ABOUT US
How did we come about? What things matter to us? What is our purpose?
Let us share more about the direction we are heading, and our ancient roots.
OUR PAST
What started as discomfort with the status quo and a longing for a more depth and richness shared by friends eventually became a bible study, then a prayer meeting, and eventually a full Anglican service. God awakened in the hearts of our founding members a hunger for truth and He provided us with a priest to lead our mission. Our first Sunday services were in an apartment and an American Legion Hall in downtown Rochester, MI. Our meetings were enriched by the use of a chapel in a Missouri Synod Lutheran church until early 2020.
OUR PRESENT
After a year of meeting in the basement chapel of Father Shaun's house, the opportunity to rent 20 Front Street opened to us, and we were thrilled to become, once again, a mobile church and meet in this beautiful space. We currently use just about every square inch available to us in the venue and coffee house on Sundays, and we are growing! We've added new families and new babies since we moved to this space and we can't wait to see what God will do next.
OUR FUTURE
Church of the Advent is a small but healthy parish. We want to grow intentionally and robustly, even if that means we grow more slowly. We are prayerfully looking for a permanent location as we continue to trust God and strive to be the church right where we are.
Fr. Shaun LaDuc
Rector - Church of the Advent
THE ANGLICAN APPROACH
The Anglican Way is both ancient and accessible for English speakers who long for rich tradition and beauty in worship. The liturgy will be familiar to those brought up in the Roman Catholic church or the Episcopal church. Indeed, many of the prayers we pray are shared by both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, though we are considered Protestant. We welcome anyone who has been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to partake of Holy Communion with us.
ADDITIONAL 'ABOUT US' INFO
The Church sets apart Advent as a season of preparation for the coming of Jesus to bring healing and justice to the world. God calls us to participate in His healing work. Church of the Advent is a parish set apart to prepare for this coming of Christ in our lives, homes, and city.
Most of the members of our mission team grew up in the evangelical tradition, where we learned to love Jesus Christ and His Holy Scriptures. As we grew older and saw many of our peers walk away from Christ, we longed to understand the ways the Holy Ghost moved in the Body of Christ across history to redeem the world. The fruit of this longing was a study of the Bible through the eyes of the Church Fathers. Two years of regular Thursday meetings awoke a desire in us to pray and worship in the ways of the saints, martyrs, and doctors of the Church. From this arose a Sunday Evening Prayer service that incorporated incense, icons, and silence – in order that we might engage all our senses, along with our minds, in the worship of the Triune God.
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Our church is a parish of the Missionary Diocese of All Saints (MDAS), a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Fr. Shaun was born in Pontiac, MI and has spent a good portion of his life in Oakland County, MI. His father took him and his siblings on many hikes and camping trips while they were growing up, giving him a love for the outdoors and for the great state of Michigan.
He was baptized in a Missouri Synod Lutheran church at two months old and became passionate about Jesus at a baptist church in his teens. He studied music and philosophy at Cornerstone University, located in Grand Rapids, MI.
While at Cornerstone, he was reading Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism and was radically changed by Kuyper’s vision of Christianity. Kuyper simply stated that, “All of life is religion”, and therefore Christ had a claim on everything- from the little decisions that we make all the way up to the shaping of the commonwealth. There was no room for a sacred/secular divide. Everything was to be redeemed and renewed through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
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Fr. Shaun LaDuc, Rector
The study of philosophy led Fr. Shaun to search for a church that was a community engaged with the world, one with deeper roots in tradition, and one that was bigger than just one church in one town.
Through the discovery of The Book of Common Prayer and the work of a caring priest, Fr. Shaun found a home in Anglicanism.
It took Fr. Shaun a few extra years to graduate from college and several years to wrestle with a call to the priesthood, but with the help of a few good priests, a loving church, and strong friends and family members, he entered Bexley Hall Seminary in the fall of 2009.
He graduated from seminary earning an M.Div in 2012. While at the seminary he met a lovely woman named Joanna. They were married in 2015.
Fr. Shaun was ordained a deacon on the feast day of St. Alban, June 2013 and a priest on Ascension Day, 2015. He collects vintage stereo equipment, is a bee-keeper, and works part time as a carpenter.
WE WOULD LOVE TO MEET YOU
We love having guests! Even if you're only passing through town and visiting for one week, you can be sure that you're going to hear of Christ's redemptive, life changing love and receive a hearty welcome from us. It's hard to escape the warmth this group has to offer. If Sunday mornings aren't yet your speed, you can show up at one of our mid-week events or even contact Father Shaun to find out more. We truly can't wait to meet you.