On October 21, 2001, the incense rose to meet the glistening sun as it shone through the high windows of Kay Stoelting's great room, packed with all 4 orders of worshipping people anticipating the very first Liturgy together as a newly assembled body. Although the parish name wasn't officially chosen until a little later, St. Paul the Apostle EOC was born there on that first Sunday as 22 Faithful entered into communion together. Many were worn and still grieving the separation of Holy Trinity but, nevertheless, we shared a renewed sense of God's presence and blessing and a firm hope in His gracious mercy and restoration.

After many meetings and discussions with bishops, priests, deacons, and people, the pastoral discernment period drew to a close and, with the “Amen!” of the people, Bp. Jerold officially blessed Fr. Joshua as priest of the parish, which began to take as its name St. Paul the Apostle Evangelical Orthodox Church. We soon found that a man of God who is a theologian, has the heart of a loving shepherd toward his flock, desires a balanced path that turns neither to the right nor to the left, and has a wife more precious than rubies who can gently keep him in line, makes a great priest.

The reorganized group began with an awesome deacon as well, Patrick Jensen. A second deacon, Thaddeus Estes, followed a little later. Both have hearts of gold and are tremendous icons of Christ the Servant of All. We were a motley group with a variety of ages, and although many of us had been together at Holy Trinity, not many of us were close there or knew each other very well. However, we soon found out our hearts were in the same place. Our love for the Lord and for the vision of the EOC bonded our hearts together quickly and we set to work to become whatever God would make of us.

We held retreats at various places to discuss, grapple with, and eventually define the vision God had placed on our hearts. We worshipped, we prayed, we sang, we laughed, and we cried. Through all of it we have come to discern that we are called by God primarily to be a place of prayer and healing. We seek to be balanced in all things, rooted in ancient Christian Tradition yet in a living way that allows us to engage the unique challenges of today and build for tomorrow. Our music, worship, and life together reflects both old and new in a blend that is uniquely Evangelical Orthodox, reflecting Jesus' words: “And He said to them, ‘Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52).'”

On Sunday mornings at 9:00 we gather to hear the Word of God and enter into Eucharist together, followed by a time of snacks and fellowship and education time. On Wednesday nights we gather more informally to pray for the concerns on our hearts and study together. We have regular planning retreats, Parish Council meetings, women's and men's gatherings, a rich blend of music, and we work hard to be a living community that shares the joys and struggles of our lives together. We will use any excuse to have a celebration, a chance to gather, to love one another, to pitch in food and feast on the goodness and glory of the Lord, which He has so graciously lavished upon us.

We began our communion together meeting in Kay Stoelting's home, then rented the chapel at the University of Indianapolis for a year. We then spent a few interim months at a conference room at the Ramada Inn, and finally in March of 2003 we began sharing a traditional church building that is owned by a Seventh Day Adventist church. They meet there on Saturdays and we use it on Sundays and Wednesdays, and sometimes on other days. Even though we have “setup” down to an art, it is still quite a process to behold. The building's worship space, while very nice, is also very plain, an intentional aspect of Seventh Day Adventist tradition. For our purposes, however, because we take a much more visible, tangible, and physical approach to worship, we transform the space to take on that character. We are saving our dollars, hoping that someday we can have a more permanent setup in a building of our own.

While we are growing and have more than doubled in size from where we started, we are still a small community of believers, but our smallness does not keep us from being active and accomplishing many things. We have partnered with a priest from Kenya that Fr. Joshua met in seminary, giving quarterly to help him relieve the hunger and illnesses of his African community. Locally, we are involved in a number of ways in helping the poor and neglected of our own community, and Fr. Joshua is avidly working at building relationships with other area pastors and priests to break down walls and work toward the restoration of a unified Christian witness that is rooted in the fullness of Apostolic Faith. Please come and visit us sometime – we would be glad to welcome you in the love of Christ!

Carol Cornelius