Parish Profile

Our Mission

Becoming a reconciling presence within the community,

Celebrating the Risen Christ, embracing all people

and building a family of faith.

Our Goals:

Welcome to St. Clement's Episcopal Church!

Our Future Vision

We are on the threshold of an exciting time in the life of our parish. Each step leading us to this place has made us aware of our blessedness and of our longing to live out God's dream for us. Much prayer and deliberation have been given to discerning His will and our faith has revealed a sure move in the direction of a program-sized congregation of more than 250 families. This is a logical assessment considering the area and its demographics. Certainly this growth in numbers requires additional space for education and ministry and, ideally, a new sanctuary.

We envision St. Clement's as a comfortable, welcoming gathering place for its members as well as for civic groups, energizing our spaces with life and activity seven days a week. Always at the forefront of ministry, outreach might expand to include a network of bilingual reports advising members of the needs of marginalized persons nearby, or an expanded food pantry, a luncheon program and weekday offerings to seniors.

As the spirituality and devotion of our youth have been the most profound testament to God's grace among us for the past twenty years, we look forward to knowing them as adults who will return with their families. For this reason our program of continued guidance in community and instruction might grow into sports leagues, ministry teams or an are forum for youth from other denominations.

And finally, as seasonal and sporadic music programs have been a source of joy at worship, with proper facilities and space we anticipate regular performances by both adult and children's choirs.

We do not expect this vision to materialize in a year or two or three. It is a vision. Its reality will depend upon leadership.

Our History

In the autumn of 1985, a modest band of faithful Christians embarked on a journey to bring an Episcopal presence to the western edge of Forsyth County, North Carolina. Their numbers were sparse and the available worship space a temple of ending instead of beginnings. But they were a church and the spirit of its members, not numbers or buildings is the mettle of churches, a truth recognized by the new communion, born in the village of Clemmons and christened St. Clement's of Alexandria by North Carolina Bishop Robert Estill. With grateful hearts for the assistance from established congregations in nearby Winston Salem, regular services began  in Vogler's Funeral Home. 

Within weeks of the first Eucharist, celebrated by a supply priest, curious neighbors visited and joined, drawn to the hospitality and the sense of wonder that gave meaning and special intent to worship, despite the lack of hymnals and prayer books or pulling the boards of an altar from a closet each week. In no time a relationship of agape developed among the faithful and when, in January 1986, we were declared a mission of the Diocese of North Carolina, St. Clement's began to plan the ministry of that most holy bond.

The numbers around the family table each Sunday increased, as did our programs: Outreach, Christian Education, Music, Altar Guild and Fellowship formed our service in those first years. Space was needed in which to conduct these ministries, and understandably many of the rooms in mortuary were frequently occupied. Land was sought and found and the twenty-three families of our congregation raised $75,000, through personal giving and a variety of fundraisers, for its purchase. Almost immediately after the oversized cardboard pledge thermometer reached its goal, committees were formed to design and build upon the land, quickly claimed by a large sign announcing, "Future Home of St. Clement's Episcopal Church." On a memorable day in the summer of 1993, the first shovel of soil was lifted from the ground and our land, broken for anew life together, Construction began and in April 1994 the first Eucharist was celebrated in our sanctuary at the consecration of St. Clement's of Alexandria. We had found a place to put our church.

Through the years, St. Clement's members thrived on fellowship, missing no opportunity to come together for fun. Many of those early functions became traditions, such as "Carols in the Barn," where as many as a half dozen Virgin Marys, a crowd of fidgety shepherds and a pug-nosed angel or two welcome holy infants ranging from Cabbage Patch to Tickle Me Elmo dolls while grownups grin and serenade the season.

The "Shrove Tuesday Pancake Suppers" are currently prepared in our church kitchen with far less confusion than the first such event in 1987, held in the Civic Center of Clemmons, when, after blowing several fuses with a fleet of griddles, Episcopal ingenuity guided the cooks to water fountains whose wattage for cooling delivered hot griddles and pancakes aplenty. "The Maudy Thursday Agape Dinner" moved from its origins in the undercroft to a rearranged sanctuary primarily because of its popularity, and the flush of nearby restroom toilets mingling with the slosh of holy foot washing. The "Pentecost Pig Pickin'" has proved a rite of passage for youths willing to abide through the night beside the porker in the pit and share stories with the Men's Group. At "Fourth of July Picnics," members smitten by the slime of the egg toss may find it washed away by a well-placed water balloon, and get revenge for both abuses during softball. The annual church camping trip, skiing and river rafting are other recreations celebrated together. But no occasion was more celebrated than the Diocesan Convention in 1999 when St. Clement's was made a Parish in good standing.

