The Home Missions Team is commissioned by the Vestry to discern, communicate and organize the parish’s local mission and outreach efforts. We partner with local Christian organizations and strive to give members of the congregation a “leg up” in participating in their efforts. We organize supply drives, offer tours of our partner ministries, and promote opportunities for on-site participation.
Mission Statement
To empower St. Philip’s to be the salt and light of Christ in our community by partnering with frontline Christian ministries to bless those in need.
Philosophy of Ministry
In order to bear the greatest fruit, we must focus our prayers, financial support, and volunteer efforts on a small number of mission partners. Doing so will allow us to form meaningful relationships with both the mission organizations we support as well as the persons we serve. Each year, we hold an annual retreat where we prayerfully discern the 3-4 organizations with whom we will join in partnership for the coming year.
Jesus commissioned His church to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Therefore, we partner with Christian organizations whose ministry is grounded in, and flows forth from, this Great Commission. We use the term “missions” to refer to efforts to help nonbelievers find the saving grace of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). We use the term “outreach” to refer to acts of merciful service, reaching out to those in need, as described by our Lord in his teaching on the Final Judgement in Matthew 25:34-46 (“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me”). While we are grateful for all persons and organizations who seek to relieve suffering in our community, we focus our outreach partnerships and contributions on those organizations who undertake such efforts in the name of Jesus. However, we may, from time to time, partner with a secular organization for a specific, one-time event (e.g. hosting a blood drive through the Red Cross).
Members of the team help to organize and implement several initiatives during the year, including 2-3 supply drives and tours of partner ministries. They also help the parish celebrate these efforts by submitting articles and photographs to the parish newsletter for publication.
Partner Organizations
The Home Missions Team has prayerfully discerned that St. Philip’s will partner with the following organizations in 2022:
2022 Team Members
- Joy Avera (Recording Secretary)
- Becky Barber
- Gantt Folline (Treasurer)
- Guv Gottshalk
- Briggs Huddleston
- Jennifer Kimbler
- Will Kimbler
- Swain Marion
- The Rev. Gerry McCord
- The Rev. Andrew O’Dell (Clergy Advisor)
- Jennie Richardson (Chair)
- Connie Rink
- Jill Settle (Cochair)
The Team typically meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. and annually on a Saturday for a half-day retreat (typically in January).