Lilly Project

Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97301

503-370-6213 voice

All Saints’ Episcopal Church
4550 N. Hermitage Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
www.allsaintschicago.org

Project Supervisors:

The Reverend Bonnie A. Perry, D.Min.
Rector, All Saints’ Episcopal Church

The Rev. Kevin Goodman
Curate, All Saints; Episcopal Church

Proposal submitted by the Reverend Dr. Perry

Please describe your site (history, demographics, etc.)
All Saints Episcopal Church is a 120 year-old urban congregation located on the north side of Chicago in the Ravenswood neighborhood. Construction on the church was completed in 1884 in the then-rural, wooded village of Ravenswood, where truck farms thrived and Swedish, German and Irish immigrants ascending to the middle class eventually settled. The building served as a reference point for directions around the village, its steeple bell rang out to summon volunteer firefighters and Carl Sandburg (who lived up the street) mentioned the church in a poem. The church was the spiritual home to thousands of Ravenswood residents, who worshipped, baptized their babies, celebrated weddings, and mourned their dead from the wooden pews that are still in use today.

In the early 1950’s, this thriving parish responded to its own baby boom by building a Sunday school wing to accommodate the burgeoning number of children in the congregation. By the end of the 1960’s, the Sunday school wing was no longer needed. Many parishioners had responded to the call of the suburbs. Church attendance and revenues plummeted.

In 1992, the Episcopal diocese was on the verge of closing the church, which had been designated a Chicago Historical Landmark only two years earlier. The determination and commitment of a handful of dedicated parishioners convinced the bishop that All Saints’ could be reborn. At that time, 35 people attended services on a typical Sunday. The tiny congregation had pledged $23,000; at year-end, we had debts that exceeded $25,000 in payables and $50,000 in loans.

In 2005, 200 to 225 people attend services on a typical Sunday. The congregation pledged $232,000for this fiscal year and just completed a capital campaign raising more than $580,000. Over the past ten years the community has paid off the debt, renovated much of the physical plant and created a thriving community night, community kitchen and food pantry that offers a hot meal and a bag of groceries to more than 170 people each week.

Today Ravenswood is no longer a rural, wooded suburb but rather, a denitrifying city neighborhood with several million dollar homes located less than a half mile from many single room occupancy hotels (SRO's), homeless shelters, and social service agencies. More than a century later All Saints’ continues to be at a cross-section of neighborhoods, classes, and cultures.

As a result All Saints’ is a community of all sorts and types of people. Our ages range from a few days old to our early nineties, with the average age around 38. We have three Sunday morning services: an 8:00 a.m. Inclusive Language Eucharist with full sermon, a 9:00 am Rite II Holy Eucharist with sermon and choir and an 11:00 a.m. Rite II Holy Eucharist with sermon and choir. At 10:00 a.m. we offer children’s church school, adult education, and coffee hour. We have childcare for children five and under from 8:00 am until noon. About twenty percent of the members of our congregation are children. Forty percent of our members are in their twenties or thirties. A third of our congregation is gay or lesbian—many of whom have children--and fifty percent of our congregation is heterosexual couples and singles.

The congregation tends to be a collection of over-educated, underpaid folks who find themselves to the left of center theologically, politically and socially. The majority of the members of the congregation did not grow up in the Episcopal tradition and many parishioners did not attend church regularly as children. Our worship services tend to be simple, honest, provocative and fun.

A core belief at All Saints’ is that the Gospel doesn’t matter if it doesn’t change people’s lives. That’s why an essential part of our ministry is the Tuesday Community Night and Food Pantry. On an average Tuesday more than 20 volunteers--from our congregation, from the community and from the nearby parks where some of our neighbors live—gather to cook a meal, bag some groceries and get to know each other. Our primary cooks are a chef with an MSW and a homeless Viet Nam Veteran. We are an eclectic group who are dedicated to coming together, sharing a meal and creating a community. We firmly believe that the bread that is broken and the stories that are told on Tuesday evening are every bit as important as the bread broken and stories told on Sunday morning.

