A church is more than a building. And more, too, than the people who worship in the building. A church is a living organism, with a history and a personality and a life-cycle. Churches grow and decline, flourish and wither. During a period in which many churches in Massachusetts shrank or closed, Good Shepherd has almost doubled in size.
Why? Well, part of the reason is that we try very hard to do what we do very well. Our worship is planned with care and executed with a kind of brisk, unfussy elegance. The music for our worship is performed with dedication and skill by people who are trained in the best classical tradition. Our preaching is intelligent, practical, and focused both on the Bible and the everyday struggles of women and men.
Our children are warmly included and given the attention they need in order to mature into spiritually healthy adults. The pastoral care offered by our clergy and laypeople is personal, serious, and compassionate. The care we offer to the needy and hurting outside our walls is generous. We include political and theological liberals, moderates, and conservatives. And because we are a church, not a club, we don't insist on uniformity of opinion, nor are we interested in deciding who belongs and who doesn't. But we are unapologetically Christian. The reason we exist is to draw people deeper into the life of God. And we do that within a particular religious tradition called Anglicanism, which has its distinctive style and has always understood itself as a middle way (via media in Latin) between Catholicism and Protestantism. Good Shepherd welcomes everyone but it may not be the sort of place everyone is looking for. We understand that. But if you are seeking a place where the Christian faith is explored with intelligence, commitment, compassion, and beauty, Good Shepherd may be the home which has been waiting for your arrival.
The Rev'd G. Truman Welch, Rector
“We looked at a lot of churches in Newton. At Good Shepherd we were impressed with the worship
service, sermons, the community and the terrific kids program. That was 5 years ago and it has
only gotten better since.”
Many relief organizations are working to help the stricken people of Haiti. Among them
are Episcopal Relief and Development--www.er-d.org, and Catholic Relief Services---www.crs.org. The Sisters of St.
Margaret, an Episcopal order of nuns located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston,
has a convent and school
in Port-au-Prince.
Both were destroyed in the earthquake. Their email address is www.ssmbos.com.
