The Rector's Annual Report
Annual Report -- 2011
Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet...Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. ’” Deuteronomy 18:15, 17-18
Jesus and his disciples went into Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority. Mark 1:21-22
These passages speak to the basis and transition of authority. For the Church, all authority comes from God. We know God’s authority through His Word. God chooses whom He calls into His authority, and He equips those He calls. And God provides for the orderly transition of authority in His Church.
As you know the Canons of the Episcopal Church require that I resign as Rector of Grace Church at the end of the month I reach my 72nd birthday. So I will be retiring as your pastor on April 1, 2113. When the office of Rector is vacant, the Wardens will be in charge of the parish. They and the vestry may call an Interim Rector to serve until a new Rector is called. That process can take two to three years. Our Bishop, Ian Douglas, has told the vestry that Ellendale can be considered for the position of Interim Rector. The Interim Rector cannot be a candidate for Rector. Bishop Douglas himself will work with Grace Church and help to oversee the process of transition. Since we have more than a year remaining in my tenure, I will share more of the process of this transition in my Annual Report next year. In this report I want to look back over our life together during the past twenty-four years.
We came to Grace Church in March of 1988; I began duties as Rector on April 1. Prior to our arrival, the Chapman House was renovated for use as the Rectory. At that time, the Episcopal Social Services, an agency of the Diocese, provided counseling services in the Folsom House.
From the beginning of my ministry here I knew that this would be a good fit and Grace Church knew that this would be a good fit. Grace Church had come into the Charismatic Renewal through the ministry of St. Paul’s Church in Darien, Connecticut and its Rector, the Rev. Terry Fullam. In 1974, the Grace Church Rector, Rev. Henry Folsom, had a life-changing experience at a clergy conference and brought the power of the Holy Spirit into this parish when he returned. I had a similar experience in 1980-1982 and I was delighted to come to a parish which loved Jesus Christ and walked in the power of the Holy Spirit. I truly felt like I had died and gone to heaven.
The church continued to experience growth and soon after my rectorship began, the wardens asked if they could call Ellendale as a Pastoral Associate. They recognized that the parish needed more than one priest. Ellendale began working for the parish part-time in January of the next year. She led a group of parishioners to a national conference on the Holy Spirit in Indianapolis. Upon her return, we developed the Commissions and Committees of Grace Church to recognize that the ministry of the church involved the whole church body and that the lay persons shared in the work of the church. It was also in 1989 that we began the Crop Walk to fight world hunger.
1990 brought the First Gulf War in Iraq and some of our parishioners were deployed. It was a time of economic recession. We developed small group Bible Studies based on the Serendipity model of Lyman Coleman, who came to teach us about the importance of small group ministry. In 1991, we began the Stephen Ministry Program of lay pastoral care and we trained volunteers to minister. On Thursday evenings, we taught the Foundations of Faith class to ensure that the new as well as old members would know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and be empowered for ministry in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Also, two renewal conferences were hosted here: the first with Bishop Pytches from England; the second with the Rev. Mike Flynn from California. Both did much to inspire us all with the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. We worked with Bishop Seabury and other renewal churches to bring these Christian leaders to our area.
We began to see the need for renovation of our church buildings and hired an architect, Marsden Moran, to help us dream dreams and see visions in the church. In 1994 we launched a major capital fund drive to renovate the church building and provide for some much needed repairs. We replaced the slate roof at a cost of $150,000. A parishioner, Joe Salustro, agreed to be the project manager for all the church renovations. Assisted by many volunteers and a few sub-contractors, Joe performed major structural repairs and a total redesign of the interior of the sanctuary. By the hand of God’s providence and under the encouragement of our organist and choir director, Duncan Phyfe, we were able to obtain a beautiful ten year old Walker English tracker action organ for a third of the cost of ordering a new one.
We entered into a covenant relationship with the Church of the Holy Advent in Clinton, and when I took my sabbatical in 1995, we were served by the Rev. Judy Cowper and the Rev. Russ Deragon, as well as Ellendale. We dedicated the new Walker Organ and reconsecrated the Church with Bishop Coleridge in 1996. In 1997 the Capital Fund Drive was completed; we had raised a half million dollars. In 1997, the first Alpha Course was held. The end of the 1990’s saw continued church growth. We renovated the Folsom House into the Church Offices. In 1999 we participated in reading through the entire Bible in one year; held courses on evangelism; and became involved in foreign missions in Guatemala, Mexico, Mozambique, Dominican Republic, the Ukraine, Tanzania, Bolivia, and West Tanganyika (Bishop Gerald Mpango of West Tanganyika made his first visit to Grace Church that year).
The twenty-first century began with the building of a new addition to Merrill Hall for a kitchen, handicap restrooms, a new sacristy, and youth center at a cost of $100,000. Teams from Grace Church travelled to Paraguay, Tanzania, Brazil, and Guatemala. The Youth Group started mission trips to the Appalachia, Boston poverty areas, and western Indian reservations. In 2001, we helped sponsor the evangelist, Luis Palau, to come to New Haven. We started Young Life and Wyld Life in 2002 and built a new Memorial Garden for the interment of ashes.
The year 2003 was consumed with the crisis in the Episcopal Church over the election and ordination of Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire. Grace Church joined the Anglican Communion Network created at the suggestion of the Archbishop of Canterbury. During Lent of 2004 we participated in the Forty Days of Purpose course by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, California. In 2005, Hank and Clare Folsom, Gunlog Millet, and the Hoffmans traveled to Tanzania on a month-long mission trip.
By the year 2006, the conflict in the Episcopal Church had taken its toll on our parish. Church membership and attendance had declined by 25%. We asked the Rev. Alan Hanson to lead a conference to help us regain our focus, but in 2007, the United States saw the beginning of a major financial upheaval from which we are only now beginning to recover. In the church we hit bottom in 2008 when average Sunday attendance had declined to 117. After a parish meeting in which many expressed their faith in God, His church, and their love and respect for one another, things began to improve. In 2010 we elected a new bishop, Ian Douglas, and have seen some growth in attendance and membership. During my twenty plus years we have been able to maintain a balanced budget. Grace Church is debt free.
As we look forward to the future, I am sure that God will continue to reward our faithfulness to Jesus Christ and to each other. In this coming year I hope we can finish some of the work which remains undone. We hope to replace the roof between the church and the parish hall. Also we must replace the steam boiler which heats the church. It still works but dates from 1960, so it is long past its normal life. Later this month, we will be starting another Alpha Program, which I will lead. Grace Church has offered this course more than ten times during my tenure.
So my friends, my goals for this year are to finish well and to begin the transition to prepare Grace Church for its future ministry. It has been a wonderful twenty-four years, and I know that God has many good things in store for you and for me.
May God continue to bless us as we seek His will and purpose for our lives.
Faithfully yours,
The Rev. Charles L. Hoffman, D. Min.
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