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WHAT DO I DO AFTER I HAVE VISITED?
Kevin Baker, our pastor would love to spend
some time with you personally to get to know you more. The pastor is here to serve and
help in many ways. Also, our midweek home groups
are the main way to meet people and fellowship with our church. We provide guidance and
counsel for personal and spiritual growth, family life such as
marriage and parenting help, and many other needs people have.
We invite all who God is adding to our church to get to know us at a
“St.
Patrick’s 101 Class” which is a more in depth introduction to
making a formal commitment to belonging to our church.
Beyond that, we offer a “201: Discovering God’s Plan for My Life”
which helps us discern who God made us to be, and what our place in
the church is. We believe every Christian is
saved to serve, and that serving others brings us peace and
contentment in life. This class teaches on
spiritual gifts, personality, and finding our place in God’s
Kingdom.
OUR BEGINNING
Just as each
one of us have a story about how we came to be born, so does our
church! Our Pastor, Kevin Baker, and his family
came into ministry in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC) in
January 2000 after ten years of ministry at Vineyard Christian
Fellowship of Buffalo. Shortly after Fr. Kevin was
ordained, God called him and the family to leave Buffalo and go to
Sarasota, Florida where he served as Assistant Pastor at Throne of
Grace Charismatic Episcopal Church—a mission to the homeless and
drug addicted—and where Kathie pioneered a children’s ministry to
children of the homeless and poor of Sarasota.
Later
God spoke to
Fr. Kevin and Kathie to return to Buffalo. Since then, our
church has grown to over 20 families, and recently is
averaging 15 families per week. After a few years in the Park School
theater, we pray our new church worship space will foster continued
growth in the years to come.
Dn. Henry
Pittman and his wife Sharon came to St. Patrick's in the fall 2006.
WHAT OUR CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT
Fr. Kevin likes
to say “If you don’t know where your going in life you’ll never get
there! We all need to know where we are going
and how to get there or we will be lost forever.”
So here is where we are going; what God is showing us to be
and do:
Our Creed: What We Believe
We believe in one God, the Father,
the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and
unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally
begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God
from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he
came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the
Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third
day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended
into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will
come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his
kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy
Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father
[and the Son], who with the Father and the
Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge
one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look
for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Our Saying
A Church You
Can Relate To,
A Place
to
Belong and Grow, a Family of Families
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We are a
church you can relate to!
We are God’s people (the Church) living life together in a
relationship of love. Our prayer and promise
to the people of western
New York
is “Come as
You Are and You’ll Be loved.” A relationship
with God and with one another is at the center of what we are all
about. The New Testament has over 50 “one
another” statements telling us how to love one another!
We are reminded of this every week in worship when we hear
the Great Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and love you neighbor as yourself.
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A place to
belong and grow!
God does not want any of his children to be orphans and
fatherless living life in loneliness and isolation as outcasts.
At St. Patrick’s, we believe every person God brings here
belongs here, and we will open our arms and hearts to you so you
can grow in the grace and knowledge of God in your life.
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A Family of
families!
God
has created families to be the safe place of rest in this world.
Just as natural families have a husband and wife living
together in holy matrimony bringing children into this world as an
expression of love, God has created the Church as the household of
Christ and His Bride, the Church. God invites
every family to be the children of His Holy Family and to live in
the safety and refuge of His Household.
About the ICCEC
We are men and
women of faith gathered from diverse backgrounds seeking an
expression of the church that is fully sacramental-liturgical,
evangelical, and charismatic; a church that is submitted to the
authority of scripture, as interpreted by the continuing witness of
the ancient church, and governed by consensus. Our worship is
biblical, liturgical and Spirit filled, ancient and contemporary,
holy and joyful. We are committed to advancing God's kingdom by
proclaiming the Gospel to the least, the lost, and the lonely.
Our local Vision…
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WE EXIST TO
WORSHIP GOD WITH ALL OF OUR HEART, SOUL, MIND, AND STRENGTH.
