CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION
Our Parish Profile
We believe that Ascension must work to share
the Good News the Lord has given us by our actions and in our lives. We believe that we are a community of faith
and service, that the best way to lead others to Christ is to serve Christ.
Phone: 864-882-2006 Fax: 864-882-2072
E-Mail:
ascensionworship@bellsouth.net www.ascension-seneca.org
The Church of the Ascension located in
Our
Our mission at Ascension is to be “Disciples
of Christ, Called to Serve Neighbors, Near and Far.”
We live our mission by our commitment to four core values:
¨
Compassion
¨
Fellowship
¨
Worship and Prayer
¨
Christian Education
We believe that Ascension must work to
share the Good News the Lord has given us by our actions and in our lives. We believe that we are a community of faith
and service, that the best way to lead others to Christ is to serve Christ.
For us these are not just words, we spent
considerable time and effort, involving the entire congregation in identifying
what made Ascension a special worship community. We recognize that we need to continually
improve our efforts to live our values and are currently working on developing
a strategic plan to guide us in our further efforts. The development of a strategic plan is part
of the diocesan Healthy Church Initiative and we would want our new rector to
be involved in that process.
Our values of Compassion
and Fellowship are two sides of our belief in the need to serve our Lord
through service to others.
¨
We work to live these values through compassion for the many in need in our local community.
·
Our active support of The Helping Hands Children’s Home is a special
mission of our parish and is supported financially by donations and many hours
of volunteer time.
·
Our parish and our parishioners are involved in the development of the
first homeless shelter in Seneca, Our Daily Rest, and the development of a
battered women’s shelter, also a first for our community.
Our
·
Through both budgeted support and supplemental fund raising projects
our Outreach Committee provides financial support to 24 organizations providing
services to those in need in our community.
·
Our ECW contributes greatly in both time and money, especially in
support of the Helping Hands Home.
·
Additionally, throughout our parish there are many who personally serve
our community through volunteer efforts and service on the boards of a number
of charitable organizations.
·
Our chapter of the Daughters of the King, through faithful prayer and
visitation, ministers to the sick and shut-ins within our parish community.
¨
Our fellowship is shared
during worship and informal social activities, including:
·
Sunday coffee hours
·
Our Foyers program of small, casual dinner groups, involving both long
term parishioners and newcomers
·
Our active ECW
·
A Bridge club that provides fellowship and friendly competition
·
A commitment to creating and promoting a friendly worship community
where all feel welcome. As one visitor
to a recent reception in the parish hall commented, “this is the friendliest church that I have ever been in.”
¨
Our commitment to worship and
prayer is fostered by:
·
The establishment of a worship committee headed by our interim rector
to continually strengthen our worship, as well as our devoted Altar Guild and
Choir.
¨
We work to foster our spiritual growth through continuing Christian education:
·
Sunday class is led by parishioners and held between our
·
Our Tuesday evening Family nights include a compline service, the
opportunity to share in fellowship over a potluck dinner and sing-a-long, followed
by a choice of classes.
·
The activities of Our Good News Committee can be seen both within the
church and in the community. They
continually seek new ways to spread the Good News and bring new parishioners
into our fold.
Our Congregation…
Our congregation of some 204 members represents a
wide variety of backgrounds and occupations.
More than half (127) of these parishioners are over 61 and retired, a
reflection of the influx of retirees to our area. Consequently many are traveling, which
accounts for an average weekly attendance of 110, which we would like to
increase. Ascension is a very active
church, as evidenced by our well maintained facilities and our many outreach
efforts. As an older congregation there
are often members in the hospital, nursing homes, assisted living or homebound
and in need of pastoral visitation.
We currently have few young people in our parish;
however, we have sponsored a local baseball team for a number of years and
supported use of our property by a local Boy Scout group.
We recognize that any parish needs to be growing in
order to remain healthy and would look to our new rector to help us to develop
areas for growth within our community.
We consider ourselves to be of healthy pastoral
size, so that our priest is central to our well being and very important to us. We are a loving and caring congregation, sharing
our joys and sorrows together and with our surrounding community through our
outreach programs and our individual outreach efforts.
|
|
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
|
Active Baptized Members |
207 |
223 |
211 |
204 |
|
Increases in Membership |
22 |
27 |
7 |
21 |
|
Decreases in Membership |
15 |
11 |
19 |
28 |
|
Average Sunday Attendance |
108 |
116 |
118 |
110 |
|
Baptisms |
3 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
|
Confirmations |
2 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
|
|
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
Our Finances…
Ascension’s parishioners are generous in sharing
their time and resources for parish operations, special projects and community
needs. We feel that we are excellent
stewards of our assets and are blessed with our resources. We are a very special congregation with much
to give each other, our community and our new rector. For example over recent years we have
completed and paid for renovations and expansion of the church facilities
($750,000), a new courtyard garden ($11,000), memorial garden ($18,000) and
establishment of an endowment fund ($64,235).
