Every now and then we like to shine a light on a great example of congregational creativity: a faith community that exemplifies some of the innovative practices central to our approach at The FaithX Project.
In this blog post we are focusing our spotlight on a small congregation in a small town – St. Christopher Episcopal Church, in Port Orford, Oregon – and its rector, the Rev. Peter Fritsch.
In our work at FaithX, we have come in contact with more than a few congregations who talk a good game about growing their church but really aren’t prepared to do the necessary work. And by necessary work we don’t mean to try harder but to do the hard work of change. And many congregations just don’t have it in them to do that particular kind of work. Possible reasons: fear of uncertainty, inadequacy, failure, loss, and many more, including fear of change itself. Truth be told: some would rather die than change, and God does allow that.
What we do know is that their are two keys to surviving and thriving in times of change and uncertainty. One is having a congregational vision – a clear, shared, and overarching (God-sized) reason for being. The other is a willingness to experiment boldly in support of the vision, which implies a willingness “to go where no one has gone before.” And of course, it never hurts to have strong, adaptive leadership at the congregational and strong support at the judicatory level
That visioning and experimenting can take many forms and different directions as a congregation seeks out new and transformational life and as they seek God’s calling by walking with God.
Rev. Fritsch addressed this issue from the start with the St. Christopher’s leadership by telling them that if what they were looking for was a chaplain to maintain the status while congregation continued to decline, he was not interested, but if they were “willing to grow spiritually and numerically,” he was game. To learn more about the story of St. Christopher Episcopal Church, click on the link below.
The following is an excerpt from a post from the blog of the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon.
To read the complete article, including pictures of events, click here
Something Big is Happening in the Small Town of Port Orford
by Allison Gannett | Dec 13, 2023
When the Rev. Peter Fritsch interviewed with the folks at St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Port Orford, he asked if they were serious about growing as a church. “I told the vestry that I wasn’t interested in being a chaplain and maintaining a status quo of five on a Sunday; that didn’t interest me at all,” said the Rev. Fritsch. “However, if they were serious about growing spiritually and numerically and willing to market themselves, I was interested.”
The church agreed. And so, in 2022, with the financial support of a three-year Episcopal Bishop of Oregon Foundation (EBOF) grant, the Rev. Fritsch and his wife, Monika Farkas, moved to the small southern coastal town to begin a journey of rejuvenation as their one-third-time priest.
The town of Port Orford is situated on a peninsula between the cities of Bandon and Gold Beach on the southern coast of Oregon. With around 1,250 residents, this beachside village is filled with “former loggers, fishermen, and retired hippies,” said the Rev. Fritsch. Port Orford has eight churches within the town limits, the largest being an evangelical church with a fundamentalist approach and an average Sunday attendance of around 150. “We are an alternative [to that church],” the Rev. Fritsch said.
However, most of the “retired hippies” in the community are dealing with religious trauma and do not have the desire to enter a church building, let alone engage in explicit Christian-focused conversation. “We have to extend beyond our building [and traditional worship],” the Rev. Fritsch said.
And that is exactly what they have done.
Beginning with a liturgical classic, the congregation hosted a St. Francis Day Animal Blessing and intentionally invited community members to attend. A few showed up with their dogs in the church’s parking lot for the blessing. “They didn’t stay for the rest of the service, but this was a first for the congregation,” said the Rev. Fritsch.
While the animal blessing was a starting point, if the congregation wanted to grow, they had to get serious about looking at the demographics of their community and catering their ministry to fit the needs of their neighbors. This includes thinking outside the church-box and finding ways to minister that respect the background and hesitancies of the community.
Port Orford, along with other towns along the southern coast, suffers from a lack of affordable and reliable healthcare, leaving older residents unable to seek care and deal with chronic and terminal illnesses. These stresses have formed a communal interest in exploring life beyond this one.
The Rev. Fritsch, a trained dreamworker, began hosting classes on natural spirituality, dream interpretation, death and dying, and the afterlife at the local library. “The librarian said if I got two people at the class, that would be a success,” he said, “I had 20, mostly unchurched members of the community.”
He begins each course by introducing himself and stating that these courses are a ministry of St. Christopher’s. “I mentioned I was from the church but didn’t explicitly invite people to come to our church,” he said. “I didn’t want to push it on them.” Hosting these courses at the public library meets the attendees in a safe, neutral space. Intentionally not focusing on promoting church services allows for organic curiosity to evolve. And it has paid off – St. Christopher has around eight new members who have joined the congregation because they attended a course.
What is happening in Port Orford is a no-strings-attached community-building plan that considers the town’s demographics. Port Orford is not a booming town of young families, and the few young families there are in town attend the evangelical church. The congregation of St. Christopher knows this and has created spaces to nurture their neighbors’ shared values and experiences, most of whom are Boomers.
This small church in a small town is having a big impact on the lives of its residents by providing places of emotional, spiritual, and communal growth that meet the community exactly where they are. St. Christopher is coming alive again.
