A Wyoming Parish That Lives Its Welcome
On a quiet residential street in Wyoming, just north of Cincinnati, Ascension & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church has served the Mill Creek Valley since the late nineteenth century. The congregation gathers under a single sentence that members repeat often enough to count as a creed: All are welcome because all belong. The phrase shapes nearly every decision about who is invited to the table, who is invited to sing, and whose names are remembered in prayer.
A&HT is a parish of the Diocese of Southern Ohio under the pastoral care of the Rt. Rev. Kristin Uffelman White. The Diocese of Southern Ohio represents roughly 30,000 Episcopalians in more than 70 congregations in the lower half of the state and is part of the Episcopal Church in the United States, itself a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Locally, the parish is known for three things in particular: a clear and repeated welcome to LGBTQ+ members and their families, an active commitment to becoming an anti-racist congregation, and a deep network of partnerships that reaches across the Mill Creek Valley and around the world.
From Two Parishes to One Building
The present congregation is the product of a long Wyoming story. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church was established in 1872 in Hartwell, a community just south of Wyoming. In 1893 several Hartwell families petitioned the bishop for permission to begin a new mission about a mile and a half away, in Wyoming itself; the site of the present church was purchased a year later. For seventy-five years the two congregations worshipped separately.
After three quarters of a century the members of both churches voted to merge into a single parish. Proceeds from the sale of the old Holy Trinity property and several major capital campaigns paid down the parish debt, and the present church was consecrated in 1975. The present building joins a church, an education building, and a parish hall into one connected unit. A memorial garden sits in a recessed courtyard between the church and parish hall, looking out over Burns Avenue. Across the back of the building, a landscaped Gathering Place patio, created in 2005, faces Worthington Avenue and is the home of the parish's outdoor summer worship.
The parish hall and education building meeting rooms are also used by community groups. The parish describes its physical plant as a working facility for the wider Wyoming neighborhood as well as for its own members.
Two Sunday Eucharists, One Open Table
Worship at A&HT follows the Episcopal Church's liturgy and uses the Book of Common Prayer, the Bible, and a Hymnal as its three central texts. Two principal Sunday Eucharists are offered each week. At 8:00 am a quiet Holy Eucharist gathers in the church for those who prefer a simpler, earlier service. At 10:00 am the principal Sunday Eucharist brings the full musical program of the parish into the liturgy. The 10:00 am service is also livestreamed on Facebook Live for members who cannot attend in person, and a virtual offering is the only spiritual link for some who live far away.
Healing Prayer is offered every second Sunday of the month during the 10:00 am service. Acolytes serve at both Eucharists, with one acolyte at 8:00 am and three at 10:00 am, and an annual renewal training plus hands-on practice keeps the team ready.
From Memorial Day through Labor Day, at 8:30 am on Sunday mornings, a more casual worship service is offered in the Gathering Place patio, the landscaped outdoor space created in 2005. Members bring lawn chairs and meet in the garden that adjoins the education building. Worship there is intentionally informal, and after the service the lemonade hour spills out into the same patio.
All baptized Christians are welcome at the altar. Members who cannot come to the rail are invited to tell an usher so the ministers can come to them. Visitors who do not wish to receive communion are invited to come forward, cross their arms over their chest, and receive a blessing.
A Liturgical Church That Welcomes Questions
The Episcopal Church is, in A&HT's own description, a liturgical church: one that uses formal rites drawn from past ages and from the present. The sources of authority in the parish's faith are scripture, tradition, and reason. Members describe their belief in the goodness of Creation made by God, in the Bible as the Word of God containing all things necessary to salvation, and in the Holy Trinity - God the Father who creates, God the Son whose life, death, and resurrection set the faithful free from sin and death, and God the Holy Spirit whose love moves in mysterious ways. They look forward to the return of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of God's kingdom.
The Sunday service has two halves: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Table, also called the Great Thanksgiving, the Holy Eucharist, or Holy Communion. Two sacraments are considered primary. Holy Baptism is usually administered in infancy and is offered at A&HT on Easter, the Day of Pentecost, All Saints' Day or the following Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, and during the bishop's annual visit. Holy Eucharist is the reenactment of the Last Supper; ordinary bread and wine become the sacramental vehicle for Christ's promised presence.
Five other sacramental rites are celebrated in the Episcopal Church: Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of a Penitent, Ordination, and Unction. Confirmation classes are offered for youth from September through May, and adults wishing to be confirmed, received from another Christian tradition, or reaffirmed should contact the rector for more information. Couples wishing to be married at A&HT are asked to contact the church office as soon as possible. Reconciliation of a Penitent is available by appointment with the rector. Unction, or the Ministry of Healing, may include the laying on of hands, anointing with oil, and prayers for physical and spiritual health.
Becoming an Anti-Racist Congregation
The parish's public commitments extend well beyond the Sunday liturgy. The congregation has formally named itself an action-based anti-racist faith community and committed to three long-term commitments drawn from the Episcopal Church's Becoming Beloved Community vision: Telling The Truth, Practicing The Way, and Repairing The Breach.
