2024 Ministry Updates

It’s our Mission at Church of the Saviour to Love God, Love Others and Serve the World.  After loving God through worship, congregants engage in life at church and go deeper into scripture by loving others and seeking God in community groups.  Community groups intend to make disciples in Wayne and beyond in a healthy church environment by following the model described in Sticky Church by Larry Osborne.  We aim for a healthy church where we reach people and grow each other up to maturity in Christ, as Jesus called us to do.

We pray that relationships in community groups are built into deep friendships as we grow in faith and get equipped to handle life together. Our community groups meet at various times and locations. Many of our community groups are sermon-based groups, although book studies are also popular options.  Groups provide a safe place for discussion and personal application of the scriptures and are an important part of our discipleship process.

This year we have 74 leaders overseeing 40 Groups, 421 people are in these groups which represent 64% of our average attenders.

• 12 Older Adult Groups
• 8 Young Family Groups
• 6 Mixed-Age Adult Groups
• 5 Young Adult Groups
• 3 Men’s Groups
• 2 Women’s Groups 
• 2 Care Groups
• 2 Foreign Language Groups (Mandarin and Spanish)

There are always open groups for newcomers to join in each category, which requires developing leaders to meet our ongoing interest and growth. A staff advisory team was formed this year to evaluate and improve our process and structure and this team will transition to a volunteer advisory team in June.  This leadership team will support and encourage our community group leaders and oversee training as well as visit groups to connect them into the network of leaders and churchwide happenings for discipleship excellence.

Community Group leaders shepherd others, facilitate discussions, and encourage discipleship. Qualifications for leaders include church membership and previously attending a community group.  We provide new leader training before each of our two semesters and our current leaders gather for peer learning twice a year, this year’s training focus was on going deeper with God and finding rhythms to serve together as a group.

Community Group leaders gather at the appreciation dinner, July 2023.

We are grateful for all that God has done in and through our ministry this year.  In every endeavor, we strive to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength above everything. We hope that in every area of our lives we have a heart full of gratitude that manifests in generosity; in that way bringing true worship to our King.

One of the highlights of the year has been the celebration of what God is doing in our congregation, specifically through welcoming new members and in baptisms and dedications. You have probably noticed more of both happening in our Sunday services.  In the last year we have had 48 new members to celebrate as well as 14 baptisms and dedications!  Praise God

As you know, we place a high value on family worship. We try not to create competing times of corporate worship so we can all be together in the sanctuary on Sunday. This is true not only in the seats, but also on the platform. We have had a handful of opportunities for our students and children to help facilitate the music on Sundays. Throughout the year we have had the blessing of incorporating parents and their children leading worship together on both traditional and modern teams.  We were thrilled to have our student ministry band as well as the heritage children and our children’s choir involved in multiple services this year.  We hope it is a huge encouragement to you because it is a huge blessing to us to serve alongside our youth.

We have talked a lot this year about healthy rhythms of corporate worship within our volunteer teams.  The importance of serving, sitting under the preaching of the word together, church membership, giving, etc.  We want to avoid falling into a “gig-mentality” of showing up to play and then rolling out, which means missing out on deeper connections to the heart and rhythms of our church. 

This winter we took our modern team away for a weekend retreat in Lititz, Pa.  We set aside extended time to sing and pray together. We did a biblical study of laments, horizontal and vertical worship and then wrote our own. We also had sessions on best music practices and vocal training sessions.  Oh, and we had some fun together too.  It was a very memorable and worthwhile time of teambuilding and deep worship. 

We’ve had the opportunity to serve a few ministries by providing music including Worthwhile Wear that focuses on serving women effected by human trafficking.  We have led worship and played background music at their Worth it graduations as well as their volunteer appreciation banquet. It’s an honor to play a very small role in celebrating what God is doing in this ministry that our church partners with.

