Help us complete the Gift and the Promise

Inspired giving is an act of creation. Christ Church has recently concluded a Capital Campaign. If you would like to join us in the huge endeavor of preserving a beautiful Rochester landmark, you can still make an offering. Card sets, pictured below, are also still available for donations of $25.00. The image of the cards is a link for your gift.

The Story of Christ Church’s Capital Campaign, A Gift and a Promise.

Our story begins in 1891. Christ Church had outgrown its 1862 chapel, and it was time to build a new space that could serve as a house of worship for the vibrant community on East Avenue. The parish started its expansion with a new chancel, which is the signature part of the Christ Church building that we know and love today. It was the beginning of the promise to come.

Just like today, Christ Church was built on a foundation of generosity. Some of the architectural additions to the physical plant of Christ Church (e.g. Wilder Hall and the Johnson bell tower) were donated by individuals as memorials to deceased family members or funded by legacies. Many enhancements to worship, like a harmonium and the organs, and much interior beautification, like the stained-glass windows and the reredos with its Tiffany mosaic, were also donated. The women’s societies, the Sunday school classes, the choristers, and similar small groups gave other gifts like vestments and communion service vessels at special anniversaries or holidays. Periodically the Vestry asked communicants for pledges, called subscriptions, to fund major projects.

SOURCE: TERRY LEHR, DRAWN TO TRADITION, CHALLENGED BY CHANGE

For the past 120 years, Christ Church parishioners have dreamed of painting the interior of the church. With every passing capital campaign and fundraiser, the painting of the chancel took a back seat to other, more urgent projects. For example, in 1925, Christ Church renovated its kitchen and recreational spaces to serve more outreach projects. The Parish Aid Society was financially responsible for the maintenance of the Chapter House: cleaning, redecorating, replacing broken china and missing silver, laundering table linens, and doing other household chores. In addition, the women used the kitchen facilities often as more and more parish and diocesan groups chose Christ Church as the site of their conferences. The ladies were matchless at preparing and serving sumptuous but inexpensive banquets. But in an age when electricity was quickly replacing gas and coal as the major source of lighting and cooking, the facilities of the Chapter House were archaic. When the vestry introduced plans for a new, state-of-the-art parish house in 1919, they met with everyone’s approval.

SOURCE: TERRY LEHR, DRAWN TO TRADITION, CHALLENGED BY CHANGE

We were delighted to finally begin fulfilling the promise to paint the chancel in 2015. Through a generous bequest donation to the church, Christ Church was able to transform the chancel into a truly magnificent space. We were also able to repair faulty plaster in the chancel.

As history shows, though, one solution is often followed by another problem. In summer 2015, a portion of the exterior brick wall facing Lawn Street began to buckle noticeably. The wall was immediately braced, but rebuilding was beyond the church’s operating fund capacity. Soon after, a small interior section of the plaster ceiling fell! Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the message was clearly received: damaged plaster from decades of water infiltration was in urgent need of repair. The most urgent problem area was repaired, but damaged windowsills and panes continued to allow moisture to enter the church walls and ceilings on both aisles.

As always, Christ Church’s faithful parish was ready to spring into action to meet the needs of its building. A group of Vestry members and volunteers assembled to begin our capital campaign. An insightful volunteer named our effort “A Gift and a Promise.” Together, we are raising the gifts today that will ensure the promise of Christ Church for the future.

We had a lofty goal: raise $1,000,000 so we could address several critical projects. We knew that the Lawn Street Wall and the crumbling plaster in the sanctuary needed to be repaired. We resolved to repair plaster in the entire interior of the nave, which naturally meant that we needed to prevent future water damage and fix the windows in the space as well. 

We also saw this campaign as an opportunity to improve Christ Church with some other long-overdue repairs. The campaign committee decided to include the sound system, a new hearing loop, and internal lighting for the church as part of its overall effort.

Four years ago, our campaign had $0 in the bank and many looming projects. Today, we have raised over $700,000 and have completed a tremendous amount of work.

And truly, we could not have done it without the support of so many in our parish and beyond.The Lawn Street Wall has been repaired. The sanctuary has been re-plastered and painted. The chancel painting has been completed. Christ Church has a new sound system and LED lighting in the sanctuary. The windows have been repaired and protected against the elements. We could not be more proud of how far we’ve come.