Under the first commitment, members have pledged to study the racist and anti-racist history of the United States, of A&HT and the Episcopal Church, of Wyoming and Cincinnati and the surrounding communities of Lincoln Heights, Freeman-Barr, and the wider Mill Creek Valley. They have also pledged to study the ways in which their own belief systems inadvertently promote racism and how those systems allow race-targeted violence to exist.
Under Practicing The Way, the parish shares resources in its newsletter, social media, and online, and brings in educators and speakers to enlighten members about where the congregation has succeeded and where it can improve. Under Repairing The Breach, members commit to seeking out and committing to opportunities where they can repair the damage that slavery and its resulting racist systems have diminished communities across the region.
Putting God's Love Into Action Across the Valley
Outreach at A&HT is a working partnership with half a dozen community organizations. The parish describes its Outreach Ministry as combining faith, time, skills, and resources to do the work of reconciliation, compassion, and justice, and it supports several programs that promote housing and food security, welcome immigrants, foster children's education and mental health, and serve seniors.
The Valley Interfaith Community Resource Center, located at 420 Wyoming Avenue in Lockland, is one of the parish's oldest commitments. A&HT is a founding supporter of the resource center, which has grown into a lifeline for twelve zip codes in the Mill Creek Valley, providing food, household essentials, and emergency assistance and connecting people to social services.
Tikkun Farm, at 7941 Elizabeth Street in Mount Healthy, is a gathering place where people of all backgrounds, from urban teens to Bhutanese refugees, come together to garden, prepare food, and grow in physical and emotional wholeness. A&HT volunteers support the work in many ways, from planning logistics to chopping ingredients at home for community crockpot meals.
The parish also partners with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati. Through HOPE Coalition, the Episcopal team of churches that supports Habitat, A&HT volunteers help build or renovate houses with partner families who will become homeowners through interest-free mortgages, and the parish provides meals at build sites to nourish the crews.
Heartfelt Tidbits is a network inspired by Wyoming resident Sheryl Rajbhandari that welcomes immigrant families to Greater Cincinnati and helps them navigate a new culture, language, schools, jobs, and friendships. Volunteer roles include Virtual Buddies, weekly conversations with a school child, tutoring adults in English, and helping people prepare for citizenship exams.
Matthew 25 Ministries in Blue Ash is the parish's major partner for Sustainable Development Goals projects abroad. A&HT's volunteer day is the third Wednesday of each month; the group meets at the M25M lobby at 9:30 am and usually stays for about two hours.
St. Paul Village in Madisonville is an affordable senior housing community operated by Episcopal Retirement Services. On the third Tuesday of each month, an A&HT carpool leaves the church by 12:15 pm, with drivers arriving at the village by 1:00 pm, to serve lunch, organize games and entertainment, and visit with residents. The Outreach budget funds the meals.
Finally, the parish is one of four Episcopal congregations near the Mill Creek working with Lincoln Heights parents through the Mill Creek Valley ACTS coalition to support mental health in the community and to document the environmental dangers - lead dust and toxic sound from 300 days a year of gunfire on the Cincinnati Police Firing Range - created by the firing range as stakeholder municipalities continue negotiations to relocate it.
Music for Every Season
Music is one of the most visible ministries of the parish and is led by Minister of Music Sara Cahall. The Chancel Choir, for singers eighteen and older, rehearses Thursday evenings from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm in the Nave and again at 9:00 am before the 10:00 am service each Sunday. The choir's season begins the Thursday after Labor Day and ends on Trinity Sunday, and it provides music for special services throughout the year, including Christmas Eve, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and a combined service with Christ Church Cathedral on Ascension Day.
A newer ensemble, A&HT Singers, offers a way to sing in worship without the year-round rehearsal commitment. A&HT Singers performs on the first Sunday of October, December, February, April, and June, with a 9:00 am rehearsal on the Sunday morning, and is currently combined with the Chancel Choir. Anyone is welcome to drop in.
The Music Ministry's 2025-2026 Artist-in-Residence is Slavic Voices, a Cincinnati-based ensemble of singers and instrumentalists founded by Ben Flanders that has been exploring art song from Eastern and Central Europe since 2015. Slavic Voices will offer a series of concerts at A&HT and host smaller salon-style events for parish members. The Music Ministry also runs a High School Choral Scholar program, awarding college scholarships to two Cincinnati-area high school students who sing with the choir from November through Christmas Eve and again from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday.
Children, Formation, and the Preschool
The Children & Youth Ministry nurtures the younger generation of the parish through Sunday programming and the Acolyte program, which welcomes all baptized young people from fifth grade and up. Acolytes rotate through the schedule, with one serving at 8:00 am and three at the 10:00 am service every three weeks.
Adult Christian Formation meets Sunday mornings at 9:00 am, in person in the library and virtually on Zoom. The current Sunday Bible study, led by parishioner Philip Brandewie, focuses on the formation history of the Bible. Colleen Mathews has long led seminary-level Bible classes that walk verse by verse through scripture. Other recent offerings have included book studies such as The Church Cracked Open with the previous rector and Braving the Wilderness with Bridget Glover. Parishioners describe the formation hour as a place where questions are welcomed and where participants do not have to sign on for any other class to drop in.
