226 Righters Mill Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035 
610.642.8920 | 
COVID-19 UPDATE
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
– 1 John 4:18
Update | May 2023
Following these guidelines will help ensure a safe worship environment for all:
- Masks are option for those who are vaccinated.
- The balcony is reserved for people who are not vaccinated and may feel more comfortable with this added distance.
- If you do not feel well, please rest at home.
- Feel free to use the hand sanitizers and tissues at the door.
- If after attending a service, you test positive for Covid, please contact Hillary as soon as possible. Other attendees will be notified, but your confidentiality will be maintained.
Update | September 26, 2022
- Masks are option for those who are vaccinated.
- If you’d like to be notified for contact tracing purposes, please continue signing the attendance log when you arrive on Sunday mornings. Otherwise, signing in is no longer required.
Update | May 20, 2022
The CDC has changed the Montgomery County COVID-19 level to “high.” Therefore, masks will once again be required at St. Christopher’s. Thank you for your ongoing cooperation in helping to keep our church community healthy.
Update | April 23, 2022
Due to the decline in COVID-19 positivity rates in our area and following recommendations from the Bishop, we have made the following updates to our protocols:
- Masks are optional for those who are vaccinated.
- The balcony is reserved for people who are not vaccinated and may feel more comfortable with this added distance.
- The Peace can be exchanged and we have resumed passing the offering plate during worship.
- Coffee hour has resumed following the 10:00 a.m. service.
Update | February 25, 2022
- Registration for Sunday services is no longer required, although we are asking that you sign in when you get to church.
- Small groups may resume meeting in-person. We will continue to offer online options for those who feel more comfortable attending virtually.
- We are excited to be offering in-person Children’s Chapel again.
- We will continue to require that everyone wear masks and social distance while in the church buildings.
- The choir has returned and we will continue with congregational singing. Our processional will be silent as is our Lenten custom.
- During Lent, we will bring back the processional (in & out) and have acolytes. The Peace can be exchanged and we will begin passing the offering plate during worship again.
- Coffee-Less Coffee Hour will resume following the 10:00 a.m. service with individually wrapped snacks. You are invited to bring your own coffee (or tea).
Update | January 6, 2022
In response to the current Omicron surge:
- Children’s Chapel will be postponed until February.
- Discipleship will be held via zoom only. We will end at 9:40 to allow travel time. It will also be recorded for those who may want to watch it later.
- Waverly Bible Study will be postponed until February.
- Choir is only going to have one soloist at a time, but we are keeping congregational singing.
- Coffee-less Coffee Hour will be postponed until February.
- The start of the youth GIFT Class will be postponed for one week and will begin January 16th via zoom.
- AA will meet on zoom for the month of January.
- Praying Time will pray on their own.
Preregistration for Sunday services is no longer required. Please be sure to sign in when you arrive at church. For those worshiping from home, tune in on Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo!
Covid-19 Protocol Update
With the rising rates of infection due to the covid variant and our bishop’s latest communication, we are going to return to full masking at all services and meetings at St. Christopher’s. We will continue to watch the infection rates for such time to when we can remove our masks again. We will continue to receive communion in one kind only, the bread, until we are given new guidelines. Thank you for your patience and flexibility with these protocol changes.
Update | Pentecost 2021
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” – John 16:13
Dear Brothers and Sisters of St. Christopher’s,
Greetings in the name of the Holy Spirit! I am writing to you on this Feast of Pentecost to share with you some exciting updates for the life of our beloved parish. I could not have asked for a more appropriate date to write to you as Pentecost is often called the “birthday of the church”–and in many ways, it feels like we are in a season of rebirth. As you will read about below, your clergy, vestry, and staff are taking up the important work of discerning where the Holy Spirit may be calling us in this new chapter of our lives.
In the passage above from the Gospel of John, Jesus is talking to his disciples about such a moment in their lives–the moment of Pentecost. He answers their questions and calms their fears at his departure by reminding them that they will never be alone with the Spirit of truth to lead them into the future. That is the same Spirit of truth that we seek to follow now and we need the whole church’s vision and prayers to do so.