This year we expanded our Creative night of Praise to include Delaware County Christian School as well as our own Heritage School students.  It was a fantastic evening hearing original praise music, readings of original poetry and literature, surrounded by the paintings and photographs of such talented artists.  Our sanctuary was filled with beauty and God was worshiped in new and personal ways.

In the Spring of 2024, our worship associate, Andy Lenko stepped down from his role giving direction to our traditional service.  We are currently in the search process for a new associate. In the interim, we are fortunate to have several talented volunteers that have stepped in to plan and lead worship.  Praise God for his provision for us during this time.

As we look ahead, we are excited to lean into the theme “from gratitude to generosity” as we give of our time, talents, and treasure for the Kingdom. We hope to create opportunities for our volunteers to experience greater ownership in our ministry and step into greater positions of leadership. We look to increase our outreach efforts by tapping into the local music scene and hosting house concerts throughout the year.  We hope to create more spaces for people to sing and worship together and are planning more worship nights outside of CREATIVE.  We are excited to see who God will bring to our staff team to help guide the traditional service into the next season.  Most of all we hope to grow as personal worshippers in our knowledge and devotion to the Lord as a ministry team.

In the summer of 2023, members of the Alpha team visited Vintage Church in Santa Monica, CA for Alpha “Masterclass” training and an opportunity to learn from a church that routinely has hundreds of guests attend their Alpha Course. The trip allowed the team to develop relationships and galvanized our commitment to run a first-class Alpha Course at COS that attracts many to Alpha, where they can hear the good news about Jesus.

Our first Alpha Course at COS following our California trip was in the fall of 2023. Although the team was disappointed that only approximately 25 people attended, the quality of our Alpha increased, evidenced by 1) our successful Launch Party that incorporated a cookie tasting; 2) a significant decline in attrition over the full nine weeks compared to past Alphas; and 3) the relationships we developed with our guests that often stayed after the conclusion of Alpha to continue with discussion. Most importantly, a couple guests made commitments to Christ and all guests explored the meaning of life from a Christian perspective and were introduced to Christian community, teaching, prayer, and worship. All the while, we continued to pray that God would move in such a powerful way that we could only attribute the success to him.

Leading up to our next Alpha in January of 2024, we decided to promote Alpha to the congregation, like we never have done before, most notably through Alpha invitation cards on chairs in the Worship Center at multiple events and on Sunday mornings. The congregation responded! Attendance increased to approximately 60. Additionally, the outcomes from the prior course “stuck” despite a much larger group. Building off the success of our winter course, the Lord, through a team member’s idea, led us to offer our first spring course in our 18-year history of running Alpha at COS Although this would require an additional time commitment from our team, we trusted that God would provide. God raised up additional team members and has continued to move in our midst.

As we sat at our April 30 Alpha, with approximately 78 people in the room when the topic was “Who is Jesus?”, I was filled with gratitude to God that his Spirit is moving in our Alpha program. Our team looks forward to God producing spiritual fruit from the recent Alpha Courses and we hope you see the evidence of this through future baptisms and new people incorporated into the life of our church. Please join our team in prayer for this to be a reality.

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. There were a little over 30 students for each of the Fall 2023 and Spring 2023 sessions. Our ESL classes were operated by our amazing team of 16 dedicated, hardworking volunteers with awesome support from our ministry coordinator, Julia Yang. Our wonderful volunteers were very generous with providing delicious snacks each week! We celebrated the end of each session with a potluck lunch where many nations' cuisines were represented. We've built amazing friendships with the students, some of whom have been coming for years. Some of our students have joined us for Sunday services and several have experienced COS classes like Alpha. We pray that seeds are being planted, so they can all experience the love of Christ!

We are grateful for the many opportunities God has given us to ministry to infants and children this year! We could not serve these children without the faithful and loving support of so many volunteers. On Sunday mornings, Tuesday nights for AWANA and summer camps (VBS - Camp Little Bear and C Camp), our volunteers make a difference in the lives of these precious kids and their families. We are grateful to have so many returning families participating in these activities and are excited to see new families as well!

