Enrichment Groups

Hospitality

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:12

Members provide coffee, tea, fruit punch, cookies, etc. for the fellowship hour following the 10:30 Worship Service. Men and women (and sometimes their children) volunteer to make or buy cookies, help setup and serve, or help with clean-up once a month.

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Hospitality

Food brings people together on many different levels.

Channel your inner epicurean! Throughout the year Saint Mark’s hosts a variety of events that serve to open our doors to newcomers and to strengthen our parish family. From our time-honored formal reception after the Festival of Advent Lessons and Carols to the All-Parish Pentecost Picnic and barbeque, volunteers help provide delicious menu items.

Volunteers may sign up for one event or many and for as little or as much as you are able. Many Hands Make Light Work!

Special Events Calendar

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Hospitality

Prayer in action is love. Love in action is service.

-Mother Teresa

Weddings

Members meet with the engaged couple and clergy to get all of the details of the upcoming wedding. They provide a tour and a general overview, and help to coordinate access for vendors, the rehearsal and the bridal party. One person is on-site early on the wedding day for last minute help and direction.

Memorial Services

Members bake cookies, make sandwiches, create vegetable or fruit platters, as well as work in the kitchen or serve to offer grieving families and loved ones an opportunity to get together after a Memorial Service.

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Fellowship

If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart.

-Cesar Chavez

This is a great way to meet people at Saint Mark’s. Couples and singles, gather in small groups at people’s homes for fun, fellowship, and food. A gathering of the whole takes place in September where members sign-up for hosting a particular month or two. Small groups are formed by the chairperson for October and November. Another large gathering takes place in December. The groups are rearranged for January, February and March and rearranged again for April and May. A grand finale picnic for the entire membership is held again in June.

Fellowship

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

-Mother Theresa

Sisters in Faith is a Saint Mark’s women’s group that meets on the third Monday, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm each month September through June. We discuss spiritual growth with the help of a book and our own accumulated questions and wisdom.

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Fellowship

The more you read the more things you know. The more you learn the more places you’ll go.

-Dr. Seuss

Saint Mark’s Book Group meets the 4th Monday of each month to discuss books that have been recommended by the members at out July meetings. Previously discussed books include:

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Fellowship

Oh, God in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds.

from The Book of Common Prayer

Stress-Free Golf: Here’s how we do it:

We don’t keep score.

The same person has won the Most Improved Player prize four years in a row.

Mostly, though the golf League has become a place where lasting friendships—both on and off the course—have been created.

Contact: Bruce Johnson

Fellowship

Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.

-Anthony Bourdain

The Mark’s Men is a social group that meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:40 pm at the Old Bag Of Nails Pub at Tremont Center. They also serve the Parish by taking on the odd job, cooking the Shrove Tuesday Pancake supper, staffing the overnight cooking of the barbecue for the All-Parish Pentecost Picnic, and raising money for special causes through the Father’s Day Brat and Root Beer fundraiser. Men of all ages are welcome.

Contact: Mark Drew

Christian Formation

Saint Mark’s Youth (grades 6-12) meets monthly for Fellowship, Fun, and Service to the Church and Community. Throughout the year, there are exciting opportunities to meet with other youth in the Saint Mark’s Community and also the Greater Columbus Episcopal Community.

Contact: Rachel Dwyer-Markwardt

Christian Formation

Nursery – Ages 6 weeks to 3 years

We typically have two caregivers present each week to care for nursery age children so parents may enjoy worship service.

Godly Play – 3 years thru Kindergarten

In Godly Play, we tell Bible stories to children to encourage them to enter in to the stories and relate them to their personal experience. Godly Play is concerned with the spiritual development of each child as an individual and with modeling the appropriate moral behaviors expected of people living within a Christian community.

Children’s Chapel – Grades 1 – 5

Children’s Chapel meets every Sunday (including First Sundays) from September to June from 10:30 to 10:45 to provide the same worshipping opportunities that are part of the larger assembly and is based on the Revised Common Lectionary. This program is for children in grades 1 through 5. The children start Chapel together, and then they break into two groups, grades 1 through 2 and grades 3 through 5, for age appropriate lessons.

Contact: Rachel Dwyer-Markwardt and Irina Reed

Pastoral Care and Prayer

In the rhythm of the needles there is music for the soul.

-unknown

Members of the knitting circle knit or crochet shawls and enjoy the fellowship of knitters with various levels of experience. At the completion of a prayer shawl, all hands touch it while the knitters pray over it. The shawls are distributed to parishioners and others who would benefit from the symbol that they are covered in prayer. Beginners are encouraged to join!

Prayer

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

Confidential intercessory prayer every day for people who have specific issues such as death, illness, job, or family-related issues. Anyone can request these special prayers. Typically a name stays on the list for a month. Prayers can come from the Book of Common Prayer if desired, but do not have to be of a certain form nor said at a certain place or time.

Prayer chain volunteers pray with whatever words come from the heart, whatever time of day the member chooses and wherever the person may be—for example at a red traffic light. The prayer chain is confidential and is a separate ministry from the Sunday morning prayer list.

Pastoral Care

I don’t feel much like Pooh today,” said Pooh. “There, there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.”

A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

The Member Care ministry provides meals or other services (such as light housekeeping, gardening, running errands, babysitting, etc.) to parishioners who are in need of help due to illness, recovery, a new baby, bereavement or other life situations.

Contact: Michele Johnson

The New Baby ministry provides a welcoming rose and muffins to families with a new baby in the house.

Contact: Regan Bonhert

Service

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

-Thomas Jefferson

Volunteers help with the upkeep of flower pots and gardens by the front entrances. They choose the type of flower and plant them in the pots or gardens. Also many volunteers are needed for watering every two or three days throughout the summer. Help is welcome from members of all ages.

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Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.

Fred Rogers

A variety of opportunities are available such as :

• answering the phone
• folding the EPISTLE
• assisting with bulk mailing projects, and
• mailing birthday postcards.

Volunteers can help on a single occasion, be an office “regular” or be a “back-up” volunteer when scheduled volunteers are unavailable, especially during busy weeks prior to Christmas and Easter.

Contact: Melanie Jacobs

Prayer

Service

Formation

Contact: Nadya Richardson

Service

Contact: Bill Mayr