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2020 Parish Profile
1 4 0 0 R i v e r s i d e D r i v e , C o r a l S p r i n g s , F L 3 3 0 7 1
9 5 4 - 7 5 3 - 1 4 0 0 [email protected]
c
Saint Mary Magdalene
Episcopal Church
Welcomes You!
2
Gracious and Almighty God, you are the source of all holiness.
Across the ages, you have raised up men and women to spread
the good news of your kingdom. Look with favor on the Search
Committee as Saint Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church seeks a
new rector who will provide the right spiritual leadership for
your church. Pour your abundant blessings upon each of your
servants chosen to serve on the Search Committee. Give them all
a clear sense of their duty and lead them in all their deliberations
and decisions. Grant them mutual love, gentleness, right
judgment and personal devotion to you and to the tasks they will
perform. Inspired by your Holy Spirit, may the work of the Search
Committee lead to an increase in love, beauty, and holiness in
your church, and bring honor and glory to your name. Grant
these petitions in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church acknowledges that faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and His Great Commission led us to our mission statement:
We welcome and embrace everyone,
feeding body, mind
and spirit in Christ’s name!
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Our mission statement is one we believe
in and strive to embody as a
congregation, as is evidenced by the
diversity of our parishioners. The
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once
called Sunday Morning at 11 am “the
most segregated hour in Christian
America.”
In contrast, we can honestly say this
does not apply to us. We are an eclectic
mixture of people who come from a variety of places across North America, South
and Central America, Europe and the Caribbean. In 2016, based on a growing
need, we established a fourth service conducted in Spanish. It would be hard to
put us in one box, but we do fit into one church quite well. Our diversity is one of
our greatest strengths.
Currently the congregation has three hundred and fifty (350) enrolled members
and the average weekend attendance is two hundred and ninety-five (295) across
our four services. We currently have a total of 146 pledging units.
We are now searching for a new rector who will guide us, teach us and minister to
us as we seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. We seek a
compassionate leader who will challenge our notions of comfort and harness our
enthusiasm for spiritual growth.
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History
Saint Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church (“Saint M&M”) began as a venture in faith in the late 1950s. A group of Episcopalians in Margate sought the sponsorship of the Diocese of South Florida and Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale to become a mission congregation. The first service was held on May 19, 1960, in a home. Construction of the first church building was completed in 1962 in Margate and was the parish home until the current structure was begun in 1974. In 1975, the parish celebrated Easter Mass for the first time in our current location in Coral Springs and the building was officially dedicated on May 11, 1975.
In planning and constructing this new place of
worship, parishioners incorporated many of the
natural materials of the area. The altar, which is
surely one of the most beautiful and unusual in
Florida, is a single piece of coral rock excavated from
the building site of the church. Weighing more than
three tons and representing the rock on which the
Christian Church was built, its presence symbolizes
our heritage of faith, our respect for God’s natural
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world, and the challenge to build strong traditions for the
future.
In the mid-1980s, Saint M&M added a preschool to its ministries. We believe that all children are gifts from God and we strive to teach our children the lesson that God loves them just the way they are.
Since its founding, Saint M&M has been served by eight priests. We are now entering a critical pastoral transition. Currently, an Interim Rector, an Associate Rector, and a Deacon pastor the congregation. In co-operation with the Wardens and Vestry, they are an effective and collaborative leadership team that is working to prepare the way for our new rector.
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Saint Mary Magdalene
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
We have a long tradition of embracing Mathew 25:35-40:
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me.”
For over twenty-five years, Saint M&M has been involved in a variety of ministries that draw inspiration from Christ’s teaching as found in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. From the late 1990’s to the early 2000’s, we were involved in a ministry to women in prison. Many of our parishioners went on mission trips to Honduras, Columbia, and the Navajo Reservation. In the early 2000’s, our congregation had a food pantry, which has since evolved into the distribution of grocery store gift cards. In the last ten years, our community has been very active in ministry to the local homeless population.
In conjunction with Episcopal Charities of Southeast Florida, Saint M&M was a sponsor for the local homeless outreach shelter – the Saint Laurence Chapel. At least 60% of the congregation participated in some way in the ministry of the Chapel. Recently, the Saint Laurence Chapel was taken over by a for-profit company and our involvement with that ministry ended. We are now exploring new homeless outreach opportunities, as community outreach is another one of our strengths.