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WE EXIST TO
LEAD ALL INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS INTO YOUR LIFE PURPOSE AND TO FULL
MATURITY AS A CHRISTIAN.
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WE EXIST TO
SERVE GOD, THE CHURCH, AND THE WORLD.
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WE EXIST TO
BE A SPIRITUAL FAMILY OF MANY FAMILIES AS THE FOUNDATION AND
HEALING OF OUR SOCIETY
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WE EXIST TO
SHOW GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BY INVITING EVERYONE TO COME AS THEY
ARE AND EXPERIENCE GOD’S LOVE IN OUR MIDST.
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WE EXIST TO
MINISTER TO ONE ANOTHER’S PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL NEEDS THROUGH
FELLOWSHIP IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.
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WE EXIST TO
BRING NON-BELIEVERS TO FAITH IN CHRIST BY BEING THEIR FRIENDS,
SERVANTS, AND COMMUNITY.
I Have Heard in the News About The Episcopal
Controversy Over A Gay Bishop. Are You That
Church?
The answer to that is simply “no.” To avoid
confusion, we are not the denomination called
The Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. (ECUSA),
which is the regular
U.S.
branch of the Anglican Communion. The
Charismatic
Episcopal
Church
joins with Christians from all over the world in affirming the
sanctity of Matrimony as an exclusive bond between a man and a
woman.
Episcopal
simply means "having bishops." The New Testament was written in
Greek. The Apostles use a Greek word “episcopos”
when they speak of men who were overseers of the Church, the clergy,
and the people. A Bishop is an overseer.
We are the
Charismatic Episcopal Church. We are a church
birthed by the Spirit of God, doing the works of God in the power of
the Holy Spirit, governed by Bishops in valid apostolic succession.
However, our church does have an Anglican "flavor" and makes
use of the Book of Common Prayer and other prayer books.
In keeping with scripture and the ancient practice of the
Church, the Church is governed in an Episcopal form by Bishops,
Presbyters (priests/elders) and Deacons (Servants) who are ordained
by Bishops and commissioned, authorized and set apart for particular
types of service with special responsibilities.
Other Churches I Have Been To Do Not Have Bishops.
Why Do You?
When Jesus came
to earth, he said his authority to speak and do what he was called
to do came from the fact the God the Father had sent him and given
him all authority in heaven and on earth. As
Jesus left the earth at The Ascension to rule and reign as King on
His throne in heaven, he gave power and authority to His 12 Apostles
filled with the Holy Spirit and sent them into all the world to
preach, baptize, and disciple all the nations of the world.
They had “power of attorney” to speak and act on behalf of
Jesus on earth. The Apostles built churches,
ordered worship, trained and ordained priests and deacons, taught
and guarded the true faith, wrote or validated official records of
the church as authoritative witnesses of the life, ministry, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ. When
they began to die, they passed their authority to Bishops/Overseers.
Bishops (episcopos) continue the apostolic ministry till this
very day.
Okay, Why Do You Worship The Way You Do?
Good question!
Let me try and break it down into the most asked questions…
Why All The
Funny Clothes and a Table in the Middle of Everything? Isn’t Worship
Spiritual, So Why All the Physical Symbols?
Let’s deal with
physical symbols first. For many years, I did
not understand all this either. Jesus is the
starting point for understanding why God uses physical symbols to
speak and convey spiritual truth, reality, power, and grace to human
beings. Hebrews 2:4 says Jesus is the ultimate
and final means of God speaking to mankind. God
created human beings as physical/spiritual creatures, so it follows
that He speaks to us in physical/spiritual ways.
Jesus, who is Spirit, became a real physical man
(God/Man). Theologians call this the
incarnation, meaning God the Spirit forever put on the physical
matter of a human body to demonstrate his love and nature to us.
Christmas speaks volumes to us!
If you think
about it, from Genesis to Revelation (first book of the Bible
through the last), God has always used physical means to convey
spiritual grace and reality. Think of the trees
in the Garden of Eden and how an act of eating brought sin and death
to the human race. Remember Moses’ staff as a
stick God used to deliver His people from bondage in
Egypt
.
