Trinity's Historic Rectory

188 Center Road, Shirley, Massachusetts

In 2004, Trinity Chapel purchased the house (1755) and property (c.a. 2.5 acres) adjoining the existing Chapel property through a grant from the Fieldstone Foundation. This purchase was envisioned to serve a number of functions in pursuit of our goal to expand the number and kind of activities for all age groups to join in God's transforming mission. Trinity Chapel is well underway and has passed many benchmarks to date.

Trinity Chapel seeks to be a more active citizen in our region through outreach, strengthening the internal bonds of our growing parish and be a strong team players within the broader Episcopalian mission in general and the Massachusetts Diocese in particular. The purchase of the house and grounds next to the Chapel is a central part of our strategy in pursuit of this goal. We have focused on the following advantages: First and foremost, the house is to become a parsonage. We believe that having a new parsonage in town will go a long way towards establishing ourselves as active members in this community.

The house will also serve as a meeting venue for Sunday school, Bible study programs, youth group activities and other, newly energized groups in our parish such as the Women's Auxiliary Group, all of which will be open to the community at large, not just parishioners of Trinity Chapel. The house will also furnish a friendly, "homey" environment for the parishes many social occasions. In addition, the house is blessed with a vast kitchen, which will help relieve the strain placed on our tiny kitchenette in the chapel and spur the imagination to think of new ways we can place our culinary predilections in the service of our mission.

Our new acreage has enabled us to expand existing outdoor activities, and we hope to introduce new ones. We are especially interested in developing our youth-oriented programs to include nature conservation, gardening (ex. vegetables for local soup kitchen) and bible-camp weekends. Our many outdoor festivals will also be expanded. Our first big event on the 2004 calendar was the June Strawberry Festival. It was many times larger than years previous.

The Historical District, in which the chapel and house find themselves, places limits on how we can raise the visibility of Trinity Chapel. It is currently not easily recognizable as a place of worship. We are not allowed to enhance our visibility through signs or more decorative architecture. Our solution to this is as follows: We plan to synthesize the two properties so that the chapel and the house harmonize in an attractive and visible unity, easily seen from the road. Currently, there is no visual coherence between the two properties and the church is hidden behind a great deal of foliage. Although we have started to address this issue since the property was purchased, there is much more to be done. The expanded outdoor area, greater visibility of the church, and landscaping efforts to make the two properties a continuous whole, will give Trinity Chapel a presence that it never had before. We're confident that this new physical presence will help to increase church membership.

Establishing sustainability in this project is already well advanced and takes place on two fronts: First, it will be ensured by the ongoing activities that the new property supports. It is already becoming fully integrated in our parish's life-sustaining routines. As discussed above, the new routines (i.e., activities) that lie in the future will continue to cement this trend. The other front has to do with how we have elected to refurbish the house and grounds. We have taken a "barn-raising" approach to this project, and have to date been very successful in involving a large percentage of the congregation as well as parishioners of other local churches. We have introduced "grubby Sundays" to rally large numbers for simple but large and necessary tasks such as painting the interior of our new parsonage or cleaning the grounds of the detritus of winter. This is a big money-saver, but the occasions are also big fun and help unite our parish around a common goal.