer. If you would like to start your own home group, please call the Rector, who will be thrilled, and will help you get started.
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Young Christians at St. Stephen's
Children and youth are a delight and a priority to us at St. Stephen's. We cherish
their presence in our worship. Our youth choir, which rehearses every
week, consists of teens from 7th grade and up. We also have youth on our
regular roster of ministers who serve during Sunday worship. This year
we will have two Youth Sundays, when one of our young people will preach.
After Youth Choir practice on Sundays, the youth gather
for Bible Study. Once a month, we stay and have supper together, prepared
by volunteers from the congregation. Our young people are serious about
their Christian life. Six of them have preached on Youth Sundays, and
nine have been on mission trips to Mississippi, the Eastern Shore, the
Dominican Republic and Uganda.
We are praying for an infusion of younger children.
We have many gifted teachers who are eager to attend to the Christian
Education of children. It is our goal to teach them about Jesus, the love of God, and God's word in the Bible.
Currently, Sunday school is offered for children ages
5 years to 5th grade each week beginning around 11:00 a.m. in the parish hall.
Children attend church with their parents and are first to go with their
teachers to receive Holy Communion or a blessing from our priest. Following
this, they proceed to the classrooms in the parish hall for instruction
while the congregation finishes worship and begins coffee fellowship.
For those children who cannot handle being in worship, we have an excellent
nursery, staffed by loving caregivers. Our nursery is spacious, and has
a sink, two cribs, numerous age-appropriate toys, books and puzzles, a
telephone and changing table, as well as a door directly into the restroom.
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We Reach Out to God's World
The people of our congregation are very much involved in our community.
Their ministries include such things as hospice care, helping children
learn to read, taking meals to shut-ins, ministering to people in prison,
working at the local “Gleamers and Blenders” food bank and
working with the Interfaith Service Council, which helps those in financial
need. We have our own food tub, to which members contribute whenever they
are at the church or the parish house.
We also reach out to the community, the nation and
the world with our financial contributions. We have a regular line item
in our budget for outreach. Last year, we supported an international
missionary organization, a children's hospital in Richmond and the Northumberland Ministerial Association's program of giving Bibles to high school graduates. We gave to sixteen local organizations such as volunteer rescue services,
scouting, the Free Health Clinic, Hospice Support Services, the Haven
for battered women, the community college and Habitat for Humanity. Our thrift shop is a community treasure and gathering place, run by the Women of St. Stephen's. The money we make through the thrift shop sales
enables us to expand our outreach ministry.