Missions and Outreach

Serve on Missions and Outreach Team
This committee provides the administrative structure for our: Breakfast Club, Supper Club, Honduras service trip, Appalachian Service Project, and the Homeless Resource Center, each of which has its own leadership and network. Volunteers wishing to engage on a shorter-term, less structured basis may want to participate in our one-day work projects called Make Your Mark Day. For these events, committee members help work-groups for such local care providers as Midtown Assistance Center, Wiggins House, or Trinity Community Ministry.

This year we are also looking to increase our interaction with these and other critical service agencies by establishing liaison relationships, initiating mid- to long-term volunteer projects for them, and providing greater educational opportunities for our congregation about the social, economic and spiritual needs of the persons these organizations assist. We want 2006 to be a growth year for Missions and Outreach, providing greater opportunities for good work, knowledge-sharing and advocacy on behalf of the homeless, working poor, the aging, at-risk children, persons living with HIV/AIDS and others in need.

The mission statements of our partners in ministry speak of promoting creative, independent lives; self-sufficiency; life-stabilization and “readiness” for full participation in the world. Most significantly, they work toward creating “faith-based transformational opportunities” . . . for both the people in need AND the volunteers who help them. Sound promising? Then join us on the Missions and Outreach committee.

Time Commitment: Monthly meetings (Second Mondays at 6:30 pm); Bi-annual Make Your Mark Day events; special projects as needed.

Appalachia Service Project (ASP)
The Appalachia Service Project is a home repair and home building ministry through which volunteers and staff repair and build homes for low-income families in rural Central Appalachia. Our goal is to make homes warmer, safer and drier, while offering transformational experiences for volunteers and homeowners alike. Volunteers participate on work crews of 5-7 folks. Previous construction/repair experience appreciated, but not required.

Time Commitment: One week, usually late summer.

Honduras Mission Trip
An annual week-long trip is planned with varying work projects usually involving construction.

Time and Expense Commitment: Necessary vaccinations for foreign travel expense, passport expense, trip expense (approximately $1,500), and a week of hard work and fun.

Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club serves a hot meal to 60 homeless persons every Saturday morning. We provide a unique setting for the homeless. Breakfast Club is a non-threatening environment where a small group can relax and be served with love and respect. Working in teams, volunteer duties include stetting tables, cooking, serving, and cleaning. We are often told by the people we serve that it is the best meal they get all week.

Time Commitment: Approximately 3 hours one Saturday a month starting at 9:00 a.m.

Blessed are the Feet
Saint Mark is excited to announce a new ministry for our homeless friends. We will be providing foot care once a month for the members of the Saturday Morning Breakfast Club. Medical care will be provided by a specialist in foot care and a registered nurse. Volunteers are needed to soak the person's feet, conduct a foot-washing liturgy and prayer, and perhaps massage the feet after the person sees the nurse.

Time commitment: Approximately 3 or 4 hours of your time. No experience is necessary. For more information, contact Mike Smith, 478.731.4957, smith_mu@mercer.edu.

Supper Club
Supper Club serves 50-60 homeless persons every Tuesday afternoon. Meals range from sandwiches to hot meals. Every meal includes fruit, vegetables and dessert. Every first Tuesday of the month is “Pizza and a Movie Night” where we serve pizza and pop corn and rent a movie. Duties include setting tables, cooking, serving and cleaning.

Time Commitment: Flexible. Supper Club volunteers sign up for as many Tuesdays as their schedule allows. Volunteers come in at 2:30; we serve at 4:00 and are usually done by 5:30.

Elimination of Homelessness Task Force
We believe it is our Christian responsibility to eliminate the injustice of homelessness in our community. The hope of the Task Force is to further develop programs that address the issue of homelessness in our city, through education, outreach and providing a welcoming environment at Saint Mark. We also hope to become active within the city and state government as advocates for policies that will lead to the elimination of homelessness in our city.

Time Commitment: The Task Force meets monthly for 1 to 2 hours. As programs are implemented, there will be a need for further time commitment.

Stocking Resource Center
We are in the process of organizing a Resource Center containing items that our homeless brothers and sisters need and request on a regular basis: toiletry kits, snack packs, socks, T-shirts, etc. We need help properly stocking and organizing.

Time Commitment: Flexible, on as needed basis.

Common Ground
On the first Thursday of every month, Saint Mark provides lunch for the participants of Common Ground, a program provided by the Atlanta Interfaith AIDS Network. Prepare or provide lunch for this group then enjoy the meal.

Advocacy Team
We live in a world, nation, and community that is not always just and inclusive for all people. We believe it is a moral imperative and biblical mandate to advocate on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized among us, to stand up for the rights of all people, and to use our voices and actions for peace and justice. Saint Mark has a long and vibrant history of social justice and advocacy, often on the cutting edge of social change. From time to time, we have had ad hoc task forces to advocate for particular groups or around particular issues. We would like to form a new team that gives support and direction to this vital mission of our church. Whether it’s advocating on behalf of the LGBT community, the homeless, Georgia’s children, or prisoners, we need folks with a passion for social justice to guide the entire congregation on strategic actions for social change.

Time Commitment: Several meetings in formation phase, regular meetings after and as the need arises

Habitat for Humanity
This program is a home building ministry through which church and trade professionals volunteer build a home for a qualifying family who is otherwise unable to have a home. The qualifying family also participates in building (if able) and pays a portion of the mortgage each month. There are many different things to do, no special skills are required and volunteers may signup for a Saturday with something they are interested in doing.

Time Commitment: Volunteers may signup for one or more Saturdays of their choosing of the seven required to complete the home from late August thru early October. Lunch is provided and Saint Mark provides lunch two of the seven Saturdays. If a volunteer would prefer to help with that rather than in building the home.

Trinity Table
Saint Mark has continued to support Trinity Community Ministry and now there is a way to get personally involved. On the 4th Thursday of every month a group of Saint Markers join the men of Trinity House for dinner at their new facility one block off Auburn Avenue. From 6:00 to 7:00 PM, we all share a bit of our life’s journey over a wonderful meal. The “time” you spend with these men is truly a gift both given...and received.

Time Commitment: 4th Thursday of every month, we try to carpool from Saint Mark leaving at 5:30 and are back by 7:15.

Wesley Walk for Others
Wesley Walkers raise money for the Wesley Community Center, which has a camp for underprivileged kids, a senior center, and a construction ministry for handicapped and underprivileged seniors. You are given packets to collect money and then, on one Saturday morning in October we walk together around Stone Mountain. It’s a lot of fun that goes to a good cause.

Time Commitment: one Saturday in October

For more information about Missions at Saint Mark or if you have suggestions, contact Rev. Josh Noblitt, Minister of Social Justice and Chair of Community Outreach & Missions, 404.873.2636 x19, or Rev. Phillip Thomason, Minister of Outreach & Pastoral Care, 404.873.2636 x12.