The A&HT Wyoming Preschool offers a traditional preschool experience that goes hand in hand with the local Wyoming school system, with curriculum and teaching based on years of proven results using traditional teaching methods. The preschool is open to children of the parish and the wider Wyoming community, and prospective families are directed to the preschool website for current information and weekly updates.
Parish Health and the Guided Meditation Ministry
The Parish Health Ministry follows the teachings of Jesus to integrate the health of body, mind, and spirit, drawing on programs from A&HT and from Episcopal Retirement Services. The Guided Meditation Ministry meets weekly on Zoom on Mondays at 7:30 pm and is led by Anne Brack. Meditations are drawn from Kaiser Permanente and the University of Michigan's Rogel Cancer Center and last twenty to forty minutes each. The group has been meeting for about thirteen years, originally co-founded by parishioners Maurice Bason and Terry Kessler during their respective cancer journeys.
Members describe the practice as a family-friendly way to introduce mindfulness. Each gathering begins with sharing concerns and a prayer, then a time of guided imagery and controlled breathing. There is no fee or obligation to attend, and a weekly email goes out to more than 200 people with links for those who wish to meditate on their own schedule.
The Card Ministry sends cards to parishioners as needed and on special occasions. The Knitting Ministry, which meets the second Wednesday of the month at noon in the Library, knits prayer shawls, hats, scarves, and chemo caps for those in need. A Lending Library of CDs, DVDs, and books is available, and the bulletin board carries monthly health information.
Fellowship: Lemonade Hour, 50s & Forward, Cookouts
The Fellowship Ministry describes its work using the Greek word koinonia, used twenty times in the New Testament, and defines fellowship as the kind of belonging that is not based on status, achievement, or gender, but on the belief that everyone matters, everyone is welcome, and everyone is loved, with no conditions and no exceptions.
The weekly Coffee Hour is the parish's steady social rhythm, becoming the Lemonade Hour during the summer on the Gathering Place patio at 11:00 am, or immediately following the 10:00 am service. The 50s & Forward Group gathers for themed gatherings for members and friends ages 50 and older throughout the year. Other traditions include the Shrove Tuesday event, the annual spring and fall cookouts, Simple Summer Suppers, and a Summer Concert Series that brings music into the parish life during the warm months.
A Building Open to the Community
Outside of Sunday morning, the A&HT campus is also used for Evening Prayer, which is offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6:00 pm on Facebook Live. Members gather online for prayer led by the parish's Evening Prayer leaders.
The parish hall and the education building's meeting rooms are available for community groups to rent, and inquiries are handled through the parish office. The Videography Ministry, born during the pandemic, continues to livestream services on Facebook Live and is staffed by volunteers who rotate every four to six weeks, training together so that in-person worship is not disrupted by the streaming equipment.
The church has a wheelchair lift between floors operated by ushers on Sunday mornings. The Altar Guild cares for the sanctuary and its vessels, vestments, and linens, working as the quiet liturgical partner of the priest. Eucharistic Ministers offer the chalice at the altar or at the side station, and serve as Lay Eucharistic Visitors to members who are homebound, in hospitals, or in long-term care.
Giving, Stewardship, and Year-Round Discipleship
The parish describes stewardship as more than an annual pledge campaign. The Stewardship Team re-casts stewardship as Stewardship Formation, an ongoing practice of the gifts of Time, Talent, and Treasure, where the annual pledge is only one of three equally important components. Recent themes have included Know Your Why (2022), Live Your Why (2023), Here Am I. Send Me! (2024), and We Will, with God's Help! (2025), with the 2026-2027 theme set as Let Your Light Shine!
Donations are accepted by check, cash, online payment through Zelle or PayPal, and stock transfer using the A&HT Stock Transfer Form. Members aged 70½ and older may give tax-free through a Qualified Charitable Distribution from a traditional IRA. A year-end giving statement is mailed to all givers in January.
The Rector and the People Who Lead the Parish
The parish is led by the Rev. Brooklin Taylor, Rector. Sara Cahall serves as Minister of Music. Sandy Rempe is the Preschool Director. Valerie Davis is Parish Administrator and John Fitzwater is Facilities Manager. Carol Gómez serves as Treasurer. Huxley Miller is Senior Warden and Nick Dugan is Junior Warden. Anne Brack leads the Guided Meditation Ministry, and Philip Brandewie and Colleen Mathews lead the adult Christian Formation offerings. The Vestry includes Cornelius Anderson, David Bence, Dave Criddle, Chris Church, Jerome Guest, Mary Melville, Don Schmidt, Marisa Sharpe, and John Zoller.
The parish office at 334 Burns Avenue is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, and the office can be reached at (513) 821-5341 or office@ascensionholytrinity.com. Sunday worship is at 8:00 am and 10:00 am, the 10:00 am service is livestreamed on Facebook Live, and during the summer a casual outdoor service gathers on the Gathering Place patio at 8:30 am. The tagline that opens the parish's home page, on a quiet Wyoming street, has done the same work for more than half a century: all are welcome because all belong.