The following table shows our operational income and
expenses for the last three years.
|
INCOME |
2005 |
% |
2006 |
% |
2007 |
% |
|
Identified Pledges |
$188,017 |
85.8 |
$197,918 |
89.1 |
$205,425 |
89.6 |
|
Plate Offerings |
$5.719 |
2.6 |
$4,726 |
2.1 |
$4,677 |
2.0 |
|
Other Income |
$25,466 |
11.6 |
$19,541 |
8.8 |
$19,280 |
8.4 |
|
Cost of Donated Stock |
$0 |
|
($100) |
|
($160) |
|
|
TOTAL INCOME |
$219,202 |
|
$222,084 |
|
$229,222 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXPENSES |
2005 |
% |
2006 |
% |
2007 |
% |
|
Diocesan Quota |
$31,528 |
15.8 |
$33,503 |
15.3 |
$33,800 |
16.4 |
|
Local Outreach |
$16,150 |
8.1 |
$16,700 |
7.6 |
$19,245 |
9.3 |
|
Administration |
$49,847 |
25.0 |
$58,821 |
26.8 |
$56,128 |
27.2 |
|
Church Expenses |
$4,176 |
2.1 |
$10,210 |
4.7 |
$5,225 |
2.5 |
|
Repairs/Maintenance |
$20,357 |
10.2 |
$17,125 |
7.8 |
$12,578 |
6.1 |
|
Music Expenses |
$11,394 |
5.7 |
$12,041 |
5.5 |
$13,174 |
6.4 |
|
Clergy Expense |
$55,709 |
28.0 |
$52,889 |
24.1 |
$53,098 |
25.7 |
|
Contingency Fund |
$10,000 |
5.0 |
$10,000 |
4.6 |
$10,000 |
4.8 |
|
Discernment/Search Committee |
|
|
$581 |
0.3 |
$2,874 |
1.4 |
|
Seminarian
Expense |
|
|
$7,599 |
3.5 |
$600 |
0.3 |
|
TOTAL EXPENSES |
$199,162 |
|
$219,469 |
|
$206,721 |
|
Our Services…
Currently our worship services are the following:
¨
Sunday 8:00 AM, Holy Eucharist Rite I
¨
Sunday 9:30 AM, Sunday School
¨
Sunday 10:30 AM, Holy Eucharist Rite II
¨
Tuesday
¨
Wednesday
Our Commitment to our
Diocese and the Episcopal Church…
The Church of the Ascension is a part of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina (EDUSC). We therefore reflect the mission of the diocese, which can be found at the diocesan website www.edusc.org
While there is a difference of opinion about issues
facing the church today, our congregation as a whole views the unity of the
church as overriding adherence to any doctrinal or philosophical argument. The Vestry has formally endorsed the Windsor
Report.
Our History…
Further information on the history, activities and
work of the Church of the Ascension can be found by accessing our website www.ascension-seneca.org
Our New Rector…
We pray for someone who will
value our unique parish. Being retired,
the majority of us have needs and wants that are different from a younger
congregation.
As our 2008 parish survey
indicated, we are looking for the following characteristics in a new rector:
¨
Delivers
meaningful sermons
¨
Provides pastoral
services
¨
Reflects spirituality
in own personal life
¨
Exhibits strong
leadership
While not the most important,
the following traits are significantly important::
·
Participates in
and supports church activities
·
Has a pleasant
personality
·
Will welcome new
ideas and suggestions to improve the church
Somewhat important traits are
the following:
- Is a good administrator
- Is welcoming to new people (tie)
- Is interested in community involvement (tie)
- Demonstrates ability to teach
When asked if there were any
other issues regarding a new rector they would like to address, about half of our
parish survey respondents offered additional thoughts. The primary issues raised were as follows:
¨
Support for the
Episcopal Church and our Diocese
¨
Desire for
services to be conducted in a holy and sacred manner according to the prayer
book and sermons based on strong Biblical knowledge
¨
Desire for a
rector who is caring and willing to shepherd his congregation
Our Local Community…
Although closures of large-scale employers such as
the mills have had serious impacts on the county, other industries and
businesses have arisen in recent years to absorb most of the impact. In the 1960s Duke Power (now Duke Energy
Corporation) began work on the Oconee Nuclear Station, one of the earliest
nuclear power generators in the
The county is governed by a Council-Administrator
form of government at the county seat in Walhalla. A single integrated school district
comprising eleven elementary, four middle, and four high schools, and a career
center, is administered by a Superintendent and an elected Board of
Trustees. Higher education is available
within easy commuting distance at
Our Local Community…
Culturally, the Blue Ridge Arts Council (housed in
the former Ascension mission church) seeks to promote awareness and growth of
the arts, bringing together talent in creating art-learning workshops, hands-on
classes, art education in the schools, scholarships, and gallery shows. Oconee Community Theater (Seneca) and Clemson
Little Theater (Pendleton) each provide diverse, high-quality stage productions
that showcase the talents of local, nonprofessional actors and support
staff. Each stages
The City of
Many of Seneca's earliest structures are still in
existence, and a very energetic, combined public-private program has been
underway for a number of years. Of
particular note has been the reclamation of "Ram Cat Alley," with its
upscale antique shops, trendy clothiers, arts and crafts, and restaurants.
One of the distinct benefits of life in
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Median
Home Cost |
$191,800 |
$423,800 |
$277,900 |
$233,900 |
$315,900 |
$112,700 |
|
Overall
Cost of Living* |
117 |
132 |
112 |
109 |
112 |
94 |
*