2024 Ministry Updates

When you look around on Sundays have you noticed the many new visitors who continue to check out Church of the Saviour each week? We have continued to work toward improving and strengthening our process of both welcoming and assimilating new visitors so that they quickly feel connected to the COS family. Our assimilation process looks like this: When someone visits COS and fills out a connect card, they get at least two follow-up letters, including a warm welcome from Pastor Kevin and either a letter from Pastor Drew or a ministry-specific follow-up (kids ministry, women’s ministry, etc.). The letters provide important information about how to connect at COS. But even more effective are the relational connections that are made with real, warm-hearted people. Whenever you reach out and say hello and engage in conversation with someone new, that is the absolute best way to help people feel at home. Our First Impressions team, including greeters and ushers, does a fantastic job making visitors feel welcome. We also host a monthly "brunch and learn meet and greet," called, ‘Discover COS’, to introduce visitors to other new attenders as well as to staff, elders, and the many COS ministries. Two adjustments to DCOS that we made this last year included hosting this meeting after both the traditional and the modern service so that more visitors have an opportunity to attend. We also had DCOS every Sunday last August when we realized that many people experience life transition (School, Employment etc.) and move to the area and look for a church, toward the end of the summer. During the last 9 months, we have had 55 visitors learn more about COS by attending DCOS.

In a large church like ours we understand that it is easy for new visitors to fall between the cracks. The assimilation process encourages people to move into a community group. The sooner visitors connect with a group and make friends the more likely they are to feel that sense of belonging that is essential to participating in a process of discipleship. Last year COS had 37 community groups with roughly 357 participants. We have kept two groups open beyond the registration process so that those who miss the open enrollment period have a place to land relationally before the next open registration. We look forward to Wendy Walters giving our vital community group ministry more focused attention and leadership when she begins this fall. Finally, when COS really becomes home, regular attenders and participants in COS church life want to take the step of membership. We’ve been offering New Members Class twice a year on Saturday mornings for the last several years. However, we were getting a strong sense that we needed to offer the class more often to meet the needs of all of the new people now attending our church. In 2022 we officially moved from Post-Covid Zoom membership classes to completely in-person. In 2023, we started to experiment with offering the class on Sunday mornings as a 2-part class as another option to the Saturday classes in the spring and fall. Our ‘experimental’ Sunday morning class had 18 participants this past winter! This year we have welcomed 32 new members to COS! We plan to offer it again as a Sunday class this Summer 2023.

We continue to thank God for the work He is doing in our lives as we pursue the whole-life practice of worship: loving Him with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. We rejoice in the spiritual growth we have seen within our staff, volunteer teams, and the community groups within our ministry.

We also rejoice in numerical growth we have seen in our attendance on Sundays with our weekly attendance growing by over 150 people throughout the year. (This increase was also reflected in attendance in our Kids Ministry and Adult Equipping classes.) We are thankful to God for bringing new volunteers to our music and A/V teams. We view serving as an important act of worship and are pleased that more of our body is engaged in this type of “rubber hits the road” kind of worship by serving on an inter-generational team that supports our Sunday services.

You may have noticed the occasional intermixing of musicians and vocalists between our services. We have a high value on unity in our ministry and recognize that it always takes work to achieve it. It’s a joy for us when we can set our musical preferences aside and serve the Lord together. You may have also noticed the addition of more acapella moments as we sing on Sundays. We have been intentional about this, wanting to create a balance between big moments in the music and clearly hearing the beauty of our voices lifted together in worship to our worthy God.

Our team is active not only on Sunday mornings but also throughout the week and the year, creating and supporting opportunities to praise our Savior. This year we specifically focused on building opportunities for the next generation to be musically and spiritually equipped. In the Kids Ministry, we began a new type of children’s choir with a sharp focus on singing and musical training. They sang at our choral advent concert in December and will sing again this June! In our Student Ministry we got the student worship band back up and running. A dedicated group of about ten student musicians has faithfully attended Wednesday afternoon rehearsals before youth group and has led their peers in worship twice this year.

We also focused on tapping into the creative gifts of many of you! We have so many talented people in our congregation. We wanted to have a night to worship God through original praise. We put out the word to those songwriters, poets, painters, photographers, etc. to come and share their gifts, and we’ve had two amazing evenings, simply called CREATIVE, where our sanctuary was filled with beauty, and God was worshiped through original art as well as through many of the familiar songs and scriptures.
 
