When the Numbers Tell a Gospel Story

The Rev. Ryan Delaney and a Year of Community Witness in Lake Geneva

In the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin, we often say that the Church shows up best when faith is translated into steady, practical love. At Church of the Holy Communion Episcopal Church, that translation has taken a very tangible shape over the past year.

Under the leadership of The Rev. Ryan Delaney, Holy Communion has leaned fully into its calling as a parish rooted in worship and turned outward toward its neighbors. The result is not only a long list of programs, but a clear pattern of impact — one that reflects the Diocese of Wisconsin’s commitment to service, generosity, and public witness.

Meeting Immediate Need, One Lunch at a Time

In 2025, Holy Communion raised $5,000 to cover school lunch debt at Central Denison for students who do not qualify for free or reduced meals and whose families owed $100 or more. The goal was simple: ensure that children could eat without stigma or interruption — and keep them fed for the remainder of the school year if needed.

This effort alone reflects a deeply Episcopal instinct: addressing real human need with dignity, discretion, and persistence.

Responding Beyond Our Borders

When St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena, California, was devastated by the Eaton Fire, Holy Communion responded swiftly. Through a benefit concert and congregational giving, the parish sent $12,032 to support rebuilding efforts — a reminder that diocesan life connects us not only locally, but across the wider Church.

Turning Community Events into Shared Good

Throughout the Lake Geneva Farmers’ Market season, parishioners sold brats sourced from Lake Geneva Country Meats, raising $3,600 in total. Every dollar of profit was passed along — $1,200 each — to Side by Side, Open Arms, and the Lake Geneva Food Pantry.

Later in the year, during the Christmas Parade, church members distributed cookies and cocoa freely, inviting parade-goers to contribute if they wished. That goodwill offering raised $700 for The Bridges (formerly the Walworth County Food Bank).

These efforts weren’t fundraisers in the traditional sense. They were acts of presence — the Church visible, generous, and woven into the fabric of community life.

Formation for the Mind and the Spirit

Holy Communion also hosted a six-event public Speakers Series, creating space for learning, reflection, and conversation. Topics ranged from the human exploration of Mars, to local history, to marriage through the ages, concluding with a fall mini-series on loneliness and social isolation. The series embodied the Church’s role as a place where faith engages the world thoughtfully and openly.

Music, Hospitality, and Open Doors

In December, the parish’s Christmas Concert raised $1,800, all of which was given to the Central Denison lunch debt project. Throughout the year, Holy Communion opened its Guild Hall at no charge for AA and Al-Anon meetings five days a week, Rotary events, and Lake Geneva Symphony Quartet concerts.

The church also partnered with Rotary to place a Peace Pole on its grounds, rang bells for the Salvation Army on December 5, and kept the historic church open for 26 weeks during Farmers’ Market season — welcoming roughly 4,000 visitors, again at no cost.

Behind all of this were parishioners volunteering across the community: at food banks, literacy projects, Rotary initiatives, and local service organizations.

Poster highlighting depth and breadth of outreach from CHC in 2025.

A Diocesan Story of Leadership and Lay Ministry

What makes this year noteworthy is not only the scale of activity but the way it reflects shared leadership. As Father Ryan has emphasized, this work is sustained by strong lay involvement—people ready to act when an idea for ministry emerges and a parish culture willing to say yes.

This is the Diocese of Wisconsin at its best: clergy and lay leaders working together, responding to need as it arises, and understanding generosity not as an occasional project, but as a way of life.

In Lake Geneva, the numbers tell a clear story. And beneath those numbers is something even more compelling — a parish living its faith out loud, for the sake of its neighbors and the wider world.