Educational Opportunities -

St. Philip’s offers a variety of educational opportunities to our community: Sunday School & Teens, adult studies & guest speakers, Catechumen & Inquirer series (also serves as a refresher course!), and summer Vacation Church School, as well as St. Stephen’s Course (through the Archdiocese) for more formal study.  See Fr. Noah to serve or participate in these ministries.  Click here for more information.

Family & Youth Ministries - Teen SOYO, for students in grades 9-12, meets following the Liturgy every Sunday.  In addition to their Christian studies at that time, service and outreach activities enable them to increase their love for God and neighbor, and social activities give them the opportunity to develop relationships to last a lifetime. See Subdn. Ben Daniel and Subdn. Vince Kaufmann for more information. 

The St. Philip’s Summer Play Group meets weekly throughout the summer at various playgrounds in the area. See Vera Acker for more information. 

Summer, Winter, and Family Camp opportunities are available at the Antiochian Village in western Pennsylvania. See Vera Acker for more information.

Altar Server and Handmaidens ministries are also available for boys and girls, respectively. See below for more information.

Choir and Youth Choir - Music is an integral part of our worship experience. Whether through full choir arrangements or simple chanting, the ministry of St. Philip’s Choir instructs and uplifts. Rehearsals are scheduled through the school year; new singers are always welcome.  The Youth Choir (grades 2-8) meets in fall and spring to prepare for singing a service on their own, and singers are welcome to join the adult choir after communion throughout the year. Click here for more information on the music of the Church & our choirs, and speak to Kh. Elizabeth to join the choir. 

Antiochian Women of St Philip's - The Women of St. Philip’s, a chapter of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Women of North America (AOCWNA), support our church community in many ways, such as providing hospitality for special events, sending cheerful greetings to shut-ins,  and raising funds for special projects.  For more information click here.

Handmaidens - The Handmaidens is a sisterhood of young women (ages 6-18), modeled after the ministry of the Theotokos, the Myrrhbearers, and the other women saints, intended to allow girls to grow together in service, prayer, and purity. They participate in special aspects of some services and meet for other activities. If your daughter would like to participate, please talk to Beth McClintock or MaryLynne Black.

Altar Servers - All boys age 7 and up are invited to serve at the St. Philip’s altar. This service requires knowledge of the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Pre-Communion Prayers, as well as a willingness to pay attention, follow directions, and be reverent. See Dn. Herman or Simeon Acker for more information.

Parish Council - The Parish Council consists of twelve faithful pledging members of St. Philip’s. Each year at the Annual Parish Meeting, three Council members are elected and one is appointed by the priest. The Council meets monthly to review and oversee the many aspects of the operation of our church: ministry, education, hospitality, finances, maintenance, policies & procedures, decorum, growth, and more. Each month’s meeting minutes are distributed in the bulletin and posted on the bulletin board; the names of members are listed therein. You may speak to a member of the Council to voice your comments and concerns.

The King's Jubilee - The King's Jubilee has been ministering in Jesus' Name among poor and homeless people in Philadelphia since February of 1989. We also seek to equip and encourage any who wish to join us in similar service, wherever they are located.

Every Thursday and the last Tuesday of each month, The King's Jubilee van leaves the St. Philip’s parking lot at 7 p.m. for center city Philadelphia with enough food to feed 100 homeless people.

Participation, foodstuffs, and monetary support are always welcome.  For more information, visit www.shoutforjoy.net

Outreach Teams - St. Philip’s offers several outreach opportunities:

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Turkeys-R-Us team asks the families of St. Philip’s to contribute a turkey to be given either to The King’s Jubilee or to local families (along with other food items to provide a complete holiday meal). In addition, Christmas also brings the opportunity for specific gift-giving to needy families.  Another, more frequent, outreach opportunity is the Adopt-A-Highway program. Four times a year, members of St. Philip’s pick up trash along Tollgate Road in Quakertown.  To participate in Adopt-A-Highway, contact Jerry Burke; for Turkeys-R-Us, contact Mark Smerkanich or Denise Yurchak; to assist with Christmas outreach, speak to April Smith.  Please speak to Fr. Noah about any other Outreach ideas or needs!

