Parish Profile
Overview
Jonah’s Call Anglican Church is seeking a Rector to join our parish’s Gospel movement to bring flourishing to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are seeking a Rector who can begin their service in 2023, preferably in summer or fall. We are open to full-time and part-time candidates, with a preference for a full-time Rector. We offer this profile as background regarding our parish and the qualities we are seeking in a new Rector, but we also encourage interested candidates to review our website at www.jonahscall.org.
Our Vision: What We Believe
Jonah’s Call has been a vision-driven church since its inception, striving to make its decisions based upon the vision that God has given us. Jonah’s Call’s short-form Vision Statement is as follows:
“Joining in a Gospel movement that brings flourishing to the city as we worship God, love our neighbor, and shape culture.”
Our long-form Vision Statement unpacks the key components of the Statement:
Worshipping God
The transforming power of the Gospel (God generously pours out His love for us in the redemptive work of Christ who gives all of himself for all of the world) is so beautiful that it compels us to respond by offering all of our life as worship unto Him. Therefore, in corporate worship, our sinful hearts are converted and our life together is restored as we hear transformational Gospel sermons, receive the sacraments, sing and pray together, and develop relationships through generous hospitality. Further, in our daily individual worship, our relationship with God is renewed and the world around us is restored as we devote ourselves to God’s Word, offer Him our prayers, and live out the Gospel in every area of our lives.
Loving Our Neighbors
The inclusivity of the Gospel (God fully accepts us as his children because of the atoning work of Christ on the cross) is so intimate that it restores our ability to know and be known by our neighbors. Therefore, we seek to be a church that offers forgiveness to those who have harmed us, sacrificial love to everyone we encounter, and generous hospitality to all who come into our homes, workplaces, and church. As a Church, we strive to live out our life together by offering permanence to transients, deep roots to established families, and belonging in worship and service to others.
Shaping Culture
The regenerative nature of the Gospel (God is actively engaged in renewing every square inch of our world from the way it is to the way it is intended to be) is so pervasive that it makes every aspect of our daily life an important part of God’s renewal of all things. Therefore, both corporately and individually, Jonah’s Call is passionate about partnering with others to bring about justice to the oppressed, cultural renewal to our city, and beauty to God’s creation.
Our Pattern of Life: How we live
Our Pattern of Life, incorporated in 2019, is the specific set of shared practices that we commit to in order to live out our vision. The way it works is simple: for each of the three main parts of our Gospel vision—to worship God, to love our neighbors, and to shape culture—we have a corporate practice that we do as a gathered congregation and an individual practice that we each do individually. The rhythm of those six practices is our Pattern of Life. Jonah’s Call has a distinctive way of doing church. We don’t concentrate on offering lots of programs to attract people or seek to supply the demands of church shoppers. Instead, we have a focused, positive vision of what a Gospel-shaped life together might look like, and we invite people to participate with us in the rhythm of that life.
We Worship God
As a congregation, we gather for worship every Sunday to encounter God’s grace in Word and Sacrament, to celebrate our redemption, and to pray for the church and for the world.
As individuals, we pray and read Scripture every day throughout the day using forms of Common Prayer that unite us spiritually throughout the week.
We Love our Neighbors
As a congregation, we collaborate at least twice a year on outreach projects designed to show Christian love to our neighbors and to bear witness to the Gospel.
As individuals, we meet regularly in small groups throughout the city to foster love for each other, to grow together in our faith, and to pray for one another and for our neighbors.
We Shape Culture
As a congregation, we host culture-shaping events inspired by the liturgical calendar at least twice a year to spark creativity, generate conversation, and cultivate spiritual growth.
As individuals, encouraged by the community of Jonah’s Call, we offer our daily work intentionally to help our world take the shape of the kingdom of God.
One of the most beautiful and unexpected fruits of instituting our Pattern of Life is getting to see the different ways our shared practices take different forms in different people. Ask any family or individual about how the practices of our Pattern of Life and you’ll hear something different. This is a reflection of God’s nature as a body, all sharing DNA and looking a bit different.
