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Tiny church perseveres

A breakaway group is conservative about everything but growth.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
Published August 15, 2007

Ten years ago, a small group of disenchanted Episcopalians decided to leave their St. Petersburg church to join a conservative breakaway group.

This month, their St. Philip's Anglican Church marked its 10th anniversary with a cruise and religious service on Tampa Bay and dinner at the Pier. For the tiny parish, where Sunday attendance hovers around 28, it was a celebration of survival despite sluggish growth and an aging membership.

It has also been a time to look forward. Congregation leaders think growth will be found north of St. Petersburg and are searching for new quarters in Pinellas Park or beyond.

Global issues also are in play. The Episcopal Church, which many St. Philip's members left, is in turmoil over the recognition and inclusion of openly gay people. Entire congregations have left the denomination, which also is facing a showdown over the issue with the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part.

St. Philip's could benefit from the controversy. While not part of the official worldwide Anglican body, it belongs to the Anglican Province of America, created during a decades-earlier split from the Episcopal Church. Its headquarters are near Orlando.

The Rev. John H. Poole of St. Philip's says, though, he's not focusing on potential gain that could result from a schism in the Episcopal Church. His emphasis is on evangelization and attracting more people, especially young families, who are unchurched or are interested in a conservative, Bible-based, liturgical community, Poole said.

"I feel there are people searching for the truth," he said. "We certainly are welcoming of any Episcopalian that might want to come looking for a lifeboat."

Poole believes a new location could boost membership. The parish now rents a quaint chapel with red-cushioned pews tucked away in a residential neighborhood at 4545 10th Ave. N.

"You've got to want to come here to come here," said Les Howell, 86, St. Philip's senior warden, or head of the church's vestry or governing board. "I think if we had our own building, we would have done better."

Hence the effort to buy or lease property in Pinellas Park.

"I see that as a growing area," said Poole, 59, who lives in the city with his wife, Denice. His small congregation has saved about $300,000 for a new site, he said.

Poole, who became a priest a year ago, had been a deacon in the Episcopal Church for a quarter of a century before leaving the denomination.

"I was looking for a more stable, historical faith," he said.

The former ironworker from upstate New York said he found what he was looking for when he met Bishop Walter H. Grundorf - also a former Episcopalian - of the Anglican Province of America.

"It renewed my faith," he said of the religious community with congregations scattered throughout the country.

Howell, the senior warden, who joined St. Philip's seven years ago, also left the Episcopal Church. He said he and his wife, Madge, found a home at St. Philip's with its traditional prayer book, male-only priests and conservative doctrine.

A decade ago, others of like mind responded to an invitation to discuss joining a breakaway branch of the Episcopal Church.

Before the May 1997 gathering was over, a steering committee had been formed to organize the church that would become St. Philip's.

Fast Facts:  

St Philip's Anglican Church

Organized: 1997

Members: 38

Where: 4545 10th Ave. N, St. Petersburg; (727) 366-5536. Web site: stphilipsfl.com.

Anglican Province of America

Congregations: 77

Members: about 6,000

Headquarters: St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral, Oviedo. Web site: www.anglicanprovince.org.

[Last modified August 14, 2007, 22:32:05]