Thirty years ago this week, the congregation of Church of the Holy Family celebrated a momentous occasion. This coming Sunday, we will commemorate and celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the dedication of our church building.

Church of the Holy Family began with an idea in the late 1980s to plant a mission church out in the western part of the Hendersonville Deanery of the Diocese of Western North Carolina. In July 1988, a small group of clergy and laypersons from St. James Hendersonville, St. Philip’s Brevard, and Calvary Fletcher, met to discuss interest in establishing an Episcopal presence in this area.

I spent some time this week digging through the old records in the parish office, and Evie Brush’s archives in the annex. The early years of this congregation were their “wandering years.” This small band of Episcopalians met in various places including Mills River United Methodist Church, and the Lindgren and Brush homes. By June 1989 the mission was meeting in the basement of the Bar-B-Q Shak in Etowah (now the Salty Landing). They outgrew this space and began meeting in a rented machine-shop on Route 64 in Etowah. In just two years, the church went from mission to parish by declaration at the Diocesan Convention of May 11, 1990. The date and geographic beginnings are reflected on the banner displayed in our hallway.

The congregation’s desire for a permanent home led to its relocation to Mills River. A building committee was formed in January 1992. The old meeting notes and hand-written calculations of financing and funding reveal hopefulness and determination. Many of their early preferred design elements did not come to fruition; i.e., we have no separate area dedicated solely to worship, no undercroft for storage, and our sanctuary does not have “a cathedral ceiling with exposed wood beams.”  The committee weighed the pros and cons of four general options: 1) move the existing nave at St. James Black Mountain to Mills River, 2) purchase a double-wide manufactured home, 3) build a single multipurpose building as a starter building, and 4) build a complete, new church with all the desired amenities.

The decision was made for option three, build this 5,400 SF multipurpose building with plans to add a nave at a later time. Approval from Bishop Johnson for this plan was given on August 31, 1992. Once these decisions were made and financing was secured, construction of the project went quickly. On January 3, 1993, a caravan of parishioners left their rented space in Etowah to break the ground on their Mills River property. Bishop Johnson officially broke the ground over the spot of our present-day altar.  Each member of the congregation had a chance to turn a shovel full of dirt. The contract for the building was signed on February 10, and the building was delivered on May 4. The congregation moved in during August 1993.

On October 24, 1993, it was official. November 1993 newsletter, the dedication was a festive and joyous occasion. The work of the building committee ended. The Rev. Barbara Bloxsom, Rector of Holy Family, noted in this newsletter:

“In an important way, we have marked the ending of one phase in the life of our parish. Now we have a permanent home, a place in which to gather, to thank and praise and glorify the living God who creates, redeems, and sustains us. We have a place of our own in which we can be strengthened and nourished by Word and Sacrament. … It is time to redirect tremendous energy, generosity, and effort of our parish family to the work of evangelism and ministry.”

Thirty years later, I am grateful for the work of that generation of believers. Here we are, still gathering, thanking, praising, and glorifying the living God, in this building which I have grown to love. I can’t help but wonder if Church of the Holy Family has entered its third phase. The early wandering years are over. The first three decades of growing and establishing our presence in Mills River are over, and I wonder what the next three decades will bring. At a time when the post-pandemic Church is faltering, we are experiencing new life.

I invite you to celebrate with me after church on Sunday. In honor of our early years in the basement of the Bar-B-Q Shak, we will celebrate with barbeque pot-luck lunch. Dave and I will bring pulled pork and pulled chicken. Please bring what you would like. We will honor and remember all those who came before us to make this congregation a reality. And we will look forward with the same hopefulness and determination.

Peace and blessings,

Tracey