Historical Overview: Where We’ve Come From
Jonah’s Call began as a Church plant in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and Church of the Ascension (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in the fall of 2007. Named for Jonah 4:11, “How can I not be concerned about this great city,” it launched as a church committed to bringing flourishing to Pittsburgh through corporate worship on Sundays and individual worship throughout the week within the context of the vocations to which God calls each of his followers. With a launch team of 35 people, Jonah’s Call held its first service on April 20, 2008.
Jonah’s Call became a fully incorporated church in October of 2010 and was accepted into the Diocese of Pittsburgh at that year’s annual convention. Between 2010 and 2016, Jonah’s Call exhibited steady growth, reaching a peak of approximately 140 members and an average attendance of approximately 100 individuals. From 2008 to 2019, Jonah’s Call met in the main sanctuary of Church of the Ascension on Sunday evenings at 5:00 pm.
Beginning in 2016 through the middle of 2017, Jonah’s Call experienced a series of difficulties that led to the loss of approximately 40 members. The causes of this were varied – some loss was the result of members who were unhappy with leadership, particularly with the Rector. Some losses were due to burnout or general frustration with the direction of the church. Other losses were related to doctrinal disagreements, while still others were because of a desire for ministries that a church of Jonah’s Call’s size did not provide. At the end of this difficult season, the Rector resigned in April 2018.
In August 2018, Jonah’s Call welcomed the Rev. Andrew DeFusco as its new Rector. In 2019, the Rector, Vestry, and other key leaders developed a parish Pattern of Life; a collection of practices meant to orient the life of the congregation to the church’s Vision, both corporately and individually.
In an effort to further cement the church’s identity as distinct from Church of the Ascension’s and to offer greater flexibility in the church’s activity, Jonah’s Call moved from a 5:00 pm service at Church of the Ascension to 10:00 am at Union Project in Highland Park.
Shortly after moving to Union Project, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the church to meet virtually and find creative ways to continue the practices of the Pattern of Life. As was the case for many churches, the confines and confusion of the pandemic dealt a blow to the church’s gathering numbers and perceived energy for participating in the work of the Gospel. Growth and morale slowly returned through the spring of 2022, but not to pre-Pandemic levels.
After months of prayer and discernment, Fr. Andrew accepted a call to ministry at Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, Tennessee. He celebrated his last communion with Jonah’s Call on January 8, 2023.
Demographics: Who We Are
The majority of Jonah’s Call Anglican Church is made up of educated white families and singles who come from a church background and are committed to the life of the city. At present, Jonah’s Call is represented by about 15 core households consisting of about 50 members. Children are a large part of our makeup with 30% of our population being under 10 years old.
Jonah’s Call has consisted of members from a wide variety of neighborhoods both from within the city limits and from the suburbs, who travel to Highland Park to attend church. Hence, Jonah’s Call is best described as a “city-center” church rather than a “neighborhood” or “urban” church. Many members are college-educated, hold professional positions, and work within the city.
At present, a greater number of members come from outside of the Anglican church than those raised within Anglicanism, with most raised within some branch of Evangelical Christianity. Though the majority of members could be described as Evangelical or Anglican, some are conservative Republicans and others are liberal Democrats, with many identifying as moderates.
Ministry Context: Where We Are
Jonah’s Call’s corporate meetings are located within the Highland Park neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh’s East End. Our dispersed ministry goes with us into our neighborhoods, homes, and workplaces, reaching into Oakland, Regent Square, Squirrel Hill, North Side, North Hills, South Hills, Blawnox, and more.
