ORILLLIA ST. MARK’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

St. Mark’s is an enthusiastic, progressive and Christ-centered congregation, which wants to continue to grow spiritually, influentially and numerically. Indeed, the Statement of Purpose of the congregation states that: “the purpose of the congregation of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church is to worship God by nurturing a unity in Christian faith and fellowship, and by witnessing to our faith through Christian education, outreach and service.”

In order to support its Statement of Purpose, the congregation has set the following three major objectives for itself:

· To double attendance by 2006 through strong ministry to younger families and
children
· To encourage and help the people of St. Mark’s have a greater spiritual awareness
in every aspect of their lives
· To increase the congregation’s ability to effectively share the gospel with
people who are not associated with a church

St. Mark’s attempts to address community concerns relating to poverty, teenage pregnancy and unemployment in a number of ways. It supports the Lighthouse Shelter for Men and Green Haven Women’s Shelter (for battered women) with financial contributions and food items. It provides a meeting place for the local chapter of Narcotics Anonymous and donates food items and winter clothing (mittens and scarves) to the local Salvation Army corps. Individual needy families are targeted, especially at Christmas and Easter, and assisted directly with their needs.

The congregation obtains funds and items for its outreach projects as well as for its own general use through such activities as silent auctions, yard sales, suppers, White Gift contributions, and generous personal donations. A memorable and very successful project was “The Presbyterian Potato Project,” an activity involving the entire congregation in the growing, harvesting and selling of potatoes and other vegetables. Stands were maintained at local farmer’s markets throughout the summer and in addition to the sales, a great amount of the produce was donated to local food banks and shelters.

St. Mark’s maintains a strong conviction in the importance of outreach activities into the community. The minister has been encouraged to be involved in types of outreach involving hospital visitations, crisis intervention and conducting worship services in a nearby subsidized apartment complex.

Worship Services at St. Mark’s provide opportunity for members to be involved in such activities as greeting, reading scripture, receiving offering and singing in the choir. As well, members of the congregation take turns hosting the coffee hours following Worship services when most of the congregation remain to enjoy the fellowship.

In recent years the practice of celebrating Communion by intinction has been adopted.

St. Mark’s appreciates its enthusiastic choir, which is successfully introducing livelier music into the service. Recently, the choir, assisted by members of the congregation and other congregations in the community presented a Christmas cantata and an Easter cantata. The Christmas cantata was presented a second time at a local Seniors’ Residence.

September 20, 2001

ORILLLIA ST. MARK’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

The structure of the congregation includes a variety of organizations and committees, which help fulfill the needs of its members to be involved. These groups include:

Worship and Music Committee: Concerns itself with the structure of the worship service and the preparation of the sanctuary for special services.

Fellowship and Care Committee: Concerns itself with church growth, reception and integration of new members and social activities.

Outreach and Mission Committee: Concerns itself with Presbyterian Sharing and projects to raise the profile of St. Mark’s in the community.

Pastoral care Committee: Concerns itself with support for the sick and shut-ins of the congregation.

Stewardship Committee: Concerns itself with the development and application of human and financial resources with the congregation. It also organizes specific projects, which include strawberry socials, steak dinners and box lunches on Valentine's and Halloween.

Bible Study Groups: Meet at various times and in various locations to accommodate the needs of the participants.

Guild: Concerns itself with providing a structure of fellowship, learning, service and fundraising for both the men and women of the congregation. Its traditional projects include ham dinners, Christmas bazaars, Cookie “walks” and Easter Egg “mix-ups.”

Craft Group: Concerns itself with making items to be sold at the Christmas Bazaar.

Ladies’ Brunch Group and
Men’s Breakfast Group: Meet 4 or 5 times a year for fellowship. Gatherings are usually held at local restaurants but are also held at neighboring churches when they are catering meals as a special project.

St Mark’s church is situated in a residential area in the north section of the city. It is a well maintained solid brick building built in 1957. The attractive sanctuary, with its sturdy redwood beams, pine ceiling, brick walls, and bright windows, can accommodate 126 worshipers and is equipped with a sound augmentation system. The choir loft contains a piano and electric organ. The lower level consists of a general purpose room, nursery and well equipped kitchen. Within the last eighteen months all windows in the building have been replaced, a new entrance door has been installed, the roof has been insulated and shingled and the building and its services have been upgraded to meet the latest fire codes. A future goal is to provide wheelchair access to both levels of the building.

Please feel free to contact us. You may call us at 705-325-1433 or e-mail us.