The Church of the Epiphany 2014 Narrative Budget .

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Worship & Prayer 2

Faith Formation 3

Christian Outreach and Service 4

Pastoral Care 5

Fellowship 6

Stewardship 7

Summary 8

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Worship & Prayer Why do we worship? Why do we come together at this place called Epiphany? Doris B. answers, “There is undying, endless love there for me and I receive it at the altar in the Blessed Sacramental sacrifice of my Lord, Jesus. This spiritual food nurtures and sustains me in the coming week.” This spiritual renewal for the activities that the world will bring in the week to come seems to resonate for many. For many, the Eucharist is the central event that binds the Epiphany family into “holy communion” with each other. For others, it is the time we come together as the corporate body of Christ in “great thanksgiving”

for all the blessings of our lives. Some say that when they receive the bread and the wine, their life is renewed, rejuvenated and transformed by the body and blood of Christ and that they are able to walk out the doors and face the challenges of a new week.

What you may not realize is that well over 89-hours of volunteer and staff time are devoted each week to preparing for our Sunday morning worship services. Many additional volunteer hours are given during the week for our weekday and Sunday evening services. Still more volunteer labor is provided by the garden committee to make sure our grounds are welcoming to members and visitors. The Altar Guild holds quarterly deep cleaning days to make sure our worship space is prepared.

In addition to traditional worship, Epiphany offers Celtic and Taize services, Youth Sunday, Living Stations of the Cross, special Christmas, Lenten and Holy Week services, Morning Prayer and Centering Prayer. The beauty and serenity of our Memorial Garden offers a place for quiet reflection and connection with our past.

Groups like the Daughters of the King, Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and Cursillo hold regular meetings to offer prayer and praise for our many blessings and intercessory prayer for those in need.

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Faith Formation Faith Formation lays the foundation upon which our lives are built. We believe that an individual can find incredible strength and power in themselves when they can truly profess the unshakeable core of their faith. Faith Formation builds commitment to each other, to the parish, and to the larger community.

Faith Formation begins with our youngest parishioners. Epiphany’s youth ministry is entrusted with the care and spiritual development of our younger members through Sunday school classes, Children’s Church, Wednesday night programs, fellowship activities and diocesan youth events. Epiphany has 43 children and youth on the

2013 roster. Additionally, a number of other children, youth and adults benefit from events like Vacation Bible School (VBS), the Fall Festival, the Easter egg hunt, and Bring a Friend Sunday. During these events, the children/youth bring their friends and invite children from the community. In turn their parents and the adult volunteers see God’s grace and love through the children and youth.

Our youth have a longstanding history of serving in a leadership capacity at the diocesan level through their service on the Youth Department (YD), staffing Happening, Awakening, Christmas Conference, Special Session at Camp McDowell, Sawyerville and Foothills Day Camps, and many other events. On the local level, Epiphany youth provide Christmas gifts for children by supporting Marshall County Christmas coalition and have volunteered during 2010/2011 tornado clean up in Albertville and Guntersville. The youth have helped parishioners with yard work, provided sack lunches for Room in the Inn (RITI), and traveled to Bay St. Lewis to provide assistance following the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Through these service projects the youth learn that they are the hands and feet of Christ and how to serve Christ by serving others. The children and youth are not just the future of Epiphany but the present.

Adult Faith Formation consists of year round Sunday morning classes, Monday morning book studies, Education for Ministry (EfM), and Wednesday evening programs. Adult faith formation also includes seasonal programs in Advent and Lent, and occasionally assists other ad-hoc programs such as the Carol Jean Rives Forum on Spirituality and Wellness Initiative programs when requested.

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Christian Outreach and Service Epiphany is blessed with members who take seriously their Christian commitment to serve Christ by serving others. One of our patron saints is often quoted saying, “You may be the only Christ some people ever see”. Epiphany takes that one step further by acting as the hands and feet for Christ in our local community and beyond. Your faith pledge and offering makes a real impact in lives of our neighbors. Epiphany’s outreach supports many programs. Programs like Room-in-the-Inn (RITI) reach out to our local homeless neighbors during the winter months to offer shelter, food and fellowship.

On Epiphany’s first RITI host night we welcomed an older gentleman who had fallen on hard times. He had been sleeping in his car and was appreciative of the kindness extended to him. He continued in the RITI program through January. Jan Maxwell reports, “Because of the support that RITI provided, he was able to find a job, save some money, move from RITI to Stepping Stones (a Marshall County a transitional housing program). Today his job has him traveling and he has his own place to live.”