In addition to our Outreach ministries we also have a variety of activities for fun and for education. In April we sponsor a Sunday morning 5k race that typically draws more than 1000 runners. In November we celebrate the Feast of All Saints with a Dixie-land Jazz Band and on Palm Sunday the first part of our worship service features a carnival in our parish hall complete with drummers, jugglers and stilt-walkers. This June we are planning a weeklong summer camp for both children in the congregation and the surrounding neighborhood. The summer camp would culminate in the production of an original play performed by the children during Sunday morning worship services.

To find out even more about us and to see some pictures of our community in action visit our website at www.allsaintschicago.org.

Please describe the scope of the internship:
What goals do you have for the internship? What tasks will the intern undertake?
When I was in college nothing would have excited me more than an opportunity to immerse myself in the life and times of a thriving, progressive community of faith. It would be my hope that an intern here at All Saints’ would have enough real-life experiences at the end of the internship to make an informed decision as to whether or not he or she might want to pursue a vocation in parish ministry or in a not-for-profit social service agency.

At the end of the internship ideally the student would have:

What would a typical day or week look like?
I work fifty hours a week. Our associate rector works 45 hours a week. I would envision our intern working approximately 30 to 40 hours a week, with a typical workweek beginning on Sunday morning at 7:30 and ending on Thursday evening. Ideally the intern would have Friday and Saturday off—except for those times when parish activities take place on Fridays and Saturdays and then the intern could schedule compensatory time in the following weeks to make up for the time lost. The intern should be prepared for many evening meetings. (However, Lake Michigan is just two miles away from the church and there are some hot summer days when it’s just better to be at the beach than in a less-than- air-conditioned-church.)

During a typical week:
On Sunday morning the intern would arrive at 7:30 and assist with the Sunday morning set-up for the worship services. He or she might read a lesson at the 8:00 a.m. service and/or designate individuals from the congregation to read lessons or bring up the offertory gifts. She or he might then assist the priest in distributing communion. After the 8:00 service she or he would prepare for the next two services. At the 9:00 and 11:00 service the intern may be vested and assisting with communion, or ushering or reading a lesson. She or he will make sure that the lay people who are assigned for the morning’s activities are present and aware what role they will be participating in during the service. At 10:00 the intern may chat with parishioners, greet newcomers, attend or lead an adult education session, or meet with her/his lay advisory group. After the 11:00 service the intern would help the clergy and seminarians clean up the church, tie-up loose ends, casually reflect upon the day’s activities and leave the church around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon.

On Monday morning the staff arrives in the office around 10:00 a.m. returns phone calls for an hour and then gathers for the weekly staff meeting at 11:00 a.m. (The intern would have access to a desk, phone, computer and fax, but he or she would not have his own office.) The staff meeting runs for an hour and a half. During this time the staff reflects on the previous Sunday, offers dreams and visions for future plans, notes any pastoral needs and discusses upcoming activities. The intern would be expected to observe the same level of confidentiality that the staff adheres to. (The rector will carefully explain her expectations regarding confidentiality to the intern.)

Following the staff meeting people disburse for lunch engagements, make phone calls and begin working on the week’s activities. Early on I would meet with the intern and discern what area of ministry she or he might be interested in and figure out a project the intern can work on during the course of her or his time at All Saints. Such projects might include—planning a youth group overnight—or a Sunday morning education series—or a new outreach project for the congregation. The nature of the project would be dependent upon the particular interests of the intern. Later on the intern might accompany the rector, the associate rector or the seminarian on a pastoral visit or as time passes and his or her confidence grew he or she might individually visit a parishioner.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings there is usually a meeting of some sort taking place at the church. The intern would be invited to attend most of these meetings depending upon his/her interest and energy.

On Tuesdays the intern could arrive around 1:00 and assist in preparing for the Tuesday night dinner and pantry. Volunteers arrive around 5:15 although preparations for the evening’s activities usually begin a few hours in advance. The intern could spend the evening eating dinner upstairs and getting to know the patrons, or packing grocery bags downstairs, or cooking dinner, or a little of all three. Once a month the pantry volunteers gather after the community night is over for dinner, theological reflection, and future planning. This would be an ideal meeting for the intern to attend regularly. Following the food pantry and community night there is usually some sort of program meeting. These meetings tend to run for an hour and a half and finish by 9:30.

