About Us

 

     St. Luke's Episcopal Church is the creative result of the combining of St. John's and St. Mark's parishes in 2002. Fr. Bruce Henne, our only rector, retired in December 2007. The two parishes voted to merge and set up the new parish in the St. John's building as it was the larger of the two. St. Mark's building was sold to the New Geneva Presbyterians and our Soup Kitchen was relocated inside the Community Outreach Center in 2004. It took a lot of committed Episcopalians to make this merger happen in a very good and constructive way. Even after it was discovered that the church secretary had embezzled over $100,000, we rebounded with great enthusiasm and determination to succeed as a viable congregation ready to serve our members.

     St. Luke's is a program sized and focused congregation; the only Episcopal presence in Idaho Falls. Our 368 communicants are like most Episcopalians, as our 113 average Sunday attendance reflects. Several interesting points were revealed in our recent parish survey. Our congregation is quite well educated, earning on average more than the national average income. Many families have a connection to the INL (Idaho National Laboratory), and others are business or technical professionals. Over half of the parish comes from an Episcopal background, and almost all are Caucasian. Most of the adults in our congregation are between 40 and 70 with equal numbers of men and women. We have 80 children under 18 years of age; they are energetic and interested. Our smallest age group is the 20 to 40 year olds, but we have a powerful and eclectic group of 15 that are over 80. Our major diversity comes in the form of social, economic and political arenas.

      Currently, we maintain two Sunday services - 8am and 10:15am - Rite I and Rite II respectively. Our worship is enhanced by many genres of music from choirs to bells. We offer a monthly healing service which is lay led and the clergy steps in with the anointing. Also, on the schedule is a mid week Eucharist on Wednesdays at noon, but we have scaled back to noon prayers followed by lunch on the first of each month while in the search process.

     St. Luke's has a vast array of talented folks who chair a wide variety of programs which we organize and discuss at a monthly Committee Night held the fourth Tuesday of each month. We have found this really helps communication between all the groups. This is a relatively new concept, but it seems to be catching on.

     Also catching on is our approach to Sunday School. We adopted the Godly Play curriculum for K-4, J2A for 5-8th and an adult forum with various topics, offering all classes at 9am between the services. Missing, is a high school group and we haven't found a way to reach or retain them. Though, we have sponsored five very successful teen mission trips.

     A lay concern for ‘inreach' has resulted in a CARE (Christian Adults Reaching Everyone) program that aids parishioners in social, transportation and health needs. It is a way in which we can take care of our church family. This program adds to our existing pastoral programs such as a prayer chain, shawl ministry, hospital chaplains, and Lay Eucharistic Visitors.

     We are very active in outreach as we have helped develop, finance and staff the local Food Bank. Our merging of the two parishes led to the formation of the Community Outreach Center which houses five charities including the Soup Kitchen, another project started by the Episcopal Community. We are well known, but networking and higher visibility among the other city institutions would be helpful.

     Our building is functional for most of us, but as our parish ages, we see the need for some remodeling. Utmost of importance is the parking issue and adding restrooms on the chapel level. An elevator would be nice and, of course, the wish list goes on and on. We view remodeling as preferable to a new facility as we actually haven't outgrown this one yet.

     We operate on an annual budget of between $200,000 and 210,000. This amount comes primarily from 86 pledging families. Stewardship programs are continually difficult to staff and execute. Our desire is to have a year round stewardship program, and for it to become a way of life instead of something to avoid.

     In conclusion, our members are open minded and welcoming about most issues - we are an inclusive community. We are primarily interested in our families, friends and how God works within our lives. Worship brings us to church and while there, we look to be inspired and educated about living a more Christian and loving life.

ABOUT IDAHO FALLS

     Idaho Falls, a city of 53,000 people, is located on a high desert plain in southeastern Idaho. It is situated along the Snake River at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains. Idaho Falls is at the heart of some of the world's best known recreational areas including Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, Targhee, Sun Valley, Henry's Lake, Craters of the Moon, the Sawtooths, Island Park, Jackson Hole and several national forests. All of these areas provide opportunities for year round outdoor activities, such as skiing, hiking, fly fishing, boating and camping. Generally described as a semiarid alpine climate, we definitely enjoy all four seasons here.

     Idaho Falls is the county seat for Bonneville County and is a regional center for shopping, education, medical care and cultural activities. We boast of having our own symphony, opera chamber orchestra, community drama, performing arts groups, museums, zoo and professional minor league baseball. We also enjoy having three municipal golf courses, an aquatic center, a year round soccer arena and a beautiful greenbelt that is scheduled with family events most of the year.

     Our population's diversity is based mostly on an economic scale rather than ethnic. Although our Hispanic community is rapidly growing, most of our population is caucasian. As far as the religious make-up of our community, the majority of people attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The balance is divided among various protestant and Catholic churches. We do enjoy a deep ecumenical spirit which is evident in the incredible generosity of the people in this town. We offer a vast array of faith based social services for our less fortunate neighbors, and we even socialize together in two very well attended progressive dinners that are planned by neighborhood churches consisting of five or six different denominations.

     Our citizens have always supported a strong education system, and to that end are very proud of our University Place which offers classes from Idaho State University and University of Idaho, and the Eastern Idaho Technical College which recently instituted a degreed nursing program.

     Idaho Falls is a bit of a crossroads community as its history bears out, owing its existence to the river and the railroad. It was and still is a resting place for travelers on their way to other places. Many have stayed and we have benefited from their gifts and experiences. We may have begun with an economy based in trading, freighting and pioneer exploring, but have graduated to agribusiness, flourishing retail businesses, as well as a large engineering and scientific community due to the presence of the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory.

     Idaho Falls is a hospitable and relatively inexpensive place to live and work and raise families. Its growth is a testament to that fact. We, at St. Luke's, are proud of our city and hope to enhance the community by our presence and outreach programs.

 

     For more information please refer to these websites:

www.stlukes.episcopalidaho.org     www.growidahofalls.org      www.idahofallschamber.com