Because our numbers are growing and each classroom is getting crowded, we want to keep our teacher to student (child) ratio small so that we can continue to prioritize building relationships and quality of instruction for each child. Our goal for 2024-25 for our Sunday School is to add four preschool classes by age (3 years to kindergarten) and four (1st – 5th) classes for our elementary-age kids.

We have a new Sensory Activity Wall in the Nursery hallway! The fun shapes, moving parts, textures, and colors have been very popular with kids of all ages. It has also been a great addition in helping our volunteers provide a calming distraction for children with separation anxiety.

Our AWANA program started with 90 students in the fall of 2023 and finished successfully with 129 registered students on May 7, 2024!
 
Our AWANA Clubs, ages 3 to 5, memorized more than 190 Bible verses!

Our new Vacation Bible School, which combines kids from nursery to elementary, is almost full! Please pray for the new kids and families joining us this summer from the COS community and beyond. Consider serving with us for a greater Kingdom impact!

Our Adventure camp has always been instrumental in changing kids' lives. The Lord uses this camp experience to impact the campers and the teenagers who serve them during the camp week, July 28 – August 3. Many kids who attend give their life to Christ during Adventure Camp. Those who serve engage in leadership development, use their God given gifts to serve others and continue to grow during the year with student ministry.

As we look forward to the 2024-25 year, we are grateful for the opportunity to continue reaching and serving the families in our church and community. Your support and prayers are invaluable in our journey in Christ Jesus! We need dedicated individuals like you to join our teaching team this summer and fall. Your involvement can make a significant difference in the lives of our children! We know that between this is an important time in life for kids to be formed by God’s word, to create positive loving relationships with them and to act as role models for what it means to walk faithfully with the Lord.

On a special note: We want to share a great story from our 2018 C- Camp. One of our COS members served on a short mission trip to Ghana this Spring. While there, the locals showed her the rain barrels our C-Camp kids raised support, bought, and shipped in 2018!

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.

This year, the men’s ministry welcomed a new team of leaders who are praying for continued direction for the men’s ministry. Our desire is to create spaces to grow closer to God, connect with one another, and serve our community.

It’s easy for men to stay disconnected in our society and in our church. An American Survey study done in 1990 reported that 55% of men have at least 6 close friends. That same study done in 2021 dropped to 27% with 15% of men saying they had no close friendships at all.

We believe that one of the ways that Gospel transformation happens is through relationship and we want to create pathways for those relationships to form.

In the fall of 2023, we asked our community group leaders to hit pause on whatever study they were doing and set aside a night once a month for the men in their group to get together and just hang out.  At some point during these gatherings the leader asks an intentional question: How are you doing? What are your goals this year? How can we pray for you?  Most of us know by experience that as someone shares more transparently with their life, it opens the door for others to do the same. Some of this happens around fire pits, some at restaurants, and some in our homes. A few of our groups took us up on that model to meet monthly and we hope to create more in the upcoming year.

Our team also wanted to create an enrichment event that would host meaningful discussion with a larger crowd.  In February 2024, we started the Men’s Forum. This is a monthly event where men can invite friends from any circle of their life.  The content is topical and relevant to some of the issues we face in life (fatherhood, identity, fear, relationships) and the format is conversational with a speaker facilitating the interactions. We’ve held four events so far with 30-50 men participating each time.  We may change the format a bit in the fall and maybe even change the name.

Not all guys like to get together and just talk. Some like to get together and work! We have partnered with Good Works, a ministry out of Coatesville, PA that helps low-income homeowners with home repairs. In March and April, we took groups of 5-6 men for a Saturday of work where they helped two families repair their homes.  We look forward to more opportunities to serve through Good Works in the future.

We are looking to build a team of volunteer leaders. I’d like to have three more people willing to host Fires once a month.  We are also beginning to talk about sports ministry and outdoor events. This summer we are planning on a rafting trip as well as a gun safety event. Above all we hope to create more spaces for men in engage with God, connect with others and serve the world.

