Connect
Meet our Lay Leaders
THE CHURCH LEADERS’ MONTHLY MEETINGS
Our church leaders meet for two hours each month, and do lots of work between the meetings! Their regularly scheduled meeting time is the second Thursday of every month, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at church. From time to time these meetings are rescheduled to another time, due to various circumstances (such as the date of Easter, the Pastor’s vacation, etc.). From time to time, our leaders have an extra meeting, a retreat, or a strategic planning session in addition to regular meetings. An example of this is in September of 2010, when leaders meet with the Rev. John Adler of Iona-Hope Episcopal Church, Fort Myers, Florida.
OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM:
Mrs. Julia Chang, Team Member
Mr. Pete Kohler, Team Member and Junior Warden
Mr. Sam Mounger, Team Member and Senior Warden
OUR TREASURERS:
Mrs. Lydia Cecora, First Treasurer (Service from March 2009 until July 2010.)
Mrs. Kristi Gafford, Current Treasurer (Service as Treasurer Apprentice from October 2010 until July 2010. Service as Treasurer from August 2010 to present.)
T.B.A.: A new Treasurer Apprentice will be announced within the next few months.
Meet the Music Director
Anju Marie Chandy is an undergraduate Piano Performance Major at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she studies under pianist Dr. Peter Miyamoto. Anju began playing the piano at the age of five, and, at the age of ten, began studying the violin. She has participated in numerous symphony orchestras here in Columbia and in her hometown of Bakersfield, California, including the Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra, Kern County Honor Orchestra, and the University of Missouri Philharmonic Orchestra. Having taught private and group piano, violin, and viola lessons for eight years, Anju is a member of the Music Teachers National Association’s Collegiate Chapter. Anju was Kern County’s Miss Outstanding Teen 2007 and the 2008 recipient of the Carol Rogers Memorial Scholarship in piano performance. Anju enjoys teaching students of all ages and sharing her music throughout the community. She hopes to attend medical school after she graduates.
Meet the Administrator
INTRODUCING YOU TO ERIKA BUFORD
My name is Erika Buford. I was born and raised in Columbia, MO. Two weeks after I graduated, I moved to Dallas, TX. I moved back here almost 7 years ago. I have four children (21, 17, 15, and 13). Most of my job experience is at GTE/Verizon, where my last position was Network Engineer. I have experience working in churches, both as volunteer and paid, as Director of Membership for a congregation of over 8000 members. I have had temporary positions as an Administrative Assistant in the church setting and in a secular job. I am always willing to learn new things and excited to be working at Columbia Hope Church to help Heather grow membership and reach the community.
Meet the Deacon
INTRODUCING YOU TO THE REV. JANET SCHISSER:
Janet Schisser has been a Deacon since June, 2006. She moved to Columbia from Norman, OK in order to be close to her children and grandchildren. While in Norman, she served as Deacon at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. Janet has a BBA degree from the University of Oklahoma, with a major in Accounting and a minor in Finance. She enjoyed a 39 year-long career working in the secular world in that capacity, until she retired from full-time employment in June of 2007. In addition to the Deacon Formation program in the Diocese of Oklahoma, Janet completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at the Veterans Hospital in Oklahoma City. She has also done volunteer work for hospice and served as Devotional Life Coordinator of the Episcopal Church Women of Oklahoma.
Serving as Deacon at Columbia Hope, Janet’s primary responsibility is articulated very well in our Book of Common Prayer, in the service of Ordination (on page 543): She is “to make Christ and his redemptive love known, by word and example,” to those among whom she lives, works and worships. She is to “interpret to the Church the needs, concerns and hopes of the world” (Book of Common Prayer, page 543). In addition, she “[assists] the bishop and priest in public worship and in the ministration of God’s Word and Sacraments, and [carries] out other duties assigned to her from time to time. At all times, [her] life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself” (Book of Common Prayer, page 543). God has blessed Columbia Hope with Janet’s presence. We welcome you to come and meet her!
Jumping In
WE INVITE YOU TO EXPLORE THE MANY WAYS TO GET CONNECTED TO COLUMBIA HOPE CHURCH
“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16b). By reaching out to a local church, you are reaching out to God, who is love. Getting connected with Columbia Hope Church is a wonderful way of drawing near to God, and God certainly “will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Many of us at Columbia Hope have found that when we seek first the realm of God and its righteousness, God gives us abundant blessings - like serenity, joy, love, laughter and hope. We invite you to learn more about this in the Bible, in the book of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 33.
