Saint Dunstan's Episcopal Church

WHAT TO EXPECT ON SUNDAY MORNING:

The most important thing to expect is an encounter with God. This church exists to be a place where people find their value, their purpose, and their friendships in God’s love. A place where God speaks to people in such a powerful way that it stays with them through the rest of the week. In this digital, virtual, over-programmed, light-speed world we live in, St. Dunstan’s is a place where you can unplug in order to connect more deeply with God and other people. So all of our worship services – both traditional and contemporary – have times of quiet, where we can just listen to God speak to us: through prayer, through the Bible, or even during the spaces between songs. We don’t get nervous during silence: we embrace it as a rare gift in our crazy culture. And it makes the times when we sing out with songs both old and new even sweeter and more authentic. We don’t plan our worship as if we’re afraid you’re going to turn the channel – we plan our worship like a meal: something to be enjoyed, not rushed, and shared with friends.

We find enormous value in worshipping in a way that would be recognizable to followers of Jesus fifty years ago, 100 years ago, even a 1000 years ago. Because we believe the best things in life stand the test of time, and that they can be as simple as bread and wine, and loving our neighbor can be as simple as smiling and wishing them peace as we shake their hand. Ancient practices that are made new in us, and which make us new.

WHAT ABOUT LIFE OUTSIDE “CHURCH”?

At St. Dunstan’s we believe that building a friendship with God should result in building friendships with others. That’s why we are so intentional about “fellowship,” which is a churchy word for being together and having fun! In a time and place where it’s so easy to live anonymously and transiently, failing to make meaningful connections with others, St. Dunstan’s practices hospitality: the gift of welcoming others in friendship, often over a meal. After all, our worship is a symbolic meal, so we want to practice what we preach! We make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for everyone in the parish to join together in fellowship. We see the presence of elders and children and everyone in between as a strength and a gift: we can hang out with people like us on our own time! We believe that church should be a place where we meet people who aren’t exactly like us, even as we are supported wherever we are in life’s journey. But in a culture which values youth and exterior beauty above all else, we believe that the best place to raise a family is in the midst of an extended family that can love us, support us, and teach us and our children.

WHAT ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY? WHAT DIFFERENCE ARE YOU MAKING THERE?

Just as we take hospitality as a key value for our life together, we make it a cornerstone of what we do outside our congregation. We are taking the lead in addressing the problem of homelessness in our community, and our Hope Center operates with the motto, “Dignity through Hospitality.” We invite our homeless brothers and sisters to come inside, to sit down, to have something to eat, to share their struggles: in short, we invite them home. This is just one example of how we connect what we do on Sunday mornings with the rest of our lives as a church. Because in the end, St. Dunstan’s is about making a difference not just in you, but in the world.