Our Youth Group, currently led by two former Saint M&M youth group members,
along with one of our choir members, is establishing a partnership with Broward
Children’s Center (“BCC”). Located in Pompano Beach, BCC cares for infants,
children, and young adults with special health care needs by providing medical,
therapeutic, educational, recreational, daily living, and advocacy services. During
the 2019 Advent and Christmas season, the Youth Group conducted a toy drive
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for the children living in the comprehensive
care group home at BCC. The Youth Group
is planning regular visits to BCC to spend
time and interact with the children living in
the group home. With the help of our
Outreach Committee, the Youth Group is
working to organize the collection of items
to help meet the children’s needs and
create opportunities for the congregation to be involved in this ministry.
Saint John’s Church of South India (CSI) members have worshiped in our church since 2006. The Church of South India is a member Church of our Anglican Communion and so we enjoy this unique relationship. The Church of South India is considered the second largest Christian Church in India, based on the number of members.
Our church is in Northern Broward County, which includes the communities of
Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Margate, Parkland, and Tamarac. Some of our
youth attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The
congregation was deeply impacted by the death of the seventeen innocent
people who were killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in
February 2018. We were especially hurt and continue to mourn the loss of one of
our best and brightest young people, who was a member of our choir and a
leader of our youth group.
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Her name was Carmen Schentrup, and she was just shy of seventeen when she
was killed. As our church accommodates about three hundred, we were
graciously loaned the use of a local Roman Catholic church in order to hold our
service for her and over 1,500 people came to the funeral.
We also protested her death and the proliferation of gun violence. Our clergy and many in our congregation attended protests in Parkland and surrounding Broward communities. Also, our youth group, along with clergy and chaperones, joined our Bishop and youth from surrounding South Florida Communities for the March for Our Lives held in Washington D.C. in March 2018.
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The sudden departure of our rector in April 2018 further compounded our grief
and deep sense of loss. In spite of these events, we are resilient and continue in
the spirit of our mission statement by embracing one another and our
community. We have worked intentionally with a consultant to address the issues
raised, and though there is always more to do in the journey to healing and
wholeness, we have done significant work in this regard. Our Vestry is currently
working diligently on a strategic plan to move us forward, based on the results of
the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT Survey) we did in April 2019.
Worship at Saint Mary Magdalene
______________________________________________________________ We are a vibrant, culturally diverse community gathered to praise and glorify God and to nurture our faith in Jesus Christ. Our worship is shaped by the rites and traditions of the Episcopal Church. Worship is uplifting and parishioners leave with an enormous sense of the grandeur and awe of God’s presence. The music, the fellowship, the readings and sermon, the prayers, and participation in Holy Communion all contribute to uniting us in our common worship.
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Our services are led by a team consisting of the clergy, two vergers, acolytes and Lay Eucharistic Ministers. The church’s music ministry is a vital part of our life and we have a talented and dedicated team consisting of a Music Director, Assistant Music Director, cantors, choir members and various instrumentalists who enhance the depth and grandeur of our worship. A spirit of unity and excitement is reflected in a general enthusiasm at the time of greeting each other during the Peace. We have four weekend services, a mid-week service on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 am and Bible Study and Evening Prayer, led by the Anamchara Fellowship, on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm. Our first weekend service is a Eucharist (Rite II) on Saturday at 5:00 pm. The average attendance at this service is about forty-five. The music is a rich blend of traditional and contemporary hymns chosen from the Gather Hymnal, the 1982 Hymnal, or Lift Every Voice and Sing, accompanied by piano and guitar. On Sunday mornings at 8:00 am our Rite I Eucharist uses hymns primarily from the 1982 Hymnal and Lift Every Voice and Sing, accompanied by organ music. There is no formal choir at this service, but some choir members attend voluntarily. The average attendance is approximately fifty weekly. There are two Bible study opportunities on Sunday mornings after the 8 am service – an Adult Forum and a Women’s Bible Study. Our largest attendance of about one hundred and sixty-five is at 10:30 am. This is a Rite II Eucharist with a full complement of ministers, acolytes, and musicians. Hymns are taken from traditional and non-traditional sources. Music is accompanied by the organ and often violins, a trumpet or other musical instruments. Following the Confession and Peace, the children who were attending Sunday School join the congregation to share in Holy Communion.
