St Thomas The Apostle

• What do we stand for

  We have distilled what our core values are at St. Thomas. We looked at what is it about this congregation that is most important to God, to us, and to our future

• Come together as children of God,

  Grow into our faith,

  Serve God in others,

  Make a Difference for ourselves, for others, and for the world.

Reaching Out: Taking Christ to the World !

"Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me"

St. Thomas has a developing relationship with a neighborhood school, Comanche Elementary. In October, we will begin BackSnack, an outreach program providing weekend food for Comanche students who may not receive adequate nutrition on weekends. St. Thomas collected schools supplies, providing backpacks to students during enrollment and the start of school

OPERATION BACK SNACK

 

HOST (Hospitality Outreach of St. Thomas) (http://www.jocoihn.org/) is a ministry in partnership with the Johnson County Interfaith Hospitality Network. Homeless families are provided a temporary place to stay within partner churches, and are treated as guests, with dignity and respect. Volunteers provide meals, activities for children, and encouragement as our guests strive to find employment or training, housing, and suitable child care.

Saturday Breakfast at St. Paul’s finds volunteers of all ages setting up, cooking, serving breakfast, and cleaning up at St. Paul’s in Kansas City, Kansas, an Episcopal church in the urban core. Approximately two hundred guests are fed each week. St. Thomas is responsible for each 5th Saturday of the month.

Community Cupboard at St. Paul’s KCK is supplied year-round by non-perishable contributions from St. Thomas and other churches. Parishioners help distribute food, stock shelves and bag bulk foods every Wednesday and Saturday.

Short Term Missions Gulf Coast Relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina energized a team to go on a first-ever Mission Trip in the fall of 2005. In Spring 2007, STA youth and director, Katie Knoll, joined with other diocesan youth making a second trip to the continue the rebuilding in Mississippi.

Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (http://www.cfcausa.org/), a local Kansas City outreach, is an organization that St. Thomas has partnered with as part of our international outreach. Through the work of CFCA, individuals or families can sponsor children and aging people from around the world. The sponsorships are $30 a month and provides much need resources like food, shelter, clothing, school and basic medical care. Each person has their on sponsored child or adult and they share in each other’s lives through letter writing. Some sponsors make a mission awareness trip to meet their companion. This ministry is a great answer to the MDG goals.

Episcopal Community Services has extended Christ’s ministry of compassion, service and healing to those who are affected by poverty and disability. About 10 percent of Kansas City area households are “food insecure.” Episcopal Community Services and its Episcopal Hunger Relief Network are building coalitions, bringing together people in the public, private and faith sectors to find solutions for those living in poverty. And those solutions are adding up: 550,000+ meals served in 2007; 500+ meals daily in the Kansas City Community Kitchen; 200+ served on Saturdays through Breakfast at St. Paul’s; More than a dozen hot food programs and parish food pantries on both sides of the state line are engaging volunteers to provide meals, groceries and other support to hungry men, women and children; Meals on Wheels sustains homebound seniors; New backpack program brings Episcopal parishes and public schools together to send hungry school-age children home with enough food for the weekend. Check out the Episcopal Community Services website for details on all these programs.