Missions and Evangelism - The Missions and Evangelism Team promotes and provides information on missions activity in the Orthodox Church and develops and coordinates the evangelistic efforts of St. Philip’s.  For more information, see Reader Nicholas Muzekari.

St. Philip's Library - The St. Philip’s Library provides books, magazines, and audio, video, & computer materials for the education of our parishioners. From the Bible to contemporary issues, from saints & fathers to food & travel. Music, iconography, culture, history, spirituality & children’s selections. There’s something for everyone!  (Please remember that children under 5 must be closely supervised by an adult when in the library.)  See Debbie Ferguson for more information or to help with maintaining the library.

BookShelf Ministry - The St. Philip’s BookShelf Ministry is our bookstore. We call it a ministry because we sell our items at virtually our cost. Many types of books are available.  If you don’t see a title you’d like, see Fr. Noah; we may be able to order it for you.

St. Philip's Cemetery - St. Philip’s Cemetery was established in 2001, and is available to Orthodox Christians of any parish and their Christian spouses and children.  Click here for details.  See Susan Psomiadis, Fr. Noah, or Fr. Boniface, for more information, or contact the church office at 215-721-4947.

St. Andrei Rublev Iconography Work Group - The iconography work group meets weekly at the church to support each other in writing icons. They also learn more about iconography, as ministry and spiritual discipline, and will eventually provide educational materials and opportunities to the parish. They follow the “Prosopone School of Iconography” as learned from Master Iconographer Vladislav Andrejev.  Participants bring icons in progress to work on.  Please see Linda Henry for more information.

St. Nina Prayer Network - The St. Nina Prayer Network was established to provide an organized way to share particular prayer requests.  Prayer requests for all our beloved in critical need can be given to Fr. Noah or Fr. Boniface, who will pass them along to the group.  For more details, or to join the St. Nina Prayer Network, speak to Celia Marie Khouri.

Icon of Iveron Prayer Group - Since 2002, participants in this prayer group have been taking turns praying the Akathist before the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, so that every day our prayers are offered, especially for newlyweds. If you are interested in joining us, see Angie Drăghici, Niko Chocheli, or Mary Kompass for more information.

Fellowship of St. John the Divine - The Fellowship of St. John the Divine is an organization of the Antiochian Archdiocese which encourages and provides means for missions, outreach & evangelism; unity; and spiritual renewal in the churches of the Archdiocese.  Some of the activities St. Philip’s has been most involved in are the Food for Hungry People program, the Creative Festivals, the Oratorical and Bible Bowl Festivals, and the Parish Life Conferences.  Contact the church office for more information.

Adopt-A-Highway - St. Philip’s has “adopted” a stretch of Tollgate Road in Quakertown, cleaning up the trash along the road four times a year.  Volunteers are always welcome; see Dr. Jerry Burke for more information.

Email List-Serve - An email service for the St. Philip’s family, to quickly circulate information (announcements, schedule changes, events, Word from the Desert, etc.) via email to those who have subscribed.  You must subscribe from your email account to be included on the list. This is our primary method for sending out important last-minute information; if you don’t have email, or choose not to subscribe, please arrange with a friend who is subscribed to call you with important information.

Are you signed up for St Philip's email list-serve?  This is our primary means of spreading time-sensitive news such as schedule changes, announcements, and prayer requests. You'll also receive almost-daily quotes from the saints via Word From the Desert.  If you'd rather not receive these emails, be sure to arrange to get time-sensitive news from a friend who is receiving list-serve emails.

Here's how to join:

Send an email to stphilip-request [at] comcor [dot] net with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject or message (no other words at all).  You'll get back a confirmation email with information about the list and commands. (You might have to respond with confirmation).

You may want to put comcor.net on your "not spam" list, and add stphilip-bounces [at] comcor [dot] net to your address book, so our emails don't get rejected as spam.

See Vera Acker for more information.

And More! - St. Philip's offers our parishioners many more opportunities to minister to our church family, our community, and the world.  A fuller list is available in the church narthex.