As we look ahead, we’re excited to engage with the 2023-2024 vision of “Daring Greatly” to see God continue to transform lives as we generously use our time and talents to serve Him. We’re looking for ways to expand the reach of the Christmas concerts and CREATIVE nights and to partner with our outreach ministries to reach the nations. We feel that God has placed it on our hearts to go deeper with our volunteer teams on what Biblical corporate worship looks like on a practical level. We hope to continue to bring our best as we serve him on Sundays and beyond. Above all, our prayer for this next year is that God receives more worship from us and from this awesome community He has placed us in. It is a great privilege of serving the Lord with you.

We are so excited to share our 2023 ministry updates with you! We will continue to update this page, so make sure to come back to see all that God has done at and through COS!

God is opening doors for our WISH Afghan refugee resettlement teams to continue welcoming new families. The brother of one of our Afghan friends relocated to Bryn Mawr in January, with his wife, four young-adult and teenage daughters, and one elementary-aged son. God amazes us with His goodness - He provided affordable housing for the family in a miraculous way within a week. Four of the children attend school in the Radnor school district.
Our combined WISH teams have partnered with four families and three individual adults since January 2022, for a total of 16 adults and 10 children who have become our neighbors and friends.
Were currently helping with rides to school and meals for another Afghan family with young children in Drexel Hill, as one parent is experiencing a temporary health issue. They have no extended family here to support them, so we encourage them in tangible ways by caring for them during this challenging time. While our COS WISH teams assist with practical needs when families first arrive, the primary mission of these teams is to establish ongoing relationships and love our new friends as we would our own family.
This looks like…

• Becoming a trusted friend in their lives, listening and sharing in their experiences as they make the US their home.
• Listening to their stories of loss, validating their suffering while also offering encouragement. Helping them to think forward and casting goals/dreams for the future.
• Receiving hospitality from them, as it allows them to give to us.
• Sharing about our own families and stories with them, so the relationship is mutual and balanced.
• Having fun together - playing soccer together as families, and visiting local parks and events.

Conversational English classes take place from September to November every Fall and February to April every Spring weekly on Saturday mornings. In Fall 2022, there were 79 ESL students registered. In Spring 2023, there were 64 students registered. This was also the period of time when we were in the search process for our new missions director. Therefore, All ESL classes this year were totally operated by our amazing team of 17 dedicated, hardworking volunteers with wonderful support from our ministry coordinator, Katarina skipper. It is amazing to think about 143 people seeking to learn English coming to church of the Saviour each week for education… and at the same time building friendships with Christians and experiencing the love of Christ!

Our Kids' ministry team is blessed to work with all our kids and their families in our church and community. We get to love our kids every week, during Sunday School, at AWANA on Tuesdays, and our yearly events & summer camps! Their energy, curiosity, and enthusiasm can be contagious!

Kids are vital to our Lord Jesus (Matthew 19:14), and they are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3)! At COS, we teach and show His unconditional love to the "little" ones and teach them from a young age His ways and His path for their lives. Kids ministry is not babysitting or childcare. Kids are most receptive to the Gospel, as statistics tell us that up to 80% of people come to Christ as a child (Barna Group). According to Barna, our worldview is established between the ages of 18 months to 13 years, so it is a high priority to build a biblical worldview into their lives from a young age. We often call children the next generation, but kids ministry can come alongside our families to equip children to see their life's calling and make a difference now!

We are excited to see our families back at COS, and our numbers have almost doubled since we opened in May 2021 in Sunday School, AWANA, and summer camps!

Our Sunday School classes are getting back to pre-Covid numbers during the 9:00 am and 10:30 am worship services.

Our AWANA program started with 45 students in the fall of 2022 and finished successfully on May 2, 2023, with 95 students!

Our Vacation Bible School, new this year, combines our students from nursery to elementary and is already full! 

Our Adventure camp has always been detrimental to changing kids’ lives and continues to do so in the campers and the teenagers who serve during the camp week.

We welcome you to join our volunteer team as we build our ministry back from COVID. We pray that the values we instill in them will remain forever and encourage them to be tomorrow's leaders!

Our goal for 2023 is to continue reaching and serving the families in our church and our community in Christ Jesus!

In the last year we have seen committed leaders stepping up to serve the students of COS, students passionately serving other students, and growth in many aspects of the word. As leaders, we have sought to provide consistency for our group and, as a result, there is contagious excitement and energy amongst our students. It has been a blessing to watch our students mature in their faith. Between Student Ministry Sunday School (Sunday Youth), our Wednesday night Youth Group gatherings, camps and retreats, and many fun events, the Lord has been working in our students' lives and strengthening their relationships with one another.  The COS Student Ministry has always been an exciting place to be, and we are eager to see what the next year has in store.

