How We Came Together In One Faith

Denotes:    CTK – Christ the King Lutheran Church

                         COE - Episcopal Church of Epiphany

                         CTKE – Christ the King-Epiphany Church

Christ the King Lutheran Church and the Episcopal Church of Epiphany both started as mission churches in Wilbraham during the 1950’s. Both congregations had deep commitments to outreach ministries, locally and in the wider world. Now let's fast forward 50+ years.

2009 – The Rev Meredyth Ward was serving a four-year commitment as Priest-in-Charge at COE. Rev. Ward would later play an intricate part in the exploration of both churches sharing worship services together.

2010 – CTK began the search process for a new pastor after the departure of the Rev. Sara Anderson. The Rev. Karen Safstrom was appointed Interim Pastor during this time of transition. Ironically, Pastor Karen, an ordained Lutheran pastor would later serve as the Associate Rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Holden for six years prior to returning back to CTK in 2018.

2011 – The Rev. Nathaniel Anderson was called fresh out of seminary to serve as the new pastor of CTK.

 
2012 –Under the guidance of Rev. Meredyth Ward, an ecumenical partnership began to develop between the two parishes, sharing Lenten and Easter vigil services together. 

 
2013 - Pastor Nathaniel wrote in his 2012 CTK annual report, “This year saw us explore new ways of partnering with our Episcopal communion partners at Church of the Epiphany” referring to joint worship services, children’s events and the commonalities they shared. Pastor Nathaniel went on to say, “I look forward to seeing where God will call us to work together in the future.” Coincidentally, COE was in the midst of establishing a profile committee in preparation for the search of a new rector.

 
As COE was about to prepare the parish search profile, Episcopal Bishop Doug Fisher and Lutheran Bishop James Hazelwood came up with an idea. Rather than calling a new full-time priest for COE, would they consider sharing Pastor Nathaniel with CTK? This began a series of meetings and questions between both churches. Did CTK want to share their Pastor? Did COE want a Lutheran pastor; and part-time at that? After much discernment, prayer and guidance of the Holy Spirit, it was decided to give it a try. Pastor Nathaniel would lead the 9:00 a.m. Episcopal service at COE and then drive the three miles to CTK to lead the Lutheran 10:30 a.m. service.

 
This wasn’t ideal, for a number of reasons, and adjustments to the worship services were made. Both congregations would continue to worship together each Sunday, one week at CTK and the following week at COE. This enhanced our Christian community by sharing after service fellowship together. With the Holy Spirit at the helm, our partnership grew. It was decided that we would officially combine our two churches into one. A decision needed to be made about which church building would become our permanent home. This was probably the most difficult decision to be made. Extensive research was done on the viability of each church building by an independent outside firm. With much discussion and prayer, coupled with the recommendation of a feasible study report, it was decided that 758 Main St would be the new home for sharing the Holy Eucharist together, 

 
2018 - Pastor Nathaniel announced that he was leaving to accept another call. It was a surprising and saddening development in our journey. We were fortunate to receive Pastor Karen Safstrom back as Transitional Pastor/Priest-in-Charge. Having served previously at CTK, and most recently St. Francis Episcopal Church, Pastor Karen was knowledgeable in both Lutheran and Episcopal liturgy and traditions.

It was written in the 2018 COE Senior Warden’s annual report, “In the journey of calling Pastor Karen, we also learned things about ourselves. Among them is our desire to listen and hear each other, work towards understanding our different traditions, and reach consensus. We prayed for, and with each other.” One of the important decisions left to be made was a name for our combined church. After input from the new blended congregation, we chose to combine our two names, Christ the King-Epiphany Church.

 
2019 – Pastor Karen was challenged with getting us through the legalities required to officially change the church name and become a duly federated congregation. In addition, Pastor Karen facilitated the successful transfer of COE's Columbarium Garden to the Woodland Dell Cemetery in Wilbraham prior to the sale of the church property.

 
2020 – In January, Pastor Karen led us in celebration as the new Christ the King-Epiphany Church. By a unanimous vote of both congregations, we were now officially an Episcopal + Lutheran federated church.

 
Sadly, Pastor Karen passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in June during the Covid 19 pandemic. We were blessed to have Deacon Pat O’Connell in our church family. Through prayer and discussion, Deacon Pat helped us process our grief including officiating Sunday morning worship services via Zoom.

In early September, The Rev. Barbara Thrall, former rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Holyoke arrived as our Bridge Pastor. Pastor Barbara is just who CTKE needed during this time of uncertainty. Our weekly worship services continued via Zoom allowing us to gather virtually in worship.

 
2021 – In June, the Rev. Martha S. Sipe accepted the call to CTKE. Pastor Martha previously served in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod prior to arriving at CTKE in August.  Pastor Martha was eager to serve as the spiritual leader of our blended congregation.

 
2023 - CTKE continues to flourish and grow. Some have found a place at CTKE having searched for a friendly, welcoming faith community, and others that have found a new home at CTKE after the closure of their parish.

PRESENTLY - Our journey continues guided by the Holy Spirit.