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At St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, we take pride in our Choir Ministry as a very important part of our worship and overall good health of our Christian community. We are very blessed to have a very talented Choir that has evolved with time and has continued to work very hard each week to enhance the music experience that we all enjoy each Sunday. Our music reflects the solemnity, beauty, joy, and enthusiasm that characterize the spirit and energy of the Choir members as well as the entire congregation. Although our worship and music pattern weighs more on our rich African Anglican Heritage, we remain in consonance with the general convention of the Episcopal Church. From the beat of the .Conga drums. to the sound of the organ, plus the gentle tapping on the .Rattle percussion., and other enchanting instruments, our praise and worship music encompasses all the elements that bring about true musical harmony with each worship liturgy. We are very happy with what the Lord has done for our mission in this area of ministry and pray for His never-ending guidance and blessing.
St. Joseph's Choir in recent times has attracted members from the congregation with the desire, dedication, and discipline to freely give themselves to the service of God through music. We have maintained our place as a mission Church Choir with no less than twelve members in full-time participation each Sunday. We have also been successful in maintaining a growing number of part-time members that has proven to be very helpful during special sessions and events.
Our goal is to maintain a steady growth in membership and participation to help consolidate our strength and stability as well as facilitate the creation of a Youth/Children.s Choir ministry. This is an area of interest for the mission, as it would provide a training camp that would feed into the adult Choir. Additionally, through hard work, we seek to further improve our presentation of congregational hymns by confidently supplying harmony, descant, and parts designate. Also, we seek to increase our collection and use of festive praise and worship songs as well as traditional Anglican songs to strengthen our cultural and colorful worship style. Most of all, we pray and plan to be an example in stewardship commitment to the Church by active participation in other areas of church life so that we will be equipped to perform the work that God has assigned us in leading a musical procession to his throne of grace.
The Men's ministry at St. Joseph's maintains the primary focus of working towards the spiritual growth and increasing the stewardship involvement as well as participation of the men within the Church congregation. The Men's ministry has been one of St. Joseph's foundational ministries and has served as a glue stick for the unity and prosperity of the Church as well as a successful driver on evangelism.
Amongst the many functionalities performed by the group are:
- Connecting the men and families of the Church through prayer and support.
- Serving as good resource base to the Vicar, the Bishop's committee, and other Ministries in the Church.
- Serving as a community support link and positive information re-enforcement source to St. Joseph's men.
- Creating ideas and solutions that benefit the Church and channeling the results through the Bishop's committee.
- Providing constructive criticism and offer solutions to Church leadership group as appropriate.
- Provide a source of strong financial base for the Church projects and overall growth.
Quite certainly, the Men's ministry is a vital part of the Church and applies exemplary leadership in Church activities, which characterizes each member's commitment to the Church and their individual family lives. The group plans to continue in its good work towards building and sustaining the Church to the glory of God.
The Women.s prayer ministry at St. Joseph's offers a unique blend of opportunity to our women by helping to strengthen their spiritual lives and a base for practical involvement in the affairs of the Church that add value to its growth, maintenance, and community outreach. Additionally, the ministry serves as a forum to organize the women to exercise positive influence in Church through prayers and participation.
St. Joseph's has never been without the support from the Women.s group, which through time has increased to very strong anchor to the spiritual and physical sustenance of the Church. In many Church events, the Women.s group plays some of the most crucial roles in planning and managing of the events. The Women.s group through its activities creates a positive impression for other ministries and programs within the Church such as the youth and children ministries, the alter guild, the men.s ministry, the stewardship and evangelism ministries, the choir, and the acolytes.
The Women.s ministry in its current stage is enjoying strong membership involvement and participation. The group plans to strengthen its impact in the lives of its members and the Church through prayers and family driven activities. The group plans to improve its involvement in ensuring effective hospitality programs as well as leading the drive to gain new Church families and maintaining the current ones.
The hospitality group at St. Joseph's is involved with maintaining the good Christian spirit amongst the congregation through communication, displaying the warmth and generosity of the Church to the congregation, and coordinating the provision and sharing of fellowship meal/snacks in the Church. The Hospitality group coordinates the welcome and orientation of new members as well as directing the exercise of Christian fellowship activities in the Church.
The Hospitality group maintains a team of ushers that manage and implements the "meet & greet" functionality, which includes welcoming members, passing out service bulletin and other Church literatures, working with the evangelism team to identified and collect information on new/visiting attendees after Church service, and ensuring the proper use of space for seating and other programs during Sunday worship as well as events.
St. Joseph's has benefited from the frontline activities of the Hospitality group and through prayer accompanied by action, the group's efforts would continue to be strengthened as true ambassadors for the Church and God.s Kingdom.
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