The Summers are a crucial time for students as they are done with school and are eager to connect with friends and grow in their faith. In the Summer of 2023, we were careful to plan our calendar intentionally so our students could be poured into and in turn could pour out abundantly into others. In June, Students served in VBS (Vacation Bible School) and attended L.E.A.D. lunches, led by our interns Anna and Luke. These lunches offered a way for students to better equip themselves to lead others. Middle Schoolers spent a fun day in Ocean City, enjoying the beach and time together! We also offered a High School beach retreat spent at the Ocean City Tabernacle Youth Center, which was a tremendous hit. A large group of Highschoolers spent 3 days together at the beach, worshipping, learning practical qualities of spiritual leadership, putting their faith into action, and, of course, having lots of fun! We are very excited to go back again this year for one extra day.

Our Summer ended with our beloved Adventure Camp, where our students are key components to a smooth and successful week of camp! Between all the summer fun, we continued our tradition of meeting in homes for “Traveling Youth Group” on Wednesday nights, we had a worship leading workshop, a tie-dye night, a HS girls charcuterie night, a HS boys wing night, and lots more!

A group of 17 excited High Schoolers spent a week in July in the Dominican Republic where they served at a local VBS, led soccer camps, and ministered to those living in the town of Moca, DR. This was an amazing opportunity for evangelism and service.

Throughout this school year, we have focused our efforts on local partnerships. One of our biggest partnerships has been with “Worth It”, a ministry that seeks to support in the recovery of women who were victims of trafficking. In an effort to support the women going through the Worth It program held on COS’ campus, our students helped cook several meals, wrote encouraging notes for the women, made jewelry for them, and prayed intentionally for the needs of those in attendance.
 
Another big partnership has been with “The Haven”, a Lancaster-based organization that is focused on being like Christ to Afghan refugees who were relocated to the area. In December, our families were very generous and blessed dozens of children with Christmas gifts. In February, we put on an Afghan Community Day where we pampered the Afghan mothers, played soccer with their kids, and allowed for the families to connect and enjoy a meal together.

This school year, we also served at Worth While wear (a thrift store in Collegeville that supports Worth It), served at a local community farm, donated clothing, and individual goody bags to a homeless recovery organization in Norristown, and more! We hope our students are excited to bless others in any way!

We have a growing and committed group of teens who have been leading corporate worship at youth group at least once a month. In January and May of 2024, those students joined Jim Dougherty on stage and led our congregation during the 10:30 services. We hope to continue to encourage and develop this generation of worship leaders.

Each week, new faces walk through our doors for Sunday Youth or Wednesday night Youth Group. It has been a huge encouragement to see our students inviting their peers to church and to see the powerful results of a personal invitation. Our outreach events, block parties, and devotion to providing Gospel-focused community for teens has proven to be an effective way to reach the hearts of teens in our area.  Our middle school, in particular, is experiencing huge growth! This year we have implemented more ways to offer individual spaces for High School and Middle School to be discipled separately. We will continue to offer these opportunities, while ensuring that the COS Student Ministry is a unified and cohesive ministry.

‘Worth It’ is a recovery and healing ministry geared toward women who are survivors of the sex trafficking underworld. Local churches host classes where the women receive valuable information, tools and biblical truths to help them heal from their trauma. We began hosting in September 2021 and this year we hosted two classes. - Spring 2022 had 8 Graduates and Fall 2022 had 10 Graduates. What an honor it is to serve these women on our campus.

Twenty-one million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide! Prayer against trafficking began with a small but mighty prayer team of women in late 2020.  This team has consistently met to prayer against trafficking and the sexual exploitation of the vulnerable.  They meet on the third Thursday of every month throughout the year on zoom.  Our women who serve as volunteers in prayer and action are the bedrock of our ministry to those who have been trafficked. COS has a small but important role in helping fight against the modern-day slavery of women, men and children around the world.

‘Simply Still’ was the women’s Christmas outreach event and it was truly an outreach event this year. More than 150 women attended, and many were invited by women from COS. Tamara Crump gave an inspiring talk that reached everyone’s heart. We were also especially excited to welcome three of our friends who had graduated from the Worth it program attend, along with others from the community. 