In our community of faith, you will find people who desire to make friends with you and your family. The sacred connection of friendship in Christ allows amazing spiritual growth to happen in the lives of individuals. We invite you to click through the side-bars of this page, to find out how to connect with Columbia Hope.
There are many ways to jump in and start: For instance, you may wish to come and worship with us on a Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. or a Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.; you may wish to attend one of our Community Groups; you may wish to participate in one of our Community Service events; you may wish to pray for us; you may wish to sign up to receive a weekly email message from us; you might wish to meet with one of our clergy, for conversation. You may obtain more information about any of these options by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or by calling the church office at 449-1178.
There are many ways to get involved, and we invite you to choose the way that’s most comfortable to you.
Stewardship & Giving
THE HEART OF CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP IS ABOUT TRUST IN GOD’S LOVE
God’s love is a free gift offered to everyone in the world without reservation. There is nothing we can do to deserve it, and nothing we can do to shun it. God loves us despite our worst failures, our best efforts, our most sinful behavior, and our most successful accomplishments. The grace of God is completely unmerited favor; God has that favor toward every person ever created, and indeed toward the whole creation. When we begin to understand God’s grace and receive God’s love, oftentimes we will want to give good gifts to others, out of gratitude for the abundant riches we have received. Once we begin giving, we find it to be fulfilling as a way of expressing our faith in tangible terms. At Columbia Hope, we share our stories of faith, as we receive riches of God’s abundance on our spiritual path.
VARIOUS TYPES OF GIVING - ALL OF THEM WONDERFUL!
OFFERINGS = Giving God various amounts of money for various reasons, whenever we come to church or think about sending in a gift.
PERCENTAGE GIVING = Intentionally determining what percentage of our income we would like to offer God through the church.
PLEDGING = Communicating with our congregational leaders about how much we intend to give in a particular calendar year, by filling out a pledge card.
TITHING = Giving God 10% of our income through the local church and trusting God to help us live on the rest.
HILARIOUS GIVING = Giving God 10% of our income through the local church, and then giving more to other charities or individuals of our choice.
50/50 GIVING = Giving God 50% of our income because we receive tremendous blessings from God when we give, and trusting God to help us live on the rest.
WE’RE STILL WORKING ON DEVELOPING ONLINE GIVING FOR YOU
Please be patient while we work on creating a way for you to give to our church with a credit or debit card through this website. We apologize for this delay.
Prayer Partners
PEOPLE ALL AROUND OUR COUNTRY ARE PRAYING FOR OUR GROWING CONGREGATION
God has blessed Columbia Hope Church with prayer partners in many places. Some are individuals or families, and some are congregations within the Diocese of Missouri. Each partner determines how and when to pray. It may be daily, weekly or monthly prayer; it may be individual or corporate prayer; it may be silent or spoken prayer; it may be meditation in stillness, or a body-prayer danced into existence! There are as many ways to pray as there are people in this world….
The body of people praying for Columbia Hope Church is diverse, including people of various races, ages, genders, interests, economic levels, sexual preferences, and political views. God is supporting Columbia Hope Church through many and various types of people. This diversity of people supporting us will assist us in creating diversity within our congregation - over time. Our prayer is that by offering radical hospitality to and truly welcoming ALL types of people, our church increasingly will reflect the richness of God’s amazingly beautiful creation. When we reach out to serve our neighbors in the community outside our doors, we will be able, more and more, to represent God’s unconditional love for ALL and make a positive difference in people’s lives, on behalf of God, who is love.
AUGUST 2010 PRAYER REQUEST FOR OUR PRAYER PARTNERS:
Will each of you please pray for our developing congregation, as we undertake to grow in Christ in the following ways this fall: 1) To increase our collective, biblical literacy through various kinds of encounters with God through the scriptures (both in Sunday Worship and in our Community Groups), 2) To increase our Average Sunday Attendance from 42 to 84, 3) To educate ourselves about Christian Stewardship.
Meet the Pastor
The Rev. Heather M. McCain has responded to God’s call to become the Church Planter for Columbia, MO. Heather has a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and a Master’s of Divinity from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Since her ordination in 1994, she has served the Church in three locations: Deerfield, IL; Springfield, MO; and Greensboro, NC. For the past six years, she served as Vicar of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, where she enjoyed working with her multi-cultural congregation to promote justice and peace in the community. Before going into the ministry, Heather served as a French teacher for grades six through twelve at an Episcopal school in the Cajun Country of southwest Louisiana. One of her hobbies is baking: for several years she baked bread at Great Harvest Bread Company.