Coventry Episcopal Church
History

Hello! Thank you for visiting our website today. We are Coventry Episcopal Church in Ocala, FL – the newest mission in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida and this is our story.

Our journey began,interestingly enough, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As our country mourned, we met for a prayer meeting in the home of a friend on September 12,,2001. From that day onwards we began meeting regularly. Our small group gradually grew under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Steven Raulerson. He helped us to realize that even though we were a small group we had the potential and gifts to make an effective contribution to God's Kingdom as a church.

As we continued to meet and spoke about some form of organization, the parallels with Britain’s Coventry Cathedral led us to our name. The Cathedral at Coventry was badly damaged and many lost their lives in a massive WWII German bombing raid. Even so, the people of Coventry decided on the day following this tragedy to rebuild their cathedral. Rebuilding, they decided, would not be an act of defiance, but rather a sign of faith, trust and hope for the future – their theme was one of peace and reconciliation. Because we shared that same theme, we adopted a Phoenix rising from the ashes as our logo and our mission statement is:
Proclaiming by word and example, the Good News and reconciling love of God in Christ.”

Photo above is of our stain glass window at Coventry Episcopal Church.

During our first year, we moved from meeting in the homes of our members to the Marriot Courtyard hotel. Every Sunday we brought our altar supplies to the hotel and packed them after the service only to return the following week. It became evident that we needed a home to call our own, and we began an exhaustive search.

God does work in mysterious ways. One day, after looking at a disappointing property, we glanced across the street to where Forest Lawn funeral home was located. They offered their chapel to us rent free, and Forest Lawn became our church home for over 2 years. During this time, we gelled as congregation.

In the fall of 2003 we purchased just over 3 acres and began plans to build a permanent home for our church. We held a groundbreaking ceremony and dedicated the land to God’s work in our corner of the world, the south side of Ocala. And the building began! Finally, in December of 2004, our building was consecrated. We have been blessed with many gifts which provide a beautiful place to worship every week.

In 2007,as a church. we needed to take our journey to the next level. We needed an affiliation. We needed to define who we were going to be theologically. We learned a lot of who we were by investigating the options. In the final analysis, it became apparent that the Episcopal Church USA was our theological and spiritual home. This new phase of our growth opened the doors for a new leadership. A leadership that continues the work of the Holy Spirit in Coventry Episcopal Church. We are excited about the great things God has in store for us as a church.

The above icon of the Pentecost symbolizes the beginning of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit.