Personal Updates
2025 has been a year of joys and challenges for the McGugans. My son was married this past June. My daughter, Lydia and her husband, bought their first house in Littleton. I hope to be promoted from handyman to grandpa. JoEllen continues to remain cancer free. There is much to be thankful for.
The most significant challenge of the year was in regards to my parents. My mother fell in the spring and broke her wrist and contracted pneumonia. It was a long road to recovery. My parents are now in assisted living where they are stable and safe. JoEllen and I are thankful for the time we have, to be with them.
Staffing and Leadership
As part of the strategic plan, we restructured our Christian Formation Department. Tammie Sawicki’s and Emily Ruff's positions were eliminated in the restructure process. We give thanks for Tammie Sawicki and her dedication to the families of Christ Church and her faithful years of service. We hired Christian Schell as our full time Children, Student and Families Ministry Director and Katie Rush as our part-time Sunday School Coordinator. They are doing an exceptional job in their new roles. Fr. Todd will share more of the details in his report.
We had a transition in our music department with the departure of Dan Dufford, our Music Director. We invited Christ Bendrell to step in as our interim Choir Director and Elizabeth Arons as our interim Modern Music Coordinator. They have done an excellent job stabilizing our music program. In January of 2026, we hired Chris Bendrell as our new Music Director. We look forward to his leadership and great talent guiding our excellent music program. For more details about the Music Department and our plan for 2026 please refer to the Music Ministry Report.
We have added a remote Digital Engagement contract worker, Seth Saxion, to our Communications Department. This is a six-month contract with very specific goals and objectives to test learnings from the Narthex project and integrate them into our social media presence. This position is paid for by a grant from the Narthex project. After six months we will evaluate our learnings and determine what will be useful for Christ Church moving forward in the digital space.
Fr. Wengrovius who has served Christ Church for the last three years as our Associate for Congregational Development has retired effective December 31, 2025. John was instrumental in helping lead our Strategic Planning process. He and Ruth will continue to attend Christ Church and after his sabbatical he will make himself available to help with occasional pastoral visitations and funerals. I am deeply thankful to John.
It is a joy to work with our staff, both employees and contract workers, who make the life and ministry of Christ Church possible and successful. I am deeply grateful for their faithfulness and dedication to the mission and vision of our church.
Vestry
I want to thank Steve Mulhern and Pam Criag who were our wardens for 2025. They were diligent and faithful in their service and leadership. Steve Mulhern will be stepping down from the vestry as his term ends. Pam Criag will continue for another year as one of our wardens. I have asked Michele Pierson to be our other warden, and she has gracefully accepted the invitation. Our seated vestry members who will continue in 2026 are Denise Smith, Michele Pierson, Brett Rush, Chuck Woodward and Wendy Cowperthwaite. Those finishing their terms are Carol Hard, Andy Colella and Steve Mulhern. It is with great appreciation that I thank them for their faithful service to Christ Church.
At our Annual meeting on March 15, we will be electing three new vestry members for three-year terms. Our candidates for vestry are Steve Peterson, Fran Berry, and Olivia Mullen. For more details about our candidates please refer to the nominations page of this report. I look forward to a productive and exciting year with our new vestry.
Finances
As we close the books on 2025, we are deeply appreciative of the generosity God has shown Christ Church through our faithful members. For a deep dive on the financials please refer to Brady TenBarge’s Finance report. In summary, we ended the year with a net income of $3,028. We saw a 7% increase in giving over budget and a 3% decline in expenses. We began the year with the plan of drawing $298,000 from reserves to fund our missional initiatives in the strategic plan but only ended up using $118,664. In addition, we retained $79,745 worth of earnings from our Treasureland ministry.
We ended our stewardship campaign with 31 new pledges and an overall increase of pledge amount in 2025 from $1,227,798 to 2026 for $1,298,440, an increase of $70,642, roughly 6%. Given attendance increases in 2025, actual giving and the results of the 2026 stewardship campaign, we are excited about the growth we are experiencing and anticipate continued growth in 2026.
The Strategic Plan 2025
In 2025, we focused on two important areas in the Strategic Plan, Worship and Formation. In the area of Worship, we made changes which have been effective in growing participation and attendance. We have added several new worship services to our schedule: “Something Sacred” on Wednesday nights, “The Fountain” on Sunday evenings, two services for Palm Sunday, the Easter Vigil, and a 2pm service on Christmas eve. These additional services have created new space and opportunities for worship. Please read Fr. Todd’s report for more details regarding these services.