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There is a Rite II Eucharist in Spanish led by our Associate Rector at 12:30 pm. The average attendance at this service is approximately thirty-five. A small but very dedicated choir leads us in lively singing, accompanied by a piano, guitar or other musical instruments. This service is open to all and at times English speakers join this community for worship. After the 10:30 and the 12:30 services, there is usually congregational fellowship in the parish hall, with an exciting menu of traditional and cultural dishes. While parishioners are enjoying fellowship in the hall, there is a fourth service in the church: the Church of South India community begins its service at 2:00 pm. On Sunday evenings at 6 pm we offer a traditional Evening Prayer service from the Book of Common Prayer. This service is enriched with the use of chant, candles and incense. At Saint Mary Magdalene all persons are welcome to enter the doors, join in worship and be nurtured, bringing doubts, anxieties, fears or questions. Each person will find a place for prayer and a loving community. We encourage all to “come and see.”
Where We Are Headed on Our Journey
Our priorities include:
Continued healing, spiritual growth, deepening cohesiveness, pastoral care,
community engagement, growth in membership, effective administration, and
the forming of leaders.
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The Rector
As part of the search process, our Vestry surveyed our congregation using the CAT
Survey. It identified the need for a leader who will guide us from a Static Energy
Satisfaction Climate to that of a High Energy Satisfaction Transformational
Church.
It is our hope that our next rector will provide us with effective collaborative
leadership to help us accomplish our immediate tasks as well as other goals as
they are discerned.
1. Healing. We are seeking a rector who is
compassionate and understanding, and who
understands that a community will express pain,
having faced multiple losses within the span of a
few months. S/he will seek healthy ways of
acknowledging pain in parishioners and be a
healing presence that is able to demonstrate the
joy and hope of the Good News as we move into
the next chapter of our common life.
2. Spiritual Growth. Our next rector will lead us in
living and expressing our mission statement. As
a congregation, we anticipate being challenged to examine where we
are spiritually and to grow in love of Christ and of our neighbors. We
expect that the rector be someone who will be passionate about
preaching, teaching, and liturgy. S/he will be expected to participate
fully in planning our weekly worship, in collaboration with the other
clergy and the Music Director. We will rely on the rector to guide us in
Christian education, both in youth and adult formation.
3. Cohesiveness. We will rely on the rector to foster cohesiveness by
communicating unity and hope in word and action. This is of great
importance and our next rector will be comfortable dealing with a
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culturally diverse congregation. Also
of importance is handling conflicts in a
healthy manner, remembering our call
to love.
4. Pastoral Care. The rector will join the
other clergy and the Lay Eucharistic
Ministers in visiting and caring for the
sick and the homebound.
5. Community Engagement. The rector
may be invited to participate in
interfaith or other events in the
community, thus being an
ambassador for the Church. We
expect the Rector to be visible in our
wider community, as well as in our diocese.
6. Growth. We are seeking a rector with skills, ideas and enthusiasm for
helping our congregation in growing spiritually, financially, and
numerically.
7. Effective Administration. The rector will be expected to work
effectively and collaboratively with the Vestry, staff and members who
lead various ministries, being accountable for good administrative
practices.
8. Leadership. Our expectation is that our next rector will be skilled in
evaluating where the congregation is and what is needed to move us
forward, working with the Vestry and the entire community to take us
deeper into the Jesus Movement – the Way of Love.
Saint Mary Magdalene Current
Ministries
We currently have over twenty-three active ministries and groups, including Education for Ministry (EFM), a music school, an active Cursillo ministry, and the largest Brotherhood of Saint Andrew in the diocese.
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Please refer to our website (which is currently being revised) at https://www.stmandm.org. You may also visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/St.MandM/ for more information and a full list of our ministries. We believe that the following parishioner and Facebook comments describe us best:
● Many lives and families are served from our
Community Support Groups.
● I get so much comfort by being able to watch our
Sunday services online when I am sick at home.
● Do children really remember preschool at Saint
M&M? Yes.
● We never even thought about coming to church until we had our wedding
at Saint Mary Magdalene.
● My life was changed by Cursillo.
● We really like the coffee hours – sometimes
it’s like a meal.