An important part of discernment is building in some space for sabbath so the Spirit has room to restore and inspire. This is true for clergy as well as members of a community as active as ours. A few weeks ago, our Bishop sent a letter to the church leaders in our Diocese requesting that the clergy take an extended amount of time off this summer due to the challenges and stress of pastoring during a pandemic. With this directive and the unanimous support of the wardens and vestry, I will be taking a sabbath break between June 14th and July 31st. I am so very grateful to the staff, vestry, and Rev. Callie who is making this break possible and I look forward to coming back recharged and full of new ideas for our long term planning.
Below you will find ways you can help be a part of that discernment including worship updates, spiritual tools via The Hive, Vacation Bible School details, and an important survey.
With God’s Blessings,
The Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining
Worship Updates
At Pentecost, we remember the rush of the Holy Spirit that filled the disciples and caused them to worship in new and powerful ways. The same is true for us! Worship is at the heart of everything that we do here at St. Christopher’s–and we have some updated guidelines on how we will be able to gather in this Season after Pentecost. As you know, we have been worshiping online and in-person with Covid safety regulations in place.
As of June 6th, our Diocese has given us the greenlight to begin worshiping in a different way. Beginning that Sunday, we will be moving to full capacity for our worship in the church at the normal 10:00 a.m. service. Those of us who are fully vaccinated and feel comfortable will not have to wear masks; there is no longer need to stay socially distanced and we can sing fully in worship. Those of us who are not fully vaccinated and children under twelve will continue to be required to wear masks, stay socially distanced and only hum or sing softly during the worship. We will also keep the balcony area reserved for people who are not vaccinated and may feel more comfortable with this added distance.
All of us will continue to register for worship ahead of time or sign in upon arrival to facilitate any possible contact tracing efforts should we need them. We will continue to receive communion in one kind only, the bread, until such time as we are given new guidelines, but Eucharist will be received at the railing on the altar.
On June 6th, we will also begin offering a second worship service outside at 9:00 a.m. These are designed to be especially welcoming to families with children who cannot yet receive the vaccine. As such, it will be only 30 minutes and continue to have the same safety protocols that we have been using for the last few months. Please bring your chairs or blankets. If these prove popular enough, we will consider extending them beyond June.
We will also be able to hold fellowship opportunities (including after church services!), outreach ministries, and meetings again. However, during the rest of the school year, we will still be keeping the campus closed to protect the health of our Day School students.
This is a welcome step to a return to our shared life in God and we are deeply thankful to God for carrying us through these challenging times and for your faithfulness, generosity and love. We also look forward to more and more opportunities for us to be together and pray that those days come swiftly.
Congregational Survey
As I mentioned above, your vestry is doing some very important discernment work over the summer and into the fall that will help guide the congregation into the future. Our first step will be to hear from you. We will be using a survey called a Congregational Assessment Tool (also known as a “CAT’’). After consulting with the Diocese and several other congregations, we have chosen one that will help us analyze who we are as parish and how Covid has affected our ability to live into our mission. It is extremely important that we have a large participation sample so please do take the time to fill out this survey when it comes to you in the next few weeks. Thank you in advance for sharing your faith story with us!
The Hive
The summer is a perfect time to further your spiritual growth. The Hive continues to be a place where people all over the country turn to for classes, worship, and community from the comfort of their own homes. If you haven’t checked out The Hive yet, go on over to the website for free classes, podcasts, meditations, and yoga classes. As you may remember, we received a very large grant from the Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering for our innovation with The Hive. This funding allowed us to start our membership area where we offer premium classes. We think that you will love it and your faith life will never be the same! Membership area: https://www.thehiveapiary.com/the-buzz
Vacation Bible Saturday
We’re excited to offer VBS in a new form this year: Vacation Bible Saturday! Preschoolers and elementary age students will love the chance to gather in person (following COVID safety protocol) on Saturday, July 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for Bible stories, music, games, and an outreach project. Invite your neighbors and friends, and reach out to Rev. Callie to RSVP, for more info, or to offer to volunteer! callieswanlund@saintchristophers.org
Azalea Day Giving
Finally, we are SO excited to be able to announce that thanks to your generosity, we have been able to grow our Azalea Day fundraising goal! Through your efforts, we raised $20,273.00 which will let us continue to support our outreach partners into 2022! While we missed being together for our special day, we are still able to spread God’s love into the world around us. Thank you!!