We praise God for the blessings through Women’s Ministry this year. Our theme was “Be on Fire for God and Spread the Fire” with reference to Exodus 3:2 and Moses and the Burning Bush. Women lived out this theme by spending time with God and engaging with others to passionately spread their faith through fellowship, discipleship, prayer, and service.

The “Pathway for Women” has been developed to map the steps women are taking to actively love God, love others, and serve the world while journeying together in Christ. All women are welcome to step on to the path to advance their spiritual journey: Gather and See, Step In, Grow, and Lead. The diagram below shows the current ministry areas, engagement outside of women’s ministry, and future ideas. God has called many faithful servant leaders to this flourishing ministry, and the women are trusting God and spreading their fire and passion for Christ to others. God is on the move in conversations, relationships, and we pray, transforming women’s hearts into His likeness.

Women are gathering in homes and in the community having intentional conversations about life and faith.  Young moms are gathering for playgroups, widows for in-home fellowship, and mixed generations of women for Salon Nights (in-home social gatherings with conversations intentionally focused on faith).  We hope to begin gathering around common interests, too. 

Womens ministry joins our churchwide heart for outreach which is essential and strongly supported.

The Unsearchable Gift was the women’s Christmas outreach event with more than 200 women in attendance.  Many COS women invited neighbors, co-workers, and others in their circles who don’t yet know Christ.  We were especially happy to see our Worth It graduates accept our invitation and join with joyful smiles.  Women enjoyed a catered brunch in the beautifully decorated Welcome Center and lobby area while being serenaded by Christmas carols.  They also enjoyed making crafts and taking group photos prior to entering the sanctuary for a special time of worship music, games, and sharing by Fran Jones Dixon.  This was followed up by the Gospel message, silent reflection, prayer, and invitations to join us again.  There was a focus on prayer before, during and after this event led by Rebecca Emory.  Tamara Crump coordinated sanctuary programming and Charlotte Barton orchestrated the opportunities to connect in Building A prior to the sanctuary sharing. Thank you, Jesus, for this beautiful morning!

Additionally, this year, women brought friends to two Sound of Freedom movie nights, the Priscilla Shirer event in Reading, and in June we plan to offer two mornings for Vacation Bible School moms to gather and connect.

Women are serving in sacrificial ways:
Worth It is an empowerment program for survivors of sexual exploitation, trafficking, or prostitution and is hosted by women of our church.  We partner with Worthwhile Wear in a series of classroom experiences where participants connect with area service providers, maintain sobriety, and ultimately break the cycle of exploitation while experiencing the hospitality Jesus would provide at our church and in our hearts. One of the survivors at the spring graduation said “I’ve never felt so loved before, and safe, and secure.”

Thank you volunteers, you are extending Jesus’ love and ministry to the vulnerable.

The Worth It women are showered with God’s love and generous hospitality. We host for nine to eleven days in both the Fall and Spring, graduating about 20 women from the program this year.  A large team provides over 850 hours of volunteer time for this program annually. Our men and women provide transportation, classroom space, breakfast, lunch, gift bags, daily encouragement cards, bibles, prayer, and personal ministry when invited to do so by the Worth It women.  We share our testimony and faith in the classroom as well as life changing experiences with Jesus and the Scriptures.

This year we formed a strong volunteer leadership team under the coordination of Jeanette Alwine and Colleen Bradstreet. A new collaboration began with Student Ministry which was a great blessing.  Students and their parents made jewelry, food, encouragement cards, and utensil wraps for the Worth It women.  Students also joined in and prayed and were educated about the program and the women they were helping.

The Lord also opened outreach opportunities to Afghan women, women survivors of domestic violence and soon to Heritage Moms. Women joined Student Ministry on a trip to The Haven in Lancaster, PA where we spent the day caring for Afghan immigrant women and their children. We have developed local connections and resources for women experiencing domestic violence and look forward to serving women as they are identified in our congregation and beyond. In the fall we look forward to collaborating with the Heritage School to reach moms as we partner with MomCo (formerly MOPS) to begin a monthly meetup.

