“The shared love and caring. The warmth of the congregation. The support and acceptance we give each other and the love we share. Community involvement. Authentic. Beautiful surroundings, laughter, food, music, hand bells. Sandwich Sunday, outreach, helping others.” All responses from the congregation when asked, “What do you value most about our church?” These, with many others, helped define our strengths, challenges, and future initiatives. Through a collaborative discernment process in 2008 the congregation confirmed our ongoing programs and established three, forward reaching initiatives that would help define how we carry our mission to each other and into the world. Christian Outreach, Affirming Ministry, Healing Ministry. These have become the core of how we transform faith into works.
Christian Outreach: Reaching out to our community, other congregations and those in need:
Affirming Ministry: Opening our doors, our worship and our hearts to all who wish to express the love of Christ and participate in the St. Mary’s family.
Establishing St Mary’s as an “Affirming Congregation” in 2004 to clearly express our openness to all and the inclusion of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.
Our efforts to welcome all who wish to worship and to work together to carry out our mission statement.
Healing Ministry: At St. Mary’s healing and caring for others takes many forms.
Our Parish Nurse hosts monthly forums covering a variety of health topics of interest to the wide range of members. St. Mary’s established Healing ministers in 2004 to offer anointing and the laying on of hands to all those who wish to bring their concerns forward.
St. Mary’s Church is a family congregation where with God’s help, we take care of each other, enabling us to reach out to the world in the name of Jesus Christ, sharing the fellowship of God’s love.
5610 Dogwood Road, Woodlawn, Maryland 21207 410 944-4236
The Reverend William Anderson, Priest-in-Charge