Outreach & Volunteer Opportunities
Outreach & Volunteer Opportunities are really other
words for Ministry. Everything that the Church does is
ministry. All ministry begins with a need: what needs
to be done to love and serve the Lord and one another.
Those are the words that we use as dismissal at our Sunday
Eucharist: "Let us go forward to love and serve the
Lord and one another." We follow Jesus' words: "I
have come to serve not to be served." (Mt. 20:28)
In order to follow this command, the Calumet Episcopal
Ministry Partnership (CEMP) has many opportunities. There
is a community garden at St. Timothy's (with plans to
build more beds at St. Paul's). Once-a-month groups from
St. Paul's prepare and serve dinner to the community at
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in East Chicago. The Food
Pantry at St. Timothy's has been providing needed food
to those in need for many years. Recently, Gloria Dei
Lutheran Church has become a supporter and helper in this
ministry. St. Barnabas has been a support of the local
schools by collecting and distributing school supplies
at the beginning of each school year.
Throughout the year there are many social events that
keep us in fellowship with each other and the bigger communities
within which we live. There are Teas (usually with a timely
theme), Spaghetti Dinners, picnics, Soup on Saturdays,
and other fun things. All these take time, effort and
people and are wonderful opportunities to serve.
Of course, there are always projects that need to be
done around all three of our locations. God's House is
like all houses, and they need to be maintained. But many
hands make light work.
The most important outreach/ministry is the one that
extends from each individuals heart and soul; the need
that one recognizes and takes upon themselves.
Let us go forward to love and serve the Lord and one
another.
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