We are grateful for the six bible studies that jointly reach 200 women weekly from September to May for fellowship and study of the Scriptures. Women can join four days a week in one of these studies that cover different books of the bible:

• Precepts – Sunday evenings,
• Community Bible Study – Tuesday mornings,
• Joy in the Morning – Wednesday mornings,
• Joy in the Evening – Wednesday evenings
• Virtual Joy – Wednesday evenings
• Free Fridays – Friday mornings

The leaders generously give of their time and talent to make disciples of women and build a strong foundation of faith on the Word of God.

Prayer for the Trafficked, Abused, Vulnerable and Worth It. This team of prayer warriors has consistently met monthly to pray against trafficking and the sexual exploitation of the vulnerable. They meet virtually on the third Thursday of every month throughout the year. This dedicated team of praying women support the Worth It ministry and battle in the spiritual realm against modern-day slavery around the world.

A Womens Ministry Vision Team is forming to continue to grow and manage the ministry with excellence as well as raise up and develop more leaders.  Rebecca Emory joined me this year in prayer for the ministry and now Debby Dunn is in this position of prayer.  Carol O’Shea is overseeing the Grow category. We are praying for God to call more women to this team.

We are intentional about developing and appreciating leaders.  We currently have 45 women active in leadership roles with another 37 women who are potential leaders in this ministry and all are invited to quarterly leadership development workshops. Thirty-two women attended our first leadership development workshop on May 4. We explored our CliftonStrengths Top 5 strengths with Gallup-trained Pastor Drew Angus in an interactive workshop. Twelve leaders joined together at the appreciation dinner last July.  

This past year has been a journey marked by immense gratitude and generosity within our ministry. We have witnessed God's grace in action, as our community has embodied the spirit of giving. Our volunteers not only give of their time and resources but do so with joy and dedication. Below are some highlights from the past year.

Together Won fellowship is a community group dedicated to young adults (18+) with special needs. Recognizing that many special needs programs conclude when individuals graduate from high school, our mission is to bridge the gap by providing continued support and opportunities for these young adults. This past year has been exceptional for Together Won. Among the highlights were our talent show, movie night, BBQ night, game night, mini-golf, outings to Handel's ice cream, a Phillies game, and a trip to Sight and Sound Theater. Additionally, we are developing our initiative for parents and caregivers, offering a space for topical discussions, Bible study, and guest speakers, with a focus on self-care and employment.

We’ve had the privilege of walking alongside couples preparing for the covenant of marriage. Tailoring our approach to suit the size and needs of the group, our amazing lead facilitators offer either individualized sessions or group workshops. Our sessions are enriched by valuable resources, including Prepare-Enrich online assessment, Tim Keller’s Meaning of Marriage, and various handouts designed to aid in reflection and discussion. Our next series of sessions is scheduled for Fall 2024.

We’ve established a Family News Page on our website, serving as a central hub for sharing and commemorating significant family events. This space is dedicated to celebrating milestones collectively as well as providing support during challenging times, including funeral and memorial announcements.

Throughout this school year, the children of Heritage School have blossomed spiritually, personally, and academically, demonstrating remarkable growth and maturity.

In the fall, they embarked on a journey of exploration during Harvest Days, engaging in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities that ignited their curiosity. They also had an exciting time experiencing the beauty of our campus firsthand through an exhilarating hayride.

As winter arrived, the school was filled with joy and celebration. The highlight was the Christmas concert, where the children showcased their talents and spread the spirit of the season. The birth of our Savior was taught with reverence and appreciation in the classrooms, creating a meaningful learning experience. Moreover, parents and loved ones were warmly welcomed to join in the festivities in the sanctuary and reception. Later in this season, fathers were welcomed into their child’s classroom to engage in fun learning activities during Buddy Day.

