Why is St. Mark’s Stretching Out Its Hands?
In light of the economic news of the day and all of the associated uncertainty about the future, St. Mark’s faced several key questions:
• Do we cave into the fear?
• Do we worry about our own survival as a church?
• Should we batten down the hatches, secure the doors, and simply try to survive as an institution?
• Or do we see these trouble times as the exact “right” moment to throw open our doors and serve those who are in pain and suffering in our community?
Though risky, the congregation at St. Mark’s quickly affirmed the call to be the church that flings open its doors and to be about the work of serving our community and God’s world. We chose not to play it safe but, like Jesus, to stretch out our hands in order to meet the needs of our suffering and struggling community.
Our Efforts
While the needs are great and ever expanding, our desire and calling is to help the families and children of our immediate community in North Hills/Midtown. We want to do our best to offer a holistic approach to helping families get back on their feet and out of their immediate crisis. We seek to help not only families within the congregation who are struggling but also families with children in our immediate community who are finding it ever more difficult to make ends meet in these troubling economic times.
We acknowledge that we are not a full service social service agency and that we will not be able to respond to every need raised up but, we will seek to do all that we can in the name of Christ to offer some form of help to everyone who comes to our doors in need. We see our work as a bridge to helping people return to self-sufficiency and stability.
What We Seek, Hope and Offer
- Spiritual care, counseling and worship: Mid Day Prayer service every Tues. at 12:15 pm
- A clear and concise directory of available resources in our immediate community
- Food assistance: Sophie’s Bread Box – prepackaged, non-perishable dry goods and “Soup on Sundays”
- Limited home repair assistance and transportation
Click here to see an example of this mission at work.
