Music Ministry
Music is an important part of St. Timothy’s Church. At the present time, we have a pianist, a drummer and two guitarist who lead the hymns and service music. The choir, though small in number, makes up for this by singing joyfully and with enthusiasm.
Our service is based on The Holy Eucharist Common Text. Our hymns and service music change according to the church season. Sunday morning’s worship includes a variety of music in the Anglican tradition, and we also include “old favorites” and contemporary music. Some parts of the Mass are sung, others are not, depending on our Rector’s choice. Additionally, we chant the Psalms.
Children are welcome to participate in the music. Sunday school groups have sung and played instruments in church at the time of the offertory. At our recent Christmas Eve service, two children took part playing the trumpet and the piano.
Anyone who loves to sing or plays an instrument is welcome to join us to help “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”.
Parish Life
St. Timothy’s has an interim priest serving as our Rector, as well as a Rector Emeritus, and a Vestry, all of whom help guide the spiritual life of the Parish. We have a church nurse who supports and is part of the pastoral care team. We have a faithful member who trains & teaches acolytes for Sunday services. Each year our vestry participates in a weekend spiritual-and-planning retreat to prepare the vision for the church’s future.
We have a small, but strong, music department, with plans to expand and provide special music at Easter and Christmas. We have several members who have made a commitment to our outreach programs, such as food pantry and Warm Blessings. We have monthly potlucks, with special meals at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Over the past year, the church has held its annual parish picnic at Veterans Park in Elizabethtown, sponsored the annual St. Timothy’s shootout and firearms training day and held a church weekend retreat at Nolin Lake which included fellowship, camping, boating, skiing and fishing. Parishioners actively participate at Warm Blessings shelter for feeding the areas needy.
Many members participate in the Sunday morning scripture readings, lay Communion ministry, and serve as greeters and visitor follow-ups.
Currently two in-home Bible studies are being conducted as outreach programs for the community. We also have a strong commitment to our youth, providing Christian education, encouraging the youth to participate as acolytes and reading lessons during the Sunday Worship Service.
Pastoral Care
At St. Timothy’s Anglican Church, pastoral care is understood as a ministry and evangelism out reach. The church is in the process of developing a Eucharistic Ministry Team to aid the Priest with pastoral care. This ministry provides opportunity for members of the church to serve the Family of God of which they are a part. In turn, this fosters relational interaction and builds an intimate support system when healthcare crises (e.g. unexpected illness, emergency surgery, long term illness, and death) interrupts the family cohesion and the cycle of life.
Eucharistic Minsters bring God’s grace of the Holy Eucharist to parishioners who are ill, disabled and/or unable to attend church services. The Eucharistic Ministry Team, ministers to those in the hospitals, assisted living and nursing facilities, and individual homes.
The Priest, Eucharistic Minsters and the Parish Nurse coordinate and triage the health and visitation needs of the parishioners. The parish nurse, pending availability, may accompany or follow up with parishioners after visits to medical providers to serve as an extra person to hear the verbal instructions and to ensure that proper medical direction is understood and followed.
Outreach
St. Timothy’s has several outreach programs that we either sponsor or participate in. We have participated in and sponsored “Shop with a Sheriff” to provide Christmas gifts for the needy. Anglican Sisters and Fellowship (ASIF), our churches women’s group, has assisted with college tuition for students, sponsors and conducts a Christmas basket program, and assists with donations for the women’s domestic violence shelter.
Members of the St. Timothy’s congregation serve dinner at Warm Blessings the fourth Friday of each month serving meals to both adults and children in our community. St. Timothy’s food pantry does not supply food for anyone on a permanent or full-time basis. Instead, we provide food to those who have an emergency or short-term situation. We also provide donations to the Shriner’s Christmas initiative.
St. Timothy’s home repair service is a program to help low income and persons without repair ability to maintain their homes. We believe that it is important to involve the homeowner in the repair process when they are able so that they have a vested interest.
Resources
The ministry and mission of the people of St. Timothy’s Anglican Church are supported by a staff of a Rector, a Rector Emeritus, a church secretary, a treasurer, a receipts clerk, a parish nurse and a four-member vestry.
St. Timothy’s Anglican Church currently has approximately 60 members with an average attendance of 40 for Sunday worship.
Community
St. Timothy’s is currently located in the heart of downtown Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The population of Elizabethtown is approximately 30,000 made up of 90% urban and 2% rural. With about a 1% larger female population than male. The community is predominantly white at 75.7%, a black population of 11.5%, and a Hispanic population of 4.6%. The average household income is $43,200, and the average residential dwelling is $158,398. The unemployment rate is approximately 3.7%.
The overall community comprises several small towns surrounding the area including Cecelia, Vine Grove, Radcliff, Hodgenville, Lebanon Junction, Sonora, Boston, and the military installation at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
The community has two primary public school jurisdictions Elizabethtown Independent Schools and Hardin County Schools. It has three private schools St. James Catholic Church, Elizabethtown Christian Academy, and Glory Dei Lutheran School. Elizabethtown Community and Technical College provides opportunities for higher education.
Religious statistics for Elizabethtown consist of 52.4% with no affiliation, 34.6% evangelical Protestant, 6.6% Catholic, 4.7% mainline Protestant, 1.3% other, and .04% black Protestant.
