BASIC INFORMATION
Name of Church: Historic St. George’s Episcopal Church, Hempstead
Diocese: Long Island
Address: 319 Front Street, Hempstead, NY 11550
Phone: (561) 483-2771
Email: [email protected]
Position title: PRIEST-IN-CHARGE
Current Status: INTERIM PRIEST RECEIVING NAMES UNTIL MAY 31, 2024.
Order of Ministry: PRIEST
Weekly Average Sunday Attendance (ASA): 67
Number of Weekend Worship Services: 2/month.
Number of Weekday Worship Services: 2
Number of Other Worship Services per Month: 4
COMPENSATION, HOUSING, AND BENEFITS
Note: Full New Rector Compensation Package Submitted Separately
*Current Annual Compensation: Cash Stipend: $65,000.
*Housing/Rectory: $76,857.
*Housing supplied for [number of people] plus Utilities (if separate from housing figure): $4,000 plus SECA: Representing reimbursement of: $4,973.
*Compensation Available for New Position: $65,000.
*Cash Stipend Negotiable? Yes
*Pension Plan: Affirm compliance with CPF requirements.
*Healthcare Option: Negotiable – Single $13,764.
*Dental Option: $240.
*Housing Equity Allowance in Budget Yes Amount: $2,855.
*Vacation Time: One month.
*Continuing Education Time: Yes.
*Continuing Education Budget: $2,000.
*Sabbatical Provision: Yes.
*Travel/Auto Account/Budget: Yes-Reimbursible from expenses.
*Other Professional Account:
Professional Budget: Reimbursible from expenses
INCUMBENT HISTORY & CHURCH DAY SCHOOLS
N/A
Church School:
Number of Teachers/Leaders for Children’s Church School: 2.
Number of Students for Children’s Church School: 6.
Day School:
N/A
NARRATIVE
In our Baptism covenant, we promise by word to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ, seeking and serving Christ in all persons. You are invited here to reflect on your ministry by responding to all of the following questions (maximum 250 words each.). You may answer in more than one language, if appropriate.
Describe a moment in your worshipping community’s recent ministry which you recognized as one of success and fulfillment.
Our church sponsors and supports a Girl Scout troop and a Boy Scout troop as part of its ongoing ministries for youth. In November 2023 the Girl Scouts provided free Thanksgiving dinners for all members of the Hempstead community. The Girl Scouts, along with the Boy Scouts, served over 180 meals to neighboring guests in need, and no one was turned away. Many members of the church were also on hand to assist with setting up, organizing in the kitchen, and assisting with the preparation of traditional turkey meals as well as Caribbean-style food and drinks. The young women and young men were passionate and very engaged in organizing, promoting, and carrying out this endeavor, and look forward to doing it again in 2024. At this event, there is also a coat drive, which is eagerly anticipated each year.
How are you preparing yourselves for the Church of the future?
We recognize the cultural shift taking place in Hempstead. Church leadership has been considering how to welcome members of the Latino and Haitian communities into the St. George’s family. Presently, we hold a bilingual Eucharist every other Wednesday. We would like to incorporate other worship and service opportunities that meet the needs of our new neighbors, as we learn more about their languages and cultures. We have sponsored both boys and girls scouting troops, and we hope to help grow and sustain other youth programs that meet the changing needs of families. Covid taught us that we could be more flexible and try new things. We have learned to use Zoom and livestream, and we hope to continue learning new technology for worship and communication. As good stewards of God’s creation, we started a community garden that helps provide fresh food for the pantry. We seek to grow this ministry with the help and for the sake of our neighbors.
Please provide 4–6 words (separated by commas) describing the gifts and skills essential to the future leaders of your worshipping community.
Visionary, communicator, problem-solver, proactive, innovative, administrator
Describe your liturgical style and practice. If your community provides more than one type of worship service. Please describe all.
The liturgical style of worship at St. George’s Church is Anglo-Catholic with flexibility and contemporary elements. Our service music and hymns generally come from Hymnal 1982, Wonder Love & Praise, and the Lift Every Voice & Sing II. As music is an integral component of our worship, we encourage saxophone, steel pan, guitar, and other renditions which highlight our various backgrounds and cultures. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated each Sunday at 10:00 A.M. (Rite II, with 15-member volunteer choir who lead worship and prepare a weekly anthem. The service is streamed on Facebook, available to the public. On special occasions, incense is incorporated in the worship service.
