St. Francis Episcopal Church Macon, Georgia / COMMUNITY MINISTRIES

Our mission is to proclaim God’s love “not in word and speech but in action and truth.” (1 John). Our spirituality is encountering reality honestly and compassionately, especially the realities of suffering, deprivation, and injustice. Community ministry is how we serve God and how we are changed into God's likeness. Service to others is the heart of our life together as a family of faith.

Community Ministry involves gifts of money, time, and effort. Most of the money comes out of the St. Francis budget which is funded by donations. These are a few of the ministries we support:

ONE Campaign/ Bread For The World - St. Francis is a Covenant Church with Bread For The World (www.bread.org), an ecumenical group advocating for poor people both here and abroad. We support the ONE Campaign (www.one.org), a coalition of over 40 aid, advocacy, and economic development organizations, to archive the Millennium Development Goals:

We contribute to these goals primarily through Episcopal Relief & Development (www.er-d.org) by designating a set percentage of our income for economic development. We also work with Episcopalians For Global Reconciliation (www.episcopalglobalreconciliation.org) to promote these goals. We have held U2-charists (Holy Communion with the music of U2) to raise money for Bread for the World and Episcopal Relief and Development, and to collect voices of support for the ONE Campaign.

We engage in disaster relief primarily through Episcopal Relief & Development which is a highly efficient, financially accountable, low-overhead way to get immediate and on-going assistance to those in need. We were active in relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina, the South Asia Tsunami, and earthquakes in Iran and Pakistan. Our Hurricane Katrina Ministry included feeding evacuees here and sending supplies directly to Mississippi.

     REBUILDING TOGETHER rehabilitates the homes of elderly low-income people. Each year teams from St. Francis rehabilitate two houses. We also field a wonderful team of cooks who serve lunch at the work site. We contribute financially to both the meal and the building materials. We have just committed to participate in our first Habitat For Humanity build.

     WEEKEND LUNCH: The only opportunity for the homeless to get lunch on weekends in Macon is at the Jones Chapel. St. Francis fields teams to serve lunch there four or five weekends each year, and we contribute financially to buy the food.

     LOAVES AND FISHES MINISTRIES operates several transitional houses to help homeless people get their lives back on track. We also provide assistance with food, clothing, and necessities for the poor. St. Francis is a founding and sustaining member of this ecumenical ministry.

     AUNT MAGGIE’S KITCHEN TABLE is a family support program, founded by one of our members. It operates at Anthony Homes, a low income housing project, and offers various support services such as mentoring and tutoring. We always need more people to help.

     DIVERSITY HOUSE is a residential ministry to persons with HIV/AIDS. St. Francis has supported this ministry with money and volunteers since its founding. Members of St. Francis conduct the Public Service of Healing at Diversity House on a weekly basis.

CENTER FOR RACIAL UNDERSTANDING - St. Francis is a financial supporter of Macon's Center For Racial Understanding (www.c-r-u.org) and Fr. Dan has served on the Center's Steering Committee from its inception. St. Francis also joined with Holsey Temple CME Church to host a Songfest as a benefit for the Center which promotes racial equality and reconciliation. The Center formed the Downtown Clergy Association, Macon's only racially balanced clergy group. The Downtown Clergy are forming a grassroots community organizing project in which St. Francis is already involved. This project connects people across lines of race and religion to work for common goals.

ECUADOR MISSION: St. Francis has a sister parish relationship with Mission Epiphania in Quito, Ecuador. We have raised money to assist Epiphania in acquiring a church building. We are contributing to support the missionary project of one of our members, Marian Dickson, who is teaching in Quito through the Young Adult Service Corps of the Episcopal Church.

HAITI MISSION: (Haitian Hope) We have a sister parish relationship with St. Marc's, Trouin, in Haiti. We have established a school lunch program at St. Marc's by funding the building of a kitchen and purchasing food for the children. We have helped fund a new water system to supply clean water for the village. We have sent two mission teams and hosted the priest from our sister parish. We will soon provide lodging for the principal of St. Marc's school while she spends a term here learning Montessori teaching methods This mission is through the Episcopal Relief and Development Partnership Program. We contribute to the support of a Haitian theology student and future priest.

The ST. FRANCIS SHAWL MINISTRY is a way for the faithful to serve those in need by knitting or crocheting warm, colorful shawls that will literally wrap the receivers in prayer. Both those who knit and those who receive the shawls are loved and blessed. Members of the ministry gather in the church library on the first and third Thursdays of the month to pray and knit together. Shawls are given for a variety of reasons - illness, celebration, comfort, friendship...the possibilities are endless. Patterned after The Shawl Ministry founded by Janet Bristlow and Victoria Galo (www.shawlministry.com), we welcome all who would like to join in this time of hands-on spirituality.