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Perhaps the biggest step that Christ Church has taken is to create the new staff position of wellness director. The vestry, the lay leadership body, agreed to fund the full-time position in January 2019. Bill Blue praises his church’s commitment to shatter stereotypes around mental illness. Faced with a family mental health emergency and finding nowhere to turn, Bill Blue retired early from Wells Fargo.
Life matters
Katherine Teague Obituary (1964 - 2023) - Charlotte, NC - The News & Advance - Legacy.com
Katherine Teague Obituary (1964 - - Charlotte, NC - The News & Advance.
Posted: Sun, 27 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
“It was like a huge pressure valve was released and people could breathe when talking about mental illness,” she said. The experience emboldened Purdy to share her story at churches, mental health seminars — wherever she could. She launched her ministry as a speaker and advocate for mental health at Christ Church.
Lisa Saunders
Progress is underway as we build on our priorities to cultivate faith, foster connections, and promote the well-being of everyone in our parish and the city beyond.
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Despite its growing support of mental health, the congregation was shocked by the rash of suicides. Among the dead was a 20-year-old college student, a 51-year-old businessman and father of two who was active in the church, and the Kocmonds’ son Nathan. As Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Suzanne Watts Henderson teaches, preaches, and serves as a resource for the clergy and spiritual formation teams to foster deeper spiritual growth across the whole parish.
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Edens said the ministry isn’t based on the belief that Jesus alone can heal what ails us. God, he notes, works through many means, including health care, exercise, meditation and more. The support group was formed after the congregation was rocked by a half-dozen suicides within five years — a series of traumas that affected nearly everyone at the church, the largest Episcopal congregation in North Carolina. In 2006, the church building was honored with placement on the National Register of Historic Places, thanks largely to the work of former parishioner Donia Norman.
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Coping with suicide hasn’t been the only struggle for parishioners. Personal experience with mental illness has prompted two church members to action. While the trend is too new to be reflected in hard numbers, mental health advocates and faith leaders say that a growing number of houses of worship across the nation are ministering to those with mental health challenges. Few have discerned the church’s call to nurture body, soul and mind as dramatically as Christ Church. After graduating from Yale and Furman Universities with degrees in organ performance and music theory, Ben came to North Carolina to serve as Organist and Choirmaster at First Presbyterian Church in Belmont. In 1992, he became Director of Music and Organist at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church where he was the Founding Director of The Choir School at St. Peter’s.
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Katie received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Mississippi and a Master of Music in Music Education from the University of Florida. She has served as the Lower School Music Specialist at National Presbyterian School in Washington, DC and at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington. Katie spends her summers on faculty at the Carolina Kodály Institute, where she teaches solfège and musicianship, folk music analysis, and conducts the Institute choir. She has served as a guest clinician and workshop presenter in the Southeast and is an adjunct professor of music at Lenoir Rhyne University in Hickory.
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The church building had been under construction for three years. It was undertaken and completed by several families in the area, including the Lash and Hairston families. Cora Futon received the first baptism in the church on June 20, 1886. Established in 1886, our mission is to serve God joyfully, faithfully and actively through family, congregational and community ministries. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race, racism, and whiteness while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity.
A tenured music historian and writer, David’s love of music led him to develop a meaningful relationship with The Beach Boys, curating and reporting on their history for over 30 years. In 2021 he reunited The Beach Boys and their children when co-producing a re-recording of the group’s 1970 recording “Add Some Music to Your Day” with an accompanying music video that he directed to benefit Feeding America. David brings the same passion and commitment to his administrative role at Christ Church.
We worshiped on the lawn when weather and COVID-19 rates permitted. On Good Friday, families participated in Stations of the Cross outdoors, aided by audio recordings for each station available on our app. Christmas Eve and Easter pilgrimages provided opportunities to visit the sanctuary, beautifully decorated and filled with music. Some of these creative new events will surely become beloved traditions.
He has witnessed firsthand the healing power of music, and is a firm believer in daily meditation and prayer. A Charlottean since 1979, David is married to wife Gretchen, and has one son, Ethan. People longing to be back on our campus showed up for several drive-through events with great joy, including Parish Day, Trunk-or-Treat and a live nativity during Advent.
Parishioners rose to tell their stories, not just about financial woes, but about their spiritual and emotional well-being — or lack of it. “God cares about human suffering and calls us to attend to those who suffer,” he said. Rite II – Uses modern language but retains the beautiful imagery of Rite I with more prayer options. Rite I – Uses Elizabethan English (i.e. thee, thy, thou) and hearkens back to the rich language of Thomas Cranmer, the original prayer book creator. Follow this link for a full list of Christ Church’s service times.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, he said; there is grace and hope for those who die from suicide. It has helped one member establish a nonprofit residential mental health center and another launch a one-woman crusade to educate people about bipolar disorder. It has hosted two appearances by bestselling author Brené Brown to share her message that asking for help is a sign of strength. In addition to the SOS group, the church has invested in mental health support and awareness in a number of ways.
The position calls for training and credentials in psychology, social work, counseling or psychiatric nursing, but rather than providing treatment, the director will triage parishioners to the right places for help. In addition to being on the church campus at least two Sundays a month, he or she will be available to respond to crises at any time. The roots of Christ Church’s mental health ministry trace back to the 2008 recession. Realizing that many in the congregation were having their lives turned upside down, the church organized a Sunday morning forum called “The Wisdom of Contentment” and invited members to come and share their struggles out loud. And most significantly, the church has begun a search for a wellness director, a new full-time position that will focus on mental health as part of a holistic understanding of what it means to be well. Sacred Ground is a resource coming out of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society.
We seek to fulfill this vision by gathering to love God through our vibrant worship and by seeking to grow in our faith by engaging our hearts and mind in thoughtful, relevant education. We take seriously the call to create a safe community where all people are welcome, and where we can care for and support each other through all the passages of life. We are also deeply committed to serving and advocating for justice in our city, nation, and world. – Holy Eucharist Rite II (Church)This Rite II service, with contemporary language, has something for all ages including music, sermon and Holy Eucharist.
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