PERSONAL UPDATES

I would like to start with a personal update. This February JoEllen will be two years out since her last chemo infusion. She is in full remission, healthy and getting back to life. After five years cancer free she will be declared “cured”. We wait faithfully toward that day. Thanks to all of you with deepest regards for your continued prayers and support. We know many of you have walked this journey personally or with loved ones. We thank you for walking with us these past few years. We are extraordinarily thankful.

The McGugans are also celebrating a couple life events in 2024. One, I turned 60 in February, a milestone which feels a bit daunting and suspiciously wrong. As I have told the Vestry, I plan to stay at Christ Church at least for the next five years and perhaps longer, God willing and that you all will have me. Also, Zechariah and Lydia were both engaged in 2023. Lydia will be married this coming May to Bradford Stahl, a Denverite. Zechariah will be married in June of 2025 to Kiley McLean from Chicago. In the meantime, Zechariah will be graduating from Law School this May and will be working for a national firm out of their Milwaukee office.

In addition, the Vestry has authorized a sabbatical for me this coming summer. I will be gone from May 1 through the end of August returning at the Weekend Away. My last sabbatical was in 2019 which doesn’t feel that long ago, about 5 years. I was a bit reticent about another sabbatical so soon, but after talking with my therapist, who reminded me what has gone on over the last five years; leading a church through a pandemic, walking with my wife through cancer treatment and lockdown for 6 months, losing two key clergy associates at the same time and carrying an extra load this past year, it started to make sense. With the addition of Fr. Todd and the continued role of Fr. John Wengrovius and given many life events happening in my family, the Vestry decided 2024 would be an appropriate time for a sabbatical. At the writing of this report, I have not made any definitive plans. We are waiting for more clarity and I will report to the parish when plans are solidified. I thank you all in advance for this gift and the opportunity to rest, recreate, and replenish so I can give you my best effort possible in the remainder of my time as your rector.

STAFFING CHANGES

To be honest I had to do much grieving in 2023 over the loss of Mtr. Terri Colburn and Fr. Joseph, as a full-time associate. The year was a challenge logistically because of decreased clergy support. Thank goodness Fr. Joseph continued on as a remote associate and Fr. John Wengrovius joined the staff as an associate for Congregational Development. In addition, Mtr. Cathy Hitch and Fr. Chuck Whitmore offered to help fill some of the Sunday morning gaps. I am deeply appreciative of all their help.

In September we added Emily Ruff to our staff as our Youth Coordinator. She came to us with a wealth of experience in student ministry and took over with confidence and vision. You can read her report to get the fullness of her vision for Student Ministry at Christ Church.

Last January we kicked off a search for a full-time associate for Whole-Life Discipleship. By mid-spring we had three qualified candidates. One took another job; another, the Vestry determined, would not be a good fit. The final candidate was offered the position but declined. By September we were worn out and empty-handed. We put the search on hold and determined we would begin again in January of 2024, as the summer tends to be the time for clergy transitions.

The Rev. Todd Blackham, New Associate Rector

In November, a gentleman and his sister visited Christ Church and we welcomed them as Christ Church does so well. The gentleman returned the next Sunday and each subsequent Sunday. I thought we might have a new member. Then I got an email which contained a cover letter and resume. In the cover letter the person explained that they were the “secret shopper” who had been attending Christ Church for the last month, Fr. Todd Blackham. I immediately reached out and we had several meetings. It quickly became apparent Fr. Todd shared our unique identity as Evangelical, Charismatic, Orthodox, Catholic Episcopalians. Also he has an extensive background in discipleship formation. Finally, he has been formed in a deep spirituality as a former monk with the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge Massachusetts. This had all the markings of God’s divine providence. In December our lay leaders, staff and Vestry met with Fr. Todd and it was “green lights” right down the line. We extended a call to Fr. Todd late December and he joined our staff on January 15, 2024. It is apparent to me and the Vestry that Jesus had his finger prints on this whole thing, from Fr. Todd kicking the tires, the timing, the theological fit, and Fr. Todd’s gifts aligning with Christ Church’s needs. We are thrilled to have him as part of our Clergy staff.