Epiphany’s outreach to the community also comes in the form of in-kind donations, such as the use of our facility. One such group, led by the Brennans, is the Disabled American Veterans and Auxiliary. This nationally chartered, non-profit organizes teams of volunteers to assist veterans and their families. DAV operates an eleven passenger van that provides free transportation for many veterans who depend on VA medical teams for radiation, chemotherapy, learning to live without vision, or learning to live with diabetes. Nancy reports, “Because Epiphany donates a meeting place, we are able to direct more donations toward operating the van and helping those in need of food, a tank of gas, or money toward a light bill. Epiphany makes it possible for us to provide more service to veterans and their families than we ever did before.”

Epiphany’s members are generous with their time and talent as well. Operation of the many programs we are involved in requires a lot of helping hands. When asked why she puts as many volunteer hours into Epiphany’s programs as she does, Paula responded, “My MS causes so much fatigue, but somehow volunteering makes the fatigue disappear, at least for a while. I've learned that LOVE definitely conquers all”.

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Pastoral Care The Epiphany family honors and celebrates life events such as births, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and ordinations. We come together to support each other during life’s difficult moments, such as illness, death, conflict, and loss. Epiphany’s pastoral care includes clergy and lay ministries which range from pastoral counseling and spiritual direction to hospital and home visits with Communion. Pastoral care is critical for our spiritual and emotional care and healing. Epiphany has a long history of being blessed with skilled clergy and lay leaders who assist in guiding us on our individual journeys of celebration and loss.

When asked “What Epiphany means to him”, Rev. Ray W. responded, “Waking up after my second heart attack and seeing Fr. Bill and Rita’s bright smiling faces there in the room with me, that is what Epiphany means to me!”.

Bickie says, “Epiphany is a place where the love of God spills out of each of us onto each other. It is a place to come for fellowship and fun, study, worship, praise and support in times of grief and trouble. Now that I am visually impaired it is a place to turn for help with transportation. But most of all it is where I can come to the altar every Sunday not for solace only, but also strength, and not for pardon only but also renewal. Thanks be to God! Alleluia”.

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Fellowship “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -- John 13:34-35

Epiphany has many opportunities to come together in fellowship, and many (if not all) of these opportunities involve “breaking bread” together! These are important events as they allow us time to share life events, our hopes, our concerns, and our needs. Fellowship opportunities are often events that open our doors to

the greater community of Guntersville and Marshall County. Events such as the Seafood Bash, Golf Tournament, Trash to Treasure, Live Auction, Quilt Raffle, Alabama Football Ticket Raffle, Fall Bazaar are not only a lot of fun for us all, but also a chances to invite an un-churched neighbor who may be seeking for a true relationship.

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Stewardship Our church founders have bestowed upon our generation a beautiful 21,121 sq-ft facility valued at over $3.3M. The Vestry takes seriously our responsibilities as the temporal stewards of this property, the efficient operation of our facilities and the effective leadership and management of our office. The Vestry also takes seriously our calling to serve as the hands and feet of Christ in the world and as such to open our doors to welcome and help our neighbors. Balancing our responsibility as stewards for what we have been given against our calling to serve Christ in this world requires both the skilled talents of many volunteer hours

and the financial commitment and gifts from our parish family. In 2013, Epiphany had 133 families/individuals who signed a pledge to commit to their personal time or their financial support or both. Epiphany had an additional 11 individuals/families that provided a regular financial gift of support.

The Diocese of Alabama reports that the average pledge in the diocese is $3,523/year. At Epiphany, the averages signed pledge is $2263/year or breaking it out into the following broad categories they are:

Average high 20%: Epiphany = $6,921.00 /year

Average middle 60%: Epiphany = $1,626.00 /year

Average low 20%: Epiphany = $ 311.00 /year

Please prayerfully consider your blessings, and with a grateful heart offer to the Lord the first fruits of what has been given to you.

“You will be enriched in every way for your generosity.”-- 2 Corinthians 9:11

Giving Percentage TableAnnual Income 3% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10%

150,000$ 4,500$ 7,500$ 9,000$ 10,500$ 12,000$ 13,500$ 15,000$ 120,000$ 3,600$ 6,000$ 7,200$ 8,400$ 9,600$ 10,800$ 12,000$ 100,000$ 3,000$ 5,000$ 6,000$ 7,000$ 8,000$ 9,000$ 10,000$

80,000$ 2,400$ 4,000$ 4,800$ 5,600$ 6,400$ 7,200$ 8,000$ 50,000$ 1,500$ 2,500$ 3,000$ 3,500$ 4,000$ 4,500$ 5,000$ 30,000$ 900$ 1,500$ 1,800$ 2,100$ 2,400$ 2,700$ 3,000$

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