In collaboration with our Global outreach team the women’s ministry hosted two local missions’ experiences.  There was a Hindu event last July and a Muslim event last August. Both events were designed to build confidence and develop skills to engage with those in our neighborhoods and communities. 

More than 74,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States during the last 18 months. Over 700 Afghans have been resettled in the Philadelphia area. Women’s ministry partnered with Global Outreach and Student ministry to host an Afghan community day outreach in NE Philadelphia. Many of our resettled friends came to enjoy friendship, food, exchange information and fellowship with one another. 

Back in November Deneen McDonald let us know that she was leaving her women’s director role to enable her to work part time to travel with her husband and spend more time with their daughters in Florida. We expressed gratitude to Deneen for her crucial role in providing godly leadership and raising up godly leadership to women (and men) during her 5 years in the role.

As part of our leadership transition the executive team of COS (Kevin, Drew, Rachel) met with 20 of our volunteer women’s ministry leaders as a ‘think tank’ to receive input into the role of women’s director prior to the hiring process. The input and feedback were pivotal for us in discerning the next director. It was very clear that all of our volunteers are extremely committed to the Lord and also COS! As a result of that process, we spent the next five months praying and looking through applications and interviewing candidates until we settled on the one that we sensed most strongly was God’s choice for COS!

Wendy Walters is our new women’s ministry director and our congregation, elders, staff, women’s ministry volunteer leaders are all unanimously thrilled. Wendy is a beloved and well-respected member of COS. She begins her new role part time June 5 and then will begin to serve full time the end of August!

Together Won is a community group for young adults (18+) with special needs. A lot of special needs programs end by the time the individual graduate’s high school. Our desire is to fill the gap that serves this population of young adults after they graduate high school. Together Won had an amazing year. To list a few events, we had a talent show, movie night, BBQ night, game night, trips to Handles’ ice cream, a Phillies game, and a trip to Sight and Sound theater. This year we focused on our parents and caregivers by creating a new space where we hosted topical discussions, Bible study, and guest speakers. (The topics were self-care and employment.)

Heritage School began its ministry in 1980 to transform families in the community through Jesus Christ. In May 2023, we celebrate God's goodness to our students, families, and staff as we finish our 42nd year of school!

Heritage School's vision is to provide an exceptional Christian Early Childhood Program that is designed to foster friendships, encouragement, growth opportunities, and support services for parents through Church of the Saviour and the professional community. Our teachers and aides are committed to teaching as stated in Deuteronomy 32:2, “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.” As a staff, we believe we need to reflect God’s concern for individuals by building a loving relationship with each child and by presenting the love of Jesus at an age-appropriate level.

This year, we are working toward both DHS and ACSI certifications, which we hope will continue to promote Heritage School as a great place for children and families in our community. We are also working to hire several qualified aides and teachers to fill positions for the fall. We are praying that God brings us the students and staff that He has planned for us for the 2023-2024 school year.

The Care Ministries at Church of the Saviour are a suite of ministries that exists to walk with those within the congregation or the community through life’s difficulties, challenges, or transitions. It is our desire to offer care in ways that touch hurting lives and to encourage them in love to deepen their relationship with God and others.

Our volunteers provide confidential, Christ-centered, and compassionate care.

Across the seven ministries below, we have over 40 volunteers with a combined 1000+ hours of training. In the past year the care ministries have been the hands and feet of Christ to more than 150 people needing care in multiple capacities.

No one has the ability, nor should they attempt to face their hurts on their own. Celebrate Recovery is a beautiful community of strugglers that courageously enter this safe and beautiful space to get honest about our pain, and the negative ways we may see ourselves, God and others. Celebrate recovery is a national program that is a biblically balanced approach to help bring sustainable recovery and healing to our hurts. It guides us toward new healthy truths and life-giving habits as we repair our broken relationships.

Our skilled professional counseling team helps assess and connect those who are struggling to trusted, local, licensed Christian counselors.

The #1 divorce recovery program in the world, DivorceCare is a national program that has been helping individuals recover from and through the pain of divorce. DivorceCare’s life-changing support groups welcome people and guide them on the path of recovery after separation or divorce. Over 1 million people have found comfort and hope through this 13-week, video-based series.

If you want real and lasting financial peace in your life, Financial Peace University (FPU) is for you! Through motivating and humorous presentations based on Biblical principles and practical methods, you will learn how to successfully manage your finances. FPU is for everyone – young adults, married or single adults, seniors and teens, regardless of whether you are financially secure, just starting out or financially distressed.