On Wednesday evenings we have a mid-week service. The service varies in format and is frequently led by lay people. Assisting in planning these services, officiating at these services and preaching at these services would all be possibilities for the intern if he or she is interested in acquiring the skills needed to perform these tasks.

Once a week the intern would meet either with the rector or the associate rector for supervision and consultation. In addition to these meetings I would suggest that the intern meet monthly with a spiritual director and bi-weekly with a lay-advisory committee from the congregation. The lay-advisory group could offer feedback on his or her activities as well as actively assist the intern in making connections in the congregation and the community.

There will be a great deal happening in our congregation during the summer of 2005. I believe we have more than enough activities through which to expose an intern to the many facets of congregational leadership and ministry.

Who will provide supervision for the intern?
The intern’s supervision will be equally divided between myself and the Associate Rector, the Rev. Kevin Goodman. From June to the end of July, I will be the intern’s primary supervisor. I envision, as I stated earlier, meeting once a week for an hour with the intern. In that time we would discuss our agreed upon learning goals, his or her experiences at All Saints—what he or she is enjoying—what’s hard—what’s fun—what’s boring and what’s particularly compelling. In my experience as a field education supervisor I have found that these sessions are greatly enhanced by the student providing a one page double-spaced reflection paper on some aspect of ministry she or he has taken part in since the last meeting. I find that these two or three paragraphs help guide the conversation toward issues that the intern or seminarian is particularly interested in addressing rather than getting caught up in my particular interests for the week. I have also found that it is sometimes easier for a student to address a difficult topic in writing before the meeting rather than trying to find the proper words in the moment of the meeting. If the intern were agreeable to writing this sort of reflection piece it would be a standard part of our supervisory meetings.

The intern should meet bi-weekly with a lay group from the parish. I envision that this group can offer the intern some feedback on his/her activities as well as being a group of lay people who will take extra care to assist the intern in becoming connected in as many ways a possible to the congregation. To speed this process of connection I also suggest that the intern have the option to eat dinner with members of the congregation and/ or staff at least once a week.

Kevin Goodman and I will serve as the primary people overseeing the intern’s vocational and theological questions.

What vocational and theological questions might an internship experience at your site help to answer?

What gifts, skills and experiences would you seek in an intern?
I seek an intern with maturity, someone who is willing to learn and to lead and to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes; a person with initiative who can take direction and who has the ability to periodically work independently. I am looking for a person who is interested in being part of an inclusive, progressive congregation, someone who is willing to try out new forms of worship and who is able to see the value of tradition. I am also looking for a good team player who gets along with others and who can learn in a high-energy environment. I’d also be delighted with an intern who is smart, articulate, and has a good sense of humor. Progressive political, social and theological views would enable the intern to fit in readily with this congregation. Walking on water is optional. Mostly I’m interested in a young man or woman who is interested in learning about herself or himself, God and an urban congregation on the north side of Chicago.

In addition to my hopes the Episcopal diocese of Chicago requires that anyone functioning in a congregational leadership position take the diocesan child abuse prevention class and the sexual harassment prevention class. These programs have a minimal cost and take place at various churches in the diocese throughout the year.

Logistics
Will this internship require driving?
All Saints’ is conveniently located near a major bus line, the elevated subway and the suburban Metra train. However having a car would certainly be a plus

If necessary, can your site help to locate/provide housing?
As the intern did last year it is quite possible that the intern could live in student housing at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, located in Evanston is just seven miles north of All Saints’. The elevated train and the Metra train can be easily used to commute back and forth between All Saints’ and Seabury. Sunday morning is the only difficult time to access the church via public transportation. However our organist and music director lives just one block from the Seminary and I am sure that she would be willing to give the intern a ride on Sunday mornings. As I said before—a car (or even a bike) is always helpful.

When would the internship begin and end?
I envision a June through August internship—however I’d be happy to have an intern come in early or late May and finish the end of July or the beginning of August. A three-month internship would offer the best opportunity for a full-immersion learning experience, but I am open to a two month internship as well. I am happy to work with the needs of the program and the needs of the student.