St. Luke’s brings new service to old home

While portions of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church undergo renovations this spring, part of the church is returning to its roots. The Word, a modern service that started at St. Luke’s about a year ago, will move out of the church’s main campus and into Crestline Elementary School’s auditorium.

“There’s some interesting symmetry to this in that St. Luke’s was born in Crestline Village,” said Rev. Rich Webster. “This church was born where the Emmet O’Neal Library still stands, in a farmhouse in 1949.”

The church then moved to the well-known “red church” on Church Street and later held services and Sunday school in stores and other city buildings.

“It’s hardwired into our history to be in the village and to use public spaces,” Webster said. “We used to have Sunday school in storefronts and in the fire stations, so this is really, in a lot of ways, we’re coming back home.”

Renovations will be in the church’s educational facilities, reconfiguring rooms, rewiring and converting office space into classroom space. The church has a need for more education space for the high number of children and families in the church.

“With the service growing, our day school has grown, too, so in the fall, they’ll begin their first 5K program,” said Johnailla Wright, assistant to the rector at St. Luke’s.

The renovations will also add an outdoor pavilion to the church, which will be open to the public.

“This will give something for older children, for tricycles, a covered area for a picnic on a rainy, warm afternoon,” Webster said. “I think it’ll be a good amenity.”

When plans for renovations first started, the church was faced with discontinuing The Word or moving it to a new location. In the end, the decision to move to Crestline was easy.

“Mainly, we didn’t want to stop the momentum of this fun service we’re having. … It seems to be like a God-given opportunity to go back home to where we started,” Webster said.

The Word combines traditional liturgy with modern songs and has received positive community feedback so far, Webster said. Since offering the new service, which takes place at the same time as St. Luke’s traditional cathedral service, between 100 and 150 new individuals have joined the congregation. 

Once they move to Crestline Elementary, The Word will be at 9 a.m., which Webster said he hopes encourages more people to stop by. They would be able to attend the 8 a.m. service at St. Luke’s, then run over to Crestline for The Word; or they could attend The Word and return to St. Luke’s for the second Sunday service.

Having a service in the village, Webster said, is something they hope will attract new residents.

“I hope that people will bring their friends and just walk over from the neighborhood,” he said. “We like to say that this is a big experiment, but we like to say we’re adding value to the village experience just by bringing this to the school. We think that people will enjoy having it around, and anyone’s welcome to come play with us.”

The word “play” is something Webster said he uses to describe The Word for a few reasons. 

“One, we’re still making this up as we go along,” he said. “Nothing is fixed. It’s teaching us, really.”

Another reason The Word brings “play” to mind, Webster said, is because kids seem to enjoy the service. While there is a children’s chapel service to accompany cathedral worship, Webster said most children don’t want to leave during The Word.

“They don’t even go away from their parents, so parents typically love it because it becomes intergenerational throughout the whole morning,” Webster said.

The final reason, he said, is the combination of traditional with modern makes the experience joyful for most visitors.

“People seem to smile throughout this,” he said. “It’s really a joyous experience of worship. I think if you can combine things people grew up with, old-timey words, centuries-old words, with a song you heard on the radio last month, it ends up being a really exuberant [experience].”

The Word will move to Crestline Elementary starting March 5 and remain there throughout renovations at St. Luke’s. It starts at 9 a.m. in the auditorium.