Partners

Please use the links below to learn more about our community partners who help support our outreach, mission, and vision.

Want to know more about our partnership with Faith Lutheran Church?

Our Current Status:

At the February 2023 vestry meeting it was unanimously voted to move forward with clergy sharing with Faith Lutheran. In July of 2023 clergy sharing started, with Fr Tim being ¾ time at St Ann’s and ¼ time at Faith Lutheran. Fr Tim celebrates a Eucharistic Service at Faith Lutheran on the 4^th Sunday of each month.

On the weeks when Fr Tim is not at Saint Ann’s, Morning Prayer services are conducted by our Deacon, Lisle.The leadership of Faith Lutheran Church has expressed their desire to participate in the rector transition process and to continue with our 1/4 time clergy sharing arrangement once Fr Tim leaves.

The Background:

Since 2001 there has been an alliance between the Episcopal and Lutheran churches to allow full participation of members in the services and church life of the other.

Lutherans are members of congregational churches. Episcopalians are members of parishes of the diocese. In the Lutheran church the congregation is the basic unit of operation. In the Episcopal Church the diocese is the basic unit of operation.

We are both liturgical (the Mass) and sacramental (such as baptism and communion), although the mechanics are somewhat different. We both have ordained priests (who are able to celebrate each other’s liturgies), both have Deacons (ordained in the Episcopal church and consecrated (or empowered without ordination) for the Lutheran church).

Both the church of England (the parent of the Episcopal church) and the Lutheran Church started in the 1500’s, one in Germany by Martin Luther and the other in England by King Henry VIII. There are four major synods of the Lutheran Church in the United States. There are differences in views between us over the precise nature of how the sacraments work and the nature of faith by justification.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran church body in the United States (which is the synod for Faith Lutheran), allows for LGBTQ+ marriage and ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy as well as ordaining women. Those beliefs line up nicely with those of the Episcopal Church and St Ann’s.

Faith Lutheran and St Ann’s already have a long history of informal sharing in terms of activities and outreach.

Late summer of 2022 Faith Lutheran approached St Ann’s with a proposal for a Two Point Parish. Several meetings were conducted between teams from each church to discuss possibilities. What Faith Lutheran wanted to focus on at first was clergy sharing. After several listening sessions and surveys of our membership it was determined that clergy sharing along with informal social, fundraising, and outreach support, was what should be considered initially. In this way, Faith Lutheran gains a pastor as recognized by their bishop. In exchange, Faith Lutheran defers ¼ of Ft Tim’s compensation.