St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church Parish Profile

Our InvitationSt. Christopher’s Episcopal Church is located in award-winning Carmel, Indiana, which has seen a remarkable explosion of growth in the past 20 years, going from approximately 37,733 people in 2000 to over 95,000 in 2016. While St. Christopher’s has grown from approximately 40 families in 1956, when it was founded, to 254 families in 2018, we would like to grow St. Christopher’s to tap into the vibrant city that Carmel has become. We are looking for a rector to help us become a pillar of this dynamic community representing the Christian faith and espousing the values of Christ through action.

We believe that we are called to care for and connect enthusiastically with all people as Christ does with us. We seek to live this call through the ministries of Worship, Evangelism, Education, Service and Fellowship. With an external focus on service in our community, outreach has become a hallmark of our church. We continually strive to support, equip, and strengthen each other on our spiritual journeys as we create a loving and comforting congregation which reflects God’s love in our lives and in the world.

St. Christopher’s is located in Carmel, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis and the fifth-largest city in Indiana.

We were founded in 1956 as the result of a survey made by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis to determine where new work of the church should be directed. We have grown over the years from our small space in the local high school to our first church building in 1958 to our current 51,000 square foot facility consisting of an Education and Administration wing dedicated in 2004, Parish Hall and Worship Center Building dedicated in 2006, and our Nave and Sanctuary dedicated in 2009.

We offer a variety of services. Our 10:00 A.M. Rite II service includes our choir, organ and traditional hymnody. At this service, we provide nursery care and Sunday school for preschool and elementary students. Our older youth are involved in this service as acolytes and lectors, and our younger children sing in the Cherub Choir once a month. Holy Unction is offered on the first Sunday of the month. On Wednesdays at 10 A.M. and Sundays at 7:45 A.M., we provide a quiet, meditative Rite I service. Our Wednesday service occurs in our upstairs chapel area.

Special liturgies take place on selected feast days and during Holy Week. Festival Eucharists are celebrated on Christmas Eve, Easter, and All Saints’ Day. Our choir also performs two Evensongs a year. We have a strong music program with

a committed adult choir and a devoted Director of Music. We derive much of our spiritual fulfillment from our congregation, which is open to trying other liturgies, musical selections or service times to enrich and grow our community.

Our church has been operating as a pastoral church characterized by deeply personal relationships between the congregation and our priests. Our congregation values these relationships, and also recognizes that in order to serve our community and become more diverse, we need to become a program-sized church. We know that our congregation wants more programs that support spiritual development, create sustainable ministries in our community, and promote fellowship between members. Our congregation wants to grow and better support younger members.

Who We Are

Our ValuesWe are a friendly, kind, welcoming, generous, compassionate, caring, fun-loving congregation that has an informal spirit and a sense of humor. We are non-judgmental, embrace diversity and are open to new ideas and changes. We have a strong sense of community with a “can-do” attitude. Our worship community and services are important to us, and we have strong outreach programs and a variety of giving opportunities.

Our Vision Our parishioners recognize a need for the parish to grow and want our church to become a leader in this vibrant community. We have a strong foundation of outreach but are looking to grow our opportunities to inspire others by hosting various classes and/or programs at St. Christopher’s. We have a beautiful building with room to host such diverse outreach. We want a strong youth ministry and to engage younger and more diverse members of our surrounding community to join our loving congregation of faith.

We believe our stewardship, our service to the surrounding community, and our strong sense of community within our church are the strengths of our church. We believe that, as faithful stewards of God’s gifts, we have a responsibility to share our time to develop meaningful relationships and help others; to use or talents in ways that will bless ourselves and others; and to give of our financial resources.

We support numerous outreach projects with funds and donations over and above our operating expenses. Some of these programs include providing bins full of holiday-meal supplies to a local neighborhood center; sending 819 pounds of church-grown vegetables to food banks across Hamilton County; partnering with the Carmel Youth Assistance Program, the Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank, and three other Carmel churches for a new feeding ministry called the Summer Lunch Program in 2017 which doubled in size this year; and many more projects and ministries.

We have recently completed work on a natural playground where our congregation and those in neighboring apartment complexes and offices could reconnect with nature and play creatively. The playground committee applied for and received a local grant and quickly raised $28,000 from our congregation to help with construction.

