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 in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As our country mourned, the tragedy served as a catalyst for a group of essentially strangers to come together for our first prayer meeting. At the time we had no idea where this alliance would lead and no inkling of the journey upon which we were about to embark.

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 namesake,
Britain's Coventry Cathedral

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. Although God had blessed us with many talents, he had not blessed us with extensive resources – in layman’s terms, we had “champagne taste and a beer pocketbook.”

But 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 addition to our Sunday services, we held pot luck dinners, Pentecost picnics, pancake suppers and got to know one another with an emphasis on what we call the 4 F’s; Food, faith, fellowship, and fun! (See our “Photos” link).

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! Many favors were called in, and our members provided some sweat equity, too! 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.

This past year, another crossroads was encountered. We needed to take our journey to the next level. Being independent was lonesome. We needed an affiliation. We needed to define who we were going to be. 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. We are blessed with not one but two wonderful priests and we have an optimistic view of our future. We are proud to call ourselves Episcopalians and to represent the Central Florida diocese as its newest mission.

More photos taken at Britain's Coventry Cathedral - Charred embers after attack and the cross of nails.

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