The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
February 2008

Getting to Know Our Community

All-Saints, Salt Lake City

Fifty years strong

All Saints in Salt Lake City just celebrated its 50th year as a fully incorporated parish. It actually started nearly 60 years ago in a garage with very humble beginnings that took it to a home basement when the garage became too cold. Church members then took a seven year journey stopping at a café, a meeting hall, and several buildings at Ft. Douglas. Perhaps the most unusual was a former Ft. Douglas jail cell complex that housed Sunday School classes.

In the 1950s, the church settled on donated land on Foothill Blvd. in Salt Lake City. The congregation built a parish hall and intended to build a church to the east. The parish hall became the worship space and it was nearly 45 years later before the dream of the Sanctuary was realized.

All Saints not only became one of a handful of full parishes quickly after it was built, it also launched another parish—St. James. It further has the distinction of having three Bishops come from its ranks.

Today, All Saints continues its unique history in the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. One ministry offers support and a church home to 100 of the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan. The church has helped six of the Sudanese get their college degrees in a fund that has grown to $35,000 in six years. All Saints started that ministry with a $5,000 fund and a matching grant from the diocese.

The beautiful All Saints interior is described as a mix of traditional and contemporary Episcopal Church design.

The Rev. R. Michael Mayor says the church has "hands-on" outreach. It extends that outreach to homeless families and is working on a partnership with the Episcopal Church of Sudan. The church also plans to extend its music outreach. The modern worship space is known for its excellent acoustics.

Father Mayor describes the worship as relaxed, but dignified. He says visitors will also discover the church facility is a mixture of both traditional and contemporary space.

All Saints webpage offers more at www.allsaintsslc.org.

Ascension-St. Matthews

Come share the spirit!

Ascension-St. Matthews is a totally blended community of Episcopalians and Lutherans. It is not a merged church, rather a relationship of "full communion" based on the national 2001 document entitled "Called to Common Mission." Senior Warden Don Phillips says the diverse congregation goes beyond Episcopalians and Lutherans with a third group of active church members claiming neither faith tradition. There is one governing body that takes neither the traditional Episcopalian "Vestry" nor the Lutheran "Council" labels. It just calls itself the "Governing Body."

The congregation reaches out into the greater community. It joins Methodists and an LDS Stake Center in an annual Carbon County area Christmas program. In turn, members of virtually all faiths crowd into Ascension-St. Matthews for the Shove Tuesday pancake dinner. The church generally serves pancakes to around 600 people in what has become a tradition in Carbon and Emery Counties.

Ascension-St. Matthews faces both a challenge and an opportunity for growth. Phillips says the church is trying to become well-known in Price. For example, the parish has joined the Chamber of Commerce as a way of increasing visibility. Senior Warden Phillips feels its growth will come from those in the un-churched segment discovering Ascension-St. Matthews. The church is also in a search for a new Priest or Pastor. That leader will certainly be called upon to reach out to new members.

Ascension-St. Matthews is one of the newest buildings in the Diocese, but the Episcopal side of the blended community represents one of the oldest heritages. Early Bishops, including Utah's first bishop, The Rt. Rev. Daniel Tuttle, saw traditionally non-LDS miners and railroad workers as those who would appreciate the Episcopal Church. Carbon and Emery County were full of both miners and railroad workers. At one time, there were Episcopal communities in Helper, East Carbon, Price and in the more distant mining communities of Tintic and Eureka. As mining changed and populations shifted, the churches were combined. The result is the striking church which held its first service in 2002.

The youth group of Ascension-St. Matthew’s wrapped Christmas presents for those in need in the Price area, which were delivered by the Price Police. Kmart partnered with the youth group Ascension- St. Matthew’s Church to make Christmas gift giving a reality for many in Carbon County

The church is fond of saying "A beautiful building brought me in, the lovely people caused me to stay." Their invitation is COME SHARE THE SPIRIT!

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