MISSION STATEMENT

St. Mark’s beginnings can be traced back to a small group of 10 residents of Riverside, RI who met for the first service on October 20, 1880. Under the guidance of The Reverend William Chapin, this group grew into a band of loyal worshipers that officially incorporated as a parish in 1883. Starting in 1895, under the service of The Reverend H.W. Remick, St. Mark’s experienced the foundational growth that led to its strong presence known to several generations of Riverside residents today.

The church’s most notable growth, both literal and spiritual, came under the tenure of The Rt. Reverend Alexander Stewart from 1953 to 1970. Becoming evident that a new church was needed, Rev Stewart motivated the parish to construct a new building with a seating capacity of 300. In 1956, just 364 days after breaking ground, the first service of Holy Communion was celebrated at the new St. Mark’s Church.

Nine years later tragedy struck when on Friday January 22, 1965 a fire completely gutted the parish house and severely damaged the church. Not to be deterred by the loss of material objects, Rev. Stewart turned this misfortune into a spiritual motivation that ultimately inspired the resurrection of the church building and vitalized the soul of the parish itself. During this time, St. Mark’s came alive. Through the devotion, hard work, and sacrificial pledges and the direct labors of the parishioners, along with the generous contributions of outside gifts, a new church with the seating capacity of 400 and new parish center were built and still remain today a block from Riverside Square.

OUR SURROUNDING COMMUNITY

Riverside is a working class community, with good schools. A village within the city of East Providence, Riverside, is predominantly Roman Catholic, but also includes the Riverside Congregational Church and the Evangelical Covenant Church. A significant percentage of the population is not related to any church community. The city is just starting a large residential and commercial development on the shores of beautiful Narragansett Bay. This development will add more people to the community. The city has a bright future that promises population growth.

OUR FACILITIES

The Church Building

Our church building, consecrated in 1973, includes ample space for worship. With pew seating surrounding the altar dais, the church can accommodate approximately 400. The narthex end of the nave features a south facing window wall overlooking a sun-drenched granite Baptismal fount. Adorning the wall behind the altar is a Berkshire pipe organ whose pipes provide wonderful musical accompaniment to our choir and parishioners. A ramp entrance at the west end of the transept provides easy entry to guests and members requiring handicap accessibility. At the opposite end of the east transept, a sound proof family room provides a comfortable environment for families with small children.

The Parish Hall

Attached to the east wall of the main church building is our parish hall, a structure equal in size to the church itself. The parish hall building features offices for the Rector and Parish Administrator, a small sitting room/library, a two story parish hall, and a full kitchen. Overlooking the parish hall from the second floor are two meeting rooms; one for general use, and another for the vestry.

The Undercroft

The church undercroft also has a large room used for meetings and vacation bible school. This area also contains Sunday school classrooms, a nursery, and a separate choir room. The building is well maintained and is used by several parish and community groups. Ample parking is provided both to the front and rear of the Church/Parish Hall buildings.

OUR PARISH ORGANIZATION

Vestry

The parish of St. Mark’s is organized around a commission system under the leadership of an elected vestry. Vestry members serve for a term of three years and, as part of their responsibilities, are liaison coordinators of the commissions. The Vestry has a retreat once a year to reaffirm its responsibilities and to make plans on how to improve our parish life and mission. Our Vestry works well and focuses on important issues in our common life and witness. The Vestry is a dedicated group with a desire to keep our parish strong and vibrant.

Parish Administrator

Sue Rossi has been the part-time Parish Administrator for over three years. She oversees many areas of our church structure. She coordinates schedules, provides secretarial services, and connects parishioners and their needs with appropriate resources. In addition, Sue administers to most of the correspondences including weekly bulletins and the monthly newsletter. She also is responsible for coordinating functions to be held at the church.

Adam Schneider joined our staff last year as the new organist and choir director. Prior to his coming to St. Mark’s, Adam was Organist and Choir Director of both Trinity Episcopal Church in Stoughton MA, and at St. Peter’s and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Providence. A life long Episcopalian, Adam was a parishioner of St. Stephen’s Church, Providence; a church known for its fine liturgy and music.

Sexton

Judy Oberg is in her seventh year as the church sexton. She is responsible for cleaning the entire building, maintaining supplies, upkeep of all grounds (snow in winter, grass in summer), painting inside & out as needed, repairs as needed, set-up and take down at all functions. She is available for weddings & funerals. Judy also oversees the emergency checks such as the fire alarm, emergency lighting, extinguishers etc.

Financial Support for St. Mark’s

Stewardship and Finance

The mission of the Stewardship and Finance Commission is to create revenue generating events to help gain financial stability and to develop a thriving stewardship program. We have begun developing an Annual Giving program designed to visit and listen to every parishioner’s concerns as well as to ask for annual pledges to support the parish budget. We have a small group of money counters who are responsible for tallying the weekly offerings and seeing that appropriate accounting measures are followed. The annual May breakfast adds to the general budget and helps support additional parish programs. All members are asked to contribute their time, talent, and treasure as they are able and willing.

The 2007 Annual Budget is available upon request. The Expense Budget totals $189,924, and the Income Budget is $189,300, of which $127,000 is pledged income. Income of $33,000 from our annuities helps towards balancing the budget. Pledge history for the last several years is provided in the table below.

Committed membership and stewardship are important concerns for our parish and for the Diocese of Rhode Island.