• Our Brotherhood of Saint Andrew is the
largest in the diocese – it works!
● No one will see more ladies’ hats than at
our Tea Party.
● I knew people were praying for me. I could
feel it.
● The Episcopal funeral was more like a
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celebration than a funeral.
● I know God really blesses Saint Mary Magdalene Church.
● I really didn’t know that singing was just like
praying until I heard the choir here.
● I was saved…really saved.
● My daughter really loves her Sunday School
teachers.
● I've just returned to the church and I found Saint Mary Magdalene to be so
warm and welcoming. I thoroughly enjoyed the Bible studies and the
services, and I am so glad I found this church.
● I love it... people of the church were wonderful and amazing.
● The kindest and most loving community I
know. If you need a welcoming church home,
you have found it! The Christmas Eve service
is so beautiful and is a true gift to all.
● Warm, welcoming, and deeply spiritual with a choir that brought me to tears during a recent service. Supportive with wonderful outreach and mission work.
● Welcoming and fully accepting faith community who embrace all. Highly
recommend!
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Coral Springs and Broward County
The City of Coral Springs is 24 square miles nestled in the northwest corner of
Broward County. Coral Springs is known for its family atmosphere, thriving
businesses, city recreational facilities, and top-rated schools. As one of the fastest
growing cities, and now considered fully “built-out,” it is hard to believe the very
same land was merely a green bean farm and cattle field just 55 years ago.
Here are some tables, charts and graphs that help to explain the demographics of
our immediate community.
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For additional demographic information, please visit the following websites:
Coral Springs - www.csccrchamber.com Broward County - www.broward.org The City of Coral Springs https://www.coralsprings.org/living/facts-about-coral-springs
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Financial Information
Like most churches, we conduct a full annual stewardship renewal to fund
operational costs for the next year. There have been, from time to time, special
campaigns to raise money for projects, such as mortgage burnings. We also have
an ongoing endowment program called The Vine of Saint Mary Magdalene. This
program solicits funds as planned and legacy gifts and memorials. The funds are
invested to produce a yearly draw for non-operational special projects.
Summary of Finances from 2016- 2019
2019 2018 2017 2016
Total Total Total Total
Income
Operating Income
Other Income 6,779.55 17,777.21 26,677.32 12,926.76
Plate 14,955.00 18,172.00 20,277.77 18,533.00
Pledge 537,704.82 541,308.00 571,934.74 564,025.32
Rental Income 9,273.00 11,590.15 6,100.00 8,035.00
Special Offerings 6,294.00 6,530.00 10,987.00 10,851.00
Total Operating Income 575,006.37 595,377.36 635,976.83 614,371.08
Expenses
Altar Guild Expenses 3,282.48 3,912.22 3,104.87 5,939.91
Multimedia Expenses 6,260.75 10,098.54 11,782.91 9,457.90
Total Operating Expenses 65,491.19 91,576.20 74,290.70 67,002.07
Total Other Fixed Expenses 125,046.25 115,701.25 93,103.71 102,237.33
Total Personnel 300,640.59 366,536.40 418,406.90 416,085.86
Total Programs 4,017.97 9,555.61 18,986.22 29,887.98
Total Expenses 504,739.23 597,469.62 619,675.32 630,611.05
Net Operating Income 70,267.14 (2,092.26) 16,301.51 (16,239.97)
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Employees and Physical Plant
We employ an Interim Rector and Parish
Administrator on a full-time basis. In
addition, there are four part-time
employees: the Associate Rector, the Music
Director, a Bookkeeper, and our Sexton. The
preschool operates on a separate budget,
and has a director, three teachers, and
three aides. We are blessed to have the
services of a Deacon assigned to our parish.
The church consists of the main church with
a choir loft and library. An education wing
contains the offices and preschool. The
parish hall with a small kitchen completes
the physical layout. Parking is challenging,
especially on Christmas and Easter. Our
goal is to make upgrades and improvements
to our facilities.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9am – 4pm.
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Final Thought
We look forward to welcoming our new Rector, who will embrace our mission,
capitalize on our strengths, challenge us to change and grow, and help us reach
our goals.
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ST. M&M WORSHIPS
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IGLESIA EPISCOPAL SANTA MARIA MAGDALENA
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WE CELEBRATE LIFE
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SOME OF OUR PEOPLE