FAQ's
Visit on a Sunday
- Where do I park?
- Is your campus handicapped accessible?
- What do people usually wear?
- Is childcare available? When?
- What Christian education classes are offered?
- As a visitor, will I have to stand up in front of everyone? Will I be singled out?
- Can I receive communion?
About Good Shepherd
- What are the people like?
- What is a service like?
- Once I attend a service, how can I go about getting involved?
- What are the church office hours?
About The Episcopal Church
Visit on a Sunday
Where do I park?
Sunday parking is available at the Tarrytown Shopping Center just north of the church and the Wells Fargo Bank east of the church on Windsor. At all times, you may park in the lot behind the church and on the surrounding streets. (Please check the signs on the street.)
Is your campus handicapped accessible?
Wheelchair-accessible parking spaces are located next to the administration building at the end of the covered walkway. The administration building is fully accessible except for automatic exterior doors. Other buildings (except Moffett House and the school building) are wheelchair-accessible.
What do people usually wear?
We're in Austin, so you will see a variety of dress. Some people will be in suits and others will wear business casual. During the summer months people dress more informally.
Is childcare available? When?
Childcare is available during the 9:00 and 11:10 am Sunday services and the Christian education hour in between services during the school year. In the summer months we switch to a combined service at 10:00 am, with Christian education following the service. Childcare is available during all of these, and "as needed" for other events.
It is available "as needed" for certain other events. Please call the parish office at (512)476-3523 during regular business hours for childcare information about specific events.
What Christian education classes are offered?
Children between the ages of 2 months and 24 months. Childcare is provided in the Nursery, which is located just next to the church in the same building as the Bride's Room.
Children ages 2, 3 and 4. A preschool program is available in the school building behind the parish hall. Weather permitting, children are dismissed from the playground or from their classroom after the worship service. Children join their families during communion.
Kindergarten through 3rd grade. Children are invited to attend Children's Chapel in the East Parish Hall during the first half of each Sunday worship service. The end of Children's Chapel coincides with the Peace in the church service, at which time the children process into the church to join their families for communion.
Adult Christian education. We offer adult education classes on a variety of topics. Please check our home page for topics and locations.
As a visitor, will I have to stand up in front of everyone? Will I be singled out?
You will not be asked to stand up or be singled out. We ask you to complete a visitor's card if you like, so we can send you materials. We also ask you to identify yourself as a visitor to those sitting around you or to the clergy or greeters.
Can I receive communion?
All baptized Christians regardless of age or denomination are welcome to receive communion. Episcopalians invite all baptized people to receive, not because we take the Eucharist lightly, but because we take our baptism so seriously.
Visitors who are not baptized Christians or who may not want to receive communion are welcome to come forward during the communion to receive a blessing. Indicate that desire by crossing the hands across the chest when you approach the rail.
Or you may simply sit quietly in the pew during the communion.
About Good Shepherd
What are the people like?
We're like you. Members live in all areas of Austin. We have married couples, young families and single people.
What is a service like?
Worship is at the core of our community of faith. In worship, we come together to acknowledge the holiness of God, to hear the stories of our tradition, to offer prayer and to celebrate God's continuing presence among us. Everyone is welcome to participate in our worship because it is in worship that we live out our lives as a Christian family together.
The Holy Eucharist is the principal act of Christian worship. In this service, we "continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers," as our Baptismal Covenant puts it.
The first part of the service centers on the reading and explication of the Bible. Up to four passages are read or sung - usually two from the Hebrew scriptures (including a Psalm) and two Christian scriptures (including a reading from the Gospels) - and a sermon or homily preached on one or more of the readings. Prayers, hymns and the saying of a creed are also part of this half of the service.
The Holy Communion consists of the blessing and sharing of bread and wine following the example given in the Gospels and established in the early Church. This ritual is a means of strengthening our union with God and one another as we remember Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
Once I attend a service, how can I go about getting involved?
Good Shepherd offers many opportunities for you to become involved including choir, lay participation in the service, caring ministries, community outreach, classes and studies, fun and fellowship of all kinds. (Browse the links on this website.) Check with your neighbor after worship for ideas. Or call the church office (512)476-3523.
What are the church office hours?
Good Shepherd's administrative office hours are Monday through Thursday: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. On Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Offices are located on the 1st and 2nd floors of the administration building.
About The Episcopal Church
What is The Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the collection of worship services all Anglican worshipers follow. It's called "common prayer" because we all pray from the same book together, around the world.
Many other worship resources and prayers exist to enrich our worship, but The Book of Common Prayer is the authority that governs our worship. The prayer book explains Christianity, describes the main beliefs of the Church, outlines the requirements for the sacraments, and serves as the main guidelines of Episcopal life.
What is a Eucharist?
The sacrament of Christ's body and blood and the principal act of Christian worship. The term is from the Greek "thanksgiving." Jesus shared the bread and cup of wine at a sacred meal with his disciples. He identified the bread with his body and the wine with his blood of the new covenant. Jesus commanded his disciples to do this in remembrance of him.
The Eucharist is also called the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, the Divine Liturgy, the Mass and the Great Offertory.
What is the difference between different "Rites?"
Rites are prescribed for various sacraments, offices and occasions in liturgical churches, including the Episcopal Church. These rites are found in The BCP. The term may also designate a particular collection of liturgies. Rite 1 uses traditional language; Rite 2 and other liturgies use more contemporary language.
What is an "Episcopal" church?
The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church has its roots in the Church of England, but separated from the Church of England shortly after the American Revolution. The Anglican Communion consists of churches around the world that are bound together by tradition, Scripture, and the inheritance they have received from the Church of England. Anglicanism is distinguished by the following characteristics:
- Protestant, yet Catholic. Anglicanism stands squarely in the Reformed tradition, yet is directly descended from the Early Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Episcopalians celebrate the mass in ways similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, yet do not recognize a single authority, such as the Pope of Rome.
- Worship in one's first language. Episcopalians believe Christians should be able to worship God and read the Bible in their first language.
- Scripture, tradition and reason. While Christians universally acknowledge the Bible as the Word of God and completely sufficient to our reconciliation to God, what the Bible says must always speak to us in our own time and place.
- What Christians have said to us through the centuries about the Bible is critical to our understanding of it in our own context. The traditions of the Church connect all generations of believers and give us a starting point for our own understanding.
- Episcopalians believe that every Christian must build a relationship with God's word in the Bible, and to do that, God has given us intelligence and personal experience, which we refer to as "reason." Based on the text of the Bible and what Christians have taught us about it through the ages, we can then embark on our own lifelong search for an understanding of God's word.
What does the word "Episcopal" mean?
"Episcopal" means "bishop" in Greek. The Episcopal Church is governed by our bishops. The basic unit of ministry in the Episcopal Church is the diocese, or a region of a reasonable number of Episcopalians. Each diocese is presided over by a diocesan bishop who may have help from other bishops serving in various supporting capacities. Good Shepherd is part of the diocese of Texas.
What is liturgy?
Worship in the Episcopal Church is said to be liturgical, meaning that the congregation follows service forms and prays from texts that don't change greatly from week to week during a season of the year. This sameness gives worship a rhythm that is comforting and familiar to worshipers