Spring brought a renewed sense of wonder and discovery. We celebrated the diversity of Heritage School with our annual International Month. Families brought their culture to life via stories, interactive games, crafts, and cultural dress. The children eagerly observed the magical process of chicks hatching and were delighted by the presence of a petting zoo on campus. In honor of Mother’s Day, mothers were invited into the classrooms for a special tea, fostering a sense of love and appreciation.

The children showcased their talents in a spring concert, which marked the culmination of an exciting school year. This event was an unforgettable celebration of their growth and achievements.

Our Young Adult Ministry has been thriving with a variety of social events and gatherings designed to foster community and spiritual growth. This year, we’ve enjoyed an array of activities such as pickleball, ice skating, futsal, and trivia nights. We also offer community groups where individuals can regularly connect and discuss biblical topics and Sunday sermons. Additionally, we hosted a Sunday Equipping Class titled “Hermeneutics Demystified,” an introductory course aimed at teaching the principles that help uncover the intended message of the scriptures and its application to contemporary life and faith.

Looking ahead, we are excited to announce our bi-weekly Summer Fellowship on Thursday nights for college students and young professionals in their 20s and 30s. Featuring an impressive lineup of speakers focused on spiritual formation, this series will offer a fantastic opportunity for all our existing community groups to come together. The fellowship will run from May 30 to September 5.

Go Everywhere and Tell Everyone!

Mark 16:15 Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world and tell the good news to everyone.”

Have you ever felt like you can't get to where Jesus is? Sometimes this is spiritual, sometimes mental, and sometimes there are just physical limitations that prevent someone from getting to Jesus, either physically or emotionally. But did you know, Church of the Saviour has an amazing suite of ministries – The Care Ministries.
The Care Ministries show the love of Jesus by serving the needs of those in our community who are suffering from the challenges of the broken world in which we live. We desire to touch hurting lives, to encourage them with hope in Christ. A hope the world cannot offer. Our goal is transformed lives through Jesus Christ.

Celebrate Recovery celebrated its third anniversary at COS in April and started our fourth year in a new location (F101) and a new time (7:00 pm). Our hope is that we will reach more people who will find healing and hope for their hurts, habits and hang ups.

At Celebrate Recovery, recovery is not the ultimate goal, it’s freedom to worship. We all carry burdens that prevent us from worshiping Jesus freely - it can be guilt, greed, anger, resentment, envy or many other things. Once we face these things directly and find healing, we can then worship and have the ability to love and give to others. There are many in Celebrate Recovery who have experienced this and with gratitude, give back to their community.

Celebrate Recovery is the only ministry that runs 51 weeks of the year solely with volunteers. Step 12 states “Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.” Giving back is built into the ministry because we believe that serving others will continue to bring healing in our lives as well. Rick Warren says that Celebrate Recovery is a leader making factory for this very reason that we practice giving generously from the overflow of our gratitude. Please consider joining our community of honest, broken yet courageous people who are serious about Jesus and His call to be His disciples.

The Visitation ministry volunteers go to people where they are to visit and be in communion with others. Many times, age, injury, hospitalization, or even other life circumstances become barriers leading to isolation. But God created us to be in relationship, and so our Visitation Ministry volunteers go. This team listens well, encourages, sing songs, read scripture, and prays with those they visit. In many instances, they even go above and beyond to help those alone and in need in very practical ways.

Our Stephen Ministry walks with those hurting or struggling in one-on-one relationships. We are open to both COS members, and those hurting in the community.

Grief Share is a ministry that meets people when they are grieving the loss of a loved one.
And Divorce Care is a ministry that walks alongside those going through the very painful process of divorce. Both these ministries are national ministries, but we have our own chapters here at COS. Remarkably, 75-80% of individuals who are encouraged through these ministries are from the community outside the COS family.

Financial Peace offers Biblical based tenants for ensuring we are good stewards of everything God has given us. We routinely see people from all stations in life: young people just starting out, newlyweds, older individuals preparing for the next phase of life, or anyone needing additional grounding in how God says to approach our finances.

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 safety and security for all of the buildings at the church campus.