Our Parish Ministries

Human Concerns/Outreach
Our ministry provides opportunities for parish members to put their faith in action including:

• Serving meals for the hungry
• Facilitating Food Pantry donations
• Advent & Lenten outreach providing direct material assistance to clients served by local human services agencies.
• Informing parishioners about local, regional, and global community needs,  issues of justice and peace.

Our meetings are short, often include dessert and always include prayer!  We meet quarterly.

Interested in joining us?  Please contact us and we’ll be in touch.

Adult Learning At St Mary’s

In this place, this lovely, humble church, we are learning at all times, in our liturgies, in our fellowship, in our service on behalf of others—in everything we do we are being “formed” as Christians.  More formally, these are some of the important educational activities:  We gather on Sundays at “Table Talk” for collaborative learning/discussion engaging a variety of subjects.  The Bible and other sacred literature are full of stories just waiting for us to open up at our various sessions. In addition to Sunday mornings we meet on Monday evenings for Centering Prayer, once a year we go on retreat to a special place, we observe Lent with Wednesday night programs that explore many topics pertaining to Christian life, we have a woman’s morning of reflection, and a men’s breakfast time on Saturdays—these offerings are all geared to learning about our relationship with God and the Episcopal Church.  Throughout the year we have study evenings, movie evenings and at other times we bring people in from the outside to help inform us.  Hearing the truths of God’s word is crucial and bedrock for any Christian.  We work hard to ask the tough questions and to explore them as gently and thoroughly as possible. Jesus healed and TAUGHT; we pray that both and more happens in our Christian Formation along with promptings of the Holy Spirit.  To be formed we must be informed.  

Music Ministry
Music ministry provides the congregation with music each Sunday.  Hymns and Psalms are chosen based on the readings.  Lay cantors lead the Psalms when they are sung.  We also have a vocal choir to sing after Communion during the later service.  There is also a hand bell choir that performs on special holidays.  There is definitely room for more members of both choirs, so please join us if you are interested! 

Evangelism/Communication

This ministry strives to share with our own members and the broader community the good news of Christ and how we seek to live it here at St. Mary's. 

We communicate with our own members and the broader community in a variety of ways:

·         website

• newsletter
• monthly calendar
• Sunday bulletin
• Bulletin boards in the parish hall
• Our prominent sign on the corner of highways 18/67
• News releases
• Advertisements
• Bulk mailings
• Weekly email to all members from our priest
• Telephone tree for events that require immediate attention

Along the areas of responsibility noted above, we seek to evangelize, that is, to share the good news of Christ and how we seek to live it at this parish, in a variety of ways:

• We seek to ‘plug in' to large community events and offer information about the parish by being present at our annual Book Sale, Strawberry Fest, Fall Fest, and Craft Fair.  These are large events that bring in folks form all over the area.  We let them know about our faith community and welcome them to visit us for worship.
• We have just offered the parish's first "Longest Night" Service - a chance for folks grieving at Christmas time to come together in order to share faith, hope and love.
• We participate in ecumenical events and take leadership in those events.  We host an annual ecumenical prayer service for peace on New Year's Day.
• We seek to grow in faith ourselves - our meetings include book studies on a variety of topics related to faith, parish growth and sharing the good news of Christ. 
• We seek to teach our parish members how to be evangelists in order to help our parish grow in faith as well as numerically. 

As you can see, this is a hands-on ministry that is creative and multi-faceted. 

Prayer and Worship

Worship is the most important thing we do, our reason for being a parish in the first place, we seek to ensure that our common prayer is Christ –centered and -focused, active, participative, relevant, and life-giving.

This ministry includes oversight of ministries that enable us to worship together as a community including seasonal planning and church decoration, special services planning, music ministry, and suggestions to help enhance the quality of our communal prayer.

Sunday morning ministers include:

Altar Guild – ensures that all is set for the celebration of the Eucharist. This ‘behind-the-scenes’ ministry is the foundation of what we do on Sunday. 

Greeters: welcome people to church, ensure that they have a worship bulletin and a place to sit; introduce visitors to members when possible, bring up the gifts of bread and wine, take the collection, help clean up any clutter left in church after the Eucharistic celebration is finished. 

Readers: (also known as Lectors):  proclaim God’s Word to the assembly

Intercessors: Offer the Prayers of the People – prayers to God for the needs of the church, the world, those who are in need of prayer, and prayers of thanksgiving.

Acolytes: Assist the priest and deacon at the celebration of the Eucharist

Chalice Bearers:  minister the Blood of Christ during Communion

Children’s’ Liturgy of the Word:  this ministry is for children ages 8 and up – it offers them a chance to reflect on the Scripture readings in a way that they can more readily respond and relate to – they join the main congregation in time for Communion.

Worship Center:  Like a children’s liturgy of the Word but for younger children up to age seven.

Nursery: for Moms and Dads who may wish to have little ones spend church time in a caring, safe environment while Mom and Dad pray in church.  Use of the nursery is neither expected nor not expected – it is a service provided by the parish for those who may choose to use it.

Priest: preaches the Word of God, leads the community in prayer, blesses the bread and wine during the celebration of the Eucharist, hears confessions, anoints the sick, prays for parish members, and provides pastoral care and direction for the community.

Deacon: assists the priest in pastoral ministry; brings the cares, needs and dreams of the people of God throughout the world into the parish; encourages and raises up lay ministry and leadership; helps lead Sunday worship by proclaiming the Gospel; preaches on occasion; assists at the Eucharist, and sends parishioners ‘into the world’ when the celebration has ended. 

Youth Formation at St. Mary’s

Sunday School

Formation for primary grades is offered throughout the year in units lasting from three to several weeks. Classes meet on Sunday mornings at 9:10 am and are completed in time for students to attend the 10:00 am service. A variety of topics are covered and students are given the opportunity to grow in faith, their relationship with Jesus Christ, and to learn more about the Bible and the way live and worship in the Episcopal Church. 

Vacation Bible School – is a ministry of the parish that is still growing. It’s been offered in 2006 and 2007.  We hope to bring it back in 2009!

Youth Group – for students in grades six and above.  Led by caring and enthusiastic adults, this group of young people from St. Mary’s Church and St. Anskar’s Church in Hartland seek to learn more about faith in Christ through service, prayer opportunities, outreach activities, and spending time together simply having fun.  The youth group contains a formational aspect, as well.  Plans are underway for the youth group’s second annual mission trip. 

Also, check out the Prayer and Worship Ministry section for ministries and formation opportunities for youth at St. Mary’s