Do you know someone suffering from the loss of a loved one? GriefShare is a 13-week seminar and support group designed to help you rebuild your life after losing a loved one or close friend. This national, Christ-centered program helps people apply biblical principles as they deal with the emotions and life stresses following the death of a loved one. Here you'll find a safe place to heal from your loss with others who understand what you are going through.

Stephen Ministry provides high-quality, one-to-one, Christ-centered care to people in the congregation and the community experiencing life difficulties. Our Stephen Ministers go through extensive training in order to walk with others in a meaningful and encouraging way, while helping people grow in their faith.

Our COS Stephen Ministry is one of more than 13,000 congregations across the U.S. and Canada and in 30 other countries.

Our visitation team is a group of individuals that are always on the lookout for the sick, injured, homebound, or simply need encouragement. This wonderful team checks on, visits, and encourages our members who are unable to participate in corporate church life.

The COS Deacon Board is one of our oldest church ministries and has been in existence at least since the 1980s. The purpose of the Board is to administer the Love in Action (LIA) fund, the primary objective of which is to provide emergency, short-term financial assistance.

The general Deacon institution dates back to the first century Christians and is ordained by Scripture in Acts 6: 1-6, in which the early disciples formed a committee to care for the widows and other believers in need. Additionally, the Apostle Paul stipulated in his letter to the Galatians, that, “…let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” [Galatians 6:10; emphasis added].

In keeping with Paul’s intentions, the COS Elders determined over three decades ago that LIA priority should be given first to “needy members and regular attenders” and then to individuals outside of the COS Body. Every year, the Deacon Board provides dozens of families with much-needed assistance for food, shelter, utility, healthcare and other essential costs, and for counseling expenses as well.
More recently, one-time disaster and year-end emergency relief has been provided to select organizations throughout the Delaware Valley, examples of which include:

• Those ravaged by tropical storm Ida (e.g., an African American church in downtown Coatesville);
• A group of Ukrainian refugees soon after the Russian invasion;
• Worthwhile Wear, which supports survivors of human trafficking, and with which COS volunteers have been deeply involved, including collecting items for their rescue homes, hosting their Worth It program, and working their thrift store; and,
• The Frederick Douglass Christian School in Chester, whose emergency funds went towards helping make payroll and cover essential utilities.

Also, every Christmas the Board supports the Adopt-A-Child program, which grants generous monetary assistance that helps qualifying parents, both in COS and, where appropriate, others within the community, to provide Christmas gifts for each child.

As part of its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ in Wayne and beyond, Church of the Saviour has been blessed with the ability and opportunity to financially invest in church growth outside of Church of the Saviour. The DVF was begun as part of the Next Chapter initiative. A portion of the money raised in that initiative – which was for site and building improvements at the church campus – was set aside for the DVF.
The DVF is specifically targeted to support church plants in our regional area. The generosity of the church body, when this fund was established, has enabled us to assist in the planting of a number of new churches over the past 20 years. At this point, the balance of the DVF is roughly $336,000, and both principal and earnings are available for distribution. The expectation is that this fund will be depleted once all of the funds are dispersed at some point in the future.  In 2022, the DVF began supporting and blessing the City Reach Church – Kensington church plant with $50,000, to be distributed over three years dependent on positive annual reviews. The first two distributions have been made. These distributions aided City Reach in the installation of an HVAC system, restrooms, and a ramp into the building it is leasing for this church plant. These physical improvements made the space ready for worship services and church activities. Kensington is nationally known as an area plagued with homelessness and drug problems. City Reach has answered God’s call to minister in this difficult area, and the DVF enabled Church of the Saviour to participate in this new ministry. Services at the City Reach – Kensington church plant began on November 19, 2023.

The KGF was formed by substantial gifts from two members of Church of the Saviour well over twenty years ago.  This generosity has resulted in an expansion of the ministries that the church can offer, in a number of different areas. The Elder Board has focused the distributions from the KGF on new or expanding ministries of Church of the Saviour.  The fund maintains a minimum principal amount that is increased annually by 3% to preserve the purchasing power of the distributions.  Only investment earnings are available for distribution.  The KGF has a current available balance of $2,000,000, of which approximately $1.5 million consists of the minimum principal amount. Earnings on this investment vary; as a result, the annual amounts available for distribution vary as well. In the recent past, the Faith in Context speaker series was funded by a grant from the KGF.  This year, the Elder Board approved a significant distribution from the KGF for the improvement of security for all of the buildings at the church campus.