Who We Are As a Congregation

In January of 2018, after serving nearly 28 years as Rector of St. Stephen’s, Fr. Max Bailey announced his intent to retire. Beginning in the spring of that year, the St. Stephen’s Profile Committee created several opportunities for church members to share their thoughts, ideas, concerns, and hopes as we set out to call our new Rector. Members were encouraged to participate in several quick Sunday surveys focused on topics such as church identity, what we are looking for, and who we want to be. The Committee also facilitated a number of roundtable discussions centering on those same topics allowing members to voice their thoughts in person and in detail. For a more holistic picture, the Committee sponsored a parish-wide spaghetti dinner to encourage fellowship and discussion.

Finally, the committee developed and distributed a comprehensive survey. Aside from these formal channels, the Committee constantly sought and encouraged informal, one-on-one input from parish members. While comments and thoughts varied widely in their details, this profile contains the most common themes discerned from these efforts.

The Profile Committee then focused on creating a profile of St. Stephen’s describing who we are, what the congregation would like to focus on for the future, and what the we would like to see in a new Rector.

Demographics of our Church Community

St. Stephen’s is a well-established church community. While we have a diverse membership in terms of age and length of relationship with the church, the overall congregation demographics show we are an older community that has been attending St. Stephen’s for a considerable time. The feedback provided through our surveys shows 68% of our congregation is over the age of 60, with an additional 22% between the ages of 45 and 60. This puts roughly 90% of our congregation over the age of 45. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, only 14% of our members have children at home under the age of 18. A comparison with other local parishes suggests St. Stephen’s is not out of the ordinary with these demographics.

Approximately 57% of our members have been attending St. Stephen’s for more than 10 years with an additional 27% attending between 5–10 years. Again, this shows that 84% of our congregants have been coming to St. Stephen’s for more than 5 years. We see this stability of the St. Stephen’s congregation as a positive attribute. At least 80% of our members report attending church at least three times per month with 50% attending weekly. Of the 87% of our members who reported growing up attending church, 34% of these grew up in an Episcopal congregation. Another 26% grew up attending a Catholic church.

Our members are drawn to the sense of fellowship and community the parish provides. Nearly 60% of our members identified these as the chief characteristics driving membership and attendance. This sense of connection was further woven through our roundtables and interviews as people commented on our community time and again.