State of the Church in Rhode Island

St. Mark’s is one of sixty-two parishes and missions in the Diocese of Rhode Island. Our bishop, The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, has served for the past ten years. Our parishioners have served on Diocesan Council and each year we send delegates to Diocesan Convention. We also participate in the Episcopal Conference Center, as well as supporting Episcopal Charities, and in other outreach and leadership areas of the Diocese. We are going through a period of time where the coordination of parish resources has been necessary to make the Diocese of Rhode Island stronger.

We at St. Mark’s are a viable church and are participating in a Strategic Planning process with two other Episcopal churches in our geographical area. We have a role as a key parish in the future of the Episcopal Diocese in Rhode Island.

 

THE PEOPLE OF ST. MARK'S

The face of St. Mark’s is clearly that of its people. Our parishioners have embraced the intimacy of our church family and have grown rich meaningful relationships. These relationships would not be possible without our people having the following intrinsic qualities:

WORSHIP AT ST. MARK'S

On a typical Sunday, the children attend Sunday School in the undercroft during the reading of the lessons, the gospel and the sermon. During the offering of the gifts, the children come upstairs so that the entire parish celebrates the Great Thanksgiving together.

St. Mark’s has several worship traditions that are important to its parishioners. The pageantry of the children’s Christmas service always seems to refocus us all on the true meaning of the season. The Maundy Thursday Agape Supper and candle light service is a highlight of several Holy Week events that include a Good Friday Children’s Stations of the Cross, and a sunrise Easter Service overlooking Narragansett Bay. Other more light-hearted worship services include the annual blessing of the animals and Jazz services, where parishioners share their musical talents with each other and God.

During the last calendar year, 2007, we had 94 Sunday services, 8 weekday services, 117 private communions, 7 baptisms, 2 confirmations and receptions, 1 marriage, and 19 burials. We also had 1 new transfer into the parish, and we added 5 newcomers as parishioners. There were 6 transfers from St. Mark’s to other parishes.

OUR MINISTRIES

The mission of our Worship Commission is to enhance our worship service with music, "to read, mark, and inwardly digest" the Word of God, in order to equip us to into the community as witnesses of God’s love.

The curriculum in the younger grades is lectionary-based, while the older students learn the fundamentals of the Bible, prayer, worship and the Episcopal Church leading toward confirmation. Sunday school begins at 9:45 AM with students and teachers joining their families for communion halfway through the service.

Each summer, St. Mark’s conducts a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for one week. During this event, children meet daily to experience God’s word in fun and innovative ways. The 2007 VBS, entitled "Avalanche Ranch," featured a Wild West theme with song and play stampede, wild Bible adventures, horseplay games, chuck wagon chow, Chadder’s Wild West Theater, cowpoke crafts and missions, and show time roundup.

Each day the children brought food for our local food bank. We also stuffed teddy bears to send to a school for disabled children in Guatemala. Their teacher, Virginia Walker, spoke at an Episcopal Church Women’s meeting about her work with these children.

Youth Group
Over the past few years, St. Mark’s has formed a youth group that meets regularly. They take part in community service (Meals on Wheels and other parish events), fund raisers (the Crop Walk and the Rock-a-Thon), and social events (Game night and Musical Instrument night).

Last year, the group raised over $600 to support some of their program activities including a camping trip to New Hampshire. The group also bakes desserts for Meals on Wheels and works on church dinners by waiting on tables and cleaning up for events like May Breakfast and the Elderly Luncheon. This group of children is a wonderful example of the bond of Christian fellowship shared throughout our parish family.

Adult Education
Adult education and spiritual formation opportunities include a weekly Bible Study held at the home of parishioners. The bible study group has been meeting for over 40 years. We offer programs during Advent and Lent, occasional Sunday forums, and shared programs of study and reflection with parishioners at St. Matthew’s Church, West Barrington.

Communications
The mission of the Communications Commission is to spread the word in the community about St. Mark’s Church and the good work we do – e.g., tutoring, food collection -- and to publicize special events. A newsletter, GOOD NEWS, is published 11 times each year with activities, items of interest and the overall current status of our parish.

Our church website was designed and is maintained by one of our parishioners, and it has been up and running for over a year (www.stmarksriverside.org).  It is another vehicle for communicating with parishioners and people everywhere. For the calendar year 2007, there were a total of 523 visits to the site averaging over 40 per month. Our site was visited by people from 28 states and six countries. Advertising through the media is accomplished on an "as needed" basis. Marketing and public relations are always on-going and require constant attention.

FELLOWSHIP AND LIFE AT ST. MARK'S

Diocesan activities include delegates to Convention, support through apportionment giving, Episcopal Charities, and the wider Church through contributions to the United Thank Offering.

WHERE ARE WE GOING

Our Vestry has set goals for 2008 and they are as follows:

The need for growth in order to become a more vibrant and healthier parish.

We must become more fiscally solvent by attracting more families to our parish and by executing innovative fund raising events with our existing membership.

The need for more Sunday school involvement; both teachers and students. Also, more volunteers are needed for the tutoring program.

Further development of our choir and music program.

Continued maintenance of the church building including windows and addressing our heating issues with a possible oil to gas conversion.

Discuss better ways to market ourselves and our church to the community.

Continue the existing dialogue with St. Mary’s and St. Matthew’s Churches.

In 2007, a Profile Committee was formed to select a new rector for St. Mark’s Church. As part of that process, questions were asked of the parish in special Sunday programs in order to gather their opinions. One of the questions asked was: "What qualities do you value most in a priest?"

We are looking for an individual that will inspire our parish to grow as we walk in the light of Christ. We are a diverse group of people that have a wide range of needs. With that we also bring a tremendous complement of diverse strengths and talents. Qualities that we are looking for in a person include: