A PLACE OF VISION
The Parish of St. Thomas is a congregation in the Diocese of Western North Carolina offering inclusive, intelligent, and innovative liturgy, music, and Christian formation for people of all ages. As an outreach of the church, The Abbey of St. Thomas enlivens connection within our broader community.
Abbey Initiative
The Abbey initiative is a program of St. Thomas, blessed and supported by our Bishop. Our community justice and outreach partners joyfully call themselves our “Abbey partners.” Partnership is the way we have learned to get things done in Yancey County – seriously, we mean big things, heavy lifting things beyond what a congregation our size could ever do alone.
This initiative attracts robust financial and volunteer support for our collaborative efforts. Our Abbey partners depend on us – and we depend on them – to help us pay attention to Jesus in all the places where Jesus may be found. Efforts are smart, strategic, and focused. We don’t sit around in isolation making up stuff to do. We listen...carefully. We do what is needed, knowing we can’t do everything. We do what we do best, we enable what is ours to enable, we do what is ours to do.
All of this is about connection and relationship. We are “Building Community to Serve Community.” Our mission:
To partner with our neighbors in sharing resources to connect people and enhance our community.
Partner, Share, Connect, and Enhance (enhance means it’s not about just us and our part). The verbs are always the game-changers. Because Jesus tells us that faith is not about thoughts and prayers. Faith is not about what we think or how we pray; we think and pray so many different things. Rather, Jesus lets us know that faith is not about believing the right stuff about God.
Faith is about what we, in fact, have the courage and commitment to do.
A Place of Sharing
Community is built when neighbors respect and embrace one another. We invite differing perspectives without judgement, choosing to learn from each other and to grow in mutual appreciation and exchange. We emphasize the importance of sharing local traditions, be they food and feasting, dance and music, prayer and ritual, storytelling, or the arts, both visual and performing. The Abbey provides opportunities for dialogue and increased understanding, and all that brings our community together in a life-affirming way. We invite all our neighbors to participate in this venture of friendship.
OUR PRINCIPLES OF COMPASSION
Believing that equality, diversity, and the practice of welcome are just and powerful community resources, we reject any form of discrimination based on individual characteristics or circumstances. For us, this includes socio-economic or educational background, age, differing physical or developmental abilities of any kind, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, political opinion, ethnic or national origin, and religion or belief. We celebrate our common bond as human beings and partner with all people of goodwill in our community.