Beyond Ourselves

"Instead of a traditional building fund, the Beyond Ourselves campaign mobilized attendees to provide money for additional space and to help those in need."

Average Weekly Attendance: 650
Senior Pastor Clay Lein
Information Provided By: Jennifer Atwood, St. Philip's Episcopal Church outreach coordinator

Since the day it began in 2002, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Frisco, Texas, has had a special relationship with Bright Elementary School. The church’s first worship services were held in the school cafeteria, and a request for help from the principal four years later resulted in the church starting a mentoring program known as Band of Brothers.

But in 2009, St. Philip’s elevated its ministry to the school and the community to a new level, starting the Beyond Ourselves campaign amid a struggling economy. To make room for more people in the buildings the church has occupied since 2006, St. Philip’s needed to raise money for remodeling, but church leaders believed they could not ignore the needs of the people struggling in the surrounding community. As a result, instead of a traditional building fund, the Beyond Ourselves campaign mobilized attendees to provide money for additional space and to help those in need.

The campaign spurred 179 people in the church to pledge their time as volunteers to serve residents in the school’s attendance zone, an ethnically and economically diverse area in which the church is located.

The church’s new Bright Zone Ministry has helped more than 50 kids learn babysitting skills so they can safely care for their siblings, provided one-on-one reading time with students, connected more than 400 job seekers with prospective employers at a job fair, mentored at-risk students through the Band of Brothers/Circle of Sisters ministry, and helped families obtain clothing through the Clothe-a-Child program.

Although the church has added 49 percent more education and office space to its facilities as well, it is most excited about the impact it is having in the community and is praising God for opening doors to make it possible.

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