A Milestone For St. George's Episcopal Church -- Parish Status Shows Prosperity

According to legend, St. George slew a dragon to save a princess from becoming its sacrificial meal.

In these politically correct times, however, the story was adjusted when members of St. George's Episcopal Church in Seattle re-enacted the scene last Sunday.

There was no damsel in distress. And St. George didn't kill the dragon. Instead, he threw confetti on it. And they became friends.

"In essence, the way we decided to deal with the beast was to have him reborn. The confetti is baptismal water, a way of becoming new," said Tina Polf, a member of St. George's.

For those at the service Sunday, the themes of rebirth and friendship carried far more significance than might have been apparent at first glance.

The playful dragon scene at the opening of worship was in celebration of St. George's elevation to parish status in the Episcopal Church, a milestone that signals healthy membership, financial stability and a new stage in the life of the church. Parish status comes 38 years after St. George's was founded as a mission in the Lake City area of North Seattle.

Diane Walker, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Olympia, which covers all of Western Washington, said it is significant, and exciting, when a church is granted parish status. That means it can support its programs and priests without aid from the diocese.

"We believe that the churches exist to equip their congregations for ministry to the larger community. The more stable the church, the stronger the ministry. They are able to better serve if they are not struggling to survive themselves," said Walker.

In applying to the diocese for parish status last spring, St. George's outlined a five-year plan in which the congregation would work toward a 10 percent growth rate in membership and finances each year. The church has about 200 baptized members, including children, and a budget of $105,000.

But its goals are more than internal. St. George's recently accepted the Rev. Patricia Taylor as its deacon. One of her jobs will be to explore ways the church can meet the needs of the community.

In addition to present outreach programs, church representatives are interested in providing - with other churches and community organizations - such services as parent-training classes and after-school programs for children, said Taylor.

St. George's church began as an offshoot of St. Stephens Episcopal Church in September 1954, at the encouragement of then-Bishop Stephen Bayne. The diocese saw the Lake City area as a place of future growth. St. Stephens, a well-established congregation in Laurelhurst, was asked by Bayne to take responsibility for helping start up the new church.

Sixty-five people attended the first service, held in the basement of the old Lake City Elementary School, according to the Rev. Robert Christie, who is St. George's vicar, or priest in charge of the church.

The church moved to its present site on Northeast 125th Street, west of Lake City Way Northeast, in 1959.

Again with the support and encouragement of Bishop Bayne, the church built what was then a unique sanctuary-in-the-round, with the altar in the center and the congregation seated around it.

"It's not a church where you can come in and hide in the back pews," said Christie, whose father, the late Rev. Elmer Christie, was rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Seattle.

On the other hand, "I have a sense of real community and closeness" with parishioners facing one another, said Christie, who is slated to become rector of St. George's now that it is a parish.

The church is in what Christie describes as a transitional area, which could be a challenge for a church seeking to grow. Situated east of Interstate 5 and south of the Jackson Park Golf Course, the neighborhood attracts a number of first-time homebuyers who may move east or north as they raise families and advance in their careers, said Christie.

Nonetheless, in 1991 the church added 12 new members, he said. Some have left, including an Army officer and his wife who were reassigned and a couple who decided they didn't like big-city life and moved to Montana. But church membership generally has been gaining over the years.

Christie said church stewardship also has been up, rising 13 percent from 1991 to 1992.

In some ways, elevation to parish status is a coming of age for the church. "I view it more as a psychological change in which we stand up on our own two feet; we can hold our own," said Margaret Watt, a St. George's member.

Another member, Mary Jean Daley, likened it to reaching adult status within the Episcopal Church, though church leaders were quick to add they didn't mean to say mission status was less significant. As a mission, a church receives a grant from the diocese to help pay for operations.

Of the 104 Episcopal congregations in Western Washington, 56 are parishes, 38 are missions and the rest are preaching stations (where a priest from another church will go to preach on Sundays), developing congregations or specialized ministries, said Walker, the diocesan spokeswoman.

The last two congregations to become parishes before St. George's were Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Federal Way (1989) and Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Redmond (1991).

Some religious leaders think the mega-church, providing a plethora of programs and services, is the wave of the future, rather than the neighborhood church.

But Christie demurs, saying he feels the Anglican form of worship and its broad theological approach, accommodating both conservative and liberal points of view, would sustain neighborhood churches like St. George's.

"The Anglican approach is one of broad strokes. It allows flexibility rather than rigidity. It allows for freedom of growth," said Christie.

For members of St. George's, that message might have a double meaning.

As they sang last Sunday, to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In:"

"And then St. George

stayed with us all

The parish grew and grew and grew

Oh Lord, I want to be in that number

When the Saints go marching in." --------------------------------------------------------------- Place and time

St. George's Episcopal Church is at 2212 N.E. 125th St. in Seattle. Services are at 8 and 10:30 a.m. Sundays. For more information, call 362-2747.