A New Vision for the St. Luke’s Campus
as a Mission Outreach Center
The Metropolitan Memorial Cooperative Parish is moving forward with an exciting new initiative to expand our ministry presence by developing the St. Luke’s campus (at 3655 Calvert Street) as a mission outreach center continuing St. Luke’s existing ministries of service to the homeless and developing new ministries of community service. Building on the presence of the Crossroads worshiping community and the existing Shalom Place hospitality center, this Mission Center will become a focal point for developing disciples, connecting church and community members with ministries of service, and growing the church. Elements of this plan include:
The St. Luke’s Homeless Shelter. Since 1991, the St. Luke’s shelter has served hundreds of homeless men. As the first congregation-based shelter in upper Northwest, St. Luke’s paved the way for Metropolitan House and others. It has an exemplary record of case management and a strong history of engaging the neighborhood and community in its work.
Hosting the city-run hypothermia shelter. In addition to the homeless shelter described above, since 2004 St. Luke’s has also provided space for a city-run hypothermia shelter in a separate section of the church basement. This shelter operates when a “hypothermia alert” is declared — actual or forecasted temperatures of 32° or below. This lifesaving program, along with a similar shelter for women located at the nearby Community of Christ, has become an essential component in the network or services for the homeless in upper Northwest.
An onsite presence for the Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place (CCH/FP). Our trustees are currently considering the possibility of leasing office space at St. Luke’s to CCH/FP. This respected community service organization has been our partner in ministry over many years. Members of Metropolitan Church were instrumental in the founding of CCH/FP. Currently, five members of our Parish are Board Members at CCH/FP and Metropolitan has made major financial contributions to CCH/FP over the years, including a very sizable gift out of the “tithe” of our most recent building campaign. Moreover, CCH/FP is an ongoing and vital partner in the work of Metropolitan House and the St. Luke’s Shelter. Bringing CCH/FP into the St. Luke’s ministry center would reinforce and strengthen our existing on-site homeless ministries and honors our long-standing partnership.
Renewal of the Vision of a Community Kitchen. When St. Luke’s renovated its building, a commercial kitchen was included in their plan in hopes that it would be used as a training facility for the homeless. This dream has not yet come to fruition. But hopefully, developing St. Luke’s as a Mission Outreach Center will breathe new life into this dream, honoring the intent of the St. Luke’s congregation that the kitchen be used as a ministry resource – not just as rental property. Under the leadership of Rev. Kate Murphey, the Service Ministry Team is exploring a range of possibilities for developing a “community kitchen” with food and hunger ministries to connect people with one another, the church, and the needs of the community.
Connecting the Crossroads Worship Community to the work of the Mission Center. One of the gifts of this worship service is its creative flexibility that would enable direct connections between worship and service. We could, for instance, have a sandwich-making table beside the communion elements so that as people are being fed in grace they are then immediately sharing that blessing with others. It is a way to more visually and experientially capture the movement of the gospel: God’s pouring out of the Holy Spirit on us is not for us alone but for us as a “pass through” to share with others. What Crossroads is lacking now is a way for the people who come to the service to build relationships with one another. Connecting the Crossroads Community with these new service initiatives would simultaneously strengthen and expand both Crossroads and the proposed service ministries.
Expanding the Shalom Place Ministry and Integrating it with the Work of the Mission Center. The Shalom Place Hospitality Center (a group hostel space which can accommodate groups of up to 24 individuals) is part of the existing ministry of the St. Luke’s Campus. This program provides economical lodging and hospitality to students, mission teams, and service groups that come to Washington. This program is another logical component of the St. Luke’s Mission Outreach Center, since it affords the possibility of involving large numbers of volunteers in the work of the center.
The Mission Center will be established as its own 501 (3) organization in order to attract external leadership and funding to support these programs.
Looking for dreamers, doers, and leaders! If you are interested in helping to shape and implement this vision, contact Rev. Kate Murphey or Ann Michel, Service Ministry Team Vice Chair.
Metropolitan offers a variety of opportunities for Christian service throughout the Washington area, including:
The Ballet Studio that provides all-scholarship, professional-caliber ballet training to inner-city children whose families are unable to afford lessons at a commercial studio. Contact: Barbara Gaskill, 202-244-3635 or by e-mail at barbarabillclem@erols.com.
Rebuilding Together, an all-volunteer project that repairs owner-occupied homes of limited income, elderly and disabled citizens at no cost to the homeowners. read more Contact: Lee Crockett.
