Parish Life - Bringing Us Together
We have a Supper Group that meets monthly at area restaurants and organizes other activities such as baseball games, picnics and occasional theatre and field trips. We also have a Book Club that meets monthly and a Writers Group that comes together online twice a month. The parish volunteers for spring and fall campus clean-ups and a summer tag sale. We have supported a music ministry for the community, known as “Music on Whale Oil Row,” offering concerts and classic movies each year. For dates and times of these events, click on our calendar site here.
The St. James Supper Group is a gathering of parishioners who dine together on a Friday evening, usually once a month to break bread and enjoy one another's company. We choose a different restaurant in the New London area each time, so that we are able to support many of the local restaurants in the nearby community. The Supper Group is also a way of getting to know our parishioners who attend either the 8:00 am service or the 10:00 am service who we do not normally see on a regular basis. Twelve to fifteen people normally come for our Supper Group outings and the numbers continue to grow each month! Rides are available and encouraged for those who do not have transportation.
The St. James Book Group usually gathers on the third Wednesday of each month to discuss the "Book of the Month" and enjoy food and fellowship at a local restaurant or at a member's home. It is another way to get to know your fellow parishioners a little bit better!
Our online presence continues to be a powerful way for us to connect with parishioners, the community and Episcopalians near and far. Currently, Sunday 8:00 am services are celebrated solely in person, while the 10:00 am services are offered on Zoom and YouTube as well as in-person. These services are also recorded on YouTube and posted on the St. James YouTube website for later viewing, usually by 20-30 viewers a week. Our Saturday "reminder" emails go out to about 195 parishioners and friends and are also posted on the St. James Facebook page. The regular Tuesday church emails go out to those same parishioners and friends, plus our SE Region contacts, for a total of 220 weekly. The website is in the process of a serious update this year, and it received 364 visits a week last year, an increase of 70 over prior year. We continue to be well-represented on social media on Facebook and Instagram. Our Facebook page has 933 followers and 835 friends. Our Instagram page continues to grow; currently with 962 followers.
With the 300th anniversary of St. James' founding coming in 2025, our
Tercentennial Committee
has been planning meaningful activities and commemorations to celebrate the history and accomplishments that are the story of our church in New London. The work of the committee includes generating subcommittees to spread the work among more parishioners. We already have earned a grant to join the
Witness Stones Project,
which "seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities." We had a celebratory choral Evensong service in November
commemorating the 240th anniversary of the consecration of Samuel Seabury as our country's first American Episcopal Bishop in 1784. While serving as bishop, Seabury was also the pastor of St. James from 1785 until his death in 1796.
Singing for the service was the St. James Choir, the Anglican Singers and additional choir members from St. John's Episcopal Church in Niantic and Calvary Church in Stonington. A celebration dinner event will also be held in June.