Our Look and Feel
Meeting within Union Project’s Great Hall on Sunday mornings, Jonah’s Call offers a service that emphasizes Sabbath rest, Gospel-centered biblical preaching, modern hymnody and contemporary worship music, a children’s sermon, prayer ministry, child care and Sunday School for ages 3-13, weekly communion, and a sacred but relaxed tone in worship. At Jonah’s Call, we have used the word “vibe” to describe the distinctiveness of our worship environment and what we prioritize aesthetically and relationally. Below are some of the pieces that contribute to Jonah’s Call vibe:
The Gospel of Grace
At Jonah’s Call, the phrase, “It is not a salvation issue,” is often heard when a mistake is made. The phrase is rooted in the Gospel of Grace that is integral to our essence. At Jonah’s Call, we believe that the Good News is that God has loved us because of His grace and goodness rather than because we have fulfilled some religious obligation. We seek to walk joyfully with one another because of our shared deliverance, rather than dealing harshly with one another out of a spirit of judgment.
Liturgy in Service of Beauty
As an Anglican church, Jonah’s Call is liturgical, but it has not viewed liturgy as an end in itself, but instead as a way to facilitate fundamental values, most particularly beauty. Our past Rectors have chosen a variety of liturgies including the Kenyan Rite, The Church of England’s Common Worship, the 1979 BCP and the ACNA’s Shorter Eucharistic Liturgy to build worship in an evening setting. Since its publication in 2019, our services have most commonly been based on the 2019 BCP.
Our liturgical experience changes frequently, based on the seasons, the church calendar, and the needs of particular Holy Days or celebrations, such as baptism. We have also allowed individual parishioners to have input on the liturgical experience and to incorporate uniquely “Jonah’s Call” touches in service of our fundamental values. Overall, Jonah’s Call offers beautiful liturgical worship in a relaxed atmosphere that is accessible to those who love the Anglican tradition and those who are new to Anglican worship.
Generous Hospitality
Jonah’s Call has become known as a church that offers generous hospitality to those we encounter from day to day. From our monthly potlucks to the way hospitality is extended at small groups, to families who have had babies, and at special events and even business meetings, we believe God uses Jonah’s Call to share the Gospel by extending love to others in practical, physical ways.
Engaging with and Shaping Culture
Most outreach at Jonah’s Call takes place within the individual callings that God has placed upon members within their homes, neighborhoods and personal networks. Corporate outreach has included an annual “Big Sale” from 2007 to 2016 and for the first four years of Jonah’s Call, a ministry of interior decorating called Re:Design. In 2020, in effort to engage and share the Gospel with our immediate surroundings at Union Project, we created the role of Ministry Intern and patronized a potter from our congregation to create art on our behalf as a part of the Union Project’s pottery community. As part of the development of our Pattern of Life, we have held regular culture-shaping events in our local communities, including: Volunteering at Open Streets (a city-wide physical activity event), “Theology on the Rocks,” a monthly meeting at a local pub to discuss the intersection of faith and contentious hot-button issues, and visiting and praying for local schools, amongst others.
Permanence for Transients
Over the years, we have come to see that we are uniquely positioned within the city of Pittsburgh to be a resource to those who are here for a short time.
We are a church that offers permanence to transients as we love university students, graduate students, medical interns, and those here for other short-term opportunities by offering them a church where they can become a part of our life whether they are here for a week, a year, or beyond. Even though individuals may only be here for a year or three, they are full members of our church and can be involved from the moment they walk in the door to the day that we must say goodbye to them.
A Place to Participate
Since its inception, Jonah’s Call has not operated with a model in which staff performs all of the work and parishioners are principally consumers. For instance, our members share in the ministry to our children, in welcoming visitors, they do set and take down for our monthly potluck meals and weekly worship, and participate weekly on the music team. The needs of this Sunday experience have led to many people actively participating in the life of the church. This affords both newcomers and “old hands” ways to participate in the life of the church and the city.