How do you practice incorporating others into ministry?
In early September, we celebrate homecoming with a dinner to welcome back the congregation from the summer “break,” we welcome new members, while church organizations share information about the organizations at St. George’s The Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Episcopal Church Women, the Guild of the Christ Child, the Altar Guild, Sunday School, and Boys and Girls Scouts offer active, open, and organized ministry opportunities. The Food Pantry is open to all residents of the Hempstead community, and is a great source of comfort especially in these times of food insecurity. Our dedicated Eucharistic Visitors visit nursing homes, hospitals, and shut-ins at home, often accompanied by members of the above-mentioned groups.
As a worshipping community, how do you care for your spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing?
We sustain our spiritual well-being with the Wednesday morning service, and have engaged in Bible Study and book discussions. In Lent, we conduct Stations of the Cross every Friday, Carol sing at Christmas, the Easter Vigil and choral evensong. Ash Wednesday service at noon is open to employees in the community during their lunch break. There is also an evening Ash Wednesday Service. We hold at two nursing homes the first Saturday and Sunday of each month; these services always include engaging the residents with hymn singing. Our emotional well-being is strengthened by social events, such as the Caribbean Carnival, the Guild of the Christ Child’s Mid-Lenten Tea Party, Mother’s & Father’s Day celebrations, New Year’s Eve gathering, the St. George’s Men-can-cook event each June, and by the annual Easter Egg Hunt. The Altar takes great pride in decorating the church, highlighting Easter, Fall/Harvest, & Christmas. We care for our physical well-being with programs on minority access to health care, health services and programs for senior citizens, and other regular offerings.
How do you engage in pastoral care for those beyond your worshipping community?
St George’s provides pastoral care in many ways, including monthly services at community nursing homes, our Food Pantry ministry, healing prayer services, and our ministry to the sick and home-bound. Our food pantry ministry serves families in the surrounding community, many of whom do not attend services at St George’s. Food Pantry volunteers assist in finding counseling services, a ministry which we seek to expand by inviting neighborhood partners whom we can join to expand social service assistance. Not only are food deliveries made to the homebound, but also our sick and shut-in ministry ensures their connection to their church. We are looking to join the Cathedral in providing fresh food, such as sandwiches to the homeless. We welcome a rector who would be willing to join and expand this ministry with us.
Describe your worshipping community’s involvement in either the wider Church or geographical region.
Requests from the Diocese of Hawaii after a devastating hurricane resulted in St. George’s making a generous donation. Our Boys Scout Troop and Girls Scout troops consist of youth from neighboring communities. With requests from Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, has assisted in cleaning up gardens for seniors. The Boys Scouts assist with park and beach clean-up on some of their camping trips. Additionally, the women’s organizations spearhead donations to groups such as the United Thank Offering, the Seamen’s Institute, and ICare at St. John’s Hospital in Far Rockaway. St George’s has joined forces with the Town of Hempstead and other clergy to address homelessness in the community. We are actively engaged in our community and have hosted open meetings to discuss issues such as racial reconciliation, immigration rights, and healthcare for minorities. Members have been involved in the Diocesan Creation Care Ministry and have participated in programs offered at the Mercer School of Theology. The Cathedral is part of our deanery and has supported our food pantry. It is our hope to become more involved in the Cathedral clericus which will give us access to programs and available resources.
Tell about a ministry that your worshipping community has initiated in the past five years. Who can be contacted about this?
The St. George’s Food pantry started in response to the obvious needs of those in Hempstead who find themselves in dire need. The Church provides space for the pantry, served by dedicated volunteers who offer their time and talents. Food is distributed twice monthly and each family receives at least a three-day supply of food. The Food pantry is supported by local food banks, church members, and organizations throughout the area. We are exploring ways of deepening our relationship with our guests, and we hope to expand our giving with God’s continued blessings and the kindness of those who practice the commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Annette Moore coordinates the service of the Food pantry and its operations.
