This bumper crop of baptisms was witnessed by a record-breaking crowd of 270 -- unprecedented attendance for a summer Sunday when some in the parish are at country homes or on vacation.   And these ten baptisms followed four baptisms two months’ earlier on Holy Saturday, plus four more in May (including the granddaughter of the Bishop of Harare, Zimbabwe) for a total of 18 baptisms in about 8 weeks! 

         Furthermore, the parish, which was also observing Membership Sunday on June 14, received 20 adults as new parish members (among them, quite a number of parents of the newly baptized) in a short ceremony following Holy Baptism.   Presented by the Vestry, the new members of  St. John's  vowed to "faithfully support the worship, fellowship and outreach ministries of Saint John’s Church and to seek to lead others to Christ and the Church."  The congregation then welcomed the new members by saying together, "We welcome you into the Body of Christ known as Saint John’s Episcopal Church.  Share with us the Sacraments of the Church, the fellowship of our Parish Family and the Service of Outreach we offer to those in need around us." 

          It was Ethel Browne's very first time ever attending St. John's Church, but the Crown Heights, Brooklyn resident found herself so deeply moved by the baptism and the whole feel of the congregation that she stepped forward on the spot to be sworn in as a member. Born on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent's where she was baptized into the Anglican church, raised in Trinidad, and then emigrating to Montreal, Canada, where her son was born in 1972 (and also baptized into the Anglican church), Ms. Browne had been without a true church home since she relocated to New York City in 1988. She had come to SJC on  June 14 to stand in for her son, Don, who could not be there for his goddaughter's baptism, because he was in the Army, stationed in Kansas, preparing to be sent overseas in November. (Barely five months old, Don Browne's goddaughter, Samantha Rodrique, is one of the great-grandchildren of longtime SJC members Fred and Beulah Jacob, the daughter of their granddaughter Sharon Nicholson and Simeon Rodrique.) "The baptism was beautiful and brought back so many good memories of when I was part of the Anglican Church," recalls Ms. Browne warmly. "I felt at home, and I said to myself, at last, this is going to be my own church!"

         Perhaps more typical of the new members sworn in on June 14 is Diane Friedman, who until a fairly recent move to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, had lived in Park Slope. She had been raised a Methodist; her husband had been Catholic, "and the Episcopal church is somewhere in between." So she and her husband frequently visited St. John's when they lived in the neighborhood.

         The birth of daughter Helena a little over a year ago motivated their making a final spiritual commitment. "We actually did a lot of church hopping in our new neighborhood, but our thoughts kept drifting back to St. John's. . . The people are nice and have similar values, so we felt comfortable. St. John's members are accepting and open, yet they don't interfere in your personal space. My husband sometimes gets nervous around people who hug; he prefers to shake hands," she concluded with a hearty laugh. Earlier this spring Diane filled out a baptism application for Helena and enrolled herself in confirmation classes at St. John's.

          Diane says that so far she hasn't been able to worship at St. John's more regularly than once a month, because her stepfather's months-long battle with lung cancer and his ultimate death on June 3 has meant many weekend visits with her mother upstate near Albany. But her family's recent bereavement made her especially receptive to the joy of her daughter's baptism. "It was a little overwhelming to have so many of us," she admitted, "but the service went wonderfully."  She especially appreciated having her membership installation at the same service. "It's about sharing this faith and my religious instruction with my daughter eventually," she says, looking forward to her confirmation at Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City on June 27. "It was a real family affair," she added about SJC's Membership Sunday, pointing out that her own family party included "my cousin, her husband and children; my husband's sister, Helena's official godmother; my husband, my daughter and me." Unfortunately, Diane's bereaved mother wasn't up to coming downstate for the weekend, but Diane looks forward to her mom visiting the family in Brooklyn and at St. John's in the not-so-distant future.

            Lately local Brooklyn newspapers and web sites have made much of a recent baby boom in Park Slope and other Brooklyn neighborhoods. But while demographics might present St. John's with a growth opportunity, it doesn't explain how the parish reaped such a bounty on June 14.   Father C.H. Powers, the rector, believes it has something to do with the work the vestry and parish leadership has been doing on evangelism over the last six months.   In December, in time for Christmas celebrations, several pews were removed from the back of the church and the area was converted into a “Toddler Zone” with rocking chairs, toys and small tables and chairs.  The usual Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve was moved to a more family-friendly time of  9 p.m., and the “Zone” was well used during the service.  In the new year, several families with young children began attending the parish as word seems to have spread that St. John’s is “child friendly.”  In May, the Vestry Retreat was devoted to discussing Fireweed Evangelism: Hospitality in a Multi-Faith World by Elizabeth R. Geitz, a book that the rector and wardens were exposed to at Diocesan Convention in November.  The parish leadership were determined to build upon the opportunities provided by the boom in young families in Park Slope.  If the June 14 Holy Baptism and Membership Sunday are any evidence, the St. John's vestry and parishioners have been quick studies indeed.