Opportunities at St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Acolytes: Acolytes serve at the Altar during services. The group consists of men, women, boys, and girls of all ages.

Choir: Singers are always welcome and needed. There are also frequent opportunities for guitarists and players of other instruments to offer their talents during our worship.

Flower Guild: St. Luke's Flower Guild is responsible for the weekly altar flowers and the seasonal displays for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We also maintain the indoor plants and the outdoor gardens in front of the church.

We hold 2 - 3 meetings a year, have spring and autumn clean-up days, and also meet to arrange flowers for the holidays. However, as gardeners know, there is always pruning and replanting to be done throughout the summer and fall. Each member is in charge of a week to replace the vigil candle and water plants.

Lotsa Loot Rummage and Bake Sale: This annual event is the parish's single largest fund raiser and an important part of St. Luke's image in the community.

Market Day: Market Day is a monthly fund-raising program offering a wide variety of high-quality, convenient family foods. It is a joint operation (a co-op) of St. Luke's and a local elementary school . Order forms are available in church each month from September through June, and are to be turned in to St. Luke's the following Sunday. Customers pick up their merchandise at the school in the late afternoon on the second or third Wednesday each month.

Three to five parish volunteers assist at the school on pick-up day. They help unload the truck, and pack the individual orders for pick-up by the customers.

M &M's (Mary's and Martha's): Provides an organized approach to the various types of food service at St. Luke's. We organize and serve meals, including funeral receptions, parish functions, ecumenical suppers, and other meals as needed. There is no formal committee. Each member of the parish, male or female, young or old, is a part of this network.

The Men's Club The original purpose of the Men's Club was to organize the men into a mutual supporting group, for both social interaction, and project work groups. Initially we had monthly social gatherings, including one weekend retreat. The members would organize work groups for various projects within the church, and Camp Webb. It became inactive some years ago.

Seniors Group: St. Luke's mature adults meet monthly for fellowship, Bible study, and a pot-luck meal. A variety of activities are planned both for fun and service to the parish. If you need transportation, contact the Parish Office.

Stewardship Ministry: To educate the parish in the area of stewardship of all our resources (time, talent, and treasure), the Stewardship Ministry works the year around. They are responsible for the annual pledge effort.

Vestry: The vestry is the governing body of the parish and an important means for members to communicate their ideas and concerns to parish leadership. It has ultimate authority for all business and financial affairs of the parish. The vestry consists of nine members, elected for staggered three-year terms, with 1/3 elected every year.

Ministries for further prayer/study

Christian Formation: This program is for every member of the Church. It includes a Nursery program, the Worship Center program for pre-school through 5th grade aged children, and programs for Middle and High School youth. Courses are also offered for adults.

Common Prayer Team: Have you ever sat in church Sunday morning and wished you would've had the chance to look at the Bible readings a little more deliberately ahead of time? Or maybe you've even wished for an outlet where you could talk about the readings with a few of your friends? Do you have email? Consider checking out the Common Prayer Team!

This is a group that engages in a discussion of one or more of the assigned Sunday readings a week ahead of time over email. It's a great way to prepare individually for our common Sunday worship. Active participation is encouraged, but "readers" of the messages are welcome, too, even if you don't have time to write in every week.

Prayer and Praise: In 2003 a small group of St. Lukers continued to meet from 5-6 p.m. in the St. Francis Chapel each Sunday to center, to praise God, and to offer intercessory prayer for our parish, our friends, our families, our communities and the world. On the third Sunday of the month we used the Taizé prayer format. Each week we select ten special families in the parish to pray for specifically. We had added special prayers each week for peace and we had used many different traditions in our prayers for peace. We had a faithful 4-5 people each week and sometimes our ranks swelled to double or triple that number. It became inactive some years ago.

Prayer Chain: Prayer support is provided by the Prayer Chain in any situation. Prayers can be requested of the chain by calling the Church Office, 222-6921, or emailing the church. Requests are relayed to chain members by phone or email.

Women's Bible Study: A small group of women have been meeting weekly for almost five years to pray and study the Gospel. We have been on a four-month sabbatical for other studies, and we are reconvening on Mondays from 7-8pm. Please consider joining us for this special time - and feel free to bring a friend!

Outreach: Outreach is the work of every member of the parish. Over the past year, our efforts to cultivate increased involvement in outreach ministries at St. Luke's are beginning to show results. Let's use the successes of this year as inspiration to keep these ministries growing.

St. Stephen's Food Pantry: Our monthly donations of toilet paper and soap have been very well received by the folks who run the pantry. The St. Stephen's food pantry serves as many as 15 to 20 families each day, Monday through Thursday.

Habitat for Humanity Meal In December, St. Luke's prepared and served a meal for a crew working on a Habitat for Humanity house in Madison.

Special Holiday Projects This past holiday season, we collected items for Adopt-A-Village and the Interfaith Hospitality Network. The items for Adopt-A-Village went to help children in the village of Golam Ali, Afghanistan, which has been ravaged by decades of war and turmoil. The items were distributed by a Wisconsin reservist and his unit. Games, art supplies, and personal care products were collected for the Interfaith Hospitality Network in Madison. The Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) provides shelter, meals, assistance, and case management to homeless families by utilizing Madison-area congregations.

African Team Ministries Once again this year we had several African Team Ministries craft sales at St. Luke's. The money raised from these sales funds various relief activities in Africa.

Share the Warmth Blanket Drive Organizing St. Luke's participation in the St. Vincent de Paul's Share the Warmth blanket collection. St. Luke's served as a collection center and provided both bedding and cash donations.

Red Cross Blood Donations St. Luke's continues its work with the Red Cross to encourage blood donation.