What is your practice of stewardship and how does it shape the life of your worshipping community?
Members of St. George’s Church give of their time and talents by as vestry members, ushers, Sunday school teachers, choir members, liturgical ministers, and volunteers on mission projects. Recently, lay persons have led an annual Stewardship Drive beginning in September and culminating on the last Sunday in November. Each Sunday in November, members of the Stewardship (including one youth) “preach” about the meaning and importance of stewardship. These “sermons” lead to individual soul-searching to guide our pledges. The congregation responds generously. One parishioner commented increasing her pledge is a way of deepening her awareness of the abundance of God’s blessings. This year, parishioners were encouraged to embrace Stewardship as not only Sunday offerings, but also their assistance in the greater church community.
What is your worshipping community’s experience of conflict and how have you addressed it?
The Dejah Joiner group was formed to encourage youth of the community to learn to play the Steel Band, and possibly to receive homework help. During Covid the group stopped meeting, and it eventually died. Fast forward to the present – the steel pans were stored in one of our halls, and rusting from not being used. We contacted both the Diocese, who had given a grant to purchase the pans, and the person who ran the group about gifting the pans to groups who could use them. Both parties agreed it would be wise to dispose of the steel pans as best we could. The pans were donated to a high school steel band overseas. Other people who assisted with the group, and who later found out about their disposal, expressed their disappointment at not being kept informed about disposal of the pans. Despite the initial choice to leave the decision-making to only a few, we learned that clear and on-going communication was needed.
What is your experience leading/addressing change in the church? When has it gone well? When has it gone poorly? And what did you learn?
After the resumption of in-person worship (post-Covid), our past Priest opted to conduct one service only at 10:00 a.m. instead of two, formerly held at 8:00 a.m. (Low Mass) and 10:15 a.m. (High Mass). While membership decreased somewhat, parishioners started to get used to the idea of one service, and attendance organically increased. The change not only enabled parishioners to worship together and to know both the “8 o’clock” and the “10:00 o’clock people,” but it enabled us to have Sunday School at a time when children just eased into church service, especially the ones who are acolytes. We were able to schedule Christian Education Hour at 9:00, so that the choir could participate before church.
A few years ago, a youth performance involved some praise dancing during worship service. Some parishioners showed their displeasure at “dancing in church” by walking out, while one just left the church. We learned from this experience that some teaching or explanation is helpful in order to prepare the parishioners for change.
CONNECTIONS
Worshipping Community’s Website: www.stgeorges-hempstead.com
Media Link:
Language Significantly Represented: English, some Creole and Spanish
REFERENCES
Bishop
The Right Reverend Lawrence C. Provenzano
[email protected]
516-248-4800 x131
Diocesan Transition Minister
The Reverend Canon Claire Woodley
[email protected]
516-248-4800 x135
Wardens and other contacts
Paulette Lalljee
516.641.3175
[email protected]
William Johnson,
516-318-9730
[email protected]
Demographic Website:
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/hempstead-ny/
2.
JOAN FINCK, CPA
5 Vinton Street, Massapequa, New York 11758 Telephone: 516 735-1262
Email: [email protected]
Clergy, Wardens &Vestry
St. George’s Episcopal Church 319 Front Street
Hempstead, New York 11550-4024
We have audited the accompanying statement of Financial position of St
George’s Episcopal Church in Hempstead, NY as of December 31, 2022 and the corresponding statement of activities and the statement of cash flows covering
the year ended December 31, 2022.
The management of the church is responsible for the above -mentioned
statements. The responsibility of the auditors is to express an opinion on these statements based on the information we have collected in our audit procedures.
In accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, we plannedand performed our audit to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements
are free of material misstatements. We believe that our audit procedures and evaluation of financial statement presentation provide a reasonable basisfor
expressing our opinion.
Our investigation revealed many areas whereresearch was needed toanswer questions regarding items listed on the trial balance. We have added more detail to this report in the footnotes.
Due to the open questions and lack of acomplete set of books, we do not express an opinion on these financial statements.
10/16/23 Dan
Tuck
Joan Finck, CPA October 16, 2023