Look and see the Old Testament Tabernacle,
Temple
, and
sacrifices preaching Christ in symbols. Fix your
eyes on Jesus himself and the New Testament use of water to wash our
sins away, communion bread to deliver to us the spiritual benefits
of all Jesus’ body wounded did to heal our transgressions and
iniquities, and wine as the means of the Holy Spirit giving us
access to the blood of Christ that washes away our sins.
This is how, as Isaiah the prophet said, we “taste and see
that the Lord is good!” Worship as my friend
Malcom Smith says, is a “feast for the senses.”
We taste, see, touch, smell, and feel God in worship.
God made us as
symbolic icons of the image of God, so we are hopelessly symbol
making creatures. How so?
Company logos, wedding rings, special clothes that say special
things, uniforms that tell people who we are and what we do, badges
that convey invisible authority to enforce law, colors we use to
convey emotions and meaning, art and music, ALL OF HUMAN LIFE IS
EVIDENCE OF HOW DEEP THE PHYSICAL/SPIRITUAL SPEAKING FORM IS IN IS.
Now let’s talk
about clothes and furniture!
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Our heavenly
Father calls every one of us to come home and be together every
Lord’s Day! Think of going to church every
Sunday as a family reunion! Each week we come together from all
points of the compass to hear our family story; sing our family
songs; and come together for a big holy-day supper.
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In worship,
heaven and earth meet and become one. All of
the white robes, incense, the reading of the word, the supper at
the table are all what is going on in heaven during the worship at
the very throne of God.
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To see what I
mean, read the Book of Revelation—a vision of
St. John
when he was
caught up into the worship of heaven itself.
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In this
worship service of heaven, the two main events are the reading of
a scroll sealed with seven seals by Jesus himself, and the
marriage supper when Jesus takes a chalice filled with His blood
from an altar and pours it out on the earth.
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The imagery
of heaven includes elders in white robes, angels, the redeemed
from the earth, incense being burned before the throne of God
symbolically carrying the prayers of the Church up to God, and
much more!
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So why do we
wear white robes, burn incense, and have a worship service
centered around THE WORD AND THE SUPPER? The
answer, though complex, is also simple—because that is how Jesus
leads worship in heaven and how the Apostles of Jesus who formed
the Church and teach us how to worship did it!
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For a deeper
explanation of all this,
click
here.
What is the Liturgy and Why Do You Worship This Way?
Again, great
question! The GREAT LITURGY OF GOD is this:
John
3:16
"For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son,[1]
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The Greek word
leitourgos (our liturgy) was a word used to describe a
work done at someone’s own cost for the good of the entire community
in which they lived. For example, someone of
means might build a road or a bridge as a public work at their own
cost for the good of their community. In the
Bible, the Apostles and men such as Luke use the word to describe
the church at prayer such as in Acts 1 when they were "liturgizing/praying"
in the upper room.
The GREAT WORK
OF GOD IS SALVATION. AT HIS OWN GREAT COST, GOD
GAVE JESUS HIS SON TO BE THE BRIDGE OVER THE
GULF
OF
SIN
THAT SEPARATED
GOD AND MAN; HEAVEN AND EARTH.
Liturgy then,
is the spiritual work or act of worship when we come to give our
lives back to God, praising and thanking God for HIS GREAT LITURGY
OF THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS’ LIFE ON THE CROSS.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in
view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy
and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual[1]
act of worship.
St. Peter calls
the whole church a royal priesthood.
Since the people of God are priests, we are called to be
actively involved in worship. By the way, a
priest is one who represents God to man, and man to God,
and we are royalty because we are the children of the King of kings.
In our church, we think the priests should be the ones
conducting worship. According to the Apostle
Paul in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 4:11, God calls some
of the royal priests to be servant priests who lead the royal
priesthood in worship (confused yet?). All the
people of God are the actual ministers. God’s
people are led by servants who have been given power and authority
to lead, feed, guide, protect, teach, and discipline the people of
God. The New Testament uses the words elder,
pastor, father, and presbyter (priest) to describe them.
