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Home Calendar
Newsletter
Church Profile
About Us Education
Ministries
Music Parish Life
Links Contact
Us |
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On the first Saturday in November there is a large Food
Fair, featuring many delicacies such as Brunswick stew, both
small and family size chicken pies, cakes, homemade bread,
cookies, pickles, taco soup, and many other specialties. In
the spring there is a Rummage Sale, featuring furniture and
many other gently used items. Proceeds of these sales are
used to support various parish and community projects.
During past years Women of the Church have underwritten the
expense of painting of the church interior, funding local
families in need, and providing food for church receptions
after funerals, for school graduates, and for special event
commemorations. 
Once
a very active organization, Men of the Church are going
through a time of rebuilding. Now meeting monthly at
various members’ homes, the program has a duel focus:
in-depth discussion of spiritual growth opportunities and
commitment to projects that support St. Thomas’ and
identified community needs. 
In
August, 2004, St. Thomas’ established Stephen Ministry.
With six Stephen Leaders and ten Stephen Ministers, care has
been extended to both the parish and the community. Skilled
caregivers bring healing love, upon request, to people who
are experiencing stresses in life. Already, 22 care
receivers have been ministered to by care providers.
Currently
there are five chalicers who serve also as Lay Eucharistic
ministers, taking the Eucharist to shut-ins and parishioners
who are temporarily unable to attend church because of
illness. The LEMS receive their communion kits at the
completion of the Eucharist, leaving before the final
prayers, so that at-home or hospital-bound parishioners
truly join with the congregation in their Sunday worship.
Endeavoring
to meet the wide diversity of needs existing among
parishioners, a Good Samaritan Team was established five
years ago. During these years parishioners have been
transported to doctors’ appointments, provided with help in
moving, taken to grocery stores for shopping, and given
assistance in other areas of need. When there is a death in
the parish it has been a long-established tradition to
provide a freshly baked ham as well as preparing and
delivering meals to the family. Additionally, meals are
taken to parishioners who are ill.
One
of the most recent ministry additions is the W(e) A(re) T(he)
S(ermon) program. On designated Sundays, immediately
following the service, parishioners gather at a chosen site
to be the hands and heart of Jesus Christ in ministering to
those in need. Projects undertaken have included a complete
cleaning of the Bread Basket (food for the needy) building,
moving the Food Pantry to a larger building site, and
cleaning the yard and outbuildings of two women with
terminal illnesses. These activities include the entire
church family and have been a blessing to all involved.
This
relatively new ministry has enable members of the parish who
are older or less strong physically to join in ministering
to those who are ill in both the parish and in the
community. Shawls knitted in prayer are taken to those who
are ill, placed over their shoulders, with the loving
reminder that they are truly covered in prayer. This has
been a very comforting activity for both givers and
receivers.
Women
of the parish, who feel they have been blessed with the gift
of intercessory prayer, meet monthly to share information
about parish and community friends who, because of illness
or personal need, desire prayers. People on the prayer list
are prayed for daily by these members. Additionally, a
prayer chain is in place that can be activated quickly in
moments of crisis of any type.