Eastbayri.com

TIVERTON — Three centuries have passed since a lone minister served his scattered flock across the river by horseback, and this year, Holy Trinity Church has reason to celebrate.

The Episcopal church, whose roots are on Aquidneck Island but whose home now overlooks the Sakonnet River at 1956 Main Road, turns 300 years old in 2012. A year-long series of anniversary events starts with a special service beginning at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29. A reception for congregants and community will follow.

The Rt. Reverend Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, and Reverend John Higginbotham, the church’s new (as of Jan. 1) pastor, will conduct the celebratory Communion service.

Connecting past and present

The anniversary has church officials and volunteers looking back and forward at the same time.

The earliest recorded beginnings of the church trace back to 1704, and the appointment — by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in London — of James Honyman, to serve as minister to Anglicans in Newport. His ministry extended to missions in Tiverton, Little Compton, and Freetown.

For eight years, Rev. Honyman commuted weekly by horse from Newport to serve his missions across the river, until 1712, when Holy Trinity Church was founded. That was 54 years after Native Americans in present-day Tiverton sold their land to 26 colonists.

“I think it’s magnificent,” said Rev. Higgenbotham. “When you think of a priest finishing services in Newport on a Sunday night, then getting on a horse to ride up Aquidneck, and somehow crossing the river to hold services in people’s homes and elsewhere — that’s pretty rough.”

Bishop Wolf connects then with now. “Those who founded the church would be delighted and proud,” she said last week, “to know that the faith which sustained them in the building of the church is the same faith that inspires the present generation.”

“It’s encouraging,” she said, “because the present church has the stability of the past and the strength to move forward.”

After its creation in 1712, Holy Trinity Church had no real physical presence for its first 110 years, holding services in various locations on Shore Road (now Riverside Drive), in the Bridgeport School House, and a place called Stone Bridge cottage.

In about 1905, however, the church’s parishioners built a chapel at 54 Hillside Avenue, near Stone Bridge. Ten years later, in May, 1915, the congregation broke ground for the present church at its current location.

The cornerstone was laid on July 5, 1916, with a time capsule placed underneath. After construction was completed, a dedicatory service was held August 12, 1917.

In 1956 a rectory and parish house was built and the town rearranged street numbers, designating the church’s address as 1956 Main Road.

A 1995 history of the church describes the building as “a vernacular, English Gothic, fieldstone structure” ... the “form of the building recalls 13th- and 14th-century rural parish churches of England, a favorite Episcopal prototype in the early 20th century.”

Recent years and the future

The Episcopal Church in Rhode Island, and Holy Trinity Church with it, have struggled in recent years with declining attendance and revenues.

The number of churches in the state has gone from 60 down to 53, said Bishop Wolf. “We have merged some of them, “ she said. “Some have been very small. One of the difficulties is maintaining a building, even while a congregation maintains a presence.”

In 2010 Holy Trinity was running an operating deficit of $80,000, said its vestry at the time, with a total deficit over the three years preceding of about $200,000. Attendance was declining, said church officials then, following general trends in church-going, with some people attending monthly instead of weekly. Tithing was down, and not just due to the economy.

This has changed, said Bill Lopes, the church’s junior warden, whose constant volunteer presence has helped with the stabilization.

”We’ve been able to improve our financial situation in the last year or so,” Mr. Lopes said. “An additional bequest has improved our endowment, and we’re pretty stable in terms of total dollars. We’ve also reduced our deficit considerably.”

Church memberships has also stabilized at around 100 active members, he said.

The major change in the Episcopal church in Rhode Island over the last 300 years, said Bishop Wolf, is in its “cultural composition.”

“It was developed by mill owners and their workers,” she said. “It was an English church,” and now it’s a church for people of all national and ethnic backgrounds.

Looking forward, “We have a trinity of goals,” said Robert Humphrey, a member of the church’s vestry (its governing body), who also serves as chairman of the church’s 300th anniversary committee.

“We’re going to have services throughout the year about the church, its history, its architecture, and artwork,” he said.

“Second, we’re going to emphasize community outreach. We’d like the community to know the church’s long history, and that its doors are always open to new members.”

Fundraising is a third goal, he said. “The anniversary is an excellent opportunity for members to consider investing in the church.” He said there are capital improvement projects, including “the stained glass windows, which need refurbishing” and the interior lights, that need doing

Throughout the year, special events will be scheduled each month to honor the church’s history, including a banquet in May at an unveiling of a portrait of Rev. Honyman, outdoor grilling events in the summer, musical services, organ recitals, and more.

Meanwhile, said Mr. Lopes, outreaches will continue. Trinity Trader — a second-hand thrift shop that’s been operating for 30 years — is open two days weekly (and brings in about $24,000 yearly).

The church also collaborates in youth group activities with Amicable Church in Tiverton Four Corners, Mr. Lopes said, including field trips and a winter camp-out to simulate the experiences of the homeless.

Year around the church contributes food to the pantry at Tiverton’s Old Stone Church, and during the summer months does so with produce — tomatoes, lettuce, and seasonal greens — grown in the church’s large vegetable garden.