Our Ministries
Pastoral Ministries at Christ Church Greenwich provide spiritual support to people and their families who are facing illness, loss, or other stressful situations. Prayer, listening, and sacraments ensure that no member of our parish family need to face crises alone. Our Prison Ministry reaches beyond our parish to encourage and support perhaps the most forgotten group in our society, those in prison.
At Christ Church Greenwich, as in most Christian denominations these days, there is a growing involvement of trained lay people in pastoral care. In the Book of Common Prayer it states that “The ministers of the Church are lay persons [as well as], bishops, priests, and deacons.”
What we offer
Eucharistic Visitors take Holy Eucharist every Sunday to the following:
- Edgehill Nursing Home, where we do a service for about 6-12 residents
- Nathaniel Witherell Home, where we do a service for anywhere from 3 to 20 residents
- Greenwich Hospital, to any Christ Church Greenwich parishioners who are there
- Homebound parishioners – usually about six people.
Community of Hope is a program for lay chaplains, started in the Diocese of Texas. There is a 16-part training program with practice visits. Members are asked to participate in a Benedictine Rule of Life and attend monthly meetings. We currently have 9 active lay chaplains who visit parishioners at Greenwich Hospital on Saturdays and visit parishioners at nursing homes almost every week. We have 3 chaplains who regularly (once a week) visit parishioners who are in great need.
Prison Ministry currently involves 3 people who visit prisoners in New York and Connecticut. Bon Jasperson coordinates.
Outreach Singers sing familiar hymns to ill or homebound persons. It’s quite wonderful for those who can’t attend our services to experience sacred music.
Communion for Persons with Advanced Dementia is a new ministry led by Eucharistic Visitors who sing. A simple service follows the form authorized for Distribution of Holy Communion by Eucharistic Visitors. Familiar hymns are sung in place of appointed readings and prayers with the Peace and the Lord’s Prayer being the only parts of the service that are spoken.
Worship Leaders lead Morning Prayer for Greenwich Adult Day Care participants and on some Sundays at Nathaniel Witherell Home. We currently have 9 licensed Worship Leaders.
The New Members Ministry seeks out new members, finds out who they are and how we can make them feel more welcome in a church as large as ours. Several events are sponsored each year including a family bowling night at the Greenwich Country Club, a Christmas party at the Tomes-Higgins House and a breakfast following Preach on the Beach in June.
Common Ground supports “The Center for Children and their Families” at Franklin Common in Stamford. The mission of the Center is to walk with families in crisis who may lack housing, life skills, or any support systems. It provides housing, education, direct care, and advocacy in a supportive community that offers hope and direction to help people lead meaningful and fulfilling lives. Christ Church helps with this mission by reaching out to the families at Franklin Common with family events such as an annual Family Picnic at Greenwich Point, the Gingerbread-House Making Party and the Giving Trees. Most importantly, through Common Ground the families of Christ Church Greenwich make connections with the families of Franklin Common on a personal basis-–adult-to-adult, child-to-child.
Family Re-entry is a non profit organization whose goal is to educate and support prisoners and their families and to prevent recidivism.