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Welcome to St. George's Episcopal Church
... In Thanksgiving for our abundance, we are called to serve the community ...
MINISTRIES
Altar Guild
St. George’s Altar Guild serves our community by caring for all things of the liturgy – from setting the altar each Saturday and Sunday and doing the housekeeping of the sacristy, to preparing for each new season and for special services. Hopefully we help to add to the beauty of our sanctuary, so that it may be a quiet place to meet God. St. George’s has a small fund for flowers, but I would like to encourage the community to consider dedicating a Sunday’s flowers during the year. You may sign up for a Sunday on the poster at the back of the church. We are a small group – a couple who are able to come on Saturdays; Helen Vega, who sets the service on Wednesdays, as well as weekends, and a few more who help to move, lift, light, carry, empty, and launder things. If you feel called to this ministry in any capacity, we welcome you!
Love, Katie
Building and Grounds
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Campus Ministry
St. Georges has had a wonderful relationship with UCR in the past. And we are committed to maintain and strengthen this relationship through our Parish based Interfaith Campus Ministry Program. Regular contact with students is maintained through various Ethnic & Gender Programs of UCR. The program primarily benefits students who are needy and struggle with adjusting to a new cultural environment. St. George’s Campus Ministry serves students through serving Free nutritious home cooked dinner once a week and food pantry. Free Wi-Fi service allows students to have a quiet, safe place to socialize, do schoolwork and interact with parish members. Students are offered opportunities to engage in the voluntary community service through participating in the Parish Beekeeping and Garden Care.
Campus Ministry has helped us to be more intentional in creating a space where students of diverse background feel welcomed and accepted and given an opportunity to realize their academic goals. I would like to thank the ministry leaders for all that they have done and all they continue to do.
-- Mother Khushnud+
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Christian Education
In 2In 2016, we had two Sunday school classes. Nursery class (ages 1-2 yrs.) and another class (ages 3-8). We are grateful to Sunday school teacher and helpers; Maile Brooks, Sara Zeeshan, Mary Travis, Jennifer Albin, Mary Clark and all the parents of young children who took turns to provide supervision and teaching. Older children learn to sing under the guidance of Gincy and have formed their own little choir. Both groups meet from 10 am – 10:40 am, and return to the church to join their families at the time of Peace. They enter the church singing and join Mother Khushnud at the altar to share Peace with the congregation. Sunday school children led advent procession and took part in lighting Advent candles during Advent season. They also attended Santa Breakfast, and took part in Advent and Christmas Eve services.
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Adult Education
In 2016 we were blessed to have The Sacred Journey present Embrace & Enrich: A Lenten Experience of Discovery led by Brother Dennis Gibbs. Embrace & Enrich offered us an opportunity to embrace both the traditional practices and disciplines of Lent as well as a springtime spirit of blossoming and new awareness. In this way, we approached the Lenten journey as one of exploration and discovery, understanding that Lent is about embracing both practice and discipline as well as exploration and discovery in a way that can truly enrich our lives. We enjoyed soup suppers and fellowship. Our lent studies always invoke deep thought and wonderful conversations as we prepare our hearts and minds for Easter. Please consider joining us this year.
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Journey 2 Adulthood
St. George’s is blessed to have six to seven teen age girls that are extremely talented and dedicated to make a difference in the life of their church. They offer their gifts and graces to enhance the worship of the church as lectors, choir members, and altar servers. J2A girls met with their leaders Mary Simons and Claire in the first half of the year for study and fellowship. They also enjoyed field trips and attended a musical evening. J2A girls are grateful to their leaders for guiding them through their journey to adulthood, being available to them in their hours of need, and encouraging them to participate in various other activities of the church such as: Easter Hunt, Operation Christmas Child, Multicultural Carol Service, and Vacation Bible School. In 2016, the group will meet twice a month from 11:30-12:30 pm after Sunday Worship for spiritual growth and fellowship. J2A will be encouraged to serve as Altar Servers and will also be encouraged to participate in outreach and interfaith/ intra faith activities. A Special prayer was offered on Youth Sunday to recognize Dabney Margret and Madelyn Olson. Mother Khushnud and Kristen will be J2A leaders for 2016.
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Vacation Bible School
This year’s Vacation Bible School SonSpark Labs was a huge success. The children had a great time, learning abut God’s love through great Bible stories, illustrations of science experiments, arts & crafts, Music and games. Many thanks to all leaders and volunteers who served with love and enthusiasm throughout the week. Thank you for the generosity of the congregation in donating money, food items, supplies for arts & crafts and helping organize a sumptuous potluck lunch on Sunday. I would like to specially thank parents, grandparents, Aunts and Uncles for their participation and allowing VBS children to learn in an atmosphere of fun, love and encouragement. A special recognition and appreciation goes to our VBS director, Susan Olsen for her creativity, stamina, and dedication to making this year’s VBS a huge success. Respectfully Submitted, Mother Khushnud.
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Daughters of the King
2016 was a busy year for all of us. We had to reschedule and cancel some meetings. But the nice thing about this is that we are all understanding and supportive of each other. DOK continues to send birthday cards to the members of St. George's as one of our service projects as well as knitting prayer shawls. Recently, we have embarked on teaching knitting to those of us that don't know how! In August, we hosted a DOK Leadership Retreat for the LA Diocese. It was well attended and we had a great day sharing ideas and best practices.Some may ask what is DOK? We are an order of the Episcopal Church. We pray and serve. We do not fundraise. We have a meeting once a month where we enjoy fellowship, do birthday cards, knit, pray, sometimes we do a book study. I come away from our meeting feeling very peaceful and happy. Any woman in our church is welcome to attend a Daughters of the King meeting to see if you are interested in becoming a member. If you are, there is a discernment process that we will take you through. I would like to thank Teresa Blandin for being our Secretary, Ann Rendon for being our Treasurer and Janis Taylor for communicating our prayer list. I'd also like to thank all of the DOK members for being flexible!
* If you are not receiving a birthday card and would like to, please let me know.
Faithfully submitted by,
Kristen Urbaniak
President
St. Brigit Chapter at St. George's
Easter Seals
A group of 4-6 developmentally disabled young adults along with two staff members have been regularly helping us as volunteers. They sweep, clean, rake leaves, water the plants in front of Coleman House. They also planted and managed a 12ft x 12ft vegetable garden. Every week, they bake cookies for our College Students. They donated nine stone turtles for our Meditation Garden. We are grateful for all their help and partnership.
Hospitality: Coffee hour, Fellowship, Meetings
This past year has seen a lot of good times and fun as we've gathered around bountiful tables of great food. Each Sunday's coffee hour has given us all an opportunity to participate in providing good eats! It's so nice to see most everyone spending time sitting and chatting with one another before heading on our way home after church. Thank you everyone for responding to email reminders when it's your group's week to bring food! We look forward to everyone pitching in and helping out with setting up and cleaning up as we encounter other events this year. Many hands make light work!
-Kathy Martinez