Expanding the demographic information to Hardin County as a total area approximately doubles the population; however, the statistical percentages stay about the same.
Church History
Holy Apostles Anglican Church/St. Timothy’s Anglican Church
The Episcopal General Convention of 2003 voted to allow the ordination and consecration of practicing homosexuals. The Rector of Christ Episcopal Church, The Rev. Kent Litchfield, felt he could not be true to his ordination vows by remaining with a Church which had become so secular. There was a polarity within Christ Church between liberal and conservative. The actions of convention also opened the door for all sorts of other non-biblical events. The Rector after attending many meetings and taking advice from some of the leadership of the church opted, not to continue with either the National Church, the Diocese, or the congregation. He retired from the Episcopal Church (TEC) and began forming a new church under the auspice of Bishop Frank Lyons of the Diocese of Bolivia.
On July 10, 2005, Holy Apostles Anglican Church held its first service in rented space in the Gallery of the State Theater in Elizabethtown, KY. About 114 were in attendance from the community, from Louisville, and a large number from Christ Episcopal Church. The new church remained in that location for about a year until it was decided to move to the Brown Pusey House. All this time the church was living as a “church in a box” as we would have to set up and tear down every Sunday since there was no place in either building to store our supplies. During this period the church membership declined to approximately 80. The Vestry and Rector felt it was time to find a permanent church home.
In July of 2005, the congregation was accepted into the Diocese of Bolivia. Subsequently, we were transferred to the Diocese of Uganda in 2008 and then, with the development of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), we became part of the Diocese of the Holy Spirit under the episcopal leadership of the Right Reverend John Guernsey in June of 2009. With the development of the Anglican Diocese of the South, the congregation came under the leadership of The Right Reverend Foley Beach. In October Saint Timothy’s was accepted into The Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes, moving from the Diocese of the South because we felt like the Diocese of the Great Lakes theology matched our parish beliefs.
In July 2006, the church purchased a building on the Town Square which had been a pool hall immediately prior to our ownership. The building was quite old, dating back to the late 1800s when it had been a saloon. It had also been a department store. The building had two stories of usable space above ground and an unfinished basement (which leaked) for storage. The main hall was divided by parishioners to provide both worship space and a large meeting hall. The upstairs was reserved for offices and Sunday school rooms. During this time, the church maintained membership between 70 and 90 members and had a strong youth and adult Christian education program.
After guiding and training by the Rector, two candidates for ordination on, Walter Weller Head, a retired Naval Officer and our parish Deacon, and David Ward, an Army Captain, were ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests November 13, 2010 by the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, Bishop of the Armed Forces at O’Neill Chapel at Fort Knox.
The Rev. Kent Litchfield retired in December of 2010.
In January 2011, the Vestry of Holy Apostles Anglican church called The Rev. Chris Larimer to be the Rector of the church. During the next two years, Holy Apostles experienced moderate growth going from approximately 60 members to almost 100. In August 2012 Father Chris Larimer moved his family back to Indiana as a result of his inability to sell his residence located there as he could not maintain two households.
In September 2013, the congregation voted to change the name of the church from Holy Apostles Anglican church to St. Timothy’s Anglican Church. In 2014 the worship area in the church was renovated to accommodate more seating, as it was believed the decline in membership was partly due to space requirements. Over the next several years, the membership continued to decline to the 60-member level. In November of 2015, the church building on Main Street was sold in order to consolidate funds for the operation of the church.
In April of 2016, Bishop Frank Lyons notified the vestry that the Rev. Chris Larimer had been inhibited from the priesthood and would no longer be the rector of the church. Father Weller Head, who had previously been our deacon and was ordained in our church, returned to assist as our short-term interim rector. On August 27, 2016, St. Timothy’s was able to celebrate the ordination of our Deacon of five years, James Harkness, to the priesthood. Fr. Kent Litchfield returned to the congregation in late April of 2016 as Rector Emeritus. Father Jim is now serving as Interim Priest for the parish. In November 2019 Father Jim Harkness was called to be the Rector of Saint Timothy’s. Currently the approximate 60 members hold weekly worship services at our leased facility at 404 College Street, Elizabethtown, Kentucky and continues to plan for the future.
The Future
St. Timothy’s congregation is a strong dedicated, though small, group of Christians. We truly believe that we are family. We face many challenges to be able to grow and flourish in the community primarily because of our size and lack of a permanent facility. We have a strong dedicated team of lay leaders and clergy.
We need to strengthen our youth and Christian education programs and develop small group processes and programs to help meet people’s needs in our community. It is the churches desire to expand our music department to help facilitated a more meaningful worship experience. We need to develop educational programs for our adults to help develop their spiritual and secular lives.
We are currently working with our area Anglican churches to develop an Anglican diocese in Kentucky. It is our desire to help create a diocese that mirrors our commitment to evangelism and mission.
We want to dream big, not necessarily grow big in finding ways to spread the gospel to our community and to help meet people’s needs where they are so that our lives can be a witness to all the lives touched by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want a Rector who can help us to not be focused internally on ourselves but to be externally focused on our mission to the community and the world.
St. Timothy’s with all of our strengths and our challenges, is poised and ready to grow and move forward our motto is “Gather, Grow and Go”.