New members and new spaces to conduct business enabled St. Clement's to improve the substance of early programs: Outreach, Christian Education, Altar Guild and Fellowship, and to include others as well. Currently a team of greeters, ushers, lay Eucharistic ministers, acolytes, readers and choirs assist a casual worship setting during Sunday services at 8:45 and 11:00 a.m., and twice each month The Order of St. Luke's offers healing at our altar. A Pastoral Committee gives support and comfort when it is needed and Home Eucharistic Ministers carry blessed food to those unable to be at the family table. Renewal programs such as Cursillo, Happening and Vocare enliven our faith and presently more than forty parishioners have attended such weekends.

Gifted vicars and priests have greatly blessed St. Clement's. The ministries of Father David Wright, Reverend Joan Grimm, Father Bob McGee, Father Art Hancock, Father Fred Horton, Father Randall Keeney, and Father Michael Bye conjure poignant memories. But while we cannot discount the teaching and pasturing of these shepherds as the vitality in our growth, it is spirit-driven resourcefulness, and allegiance to community that are the animating principles of faith for our parish. Presently we are led, comforted and counseled by the Reverend Candis Burgess.

The combination of servant hood and commitment to our mission state to become "...a reconciling presence within the community, celebrating the risen Christ, embracing all people and building a family of faith," has created a healthy, resilient congregation. Several times that resilience ahs been tested by adversity and differences of opinion, but we have remained fiercely unified, devoted to one another and empowered by our common covenant with God. We have been blessed with a surge in membership and are presently engaged in a Capital Funds Drive for additional space, the plans and models for which are now in place in our sanctuary. New buildings are exciting and forward-thinking enterprises and much prayer and consideration have been given this one. It will be a place for the future of St. Clement's for its people to worship, learn and continue in their ongoing relationship of agape. But we who are St. Clement's church are the living stones who will continue to be "built into this spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering our sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

St. Clement's Parish Family

St. Clement's celebrates a joyous atmosphere and a strong family network in a relaxed, open environment.

ST. CLEMENT'S IS A CHURCH FAMILY AND A CHURCH OF FAMILIES. Over 81 percent of our members are married and live within five miles of the church. Children evenly distributed between ages 4 to 19 are welcomed and treasured at St. Clement's. Though the majority of adults range from 36 to 55 years, fifteen percent of the parish are seniors and several times a year all ages participate in intergenerational activities.

ST. CLEMENT'S IS A CONGREGATION OF MINISTERS.  Most members participate in some form of outreach or parish activity on an average of 1-10 hours weekly with many regarding this involvement as a significant component of their spiritual and social life. We serve one another and the community through programs and activities of church life wherein most have been active for approximately eight years. And, as fifteen percent of the families are seniors, we are particularly mindful of the nursing homes and retirement communities in the area.

ST. CLEMENT'S PEOPLE ARE THINKERS.  We maintain an open and supportive environment and a variety of opinions on critical subjects within the traditions of the Episcopal Church. Lively discourse on such topics reflects the high levels of undergraduate and graduate degrees of this parish as well as differences in backgrounds, theology, and careers. Thinking people made good leaders.

ST. CLEMENT'S PARISHIONERS ARE HEARERS AND DOERS.  Although it is our belief that scripture be considered from a contemporary perspective and the issues it presents, we also realize that it is through God's word that God chiefly reveals Him/Herself as Redeemer, Friend, Healer, and Lover. Using an assortment of gifts and talents we endeavor to be co-creators with God of a kingdom where all people live out the reality of God's presence with us.

ST. CLEMENT'S PEOPLE ARE VISIONARIES.  We are blessed to be situated in a rapidly expanding area anticipating that within five years our membership will increase from 125 to approximately 250 families. If growth at that rate continues, we will begin to plan for a mission. Presently, our most significant challenge is expansion of our physical facilities. Our vision for this increase in service and devotion has produced a detailed scale model to inspire us in our current capital campaign of $1.5 million.

Above all, ST. CLEMENT'S IS A COMMUNITY OF FAITH.  Whatever our age, income, education, or personal status, whatever our theology or spiritual tenure, we are grounded in love for each other and for our Lord. We believe we are all made in God's image, called God's children, ordained as ministers and chosen to be God's servants, and assigned the fantastic responsibility of carrying on God's creative activity.