The daily and weekly work of the Episcopal Church done primarily in its parishes and missions continues apace this week. A priest is recognized for his work in founding a ministry that supports many in Atlanta. Congregations are featured online for their ongoing feeding ministries, for their work housing the homeless, and for the support of life changing programs that support teens on the other side of the world.
From Atlanta, this news of an Episcopal priest’s ministry being recognized:
The city will present Father Austin Ford with the Mayor’s Phoenix Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a citizen of Atlanta, at a March 1 City Council meeting.
Ford is the founder of Emmaus House, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta located in Peoplestown. Emmaus House evolved from a small community center into a support structure for Atlanta residents providing counseling, senior services, summer activities for children, and other services as well as Sunday morning chapel services.”
From Olympia, Washington State, this glad and happy news of additional funding for the emergency family shelter at St. John’s Episcopal Church. The funding came as part of larger grant to support homeless service in Thurston County and may allow the shelter based at the parish to move to a permanent and sustainable location.
Speaking of supporting those in need, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in McMinnville Oregon has a feature article written up about its Soup Kitchen that’s in its twentieth year of ministry. The program is celebrating its anniversary and the serving of over a quarter million meals by inviting all past and present volunteers to join them for one of their regular dinners. Seems wonderfully appropriate doesn’t it?
No report on how long it’s been operating, but Episcopalians are involved in the regular feeding of needy people in the community in Morristown New Jersey too (among countless other places) and that ministry was featured this week.
Hopefully twenty years from now there will be some sort of similar celebration at St. John’s in Pascagoula which is involved in organizing a brand new Family Promise shelter network in that region for homeless families. More coverage of that nascent effort can be found here.
And finally this week, there’s an extraordinary account of how an Episcopal congregation, St. John’s Episcopal Church in St. Louis, is offering space to a program to support young African refugees and immigrants. Part of the program is being led by a young Muslim man who has turned his back on the lure of extremism and has is trying to organize support for others like him to keep them from falling prey to violent organizations – especially those prevalent in Somalia.