We are committed to being there for one another to celebrate the good times and console each other during life’s challenges. We recently celebrated our parish’s 60th birthday with a party in the filled-to-capacity parish hall. Amid laughter and tears, we remembered stories about why we came to this parish and what keeps us here. It is that strength of community that binds us as a church family.

We have conducted three successful capital campaigns, raising more than $11 million for our facility. We currently owe about $800,000 and have addressed debt retirement. We recently completed our annual campaign. Our pledged and open- plate income account for 90% of our 2018 operating budget, which is balanced. The remaining 10% of our income comes from such things as rental income and special offerings.

Our Strengths

We seek a rector who will be:

Inspirational•Assist our transition to a program-sized church and help us grow by attracting people in our surrounding community to St. Christopher’s•Guide us to use the gifts we have and develop additional lay leaders within our congregation•Teaches us practices for a Christ-centered lifeCompassionate•Welcoming all people to our church and be a living example of God’s loving kindness•Supporting our community through this change to a program-sized church and with pastoral care in our times of troubleStrategic•Have an organized plan to help us actualize our vision for our futureCommunicator•Have strong interpersonal skills in handling members of the congregation, staff and surrounding community•Provide inspirational messages of God’s love with a sense of humor and down-to-earth attitudeEmpowering•A delegator who can develop and mentor strong lay leaders and achieve results through others•Promote and build relationships among members and with the surrounding communityCollaborative•Takes feedback and works with others to develop harmony even amidst conflict•Constantly and actively guides lay leaders and members of the church to be strong representatives of God’s love in our community

Our CommunitySt. Christopher’s Episcopal Church is located in award-winning Carmel, Indiana, which has seen a remarkable explosion of growth in the past 20 years, going from approximately 37,733 people in 2000 to over 95,000 in 2016.

Carmel is a fast-growing, economically-thriving suburban edge city on the North Side of Indianapolis. This once sleepy suburban community has been transformed by ambitious redevelopment projects that have led to the making of a vibrant city that is no longer simply a place to sleep at night.

Carmel has been one of the fastest-growing communities in the country. In 2012, Carmel was selected as the “Best Place to Live in the United States” by CNN Money Magazine.

Other awards for the area include:

2018 - Ranked Best Place to Live in America by Niche.com

2018, Ranked #1 Best Place to Start a Career by Money Magazine

2017, Ranked #1 City in America by 24/7 Wall Street in survey of ‘most livable’ for USA Today

2017, Ranked #1 Best Place to Live in America & #6 Best Place to Raise a Family in America by Niche.com

Our Diocese

Our Bishop

Bishop Jennifer is from New York, and is a graduate of Smith College, Cornell University and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She has expertise in historic preservation and a passion for issues including gun violence, social justice, and racial and class reconciliation. She also maintains a focus in guiding others through spiritual direction.A defining experience of her ministry came when she found herself near the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001. In the midst of a fearful situation, her own faith and that of others who sought shelter alongside her gave her a renewed perspective of faith vanquishing fear. “The Episcopal Church teaches me that the world is filled with incredible beauty and unspeakable pain and that God is deeply in the midst of it all loving us fiercely,” she says.

St. Christopher’s is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis. Led by the Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, the diocese comprises 48 parishes and 9146 members, covering the central and southern regions of Indiana.

Mission and Vision

Grounded in God’s love in Christ, the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis is called to reach out with a radical welcome and bold witness to serve and transform our world. Our priorities are to support clergy and laity as beacons of Jesus Christ for southern and central Indiana and the world, encourage a missional mindset for all our faith communities, stand with the vulnerable and marginalized working to transform systems of injustice, and connect more effectively with each other and our neighborhood partners.

Come live our dream with us!

If you are are interested in applying to be our next Rector, please review the Office of Transition Ministry Profile (OTM Profile). Contact Jen Phelps, Consultant for Transitional Ministries, The Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, to apply. transitionministry@indydio.org 317-361-9464

Applications will be accepted through September 24, 2018

General Search questions can be directed to: searchcommittee@stchriscarmel.org

View our demographic information

Link to our OTM Profile