“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.” (James 1:14-18)

 

SJE Outreach Ministry seeks ways to respond to this teaching by supporting programs and ministries across the City of Edmonton that are focused on enabling people to re-order and reclaim their lives in the face of violence, homelessness, addictions, unemployment, etc. We do this through a monthly parish focus on a particular need, which is usually addressed via the collection of goods and/or food to be given in support of a particular ministry. In addition, the Outreach Committee rallies the parish in offering three annual meals at various meal programs in the City.

 

The organizations we actively support in these ways include Mustard Seed, Hope Mission, YESS (Youth Empowerment & Support Services), The Neighbor Centre,  Braemar School-Terra Services, Campus Food Bank,  Aboriginal Head Start Program, Habitat for Humanity, Inner-City Pastoral Ministry (ICPM), Old Strathcona Youth Society, and various public schools in economically distressed areas.

 

The Outreach Committee is also responsible for organizing and hosting information sessions on opportunities for involvement. Most recently this involved an information session on Indigenous Issues – The Blanket Exercise led by Michelle Nieviadomy  and a Social Justice workshop lead by Jim Gurnett.

 

For more information or to get involved, please speak to the coordinator of the Outreach Ministry, Patsy Cantwell at church on Sunday or by contacting the SJE office.