At the writing of this report Treasureland Preschool is fully staffed with dedicated and talented people. Mindy Tipton, our Director of Treasureland Preschool, continues to do an exceptional job. Treasureland will be offering a summer session in 2024. Please read Mindy’s report to get all the details on this new development.

EXCEPTIONAL LAY LEADERSHIP

The breadth and depth of the lay leadership of Christ Church is thriving because of the generosity and giftedness of our parishioners. I can’t begin to express my deep gratitude for all the people who give their time and talent so selflessly for the good of others and the church. I want to acknowledge a lay leader of distinction, Christi James, who has been chair of the Outreach Commission for over 12 years. She has stepped down after doing an exceptional job leading, reforming and refreshing the Outreach Commission. Steve Petty, a member of the Commission, has been appointed by the Vestry to be the new chair. We are confident in Steve’s capacity to lead this most important ministry. Please read Christi James’ report to get the full details on the transition and the ongoing work of the commission.

I want to thank the Vestry for their leadership: Curtis Robbins and Debbie Jonas (your wardens for 2023), Pam Craig, Andy Colella, Christi James, Carol Hard, Steve Mulhern and Emily Epard (who stepped down during the year). In 2024 Debbie Jonas has fulfilled her term and will be stepping down. Steve Mulhern will be a co-warden with Curtis Robbins for 2024. We have three nominees for Vestry; Chuck Woodward, Denise Smith and Brett Rush, with three seats to fill. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our Vestry candidates through their biographies and photographs in the 2024 Vestry Candidates portion of this report. I look forward to working with Steve and Curtis as our co-wardens for 2024 and with our new Vestry. We will be facing many exciting and challenging opportunities this coming year. I believe we have a Vestry of thoughtful, faithful and talented leaders who will guide Christ Church in accordance with God’s vision and will.

As it would be impractical to acknowledge every lay leader in the church, please know your gifts and contributions to the life and ministry of our church are greatly valued and deeply appreciated.

THE NARTHEX PROJECT

God has been busy with Christ Church in 2023. In November we were awarded a 1.123 million dollar grant from the Thriving Congregations Initiatives of the Lilly Foundation for a program entitled The Narthex. Let me tell you a bit of how this came about. As you know in 2020 in response to COVID, Christ Church quickly pivoted to a livestream, online format in order to stay engaged with our members during lockdown. In the subsequent years, we have continued to expand our digital capacity reaching more and more folks around Denver, the nation and even abroad. As the pandemic ended, many churches began to step back from their digital presence.

The Vestry and I contemplated and prayed about the future of the church and agreed we should not reduce our effort in the digital space but rather expand it knowing people under the age of 45 spend the majority of their work and personal time in the digital space. It is where the church needs to be as a resource for folks who are searching and looking for God and also meaning and purpose in this fractured world. I wrote a “white paper” proposing a plan for expanding our digital capacity in both building online community and whole life discipleship. The Vestry and I embraced the idea and Fr. Joseph began to explore grant opportunities to help fund the plan. Now this is where I got out of the driver seat and Fr. Joseph took over. This past summer Fr. Joseph wrote a masterful grant proposal which expanded and refined our original plan. We submitted the proposal to the Thriving Congregations Initiative knowing we were swinging for the fences. Rarely if ever do individual parishes secure a Lilly grant. These grants typically go to Diocese and larger church institutions and entities. In November, we received notice we had been awarded the grant and, in many ways, we felt like “the dog that caught the car.” We immediately went into logistics mode and established per the plan, a staffing plan which included Fr. Joseph as the three quarter-time Executive Director of the project along with the hiring of Ashley Graham-Wilcox as our part-time remote (Los Angeles) Communications Administration Assistant. To get the full details about the “Narthex” program and this exciting and innovative ministry please read Fr. Joseph’s report. Again, this has Jesus’ fingerprints all over it, and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through Christ Church to be a blessing to the broader church.

MISSION STATEMENT

As you may recall, at our last Annual Meeting the Vestry revealed God’s vision for Christ Church which they had written over 18 months of discernment; “Christ Church desires to be a community of deeply committed whole life disciples of Jesus for the world; by learning to be with, become like and live like Jesus.” This vision was enthusiastically embraced by the parish. We reported our intention for 2023 was to develop a correlating Mission Statement and a five to seven year strategic plan.