The New Testament also speaks of deacons who have a servant
ministry to the poor and needy of the church.
I like to say,
“Worship is not a spectator sport, and it is not entertainment.
It is a play, and we are the players performing before God
who is the audience.” This means we think
worship is God-centered and not man-centered.
God is the object and focus, not men. However,
as Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than receive.”
So, as we give to God, He pours out more blessing on us than
we can contain.
As Christians
looking for a church, we really should not be evaluating a church
based on things like, “Did it make me feel good?
Did the music move me? Did the sermon do
something for me? The technology was awesome!”
Rather, we should be asking, “Was I able to give to God
there? Was God the reason for worship or man?
Was the service designed to please God or man?”
You may encounter some churches today that are all about
entertainment to the point that church is like going to a play, a
rock concert, going to a motivational seminar, or watching a
late-night talk show. As a pastor, I urge you to
consider what I have shared above and ask yourself, are those
Christian events truly worship of God or are they something other
than worship?
Why Do We Use A Prayer Book As The Basic Form and Order of Worship?
1 Corinthians 14:39Therefore, my
brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in
tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and
orderly way.
1 Cor. 14:15-16 So what shall I do? I will pray
with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with
my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.
One of the
things I hear a lot as pastor of a
charismatic-evangelical-liturgical church is “Why do you want to
pray the same prayers over and over? Isn’t that
vain repetition, insincere, and boring?” I love
those questions! People generally ask these
questions when they have been exposed to forms of worship that have
little or no order, or when they have been in churches that profess
that the Holy Spirit leads their services.
Having been in those churches myself, and served as pastor of a
Charismatic-Evangelical church for ten years, I know what is meant
by these questions.
Let me put you
at ease. In our church, we combine pre-composed
songs, prayers, sermons, creeds, and rites in the prayer book as
well as spontaneous songs, prayers, sermons, and ministry in
biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit. All of this
is done under the leadership of the Holy Spirit by God-called and
anointed leaders and worshippers. Our prayer
book, the Book of Common Prayer brings together the best of Catholic
and Protestant worship. Its content is over 70%
direct quotations from the Bible. The Prayer
Book includes such things as the form for Sunday worship in Word and
Sacrament, how to pray and read the Bible daily, funerals, weddings,
ordinations, anointing the sick and much more!
Our bulletin is the Book of Common Prayer worship service put in a
user-friendly form!
You know how to
worship because the leaders train you with a worship manual called
the prayer book. A prayer book does not replace
the Bible, but is rather what a hymnal is to singing.
The prayer book is designed to equip you with a tool for
doing the work of being a priest—to declare the praises of God who
called you out of darkness (secrets of shame, sin, and evil) into
the wonderful light of heaven.
REPETITION AND WRITTEN PRAYERS
Jesus never
said to not repeat things. Repetition is a good
means of helping people learn. As a matter of
fact, you repeat a lot of good things every day—they are called good
habits. In teaching on prayer, Jesus warned
about thinking we will be heard because of vain repetition.
The key here is vain or empty. Vain
repetition happens when we say “amen” at the end of a prayer we have
not really paid attention to, or when we sing a song and really do
not mean what we are singing, or use filler words that we do not
really mean. Common filler words such as “praise
the Lord, thank you Jesus, hallelujah, Father God,” and so forth
said without meaning are as empty as someone saying the “Our Father”
and not meaning it.
Some people get
uptight about praying prayers that are not extemporaneous, or spoken
“from scratch.” For those struggling here, let
me share how I came to love praying written prayers.
One day, I simply realized praying a written prayer was no
different than singing a song someone else wrote.
I can enter into songs or prayers written by others, and use
them as means of expressing my heart to God.
DOES LITURGY =
DEAD
CHURCH
?
No. Liturgy is neither dead nor alive,
people are. Alive people will create alive
worship no matter what the form. Dead churches
are usually full of dead people.
THINGS YOU MIGHT SEE OR EXPERIENCE HERE AND WHAT THEY
MEAN
Clapping
Hands: Ps.
