There Are So Many Ways To Get Involved at Saint Mark
The best way to experience the full breadth and depth of a community of faith is to get involved - to get plugged in! Saint Mark is no exception.
Worship
Worship is at the center of our faith. We gather as a family of faith to focus our full attention on God through the reading of Scripture, preaching from the Word, music, liturgy, prayers and Holy Communion.
It takes many people to make worship happen. We need ushers, greeters, communion servers, musicians, tech teams, decorators, readers, and people to donate altar flowers, just to name a few. Do you have gifts and talents that you would be willing to use to enhance our worship experience?
Click here to contact Pastor Todd Davis, Senior Pastor. Click here to contact Pastor Shawna Darnall, Associate Pastor.
Normally, we have two services of worship - a traditional service and a contemporary service, both at 10:15 am. However, under COVID restrictions, we currently have one service at 10:15 am in the sanctuary, featuring both traditional and contemporary components of worship.
Learn and Grow
The purpose of the Church is make disciples of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the task of becoming a disciple requires learning and growing in faith. The process begins in our church nursery and continues through adulthood. We offer Sunday School classes and midweek programs for all ages. UMW (United Methodist Women) circles at Saint Mark are busy learning and taking action. There are a variety of small group experiences to choose from, including TREK and Vacation Bible School for children, Wings 'N Things and Journey Home Group for youth, an ongoing Sunday morning men's group, a Thursday morning Bible Study, short term studies, as well as retreats.
You may have gifts and talents in teaching, leading or mentoring. How about using your gifts to help others become disciples of Jesus?
Find out about the many learning opportunities for children, youth and adults by clicking here to contact Pastor Shawna Darnall, our Associate Pastor and Minister of Faith Formation.
Because we are following COVID protocols, all of our learning and growing opportunities for all ages are temporarily taking place online.
Serve
The authentic fruit of discipleship is servanthood, which is the way of Christ. Saint Mark is well known in the community for its mission outreach. When there is a need - local, state, national or beyond - we encourage our disciples to roll up their sleeves and get involved in being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Our signature mission project is Marvin's Kids, a ministry that provides Christmas gifts for poor children in Oconee County. Parents are able to "shop" for their children, selecting toys that have been purchased by our Saint Mark disciples. However, this ministry reaches beyond the Christmas holiday season, providing other kinds of services as needed.
Another signature Saint Mark ministry is Special Friends, an outreach for local special needs children and their siblings. The main event is a day camp offered for three days in the summer. Youth and adult volunteers serve 50 children, providing summer camp activities.
Each year, Saint Mark participates in the Rise Against Hunger program where an interfaith collection of people gathers together to package nutritious food that is shipped to feed starving children around the world.
There are other seasonal projects such as providing school supplies for local children before school begins. There are fundraisers for Epworth Children's Home on Mother's Day and in the fall. Our United Methodist Women sponsor fundraisers throughout the year to support missions.
Saint Mark sponsors mission trips, most notably to the Bahamian Island of Eleuthera, and wherever there may be natural disasters.
A tornado that hit Seneca in April of 2020 destroyed the church building of a predominantly black congregation in our community. Saint Mark disciples answered God's call to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ, to offer worship and meeting space until their church facility is rebuilt.
Saint Mark has two distinctive prayer ministries. Imagine that you are seriously ill and someone comes by to see you bringing with him or her a beautiful and lovingly made prayer quilt. Quilters for Christ has been an important prayer ministry of Saint Mark, meeting every month on a Saturday to make the quilts that are given to babies who are baptized at Saint Mark, and to persons who are seriously ill. The second prayer ministry is the Wednesday Morning Prayer Group which meets to pray for everyone on the church's printed prayer list, as well as other concerns that arise. Both groups would love for you to join them.
We have learned that when there is a need, Saint Mark disciples are quick to meet the need.
These are just a few of the ways that Saint Mark disciples get involved - to make a difference in the lives of the "neighbors" Jesus told us to love and serve.
Watch for ways to get involved in mission/service in our weekly digital newsletter, the Heart Beat.
Outreach is very important - even during a pandemic. We continue to make service a priority, but try to do so as safely as possible, wearing masks and observing social distancing.
Lead
Some disciples are endowed with the gift and unique ability for leadership in the church. Lay Leaders are called, elected and equipped to assume leadership of the many necessary operations of the church. Below is a list of the many ways that lay leaders can be involved in the daily operations of the church:
Council of Stewards: Main Ministry Approval and Coordination Group for Saint Mark (Including Program Plans and Budgets)
Ministry Teams: Responsible for implementing the day-to-day mission of the church.
- Worship Team
- Tech Team
- Evangelism Team
- Hospitality Team
- Children's Ministries
- Youth Ministries
- Adult Ministries
- Senior Adult Ministries
- Church History Team
- Library Team
- Prayer Ministries
- Caring Ministry
- Mission/Service Team
- Church and Society Team
Administrative Committees: Responsible for the "business" of the church (staff, finances, buildings and grounds)
- Lay Leadership Committee
- Staff/Parish Relations Committee
- Trustees Committee
- Finance Committee
- Stewardship Committee
If you are interested in serving in a leadership capacity in any of these areas, click here to contact Pastor Todd Davis.
