A New Outreach Program!
Bruton Parish Church offers a broad range of ministries to meet the spiritual needs of our congregation in the greater Williamsburg area.
Bruton, however, is much more than a local congregation of Episcopal church-goers. As members know, our church holds a special and very significant place in the history of our country. As a parish church organized in 1674, it became the court church when the capitol was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg at the time our country was winning its independence from England. Bruton is the successor to the Jamestown Church (the first Anglican church in the new world) and is closely tied to the history of the College of William and Mary. It served as a Confederate hospital during the Battle of Williamsburg in the Civil War. As the focal-point and inspiration for the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, Bruton Parish Church continues walking through history into the future with Christ.
The Vestry has endorsed the creation of a new outreach program. Under the name of Friends of Bruton: Our Worldwide Congregation, this new program will offer an opportunity for those who may not be local parishioners to establish a continuing connection with our church. Friends of Bruton will be an extension of our parish family with membership open to all whether here in Virginia or across the country — indeed throughout the world.
Frequently, visitors to Bruton indicate an interest in the history of the church and its spiritual heritage. Many are pleased, sometimes surprised, to find that Bruton Parish is still an active church.
There are numerous connections that may lead to a desire to establish and maintain a relationship with our parish church. Some attachments may be the result of frequent visits; others may be former members who have moved from Williamsburg, still others because of a fondness for the area that developed when assigned here while in the military, or as a result of visits with family when they were youngsters. William & Mary graduates, especially former members of the Canterbury Association, might welcome the opportunity for a continuing relationship with Bruton. Friends of Bruton will provide these and others the opportunity to have a lasting association with Bruton Parish Church as members of our worldwide congregation.
A committee is already at work developing plans for outreach to potential Friends. One project underway is to generate a "Request for Information" card to be accessible at the church during touring hours, in the Parish Shop and at the Parish House. Visitors frequently express a fondness for our church that could lead them to be a part of Our Worldwide Congregation. The Friends of Bruton project will provide that opportunity.
We look forward to this new program as a means of expanding our Bruton family to many who, though distant from Williamsburg, have the desire to share in our spiritual and historic heritage.
Click here for more information about the program!
