Representative Diocesan Ministries and Outreach
An informal survey of the churches in the Diocese of Oregon reveals that, in addition to Sunday and weekday services, almost all churches provide Sunday School programs and bible study, and many provide programs for youth. Vacation Bible School is offered in some churches. Many congregations have women’s groups, such as Episcopal Church Women, Daughters of the King, prayer shawl groups, or quilting groups, and an equal number sponsor men’s groups such as the Brotherhood of St. Andrew or a lunch group. At least eight churches have a labyrinth. Less frequent are Teens Encounter Christ programs, though these are growing as the initiating churches reach out to others in the Diocese. A few churches have meditation gardens and/or columbaria.
Representative Ministries & Outreach
| Youth, Young Adult & Campus Ministries |
| Outreach Ministries |
| Adult Education & Inquiry |
| Diocesan Commissions, Committees, Ministries & Boards |
Youth, Young Adult & Campus Ministries
Youth Ministry
Youth programs in the Diocese of Oregon focus on helping teenagers discover their gifts and be-come leaders in their congregations. In collaboration with the program areas of outdoor ministry, Latino/Hispanic ministry, Christian education, and young-adult/campus outreach, the Youth Ministries Commission sponsors six major youth events a year. The Commission (comprised of six teens and six adults from around the diocese) enforces safe practices for volunteers who serve children and youth, and helps graduating high-school seniors find new homes in campus ministries.
The Diocese of Oregon seeks to provide resources for all youth leaders, from full-time parish staff to occasional volunteers. The Youth Ministries Commission
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sponsors biannual gatherings for students in middle and high school (unConventional Youth in Autumn and the Bishop’s Ball in Spring),
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sponsors trips to provincial and national youth gatherings,
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provides support at the congregational and diocesan levels,
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provides information about religious-education curricula, team-building and community service opportunities for young people,
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identifies ways to create or strengthen youth programs in our congregations.
Young-Adult and Campus Ministry
The Diocese of Oregon sponsors chaplaincies at five public universities: Southern Oregon, Western Oregon, Oregon State University, Portland State University, and the University of Oregon. Each campus ministry is governed by its own board of directors; the diocese is responsible for administrative oversight, distribution of funds, and disseminating information about opportunities for young adults in the wider Church. Several of these chaplaincies collaborate to sponsor an annual retreat focused on vocational discernment: Got Plans? Making a Living, Trailblazing a Life. Representatives from each ministry gather quarterly for meetings of the Commission on Higher Education. The diocese also works with congregations that are developing programs geared specifically toward adults ages 18-30, both in and out of college.
Outreach Ministries
In the 74 parishes and missions of our Diocese there is a wide array of outreach into our communities and beyond, ranging from feeding the hungry, housing and clothing needy children and families, feeding the soul through wonderful musical offerings, serving the incarcerated, helping with health care needs, engaging in issues involving the environment and social justice, and reaching out to Hispanic and Native American communities. The programs are varied, creative and imaginative – designed to meet the many needs that confront us. Our congregations, large and small, are intentionally engaged in meeting identified needs in ways that fit the communities they serve.
Housing the Homeless and Clothing the Poor
At least nine churches in the diocese are involved in covenant relationships with Habitat for Humanity. In addition, several churches run or support community transitional housing, sometimes in cooperation with other local churches, to assist families in crisis and transition.
Emergency clothing closets, refreshed by clothing drives, are common in the Diocese and some churches collect business clothes for people needing smart clothes for job interviews. In collaboration with the Episcopal social service agency William Temple House in Portland, St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukie assists children with clothing needs. The Clothing Center operates on Saturdays during the back-to-school season and again in time for spring, creating a "quality shopping experience" for children who would otherwise not have access to new clothes. Other churches collect or make baby clothing and blankets for needy babies and children and often work in partnership with community organizations that request aid.
Ministering to Those at the Margins of Society
Four Episcopal churches in the Portland area (Sts. Peter and Paul, Grace Memorial, St. Michael and All Angels, St. John the Evangelist) support Rahab's Sisters. This is a ministry of compassionate hospitality and supportive presence by women for women who work in the sex industry, are homeless or who are marginalized in other ways (such as drug use). A hot meal, support, fellowship and prayers are provided, as well as clothing or hygiene products. Gatherings take place every Friday evening near a location frequented by women in prostitution.
St. Mary, Eugene and Christ Church, Lake Oswego are actively ministering to both men and women who are incarcerated. Eucharist, baptism and counseling are offered regularly at the Coffee Creek women’s prison and at the Lane County Jail in Eugene. In addition, Christ Church supports Project Pooch at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility. Young men are paired with shelter dogs, which they learn to train, groom, and place in new adoptive homes. The dogs leave the program ready to be great pets, while the young men re-enter the community with new job and personal skills and increased compassion and respect for life.
Feeding the Hungry
This ministry is long standing and most of our churches are involved in feeding the hungry in some way – most churches maintain emergency food supplies and the majority run soup kitchens or free hot meal programs. Some participate in Meals on Wheels. Here are just a few examples:
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St. James, Lincoln City serves hot meals to adults and children twice every week. Working out of cramped quarters, where it was almost impossible to meet health standards, this small parish raised funds and built a wonderful new kitchen to better serve the hungry in an area that is economically depressed.