47:1 1
Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of
triumph!
Tongues and
Interpretation:
26 How is it then,
brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a
teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let
all things be done for edification.
1 Cor. 14:26.
Prophesy:
1
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may
prophesy. 1 Cor. 14:1
Baptism: We
receive anyone who has been poured, sprinkled, or immersed with
water in the name the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
See the web site for an explanation of covenant theology and
why we believe Christian children should be baptized as infants and
included at the family table at communion.
Confirmation:
In short, Christian children are not orphans.
As male infants were circumcised in the Old Covenant, all
Christian infants are baptized as a sign of God speaking to them
that it is His will that godly offspring receive the promises of the
New Covenant over their lives from their earliest days.
When a Christian child grows up, they must come to personal
faith and have their faith confirmed as they speak back to God that
what God promised at their birth they now believe in their life.
Confirmation is the Bishop confirming one’s personal faith as
an adult.
Candles: Jesus
said we are the light of the world, and that His word is a light.
Candles symbolize God’s light.
Incense: A
sweet smelling fragrance used in the Old and New Testaments that
when combined with prayer or worship represent those things rising
up into the presence of God as a sweet smelling savor to God.
Vestments: The
clothes of the clergy and people who minister around the altar as
seen in heaven. The uniform of the clergy makes
them visibly recognized in the world, just as many profession’s
uniforms identify them.
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BLACK pants
and shirt remind us that we are sinners.
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WHITE COLLAR.
A collar was used in the days of Jesus to chain slaves to they
could not run away. Jesus washed feet and
identified himself as the slave/servant of all men.
The early church adopted the collar as a symbol that we are
servants of God and the whole world. White is
the color of holiness and purity.
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THE WHITE ALB
is the robe of righteousness of Jesus that covers our sin.
It is the clothing of heaven (see Revelation 7).
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STOLE.
The colored strip of cloth worn around the neck is called a
stole. It symbolizes a yoke that joins two
people together. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy
and my burden light.” Priests wear a stole
around the neck, while deacons wear a stole around the shoulder.
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CHASUBLE:
Poncho type of garment put on for communion.
The word means “little house.” While not biblical, this garment
was one of the first in use by the church as uniform dress for
clergy during worship made famous by St. Patrick.
It speaks of “God as our refuge and strength.”
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CINCTURE
ROPE: A picture of the belt of truth gird about our waist.
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CHURCH
CALENDAR, COLORS, SEASONS.
Calendar:
Since time is created by God, and Jesus is Lord of time, the
Church redeems time with a Christ-centered view of time.
The birth of Christ stands at the center of all time, with
everything before Jesus BC, and every since Jesus AD or in the year
of our Lord. We live each day, week, and year as
Christians. Sunday is the first day of the week
as the day of resurrection and newness of life.
Colors:
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Green = New
Life and growth
-
White =
Purity and joy
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Violet =
Royalty, penitence recalling our sinfulness and need for a Savior
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Red =
passion, fire, Holy Spirit. The blood of martyrdom
-
Black = death
and mourning
-
Blue =
royalty and heaven
Seasons:
-
Advent is the
Christian New Year in the four weeks of preparation for the birth
of Jesus at Christmas. Purple or blue.
-
Christmas is
the celebration of the birth of Jesus to save the world. White.
-
Epiphany is
the “appearing” of Jesus in his ministry.
Green.
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Lent is a
forty day fast in preparation for the crucifixion, death, and
resurrection. It is the time of the year where
we are called upon to examine ourselves, repent and change our
lives. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday as we come
into a place of sackcloth and ashes. The day
before Ash Wednesday is known as Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday.
It is a celebration before the forty day fast.
Violet.
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Easter is the
celebration of the Resurrection. White
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Pentecost is
the celebration of the Holy Spirit sent to the Church to indwell
us, empower, and guide. Red.
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Kingdomtide =
The long season of the life and growth of the Church in time.
Green.
Thanks
for taking the time to read this introduction to our church.
If you would like to learn more, please contact Fr. Kevin
Baker to schedule a time of personal instruction.
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