Fr. John Wengrovius, who has a doctorate in Congregational Development, led the Vestry through a process to develop core documents about the values and behaviors of the parish which guided our mission statement development. The process which spanned the last 12 months included input from parishioners, lay leaders, the staff and Vestry. It has been a very thorough and prayerful process. I applaud the hard and diligent work of the Vestry who has discerned a very clear mission statement and high-level strategic plan for Christ Church. Please read Fr. Wengrovius’ report for more details and also review the Mission Statement, Strategic Plan and Core documents included in Appendix A of this Annual report.

The next step in the process is for the staff and lay leaders to develop strategies, metrics, and timelines as well as identify resources needed to achieve the goals. Those will be developed this spring and honed over the summer. We will begin to implement the plan starting this fall. Our purpose in this work is to follow what we have discerned to be God’s vision for Christ Church at this time in its life with a clear, intentional and deliberate plan.

ATTENDANCE AND MEMBERSHIP

In 2023 our average Sunday attendance has continued to grow. We are approaching our pre-COVID numbers. The exciting news is our online Sunday morning attendance has not declined but has maintained. On any given Sunday we have over 500 people participating in our worship, whether online or in person. This past Christmas we had 739 people in person and 365 online for a total of 1104. What we are finding is our front door is now our livestream offering. Nine out of ten folks who join us in person have indicated they have already watched us online and wanted to experience Christ Church in person. We are consistently inviting new folks to become members and our membership is growing. In 2023 we added 34 new members to the church. This growth was offset by either death, moving out of town or slipping out the back door of 13 families. We continue to grow and hope our new focus around the vision, mission and strategic plan will accelerate our growth and energize our people.

LOGISTICS: FINANCES, BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

Christ Church had a very strong year thanks to the provision of God through the generosity of the people who call Christ Church their home church. I encourage you to read the Financial Report compiled by our Director of Operations, Brady TenBarge. I would like to extend my thanks to Brady, Jeff Rudolph our treasurer, and the finance committee for their exceptional oversight and management of your gifts and offerings. Suffice it to say Christ Church is in good financial shape and we are optimistic about the financial outlook for 2024.

Christ Church continues to be diligent in the care and upkeep of our facilities. We are nearing the end of our organ expansion project and plan completion this summer. The West Room will be repurposed to become our second largest fully digital capable space in which meetings can be livestreamed and remote and in-person participants can seamlessly interact.

ENERGIZE DENVER INITIATIVE

We face some challenges regarding a civic program called Energize Denver which seeks to reduce CO2 emissions by mandating changes to commercial building HVAC systems along a defined timeline. Christ Church is working to devise a reasonable and compliant plan hitting mandated timelines. Please read the Buildings and Grounds report for more detail. I would like to extend my thanks to Brady TenBarge, Heidi Farr and our facilities team, Bruce Dunn (Energize Denver project manager), as well as the Buildings and Grounds Committee for their tireless work in keeping our buildings clean, serviceable and welcoming.

WHAT’S NEXT

There is a growing enthusiasm and excitement about the life and ministry of Christ Church. As we move into 2024, leaning into the Narthex project, and our Mission and Strategic plan, I believe God is going to use Christ Church to be a blessing to the people who call Christ Church their church home, the new folks who are streaming through our physical and digital doors, our community, the broader church and the world. I am thrilled to be part of this community and privileged to help lead and guide the ministry and life of this church.

We are clear about the work before us in 2024;

complete the organ project
digitally refit the West Room and adult formation classrooms
prepare for Energize Denver
initiate and progress forward with the Narthex project
complete the deep details of the Strategic Plan and begin the implementation
as well as all we do together as church; worship, formation, outreach, pastoral care, community and fellowship.

We have a full agenda ahead of us, but we are never sure what is right around the corner. Therefore, I am on the rooftop with the Vestry, watching, looking, praying and seeking God’s will and desire for this ministry. We are on tippy toes because we can sense and feel God is doing something extraordinary in and through us for His glory, the building up of the church and the ushering in of His kingdom. I invite all the people of Christ Church to join the Vestry in seeking the heart of God for this church. After all, it’s His church, His ministry and we are His people.