All-of-Life Christian Living
Outside of Sunday, Jonah’s Call is unapologetically committed to a whole-life discipleship that helps Christians to see that Jesus is Lord over every aspect of life. Thus, we are always seeking to find new ways to help each person come to a more complete understanding of how they might live out all of their lives (at work, home, church, school, rest, and play) in a way that brings glory to God and flourishing to the world that He has entrusted to our care. Adopting a “whole-life” discipleship model, Jonah’s Call has chosen to foster personal formation through faithfulness to the various callings that God places upon our lives throughout the week. Hence, Jonah’s Call has been a church where spiritual formation occurs through integrating work, rest, and play as a form of worship. The setting for this formation has included formal small groups, seasonal seminars and conferences, and one-to-one discipleship, as well as the informal day- to-day relationships that make up the tapestry of the life of the parish.
Esse, Bene Esse, Adiaphora
A frequent teaching, in one form or another, at Jonah’s Call is the distinction between essential things, good things, and “scattered things.” Jonah’s Call prioritizes the fundamental teachings of the historic Christian faith, presenting these doctrines in a secular setting that is ever more suspicious of labeling anything “essential.” However, Jonah’s Call has also sought to distinguish essential beliefs from those that may be merely beneficial (such as teachings on infant baptism or the nature of communion) and further from those things that are “scattered” – beliefs or practices that may reflect multiple perspectives or priorities that are still within the broad stream of orthodox Christianity.
A Third Way
Jonah’s Call’s approach to problem-solving and conflict resolution has been to consistently seek “a third way.” Rarely have we been satisfied selecting between two choices, and we have frequently found solutions that represent some compromise or creative retooling to a problem. This fundamental flexibility has allowed Jonah’s Call to continue to flourish in situations that did not have easy answers.
Challenges: Our Present Needs: Revitalization of Jonah’s Call’s Vision
Even prior to Fr. Andrew’s departure, we, as a congregation, have felt the need for new life and energy. In particular, we have noticed a disconnect between our clear understanding of our “belovedness” from our collective outpouring of love to God’s world. It is the nature of love to flow in and then flow out, and, least at the corporate level, we’ve struggled to find a unifying practice of loving the world. Some among us have described this as something feeling “stuck” within us.
Throughout the first decade of its existence, one of the defining features of Jonah’s Call was a weekly meal following the service. This provided a natural outreach and integration time, in which newcomers were immediately placed alongside members and allowed to connect. The returns on this mode of outreach were great, but the costs to the church (both financially and in terms of the time and energy of its members) became too much. The weekly meal was discontinued in the fall of 2017. Since the development of our Pattern of Life in 2019, there have been discreet and short-term opportunities to engage with the culture around us, but nothing that has taken root as a core practice.
Jonah’s Call is in need of new ways to reach out and integrate newcomers. We are seeking a Rector who is willing to invest in this aspect of the church.
In addition, we are struggling to regroup after losing several core families and individuals over the past few years, especially immediately following Fr. Andrew’s departure. While these exits have, thankfully, been circumstantial goodbyes and blessed by both sides, we are noticing the negative effects on our energy, morale, and finances.
Jonah’s Call is not seeking a “caretaker” type; it is seeking someone willing to join in Jonah’s Call’s vision and revitalize it with his or her unique energies.
Embracing Jonah’s Call as a “Third Wave” Startup:
A similar, but distinct, priority is the need for a Rector who can embrace Jonah’s Call fully, not necessarily for what it currently is, but what it can be. As of 2021, Jonah’s Call was at a membership level that allowed for a healthy budget and had the expectation of continued growth. Because of declining membership in 2022 and 2023, it has had to make various budget concessions.
We recognize that a new Rector would not be coming to a parish with a long history or an endowment cushion. We are, in some ways, a “third wave” startup, which is seeking to move from the first “pioneering” phase started by the founders, followed by the second “healing” phase under Fr. Andrew. We are seeking a Rector who is excited about joining us in this phase of our life, which is pregnant with possibility.
Finding A Stable Location
Recently, changes to our rental arrangement with Union Project have increasingly been limiting our use of the space and it is clear that Union Project, while a suitable location for the last 4 years, is not going to be a long-term home for us. We are currently exploring other Sunday morning spaces and we are excited about finding a stable homebase in the near future.