TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH

A Message from the Vicar

 

​Brothers and Sisters,

 

Greetings to you all from the Church of the Advocate. In 2025, we have seen continued spiritual growth, cohesion, and a deepened sense of community amongst our congregation. After setting the foundation in my first year at COA, we have begun to explore new ministries. We resumed our Tuesday morning contemplative prayer service, and have entered the beginning stages of exploring a music ministry. Further, we have strengthened our congregational identity, with an average Sunday attendance of 51. This is up from 44 in 2024 and 25 in 2023. So, over the course of two years we have more than doubled our average Sunday attendance.

After marked growth in our Sunday lunch ministry in 2024, our numbers steadied in 2025. We continue to serve roughly 100 meals each Sunday, though these numbers have seen a noticeable increase this fall. We bid farewell to COA chef Paul Hatfield, and welcomed Tom Griffin as his replacement. Tom has continued Paul’s standard of serving high quality, dignifying meals for the hungry. Of course, we have also seen an increase in volume in both our shoe closet and basics closet over the course of the past two years. We continue to meet this increase in need through the generosity of our donors and grantors. 

 

With Trinity Church’s support, we now have a pool of sixty-four volunteers who help serve coffee and snacks, prepare silverware for meals, serve meals, help clean up after our Sunday meal, and offer their hospitality. We have added eleven new volunteers to this vital ministry in the last year.

 

It is with great thanks that I write to you, knowing that the success of Church of the Advocate is bound up in the success of Trinity Church. I pray that our relationship continues to be mutually beneficial, and that we may better know the whole of Christ’s body by being in mutual ministry.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Rev. Mike Reardon

Vicar, Church of the Advocate