Thriving Parishes Project Program Director Priest Andrew Smith visited St. Christina of Tyre Church in Fremont, CA January 11 and 12 to conduct Church Health Team training and present the wider scope of the Project to the whole parish.
Fremont is just across the Bay from Silicon Valley, and so it should be no surprise that many of the Church Health Team members are professionals in tech and finance. They quickly absorbed the process laid out by the Saturday training and left with firm confidence that they could shepherd the work within the parish. In fact, they completed the survey invitation process by Sunday afternoon!
Fr. Andrew returned to the parish on Sunday to officially introduce the Project to the community. People were very eager to ask more questions about the potential of this diocesan initiative; the youth and young adults were particularly enthused about the work of Thriving Parishes.
St. Christina of Tyre Parish started as an offshoot of St. Innocent Church in Pleasanton, which is also a participant in the Thriving Parishes Project. Though it was founded only in 2004, it grew quickly, achieving full parish status in 2014 in advance of its tenth anniversary. All the services are conducted in English, and yet it has developed a distinctly pan-ethnic, pan-orthodox flavor, with American converts worshipping along with long-term cradle Orthodox families of Slavic, Arab, Greek, and Egyptian descent (to name a few).
May God grant Priest Damian Kulp and his hard-working flock much strength as they seek to strengthen their witness of the Truth in the city of Fremont!
Pictures are courtesy of Calista Pettit: