St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Hollywood

I know I just posted last night, but I wanted to take a minute to write about how much I love our new church!

One of the great things about EUIP is that we actually live at a church and so we're very closely linked with a spiritual community. We occupy the upstairs of the parish house on the campus of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Hollywood. Downstairs is the main church office as well as a preschool by day. St. Stephen's has two preschools on campus (one Head State preschool and a fine arts pre-school) and also has a theater company on campus, called Write Act. Overall, it's just a really great place to be.

Today after church, there was an informal ministry fair where we all sat around and talked about the different ministries of the church and how to get involved. There are a lot of different ministries at St. Stephen's, from the ride ministry (giving elderly people a lift to church) to altar guild (setting up for the service). I'm hoping to get involved in a couple of different ministries: baking communion bread and working in the community garden we're trying to start. I think some of my roommates are going to be working with the Sunday School and youth group ministries. There really is something for everyone.

The really awesome thing I want to highlight, though, is that nearly 100 percent of St. Stephen's parishioners are involved in at least one of the different ministries (and many are involved in more than one)! I've seen plenty of churches where most people just go to a service once a week but contribute very little else to the life of the church. Especially in small churches with tiny budgets, parishioners are needed to help out with different things, plus it really helps build a strong church community. I'm really looking forward to my involvement with St. Stephen's this year; it's so refreshing to be a part of such a thriving, giving church community!