In short, our average Sunday attendance has grown from 253 (2024) to 306 (2025). Holy Week services have grown from 1226 (2024) to 1526 (2025). Easter attendance has grown from 658 (2024) to 842 (2025). Christmas attendance has grown from 738 (2024) to 843 (2025). As you can see our effort in expanding our worship opportunities on Sunday and special holidays has increased average Sunday attendance by 20%, Holy Week by 25%, and Christmas by 14%.
As we look to 2026, we will be assessing our Sunday morning worship schedule and evaluating opportunities to increase the number of services offered and creating further entry points for new people. In addition, we will evaluate those services we added in 2025 and determine viability and overall contribution to the growth of the parish. I want to thank Fr. Todd, our music department and liturgical ministries for their effort, leadership and contribution to the growth we are experiencing at Christ Church.
The second emphasis of the strategic plan in 2025 was the restructuring of the Christian Formation Department involving a deep assessment and evaluation of our curriculums and modalities. In 2026, our plan is to develop a ministry for children, students and families which will empower and equip those participating to flourish both in faith and life. We are confident the new and revitalized ministries in this area will attract and retain new families to Christ Church. Please refer to Fr. Todd’s (Whole-Life Discipleship) and Christian Schell’s (Children and Youth) reports for more details.
In 2025 we developed our Whole-Life Discipleship Manual of Practice. The manual focuses upon seven core practices which have been utilized by Christians for 2000 years as a means through which we are formed into disciples. These practices are worship, prayer, study of scripture and tradition, generosity and service, daily work and vocation, witness and community. We have been introducing the manual of practice through a variety of strategies to equip the people of Christ Church to become deeply committed whole-life disciples of Jesus for the world. It is through these seven practices that we can gauge and evaluate our spiritual lives and determine where we are growing and excelling and areas which might need more attention. Please refer to Fr. Todd’s article for more details.
The Strategic Plan 2026
In 2026 we will continue to evaluate our worship schedule and offerings. We will also continue our restructuring of our Children, Student and Families ministry. There will be new initiatives guided by the Strategic Plan in the areas of Adult Formation and Community. We will be offering adult formation in a variety of ways. One is through the tried-and-true way of traditional classes, such as Bible studies and topical studies, also through men’s and women’s ministries. In addition, we will branch out with a new model of formation called Spiritual Journey Cohorts. These cohorts will gather folks into small groups for a period of time to delve into a topic or curriculum in which they journey together through a series of retreats, discussions and assignments. Relationships and spiritual friendship are the medium in which material is explored, shared and discovered. We have three cohorts planned for 2026 which will give us data to hone our processes and expand offerings.
In 2026, the Manual of Practice, seven practices, will be the focal points of our preaching series, small group programming and cohort development. The concept is simple. Create environments of community where people are formed into being whole-life disciples of Jesus for the world through practicing these seven behaviors which over time shape us into what God desires us to be, “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.” (1Peter 2:19) There are more strategies lined up to incorporate the Manual of Practice into the life of the church which are highlighted in Fr. Todd’s report on Whole-Life Discipleship.
Also, in 2026 we will be restructuring and redeveloping our Newcomer and New Member Ministries. Fr. Todd will be leading this imitative. After an evaluative process, a strategic plan for newcomer and new member incorporation will be developed and implemented through our present ministries and new ministries. Our hope is that everyone who interacts with Christ Church through Sunday worship, or any of our many ministries will be genuinely welcomed, given the attention they desire and deserve, given pertinent information about the church and an opportunity to engage the church in ways they find helpful. For those called to become members of Christ Church there will be a clear and thorough process to membership.
These are just the highlights of the initiatives we will be pursuing in 2026. I am so impressed with the work and leadership of the vestry in striving to live into our mission and vision through our strategic plan. I am confident we are on the right track with our staff development in both our worship and formation departments. I believe 2026 will be a continuation of growth and deepening faith and community. Our goal is to grow both in size and depth. I believe our expansion of worship opportunities, restructuring of our Children, Student and Family Ministries, the integration of the Manual of Practice, the development of Spiritual Journey Cohorts for adults and our redevelopment of our Newcomer and New Member Ministries will continue to fuel the growth we experienced in 2025 into 2026. May God mightily bless Christ Church so Christ Church would be a blessing to the people who call it their church home, to the people God is calling to join us in doing life and ministry together and to the world we live in. Let us seek to serve the world by being a community of deeply committed whole-life disciples of Jesus, learning to be with, become like and live like Jesus.