“Now to God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
— Ephesians 3:20–21
As I consider our life together in 2025, the above words from the Letter to the Ephesians provide a lens and language for seeing the powerful ways God works through Christ Church Cranbrook. This has been a year marked by vitality and growth that surpasses anything we might have anticipated even just five years ago. Our joy is not in what we have done, but in what God has accomplished through us, in and beyond these walls.
We are a church where all are welcome, each is beloved, and every person transformed. We continue to grow not only numerically but spiritually. Increasingly, we lead with love. More and more, our witness in word and deed shines like a beacon in the wider world.
As we enter 2026, it is clear that we have transitioned from a program-sized parish to a resource-sized parish. What differentiates a resource-sized parish from a program-sized parish?
Being a resource-sized parish means that our church is now called to exercise leadership in challenging times, as a congregation that reflects the welcoming love of Jesus and bears faithful witness to his life, death, and resurrection. From our storytelling initiatives to youth mission trips, family service programs, adult formation, Second Saturday ministry, Thriving Families program, expanded clergy leadership, and outreach grants, we have served both the parish and the wider community faithfully, creatively, compassionately, and strategically. What follows is a brief recap of what God has achieved through us in 2025 that continues to draw from our starting Scripture.
At the heart of our life together, God draws us into worship, the living center around which all else turns. In 2025, attendance and participation at our worship services increased by approximately 20%, reflecting a growing hunger among many for a shared encounter with God. Our worship bursts with joy and life, as the Gospel is powerfully shared and God draws us together by graciously inviting us to gather through Word and Sacrament. In addition to record numbers at Christmas and Easter, we celebrated 11 weddings, 29 funerals, and 39 baptisms.
Music continues to be central to this experience, and we celebrate the growth of choir programs across every age group. Five different musical ensembles, comprised of 100 participants, led our worship. Our two choirs for young people, the St. Francis Choir (ages 4-7) and Choristers (ages 8-18) grew to 40 young people, doubling the number of children enrolled in 2024. Our Handbell choir grew by 50%, adding another bank of bells. Our parish choir relaunched in 2025, and 20 parishioners joined.
Finally, Friends of Music at Christ Church Cranbrook was launched, providing donations and gifts for all of the music programming at our parish, including the outstanding work of our nonprofit, the Cranbrook Project. Currently, 65 donors have provided $56,000 in additional funding, which will help us provide exceptional musical offerings for our church and wider community.
Throughout our program life and worship services, there are increasing opportunities for gathered prayer, Christian education, and service as the Holy Spirit draws us more deeply into the life and way of Jesus Christ. Nearly 300 adults participated in educational and formation opportunities this year, engaging Scripture, prayer, and ethical reflection with curiosity and rigor.
Our youth experienced transformative learning beyond the parish. More than twenty young people and adults traveled to Costa Rica on a mission trip, working alongside local ministries and discovering their own capacities for Christian leadership and service.
Our Sunday School continues to grow, and families have also deepened their discipleship through a new program, Families Do Kindness, which provides structured opportunities for families to serve together, nurturing compassion, resilience, and the integration of faith into daily life. Our Vacation Bible School had record attendance, with 116 participants, and approximately 307 children and youth participated in our other ministries and programs.
The vitality of our parish life is most evident in its care for one another. In moments of celebration and grief, transition and uncertainty, our community continues to embody Christ’s loving and healing presence. In 2025, more than 50 parishioners served in our pastoral care ministries, including Prayer Shawls, Prayer Cards, Chaplains, Lay and Eucharistic Visitors, Understanding Your Grief, and OASIS. In 2025, these ministries sent over 300 cards, created approximately 100 prayer shawls, and raised $3,500 for nonprofits through a knitting sale. They made 380 pastoral and Eucharistic visits and accompanied 30 individuals through the Understanding Your Grief program.
Outreach in 2025 has been expansive, strategic, and rooted in discernment. The parish secured an additional $150,000 grant from the Douglas Allison Family Foundation for 2026, strengthening our capacity to respond thoughtfully to emerging needs.
Our Interfaith Dental Program, established in 2022, continues to restore oral health for new Americans, increasing their employability and respecting their dignity. The Thriving Families Program provided wrap-around support for four households, helping them progress toward self-sufficiency with guidance and resources.
Participation in Second Saturday ministry opportunities, including the Community Garden, has grown in participation, reach, and joy, inviting parishioners to engage in tangible acts of service that extend our shared mission into the neighborhood and city. These programs exemplify how communal faith nurtures both compassion and action.
We are also honored to have received a $5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to develop a storytelling ecosystem that empowers voices of resilience and resurrection, in collaboration with Detroit PBS, Detroit Opera, and our nonprofit, the Cranbrook Project. These partnerships integrate faith, culture, and community in innovative ways, cultivating narratives that inspire and transform.
Through these ministries, the parish bears witness to Christ’s reconciling presence, participating in God’s work with generosity, imagination, and joy.
Financial stability and growth continue to reflect both faithful generosity and stewardship. In 2024, we retired $5.9 million of construction debt through the Next 100 Capital Campaign, which has to date received $6.64 million in pledges toward a $7 million goal. This milestone enabled us to retire the debt on our $13.9 million campus enhancement project and complete important renovations, including our new sanctuary lighting and fresco restoration.
In 2025, we added Father Biil Carroll, a fourth clergy member to our team, enhancing pastoral care, spiritual formation, and leadership capacity. We are so grateful for Fr. Bill, Tracy, and Danny for joining our clergy team, enabling us to continue to serve our growing congregation.
As we enter 2026, many have noticed that levels of participation are approaching pre-pandemic levels in other churches and the wider community. Astonishingly, our own review of the past five years demonstrates that we continued to thrive and grow during and through the pandemic. Over the past five years (2020–2025):
Each year, contributions have consistently exceeded pledges, a testament to the generosity and trust of this community.
Many years ago, I read The Peaceable Kingdom (1983) by Stanley Hauerwas, who was then the most influential theologian in the United States. One pivotal point he makes in this work is that “the church does not have a social ethic; the church is a social ethic.” By this, he meant that the work of the church is to follow the Gospel narratives, proclaiming Israel’s story and Jesus’ death and resurrection by becoming a truthful, peaceful community. Its most creative political witness is not new laws or policy advice, but patient care for the vulnerable, resisting the world’s agenda and revealing God’s justice through lived faithfulness.
As we enter 2026, we stand at a critical juncture as a parish. Being a resource-sized church is not simply a matter of scale, but a call to faithful and courageous mission. Here is what Hauerwas writes in a recent reprint of this point:
The most interesting, creative political solutions we Christians have to offer our troubled society are not new laws, advice to policymakers, or increased funding for social programs – although we may support such efforts from time to time. The most creative social strategy we have to offer is to be the church. Here we show the world a manner of life that it can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers. (Hauerwas, “The First Task of the Church,” Plough, March 31, 2025)
Grounded in prayer, shaped by Scripture, and enlivened by grace, we move forward united by our belief that God will continue to do far more than all we can ask or imagine. To God be the glory in our church and in Christ Jesus, now and always. Amen.