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Year round, St. Luke, Grants Pass and Christ Church, Lake Oswego prepare weekly hot meals and transport them to parks where homeless and hungry congregate. Christ Church receives food donations from the Western Culinary Institute and has fed up to 400 people every Sunday afternoon for 18 years. St Luke’s members feed as many as 40 people every week.
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During 2008, Trinity Cathedral’s long standing Food Pantry ministry provided 9,300 food bags, 2,715 lunches, and 2,660 Sisters of the Road Cafe meal coupons to an average of 50 guests per day. Sixty parishioners make year-long volunteer commitments to staff the Food Pantry.
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St. Thomas, Eugene and St. Aidan, Gresham both raise vegetables in community gardens on the church property. St Thomas is blessed with considerable land which the parishioners, with the help of others, have developed into a large and productive market garden that raises produce for the local food bank.
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Sunset Convocation works with several sponsors to gather resources for the Oregon Food Bank each year.
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St. Mark, Medford is developing a community garden and collects food for ACCESS, an organization that operates food pantries, provides food boxes, on-site meals and other services for the needy.
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For 20 years, St. Barnabas, McMinnville has served hot meals to those in need. From small beginnings, they have expanded to three times a week, serving up to 200 people. Each guest is treated with dignity and respect and fed great food in a spiritually caring environment.
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St. Mathias, Cave Junction has an ongoing lunch program serving meals twice a week.
Bringing the Church to the Elderly and Infirm
Many of our churches conduct services in assisted living centers and other residential settings and take communion to shut-in members of their congregations. Trinity Cathedral parishioners volunteer at Trinity Place Adult Day Care to provide social activities for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory disorders which, in turn, provides some respite for their caregivers.
Teaching, Nurturing, Healing and Advocating for Justice
Many of our churches have community after school programs for children. Some programs provide reading and tutoring help; others, activities for latch key children needing nourishment and supervision after school; and yet others, organized activities for teens.
Some churches provide assistance with health needs in collaboration with local community services. Health services are provided formally through the hospital systems with Episcopal roots in Portland and Corvallis, and the Community Counseling Center in Eugene. An example of more informal ministry is the assembly of home pharmacy kits by St. Mark, Medford for families at community health centers.
At Trinity Cathedral, a Creating Assets, Savings and Hope (CASH) program provides volunteer income tax assistance. Trinity parishioners also participate in the monthly Oregon Faith Roundtable against Hunger, and in 2008 its Director of Outreach joined with Oregon Food Bank and the Oregon Hunger Relief Taskforce to directly lobby Oregon’s US Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden regarding the nutrition title program in the new Federal Farm Bill.
Global Outreach
Many churches in the diocese are working with relief, medical or educational groups in poorer countries throughout the world. Here are a few examples:
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During 2008 the entire diocese was involved in raising money for the Nets for Life program of Episcopal Relief & Development. This highly successful program provides long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets to help prevent malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. Altogether, more than $50,000 was collected, providing nearly 4,200 nets for this life-saving program.
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The Masaka School in Uganda teaches and, in many cases, houses 1,200 students, most of whom are AIDS orphans. An ongoing relationship with Christ Church, Lake Oswego helps with new buildings, supplies, transport and teachers’ salaries.
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St Michael and All Angels sends teams to El Tempique in rural Nicaragua to build sanitation and irrigation structures and other basic necessities.
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Churches in Southern Oregon are supporting the Maasae School in Monduli, Tanzania, a girls’ school in a male-dominated culture.
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Christ Church, Lake Oswego supports a medical mission in Lima, Peru that ministers to boys who live on the street. Every year a team, including a medical doctor, travels to Peru and spends part of its time in Lima and part in rural Arequippa where they serve the villagers.
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Trinity Cathedral partners with Mercy Corps and its Project Global Village to provide infrastructure support in Montañuelas, Honduras. In 2008, 28 parishioners worked with community members to build latrines and make improvements to the community’s elementary school. Trinity’s Outreach Ministries Commission has several other outreach ministries in Honduras.
Adult Education and Inquiry
Most of our churches offer education programs for their congregations. Many of our churches place special emphasis on adult educational programming that can provide insight through intelligent debate and discourse. Trinity Cathedral in Portland has developed a very special ministry in this respect and it has truly flourished.
The Center for Spiritual Development (Center) provides many and varied learning opportunities for the whole diocese – and for those of other faith traditions as well. Now in its eleventh year, the Center offers adult Christian education and biblical study, spiritual development and practice, public lectures and pilgrimages for a wide spectrum of participants.
The Center offers in-depth seminars and educational programs to explore our understanding of what it means to be Christian and church in the 21st Century. The Center attracts internationally known theologians and biblical scholars as seminar leaders and instructors. One current three-year program, Seeking God in the 21st Century, provides a deep encounter with the Christian tradition and its place in a post-modern and pluralistic world. The Center also offers many public lectures by leading contemporary theological voices – for example, John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Karen Armstrong, Huston Smith, Sr. Joan Chittister, the Right Rev. John Shelby Spong, Martin Marty, the Right Rev. Frank Griswold, and Diana Butler Bass have been recent speakers.