Clothing Collection Team that collects and distributes clothes to individuals and families in need. Contact: Faith Lewis 202.363.4900
Friendship Place Community Resource Center that offers direct services aimed at securing benefits, employment, and housing for homeless men and women in upper northwest Washington. Contact: Dick Schleicher, 301-229-2385 or by e-mail at rschlei@verizon.net.
IONA Senior Services that provides personalized professional and volunteer assistance to people 60 years of age and older and their caregivers. Contact: Irving Biscomb, 202-966-4430.
Project 5000 that collects and provides emergency food to hungry people. Contact: Sue Wadel Smith, 703-413-4241 or by e-mail at wadelse@netscape.net.
The St. Elizabeth's Project that regularly visits patients at St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the mentally ill. Contact: Kay Poynter, 301-424-6796.
The Sandwich Brigade that makes and delivers sandwiches weekly to the Infirmary of the homeless shelter at 2nd and E Streets, NW. Contact: Bonnie Edwards, 202-686-9087.
Scouting Ministries that help young people, boys and girls, become committed Christians and responsible citizens. Contact: Randy Stoudt, Scout Liaison, 301-260-8881 .
Shelter at Metropolitan that houses homeless men during the winter months and homeless families in the spring and fall. Contact: Dick Schleicher, 301-229-2385 or by e-mail at rschlei@verizon.net.
Advocacy
Reconciling Ministry
Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church affirms that all individuals are of sacred worth without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, education, marital circumstances, economic status, physical and mental condition, or criminal history. We declare ourselves in support of the reconciling movement and welcome the full participation in the church of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered persons and their families, as a reflection of God’s unconditional love. At the same time, we recognize differences of opinion on issues of sexuality and seek to journey together in faith toward greater understanding and mutual respect.
MMUMC is proud to be a reconciling congregation. After a period of prayerful discernment, we joined the reconciling ministries network in June 2008. read more.
WIN
Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) is a coalition of congregations, community organizations, unions, tenant associations, and schools in the District of Columbia that work across racial, religious, and economic lines to insure that Washington, DC remains a place where families can afford to buy a home, educate their children, and a secure a living-wage job. Metropolitan Memorial was one of the founding congregations of WIN and along with nearly 50 other congregations created a broad-based, multi-racial, strictly non-partisan, District-wide citizens organization that develops neighborhood leaders, addresses community issues, and holds local elected officials accountable. Contact: Ann Michel at 202-885-8582 or at amichel@wesleyseminary.edu.
Diversity
Advocacy Team Initiates a Focus on Diversity
In America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning, when we stand and sing that Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. - Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964
Unfortunately, the observation that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made forty five years ago, that 11:00 on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America, is still true today despite advances in diversity in many other sectors of American society. In light of Metropolitan’s new vision of radical hospitality and our reconciling statement’s emphasis on openness to all, the Advocacy Team is launching a congregational conversation around the subject of diversity. The short-term goals are to talk candidly, to learn from the literature of diversity and from sister congregations in our area, and to identify issues of congregational life that are relevant to the diversity question. The longer-term goals are to seed a larger conversation and to formulate a set of recommendations for the congregation.
This diversity initiative will begin with two alternating Sunday morning activities this summer:
Congregational Visits. On the third Sunday of each month, beginning Sunday, July 19, the Advocacy Team will be organizing a series of group visits to worship with some of our sister congregations in the area. The visits scheduled to date include:
•Sunday, July 19, Asbury United Methodist Church. Gather in the MMUMC foyer to depart at 9:45 a.m. for their 10:30 a.m. service.
•Sunday, August 16, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, “the National Cathedral of African Methodism.” Gather in the MMUMC foyer to depart at 10:15 a.m. for their 11 a.m. service.
•September 20, Shiloh Baptist Church. Gather in the MMUMC foyer to depart at 10:15 a.m. for their 10 a.m. service.
Rev. David Young, Metropolitan’s Deacon for Advocacy and Global Engagement, will be coordinating this activity. For more information, contact him at 703.786.8911 or dndweiszyoung@yahoo.com.
Discussion Forum. On the other Sundays during July and August, we will hold a discussion forum on diversity in the Terrace Room during the Sunday School hour (10:10 a.m. - 11 a.m.) Leaders from the Advocacy Team will be leading these conversations. Dates for these sessions are Sundays July 5, 12 & 26 and August 2, 9, 23, and 30. For more information, contact Advocacy Team Chair Ann Michel.
