Our Ministry with St. Luke's

St. Luke’s offers the opportunity to be in a faith-based community with others who support the growth of children in healthy ways. The people of St. Luke’s provide nurturing opportunities for all who join them to discover both their individual voices and their individual talents. In so doing, a shared relationship is fostered, and differences and difficulties grow smaller.

I first entered St. Luke’s at the start of a service in late fall 2015, and within minutes felt at home. There is just a palpable feeling of joy, welcome, and safety there. Whether in the basement sharing dinner with families as part of the weekly Wednesday after-school program, or working on a holiday craft with a kindergartner at the (now annual)

Christmas Café- every time I am there I feel the gladness and presence of the Lord.

Camp Imagination last summer featured an art project called “Something Beautiful”. Campers took photographs during walks around the church and school neighborhood of beauty- and there was much to behold! From beautiful flower planters on porches, to carefully detailed and bright murals on buildings, to a bird resting on tree branch, beauty was found, and beauty was claimed.

Boarded up houses, nearby police sirens, and trash strewn sidewalks around North Carey Street say something. Crime statistics of the St. Luke’s zip code say something. The test scores and FARM percentages of Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School students say something too. One could conclude they say “hopeless”. Or, one could decide that they say “HOPE”.

That’s what the St. Luke’s church community chooses- HOPE. Not only hope, but welcome. Not only welcome, but relationship. And through relationship, shared faith. Good Shepherd is blessed to be in community with St. Luke’s, providing this joy, welcome and opportunity to all who chose to take part, choosing HOPE. How might you choose HOPE?

Some hope-filled opportunities at St. Luke’s:

After School Program, 3:30-6:00 every Wednesday

• helping to provide dinner for the kids and their families

• direct volunteering at the program

Camp Imagination, July 24th-August 4th

• serving lunch

• direct volunteering with the camp

Click here to sign up

Hillary Shaffer

hzouck@yahoo.com